Tea is supposed to be zero calories. So what is this shiny slick on the surface of yesterday’s drink? It’s like the blue-brown façades of blocks in China’s fourth tier. It’s like a rolled scarab carapace. It’s like the squeezed temple of a liquid crystal. Shake it and the metallic tectons quite collapse, broad shards collecting into one bronze rim-stain.  Perhaps this is why we are frequently warned not to drink tea that’s been left overnight. Well, if there is a swollen cigarette-butt floating on top, let me concur; that cup may...

I am a contrarian. All of this unpopular opining of mine may look like critical thinking, heroic truth-seeking.  But don’t be fooled; it’s just knee-jerk doggerel.  My world-view is permanently controlled by the assumption that “those millions of people talking around me can’t possibly be right”. My brain rails against whatever prevails. Remember that, especially when you catch me writing about Chinese medicine.  Remember where I am writing from. Here or there. Remember whose those surrounding millions of voices are.  If I am in my native UK, stifled by familiarity, you will find me warmly...

Delicious, isn’t it? Remember the smell when you unpeeled your first credit card? If you have bought electronics, you will know the excitement of transparent sleeves and instruction booklets. Let us also mention polyethylene. If I write here about the smell of new bin liners, you will experience something quite specific in your “inner nose”. Polyethylene. It is the softer plastics that seem more generous to give off their scent. PVC raincoats and toy umbrellas. We all know the aromatic explosion from a roll of bubble wrap. Tiny seams of injected modernity. It...

I love games consoles. I own more than I care to admit. But (Marie Kondo, since you’re asking) every one of them sparks joy. The console is a well-named invention, providing solace that sometimes even tea can’t provide. I’m not the only one; retro gaming is as much of a draw for my generation as steam trains for my father’s. An industry surrounds console nostalgia, with restorations, re-releases, emulation and excavation. But in focusing so much on the games console, the home experience of games, the nostalgia is neglecting another great...