Why I've been a bit quiet recently...

I've been writing a book. It's out in September. I think you'll like it.

Apr 24

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March 2026

Postscript to a postscript

Some of the scary things I wrote about in Material World seem to be coming true. Not good news

Mar 6

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January 2026

The End of Salt?

If you thought Britain couldn't deindustrialise any further, well, just look what might be coming next...

Jan 16

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October 2025

What can we learn from the latest Rare Earths crisis?

How much of a big deal is China's latest salvo in the global trade war? And will it backfire?

Oct 14, 2025

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June 2025

A dying industry dies a bit more

How did one of the world's most cost-competitive plants become unsustainable in only a couple of decades? Here's what happened to the ethylene cracker…

Jun 25, 2025

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Tinned Soup and Tariffs

A dive down the rabbit hole of what it actually takes to make a seemingly simple supermarket product - and what happens when that product gets embroiled…

Jun 20, 2025

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April 2025

The Strange, Unsettling Story of British Steel

Why the fate of a blast furnace in Scunthorpe might have much deeper implications for this country

Apr 12, 2025

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March 2025

The Weird and Wonderful Logic of Aluminium

Finally, an excuse to witness the one major metallurgical process I never saw when writing Material World.

Mar 22, 2025

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Would FDR have done a minerals deal with Ukraine?

Given, back in 1941, he actively considered taking possession of the Crown Jewels and Magna Carta in exchange for Lend-Lease, the answer must surely be…

Mar 10, 2025

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February 2025

America still needs Canadian oil. Here's why

And why the tariffs on Canada could plausibly lead to America doing deals with considerably more shady countries. A dive into the weird and wonderful…

Feb 2, 2025

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January 2025

The Technological Revolution that could Supercharge the World's Batteries

Silicon carbon batteries are a real game-changer. But they also have a big problem. To see why, you need to dive deep inside a battery. So let's do…

Jan 26, 2025

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Forgotten Minerals #2: Caliche

What happens when you find a perfect substitute for a scarce resource? You carry on mining the scarce resource!

Jan 14, 2025

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