App reviews

Honest write-ups of the apps we use and build — what each is for, who it suits, and what it leaves out.

Most beauty advice is advertising. Here is the part that is not.

The routine has grown from three steps to eleven, and the evidence has not moved much. What actually holds up, and what is being sold to you.

8 September 2026 · 3 min read

Brazil 2014: the World Cup that stopped making sense

Twelve years on, a look back at the tournament of the Mineirazo, the bite, James Rodríguez's volley and the holders going out in eight days.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

The art of the comeback, and why yours arrives on the stairs

The French call it l'esprit de l'escalier. A short history of the well-made insult, from Wilde to the ones Churchill never actually said.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

What to write when someone has had bad news

Most people say nothing because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing. A short guide to messages that help, and the well-meant ones that do not.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

How to identify a bird by its song

Learning birdsong by ear is a skill with a short list of shortcuts. What to listen for, when to listen, and where the software helps and misleads.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

Can you take the UK driving theory test in Punjabi?

The short answer is no. The longer answer is about what changed in 2014, what help you can still get, and how to revise when the test is in your second language.

8 September 2026 · 5 min read

What is actually on the Life in the UK Test?

Twenty-four questions, forty-five minutes, and a handbook most people misjudge. What the test covers, where candidates lose marks, and how to revise it in a second language.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

Every photo you take knows where it was taken

Geotagging turned photographs into map data. What is in the file, what that makes possible, and what it gives away.

8 September 2026 · 3 min read

What to do with the thirty thousand photos you never look at

Camera rolls grew faster than the tools for reading them. A practical approach to a decade of photographs you have not opened since taking them.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

What HRV and resting heart rate are actually telling you

Your watch produces a lot of numbers and very little meaning. A plain reading of the four metrics worth watching, and what moves them.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

Learning Punjabi when you already understand it

Heritage speakers are not beginners and are not fluent. Why the usual language apps fit badly, and what actually helps you answer back.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read

Making Tax Digital for landlords and sole traders: what changes, and when it reaches you

MTD for Income Tax started in April 2026 for people earning over £50,000. What quarterly updates actually involve, what counts towards the threshold, and what to do now.

8 September 2026 · 5 min read

The 60% tax trap, and the pension trick that steps around it

Between £100,000 and £125,140 the UK marginal tax rate is 60%, not 40% or 45%. Why it happens, what it costs, and how salary sacrifice fixes it.

8 September 2026 · 4 min read