The Long + Short is a magazine about innovation, new ideas and how the world is changing.

The Long and Short

This is the age of anger. The identity politics of white men has taken centre- stage. As women around the world protest the inauguration of Donald Trump, Geraldine Bedell writing for The Long and Short, argues that female activism and language can offer an antidote to our uncertain political times.

Sharon Bott

Women on the march: Can women do politics differently?

Should all deforestation be condemned? On the ground, the fight against climate change takes many different shapes.

Michael Bott

The forests bear the carbon

Common Sense is a term that gets thrown around a lot in politics. Writing in the immediate aftermath of the 2015 UK general election, Rhodri Marsden writing in The Long and Short wonders what exactly we mean by common sense and how this meaning changes according to where we stand on the political spectrum.

Nick Camm

What is common sense: can there be a universal agreement on knowledge, judgement and taste?

While experimenting with 'old springs and other bits of stuff' in his home workshop, Dr Graham Tydeman almost accidentally created an invaluable tool that allows doctors to practice caesarean sections. This is the story of 'Desperate Debra'.

Gary Furlong

Obstetrics for beginners

Many writers and musicians have experienced blocks at some point, so how did they get back on track?

Even some of music’s biggest stars – from Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash, David Bowie to Tom Waits – were not immune. Dorian Lynskey writing in The Long and Short tries to find out how they got back on track.

The stagnation blues

Ultra-tailored, personalised medicine is the grand promise for the future of healthcare—but is it all just hype?

Strength in numbers: the rise of precision medicine

How close are we to eating fake meat that can rival a bloody steak—and its price?

Vegetarian food gets bloodthirsty

Japan’s economic growth is stagnating, its population shrinking. Yet to visitors, it still appears as a beacon of prosperity and modernity. Roland Kelts, writing in The Long and Short, argues that the supposed 'sick man of Asia' might be a model for us all. ​

Karl Miller

Turning Japanese: How the supposed 'sick man of Asia' might be a model for us all

"Mindfulness is the perfect plug-in for late modern capitalism."

Attention is currency in today’s world, and mindfulness helps in making sure we don’t squander it away. But Rowland Manthorpe writing in The Long and Short discovers the rise of mind-wandering and finds out how everyday distraction could be a tool for productivity.

Jonathan Booth

Mind-wandering: The rise of an anti-mindfulness movement

Speaking with Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures.

There was a time when, in the higher echelons of NASA, the word computer meant woman — and perhaps more surprisingly, it was three black women who were instrumental to the Apollo missions of the 1960s. Matilda Battersby explores.

Emma Powell

The forgotten women who helped win the space race

The next big tech controversy will see the public turn against algorithms and machine learning.

Algorithms are making more and more decisions for us — from the way self-driving cars are driven and what content we consume to the sort of news that grabs headlines. In The Long and Short, Olivier Usher takes a shot a predicting the consequences of this for the future.

David Riley

Human says no

Why using AI to infer 'criminality' in someone's face is a dubious and dangerous idea.

Some researches have claimed that artificial intelligence could provide a way to determine inherent criminal tendencies in people, just by analysing their faces. Rhodri Marsden, writing in The Long and Short, explores the potential consequences of such technology.

Face value: is there such thing as a criminal face?

Unfashionable concerns: should we be concerned about our privacy?

Banks, governments, credit card companies and fintech evangelists all want us to believe a cashless future is inevitable and good. But Brett Scott writes in The Long and Short, that this isn’t a frictionless utopia, bringing about the death of privacy, choice and the establishment of a hegemony dictating over the way we live.

Simon Mattacks

The war on cash: Is the cashless future the frictionless utopia it is made out to be?

Emran Mian writing in The Long &amp; Short argues that universal basic income is a terrible, inequitable solution to technological disruption – one that will only deepen the divide between the remaining few with jobs and those without. We should redistribute work and not wealth, he says.

Basic income is a terrible, inequitable solution to technological disruption

Innovations and technologies arrive thick and fast, but economies and people are at a standstill—how come?

Whirlpool economy: Innovations and technologies arrive fast but economies and people are at a standstill. How do we break the cycle?

Secular stagnation was the term used by Larry Summers in 2013 to explain the refusal of the post-2008 recession era economies to respond to the various stimuli attempted to be provided by central banks. But “Secular stagnation” is a misunderstood term, writes Dan Davies in The Long &amp; Short. He imagines how secular stagnation may come to a Smurf village to help us with a better understanding of the term.

Malk Williams

How secular stagnation came to Smurf village

Academics were asked to collaborate with science fiction writers to develop short stories that explore the impact of human interactions with more powerful and uncanny machine intelligences. This is one of those stories.

Molly Ward

Elevated: a story about machine intelligence

Sporting progress is often incremental, but occasionally athletes come along and try something completely different. Simon Usborne writing in The Long &amp; Short, highlights a few moments, starting with Dick Fosbury revolutionising the high jump in 1968, when sportspersons were at the forefront of dramatic changes.

Flipping Point: When athletes come along and try something completely different

Fake news and political scandals have led to a heightened awareness and questioning of both truth and trust. Brennan Jacoby, writing in The Long and Short argues that distrust can also be useful for society.  ​

Who can you trust in a post-truth world?

Could we zap our brains to improve ourselves? Lucy Jones writing in The Long &amp; Short explores transcranial directcurrent stimulation (or tDCS), a form of neurostimulation that involves zapping the brain with low level electrical current. She meets the scientists and DIY enthusiasts using tDCS to find out if there are any benefits to it and if we should all be trying it.

Jan Cramer

Hooking up: Should we 'zap' our brains to improve ourselves?

As Britain braces itself for the impact of Brexit, Will Brett writing in The Long & Short Magazine argues for taking inspiration from the Romans and thinking on a grand scale, an approach that he says can reap economic and spiritual rewards.

Don't laugh, industrial strategy can make the spirit soar

Get ready for the splinternet. With the global order fragmenting, cyber- security threats on the rise, and the deluge of information becoming overwhelming, countries are going to break away from the internet in its current form, says Katja Bego writing in the Long and Short.  ​

The end of the web

You know those white and green Adidas trainers that everyone wears? A dissection of a style revival. 

Who is Stan Smith and why am I wearing his shoes?

James Brown is known as the “Godfather of soul”. The Long & Short, features an article from the music blog 20jazzfunkgreats, which shows us how James Brown single-handedly invented funk.