It was very smart of Netflix to offer a $1 million prize to anyone who could substantially increase the accuracy of its recommendations software. Smart, and good business too. There’s already been some improvement, after only about a month. But, purely selfishly, there’s somewhere else I wish...

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Lost. Abandoned. Forgotten. Discarded. All tell a different story. But left behind? I find that a lot more poignant somehow.

An odd week, to say the least, in which one sees Sin City one night and Water a day later. It’d be easy to do the trite thing and say that Sin City was very violent while Water was very moving. But it works the other way too. The violence of Water is unspoken and largely unseen; but without the...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: 87.0 This week: 87.1

Tuesday 9 October: A bit of a dreadful end to the week. We’re talking about diets here, and that means talking about intestinal goings on, so if you’re the teeniest bit squeamish, look away now. Time to discuss constipation. I know that previously I...

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Wonderful expedition yesterday to the Villa Lante, “the consummate example of the best period in the history of garden design: the Mannerist phase of the Italian renaissance”. A very fine garden it is too, made even more enjoyable by a glorious autumn day with just a hint of chill in the air.

T...

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