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Pride Before a Fall
Is 'pride comes before a fall' just a saying — or a finding?
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Philosophy Made Practical
Philosophy made practical — Stoicism, ethics, liberty and the big questions, applied to modern working life and everyday decisions.
Philosophy is the art of asking better questions. It is not about having the right answers so much as refusing to settle for the obvious ones.
The Stoics believed we cannot control what happens to us, only how we respond — a thought that has survived two thousand years because it keeps being useful. Mill insisted that hearing only opinions we agree with weakens our own thinking. Berlin asked whether you explain the world through one big idea or many small truths. These are not abstract puzzles. They are working tools.
Philosophy at its best is surprisingly practical. It asks what a good life looks like, what we owe one another, how to decide when the options are imperfect. These are questions every professional meets eventually — in difficult conversations, ethical dilemmas and the quiet moments between meetings.
This hub collects our philosophical briefings and articles — from Stoicism to the ethics of technology — written for readers who suspect the oldest questions are also the most current.
Questions this hub explores
- stoicism for modern professionals
- practical philosophy for everyday life
- ethical thinking at work
- philosophy questions that matter
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Ask the Concierge→Essential Ideas · 60-second reads
1Articles & reading recommendations
22ArticleFree · 6-minute read
Tom Holland Is Having the Best Year of His Life. Why Success Still Makes Us Want to Disappear for a While.
Getting what you wanted can be surprisingly exhausting.
1 September 2026
ArticleFree · 9-minute read
The Most Important AI Skill May Be Knowing When It's Wrong
As AI gets better at producing polished, competent work, the scarce skill moves somewhere else — towards judgement. Knowing when something is technically fine and somehow not quite right may become the most valuable thing a person can say.
1 September 2026
ArticleFree · 10-minute read
London vs New York: Who Has the Better Commute?
The Tube and the subway move two global cities every morning. The similarities end considerably later than either city might like to admit.
1 September 2026
ArticleFree · 9-minute read
Birmingham vs Houston: What Happens When a City Expects You to Drive?
Two major working cities, two very different scales — and a morning journey increasingly shaped by the car.
1 September 2026
ArticleFree · 14-minute read
Why Intelligent People Make Bad Decisions
Intelligence isn't the same thing as good judgement. The smartest person in the room is often the one most at risk — because their intelligence can talk them into things their judgement should have talked them out of.
21 August 2026
ArticleFree · 13-minute read
The 10 Books I'd Give Someone Starting a New Career
Not the usual business book list. Ten categories that actually matter when you're starting out — from understanding people to staying curious — with books worth carrying into the first year and beyond.
21 August 2026
ArticleFree · 10-minute read
Why Your Brain Hates Being Interrupted
You're on the train. You're reading something good. Your phone buzzes. You check it — just for a second. That second costs more than you think. Here's why, and what to do about it.
21 August 2026
ArticleFree · 12-minute read
What AI Thought a Coffee Table Looked Like
In the spring of 2025, while other people were using AI to improve productivity, I asked it to make coffee tables. The experiment became a book — and a record of the moment we stopped being astonished and started asking better questions.
4 August 2026
ArticleFree · 14-minute read
What Britain Googled in July: Ten Searches That Explain Us Better Than We'd Like
From BBC News to Rightmove, the nation's search box reveals a country that is anxious, curious, house-hunting and still pretending Wordle counts as intellectual exercise.
1 August 2026
ArticleFree · 6-minute read
The Bourne Odyssey
I finally watched The Odyssey this week. What stayed with me wasn't an historical detail — it was a feeling.
29 July 2026
ArticleFree · 9-minute read
Why Your Office Is Basically Ancient Athens with Wi-Fi
Beneath the screens, spreadsheets and passive-aggressive calendar invitations, much of office life would have been instantly recognisable to the ancient Greeks.
27 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 3-minute read
Before I See The Odyssey
Going to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey prompts a confession: I have never properly read Homer. So before the lights go down, here are three books about journeys worth taking — Homer's Odyssey in Emily Wilson's translation, Amor Towles's The Lincoln Highway and David Grann's The Wager.
24 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 5-minute read
Three Summer Reads Worth Missing Your Stop For
Summer reading lists can become strangely intimidating. You begin by looking for something agreeable to read beside a pool. Twenty minutes later, you…
24 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Mary Beard Should Read on Holiday
Historians have an unfair advantage. The rest of us look at a ruined castle and think, 'Lovely view.' Mary Beard looks at it and probably wonders who…
18 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Keir Starmer Should Read on the Train
Prime Ministers don't get much uninterrupted thinking time. Someone is always asking for a decision, a photograph or an opinion on something that…
12 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Richard Osman Should Read Before Writing His Next Bestseller
Richard Osman has performed a minor miracle. He's persuaded millions of people that retirement villages are considerably more exciting than most…
11 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Sadiq Khan Should Read on the Train
London is a city that can produce three entirely different conversations before you've reached the next stop. One person is discussing AI, another is…
5 July 2026
Train ReadFree · 5-minute read
What Angela Rayner Should Read on the Train
There's something wonderfully democratic about a commuter train. For half an hour, job titles become almost meaningless. The managing director is…
28 June 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Taylor Swift Should Read on Tour
Touring must be one of the strangest jobs in the world. One evening you're performing to 80,000 people who know every lyric you've ever written.…
27 June 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Kemi Badenoch Should Read on the Train
There are two kinds of people on the morning train. Those who stare silently into the middle distance, contemplating the meaning of life. And those…
21 June 2026
ArticleFree · 6-minute read
On collecting ideas rather than books
A shelf of briefings is a record of the ideas a reader has actually finished.
14 June 2026
Train ReadFree · 4-minute read
What Brian Cox Should Read Between Galaxies
There are few people who can make you feel simultaneously tiny and enormously privileged. Brian Cox is one of them. Spend an hour listening to him and…
30 May 2026
Monday Briefings
5Celebrity Traitors and the Pleasure of Not Knowing
On spoilers, stagecraft and the things we do — and don't — need to know before Monday's meeting.
28 September 2026 · Free · 7-minute read
The People Who Turn Up
Why the worst moments can reveal a larger world than fear allows us to see.
31 August 2026 · Free · 8-minute read
When the Government Makes Your Phone Scream
Wildfires, air-raid sirens and why Epictetus might be more useful than Orwell.
17 August 2026 · Free · 7-minute read
The Complaint Journal
Every day seems to arrive carrying a fresh invitation to be annoyed.
3 August 2026 · Free · 6-minute read
What Spain's World Cup Victory Can Teach a New Prime Minister
Britain has a new Prime Minister. Spain has a new World Cup trophy.
20 July 2026 · Free · 6-minute read
From the imprint
3The Saint Who Solved Burnout
What St Bonaventure Can Teach Us About Compassion, Simplicity and Thriving at Work
Kindle ebook · £4.99 · Philosophy
AI Knows the Notes. You Hear the Music.
Ten Tests of Taste, Timing and Meaning in the Age of AI
Kindle ebook · £4.99 · Decision Making
Why You Fancy Your Colleague
Desire, Status and the Search for a Deeper Self
Kindle ebook · £4.99 · Psychology
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The Most Important AI Skill May Be Knowing When It's Wrong
As AI gets better at producing polished, competent work, the scarce skill moves somewhere else — towards judgement. Knowing when something is technically fine and somehow not quite right may become the most valuable thing a person can say.
Behavioural Science
