en-uk Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:37:29 GMT Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. custserv@timesonline.co.uk http://www.timesonline.co.uk Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:21:46 GMT Newspapers 144 21 http://www.timesonline.co.uk http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,116979,00.gif Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-05T04:08:45Z There have been times when it has appeared as though the best professional to help you to understand Conservative European policy would be a psychiatrist. But right now? I’d consult a behavioural economist. Daniel Finkelstein Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-03T09:12:38Z The first time I had lunch with David Cameron, I noticed that he was wearing something odd. He sported a pair of European Union cufflinks. It was a striking thing to do in those days, the early 1990s. The Conservative Party was rowing constantly about the EU, and he worked as a special adviser to a Eurosceptic Cabinet minister. So naturally, I asked him about them. Daniel Finkelstein Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:01:37 GMT 2009-10-23T01:44:38Z This week I finally got round to watching The Boat That Rocked. I like Richard Curtis films, so I was looking forward to this one. I even enjoyed Love Actually, despite that intensely embarrassing speech on the special relationship that Hugh Grant gives. But sadly, I didn’t enjoy The Boat That Rocked. Daniel Finkelstein Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-10-21T12:24:36Z Something strange happened in East Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. Back pain had never been much of a problem there. But soon it was. It began to rise and rise. And within a decade of reunification, back pain was higher in East Germany than almost anywhere in the developed world. But there was one place where it was just as high. And when you find out where, you will be one step closer to understanding the postal strike. Daniel Finkelstein Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-10-16T11:10:09Z One of my favourite New Yorker cartoons joked about how, as we become adults, our brain fills up and we have to throw out old knowledge to stuff in new facts. The accompanying picture had a woman walking along happily reading Celebrity Chat magazine, while in the dustbin behind her lay a discarded filing drawer marked “Western Philosophers A-Z”.