‘Allure of the lighthouse’, Guardian, 12 April 2014, 36.

‘The draw of a painted face’, Guardian, 12 September 2013, 34. [on portraits and selfies]

‘The silent socialisers’, Guardian, 13 April 2013, p. 43. [on insects]

‘The 1980s that we forgot’, Guardian, 25 February 2013, p. 22.

‘Voices that wrap around our lives’, Guardian, 23 October 2012, 28. [on radio voices]

‘The coolness of kitsch’, Guardian, 1 September 2012, 24. [on Dallas]

‘An ear for ordinary life’, Guardian, 28 April 2012, 38. [on oral history]

‘Servitude and service’, Guardian, 27 February 2012, 25. [on servants]

‘An arrow to my heart’, Guardian, 16 January 2012, 22. [on darts]

‘A culinary nativity’, Guardian, 19 December 2011, 24. [on cookbooks]

‘Trains of thought’, Guardian, 12 September 2011, 26. [on silent zones]

‘The poetry of lawnmowers’, Guardian, 11 June 2011, 34.

‘In praise of Ken Barlow’, Guardian, 18 November 2010, p. 37.

‘Long live the dead tree’, Guardian, 11 October 2010, 31. [on paper]

‘Therapy in a pencil case’, Guardian, 28 August 2010. [on stationery]

‘Kindness’, Observer Magazine, 8 August 2010, 18.

‘The ants march on, but we’d be happier as grasshoppers’, Guardian, 2 August 2010. [on work and play]

‘The age of Big Brother demands we reveal our true selves’, Guardian, 9 June 2010, 25.

‘The parable of the talent show’, Guardian, 24 April 2010, 30.

‘The comfort of statistics’, Guardian, 9 January 2010, 30.

‘The world unmapped’, Guardian, 2 December 2009, 33.

‘Decoding the Decade’, Guardian, 14 November 2009, 30.

‘This cultish interactivity is no substitute for a proper public sphere,’ Guardian, 3 September 2009, 27.

‘In defence of the everybird’, Guardian, 25 July 2009, 31. [on pigeons]

‘Only gentrification can avert the ice-cream van’s doom’, Guardian, 1 July 2009, 26.

‘Aimless pleasures,’ New Statesman, 20 April 2009, p. 17. [on psychogeography]

‘Far from the rural idyll,’ Guardian, 4 April 2009, 42.

‘Remains of the day,’ New Statesman, 23 February 2009, 19. [on contemporary archaeology]

‘Sanctuary on the 7.15,’ Guardian, 27 September 2008, 34. [on commuting]

‘We do like to be beside’, Guardian, 19 August 2008, 26. [on the seaside]

‘Rail at the railings’, Guardian, 7 May 2008, 30.

‘Frestonian footnotes’, Guardian, 3 November 2007, 34.

‘Democracy is a dance step’, Guardian, 6 October 2007, 38.

‘The science of ourselves’, New Statesman, 29 January 2007, 38-40. [on Mass Observation]

‘A prayer with no meaning’, Guardian, 16 January 2007, 28. [on the markets]

‘Quiet pleas’, Guardian, 11 November 2006, 34. [on the two-minute silence]

‘Useless sea and sand’, New Statesman, 28 August 2006, 17. [on New Brighton]

‘Another crossroads for the crisp’, New Statesman, 27 March 2006, 22.

‘Hello, I’m here and you’re there’, New Statesman, 29 August 2005, 18. [on postcards]