Inspired by the “broken windows” theory of crime – where minor disorder leads to the potential for more severe crime – the NYPD aimed to increase enforcement around minor offences throughout the 2000s. Unfortunately, the target encouraged arrests for absurd crimes; eating doughnuts in a Brooklyn park, or subway riders placing their feet on seats at 4am.
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The crime targets introduced by the Labour Party in the 1990s led to some anomalies. One police force showed a 27% decrease in “theft from a motor vehicle”, which did have a target, but a 407% increase for “vehicle interference”, which didn’t.
After the pandemic led to cruise ships being branded as “floating petri dishes,” 2024 saw a record number of passengers taking to the water for a holiday. Passenger numbers were up by 14.5% compared with 2019, which itself was a record year.
Cubism was one of the most innovative art movements of the 20th century, but it was a clear reformulation of the post-impressionism wave that came decades before. For instance, the deconstruction of shapes into precise angles and distinct areas can be seen in the work of Paul Cezanne as early as 1885. In fact Picasso openly acknowledged the influence of Cezanne on his work, describing him as ‘my one and only master’.
When a group of cyclists were asked to ride to the point of exhaustion, they lasted 18% longer when the clock (secretly) ran 10% slow. In other words, ‘maximum effort’ is a psychological, not physical, limit.
Dating apps have come full circle. Their latest offer is in person meet ups.
When the football icon shaved his hear in 1999, journalists said it was an intentional move to mark “his rite of passage from single man to husband and father.” But according to Victoria’s memoir it was her own stylist who suggested it: “David would have been happy with just a bit of a crop.”
Clock changes are no laughing matter: leaving Daylight Savings Time in the autumn increases minor road accidents by 13%, when an hour of sunlight is reallocated back to the morning and it’s darker in the evenings.
A single word can make a policy significantly less appealing. According to pollster Frank Luntz, 68% of Americans oppose inheritance tax when it is labelled ‘estate tax’, but 78% oppose it labelled as ‘death tax’.
Ella Mills founded the nutrition brand Deliciously Ella after she was incapacitated by PoTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Several hospital admissions and 25 types of medication failed to alleviate her suffering. It was only when she radically altered her diet, cutting out gluten and refined sugar, that she noticed improvements.
Deliveroo came from an investment banker who wanted better delivery options when he was working late at the office.
In 1988, the US health department coined ‘Designated Driver’ as part of a campaign to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities. The campaign broke new ground when TV writers agreed to insert references to designated drivers into scripts of top-rated television programs, such as Cheers, Dallas, and L.A. Law.
They mostly build suspense by leaving the big reveal until the end, but some of them do the exact opposite: they tell you who committed the crime at the very beginning. Columbo is perhaps the best example of this ‘inverted detective’ format, which shows that there is no single way of building suspense.
How do you make a 60 year old cereal exciting again? Rotate it. As part of a 2008 campaign, Shreddies turned their cereal 45 degrees, called them ‘Diamond Shreddies’, then filmed focus groups of people saying the ‘new’ product not only looked better but tasted better too.
De Beers has single handedly transformed our notion of engagement rings. On the eve of World War Two, a mere 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. After the brand’s ‘A Diamond is Forever’ campaign, that figure was 80%. What’s more, the campaign imprinted the idea that a man should spend two month’s salary on the ring.