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There's an old and probably false story that I still like: An American scientist from NASA was talking to a Soviet scientist about the millions NASA was spending to develop a pen that would write in space. Weightlessness meant that ink just would not flow to the tip.

To which the Soviet scientist replied: "Ah, but we socialists have already solved that problem. ... We call the solution a pencil."

The point is that sometimes old technology does the job better. We need to use the technology that works for us not the technology that is the shiniest. I'm not arguing for the fax (or vinyl or steam) but I am suggesting that new isn't always better.

Good, old-fashioned books made of paper work far better, it seems to me (and to a friend who has just ditched her Kindle), than reading novels on a screen.

You know where you are with the story. It's true they weigh a bit, and if you've ever been a backpacker, a brick-load of books breaks a back. But there is something comforting about a book. It is reassuring. It feels good (and if it's new, it smells good).

Or that ancient technology, the credit card. They do, to my mind, work better than paying at the supermarket or on a bus with a phone. Batteries on phones run out. Clutching a phone all the time is a pain. But a card? It's easy. It's small. It........

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