Yes, I know, buy proper matting spray. But Fish is cheap!

The problem with using my 3D scanner is that my office smells like dry shampoo for a week afterwards.

The only problem with doing this episode: I now have a real hankering for something much less smart - and much more expensive - on my wrist.

Sam and I had a great chat with some watch industry experts, including Mike France, co-founder of Christopher Ward, Fflur Roberts from Euromonitor International, and Laura McCreddie-Doak, freelance journalist.

Go have a listen all you horologophiles! The latest episode is live on BBC Sounds now.

Logo for the show Dough on BBC Radio 4 showing a flattened sheet of dough with the shapes of various household appliances and pieces of technology embossed into it

Time for my periodic reminder that it is Dough day! And this week, we are looking at watches - a product I know that a lot of you are obsessed with.

What I don't know is if they are any less likely to be challenged today without government intervention.

Rare contrary position from me, but I was heavily involved in student politics and had my (middle class lefty) ideas challenged a lot, from the left and from the right. And yeah, it was pretty uncomfortable at times.

Extra fun work day today. Down in London spending a little time in the studio talking about the #future of food with some proper stars (details when it goes out). Then dinner and drinks with a good mate.

Chart showing the percentage of men and women of different ages who agree with all three statements: 1. Most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for them 2. Women seek to gain power by getting control over men 3. Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist The chart shows that around 5% of both men and women aged 18 agree with all three statements. Among men, this rises to around 15% among men in their 20s and 22% among 35-45 year olds, before falling back to around 12% among 55-65 year olds. Overall 16% of men and 5% of women agree with all three statements

Good news from the British Election Study: there's no sign of the reported uptick in sexism among young British men

Bad news: what's going on with middle aged men?

AI shows how Murrayfield could look in 2125 as stadium celebrates centenary March 21 will mark the 100th anniversary for the home of rugby in Scotland.

You may have seen the picture of me outside Scottish Gas Murrayfield last week. Well this is why! Scottish Gas and Scottish Rugby asked me to imagine what the stadium might be like in another hundred years, on its hundredth anniversary.

news.stv.tv/sport/from-w...

You never went out of style!

The trend to watch in 2025? Reintermediation The internet was meant to kill the middleman – but 25 years later, brokers and curators are thriving. As AI reshapes the digital economy, will their reign continue, or is another shake-up coming?

I've started writing a new series of articles for @the-independent.com kindly sponsored by @trading212.bsky.social.

You can check out the first one here on a trend I'm a bit obsessed with: reintermediation.

After years of cutting out the middle men and women, we've decided we need experts again.

What's not to love about bikes? I'm biased, having cycled 8500km on a tandem in 2024... but I've not been without my own bike since I was 13.

One of the best shows on the radio at the moment. Go forth and listen.

Sliced Bread - Dough - Bicycles - BBC Sounds How can the bicycle industry recover from sales that plummeted after the pandemic?

It's Dough day again! And this week we're talking about bicycles. Where did they come from? Where are they made? Is it a thriving or struggling business? And, what's the future of the bike?

Check it out now on BBC Sounds or listen this lunchtime on BBC Radio 4.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

As it's relevant again, here's my post countering every argument against VAT on school fees...

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

Apologies to subscribers who didn't get the footnotes this time, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't subscribe! Promise I won't leave them out in future.

Is your business a train or a truck? — Tom Cheesewright, Applied Futurist In an age of high frequency change, businesses like trucks are much more successful than businesses like trains.

New blog post out this morning from my hotel room in sunny Berkshire. Is your business a train or a truck? Yes, I love my analogies but I think this one is a doozy.

tomcheesewright.com/blog/is-your...

...and the closed nature of postcode data, surely?

On my way to Windsor via...beautiful... Slough for a speaking gig tomorrow (Monday) morning, then straight off to Heathrow for another gig in Brussels the following morning. Then home for a day and off to Edinburgh for some filming. Busy and nicely diverse week with three very different clients.

Most irritating song to have stuck in your head?

Currently I have Stefan Dennis's "Don't it make you feel good" wedged in there. And while I usually have a weird facility to store crap pop lyrics, that's the only line I know.

Honestly if the MEN starts doing this, I might have to reconsider my substack subscription.

But then they'd have to get rid of the story-obscuring ads and we know that's not going to happen.

There used to be a restaurant outside Reading that largely sold unusual meats. Ostrich, crocodile, etc. Can totally see them with mammoth on the menu.

I need to block out chunks of my diary to do this before the next season. So good.

Eldest kid uses ChatGPT to create revision flashcards for GCSEs as naturally as I used to use Aldus PageMaker for school projects. Her PC just crashes a lot less.

Yeah, I saw that. Just seems bizarre to me. The analogy I've been using is an athlete taking painkillers and steroids to compete in the next race, in the knowledge that doing so will destroy the rest of their career.

I don't get this. I'm a big sceptic of green hydrogen for passenger vehicles but that doesn't mean there isn't huge future demand from other places - aviation, steel production just two examples. Are they and their investors really that short-termist?

Delighted to see so many people reading/sharing this as it took ages to do.

(If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend!)

Sliced Bread - Dough - Game Consoles - BBC Sounds Game consoles have come a long way since the 1970s but could their days now be numbered?

Anyway, we chatted about the past, present and future of games consoles with an incredible bunch of guests - Keza McDonald (The Guardian), James McWhirter (Omdia) and 'father of the Xbox', Seamus Blackley.

Check it out now on BBC Sounds: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The new season of Dough on @bbcradio4.bsky.social started last week and I didn't even post about it. Though if you're an R4 listener, you probably couldn't miss those trails!