Category: Outer Thinking Division

You are what you eat. It’s a common phrase, and one most of us will have seen on cookbook covers, heard on TV adverts, or read in reports advocating healthy eating. The implication is that if we eat good food, we’ll be strong, fit and healthy. And that’s more or less true. But the phrase… Continue reading Food for Thought: Eating and Identity

The year is 2057. The scene is central London. People are going about their business in much the same way as we do today; they pop into shops, chat on street corners, hail cabs. Of course, there are a few noticeable differences. The gadgets are shinier, the air is smoggier, nobody is wearing socks. Yes,… Continue reading The Demise of the Sock

Saturday morning. Brixton, London. 1967. The dull thud of boot on ball is followed by an excited cheer; a group of children celebrate slotting a football between the two jumpers thrown down as makeshift goalposts on their local street. Down the road, a car revs into life. A bonnet slams shut. And a set of… Continue reading Generation Rent & the Problem of Community

What’s in a name? cries Juliet, questioning why something as simple as a family name should keep her and her beloved Romeo apart. It’s not an unreasonable argument. Most of us would agree that a name is no more than a label, a tag that has little bearing on us as people, an arbitrary term… Continue reading What’s Really in a Name?

In Britain, one in seven of us no longer carry any cash with us day-to-day. And half of us typically have less than five pounds on us at any given time. Assuming you still have a few old pennies and a crumpled-up fiver languishing somewhere in the depths of your pocket, take them out. Take… Continue reading Cashfree & Proud? Nation Branding & Our Cashless Future

It all starts with a symbol. A shape, a mark, an etching on a cave wall. A cheek adorned with a streak of clay or wet charcoal. An emblem to distinguish one tribe from another. A visual cue, uniting friend and friend alike. Since the dawn of human civilization, symbols have had a key role… Continue reading A Symbol for a City

Steve established the Outer Thinking Division to promote big thinking on our near and distant future. So it seems fitting that the first members of the Division are the very people who represent the future of our society. Yes, the inaugural members of the Outer Thinking Division are Phoebe, aged 10, Mayowa, aged 10, and… Continue reading Introducing the Inaugural Members of the Outer Thinking Division

9.05. Monday morning. You’re late for an important meeting. You push through the swelling crowds at the underground station, mumbling apologies to those who mutter and tut as you half squeeze, half barge your way past them. You run up the left-hand side of the escalator, taking the steps two at a time and pulling… Continue reading Dyslexia & the World of Predictive Text

Anyone who knows Steve will know that he has always had a penchant for the unconventional. His willingness to look underneath the coin, go where no-one else goes and embrace the madness that comes with it forms the foundation of the Outer Thinking Division. As well as producing and posting written pieces, the Division will… Continue reading A Seat at The OTD Table

The year 2050. Central London. Governments have recently banned petrol and diesel engines; not just in London, not just in cities across the UK, but in major cities the world over. On Oxford Street, the crowd of tourists, shoppers and office workers murmurs gently as Lycra-clad cyclists whizz past. Streamlined buses turn soundlessly onto Regent… Continue reading Thoughts on the Future of City Transport – Steve’s Congestion Suggestion