If political coverage has you never wanting to hear the word “pothole” again, let me spice things up with an entirely new symbol of decline – one even more everyday, more easily fixed (and therefore even more damning). Potholes 2.0: ladies and gentlemen, I give you the shoelace, and how they do not stay tied any more.
If you’re wondering what my evidence is, I say: evidence schmevidence. Like most political grievances (PC gone mad! Migrants stealing our jobs!) it doesn’t need to be true, only to feel true. And a quick search online suggests I am not the only one who feels like shoelaces – which, let’s be clear, have one job! – are rubbish now. Reddit, Quora, Facebook: the shoelace‑curious are everywhere, with some even turning to the science of the knot itself. (Apparently common ways to tie shoelaces are versions of “the granny knot”, which physicists say is “destined to fail” – much like we are if we keep putting our physicists on jobs like this.)
