Author Archives: Stephen

What’s the easiest way to become a less lazy photographer?

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Stephen

I’m thinking of becoming a less lazy photographer. Can you help? Long-time readers of this blog will know that I enjoy a bit of photography from time to time, since I have an annual tradition of posting my favourite photographs … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography | 2 Comments

Books of 2022

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Stephen

Another year, another tweet thread of the books I read these past twelvemonth. Click on the images to access higher resolution versions which are just about legible, or better still, read the thread on Twitter. In 2022 I managed just … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Science | 2 Comments

Photos of 2022

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Stephen

Another year, another two thousand or more photographs, some of which I thought were quite good. There’s a little taster below but if you want to see the full set of 55 pictures that were my favourites from this year, … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, Science & Art, Travel | 4 Comments

Intelligent life: Isaiah Berlin

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Stephen

Thanks to the paucity of my education and cultural life I have come late to Isaiah Berlin, the noted philosopher and historian of ideas whose thinking provided such a guiding light to the 20th Century. But I’m definitely a fan … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science, Science culture | Comments Off on Intelligent life: Isaiah Berlin

Part-time talking – open science, research assessment and gender equality

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Stephen

Things have come to a pretty pass when the UK can turn out Prime Ministers more frequently that I post to my blog. It might be taken as a sign of the times if the times weren’t so damned confusing. … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Comments Off on Part-time talking – open science, research assessment and gender equality

Passing the Baton

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Stephen

“The Queen is dead; long live the King!” is such a cliché of stories and films that it was surprising to hear it for real. Not that we did actually hear it for real. The secrecy surrounding the Queen’s final … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Comments Off on Passing the Baton

A Declaration on Bicycle Assessment – the Decision

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Stephen

Reader, I bought a Brompton. After all my research – and a considerable amount of humming and haa-ing – I finally took Henry’s advice and went to my local bike shop to test-ride a couple of different eBike models. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life, Travel | 1 Comment

A Declaration on Bicycle Assessment

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Stephen

You’d think assessing bicycles would be a lot easier than assessing researchers, but I’m not so sure. Though I spend quite a bit of time as chair of the DORA steering committee pondering how best to evaluate research and researchers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | 4 Comments

To the sea

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Stephen

With emails running alongside, barking for attention, we beat a retreat from London. The clamour of work was soon swamped by the heat and light and sights and sounds and smells of Barcelona, and by the newness and oldness of … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life, Travel | Tagged | Comments Off on To the sea

Message for my reader

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Stephen

For the longest time I have been meaning to get back to—ugh!—blogging. Regular readers, should any remain, will see that this is the first post of 2022. I haven’t broken any promises with the hiatus and have no excuses to … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging | 7 Comments

Books of the Year

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Stephen

One final look back before I turn to face 2022. Following a practice started last year, I have maintained a thread of tweet-sized reviews of the books that I read in 2021 – all of them. There are only eighteen in … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | 3 Comments

Photographs of 2021

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Stephen

Continuing the theme of gently exercising the writing muscle by composing posts made mostly of pictures, I present here the round-up of what I think are the best photographs that I took in the past year. 2021 has been a … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography | Comments Off on Photographs of 2021