I’ve seen very, very small jigsaws – but no very, very big jigsaws. Wouldn’t they be a good accompaniment to giant chess and giant connect-4 in a garden or park?

These two statements in William Keegan’s article in today’s Observer have prompted me to flesh out this idea: “it should never be forgotten that the coalition inherited a burgeoning economic recovery in the summer of 2010 and proceeded to bring it to a halt with its misguided programme of austerity” and “ I think I heard the prime minister come out yet again on the wireless the other day with that pre-Keynesian howler – much in vogue with the German economic establishment – that when the private sector cuts back, it makes sense for the public sector to cut back too. On the contrary, it does not make sense, and was the reverse of what was needed after the depression which followed the financial crash of 2008-09”. I’m fed up with politicians, clerics, lobbyists and other people with an axe to grind, brainwashing us with stuff that I suspect they do not fully understand, or that they are twisting to their own ends, or, worse still, that they are simply lying about. I’d like to see these points tested in the media by sending them to the Telegraph, Times/Sunday Times, Financial Times, Guardian/Observer, and The Independent, and asking them to research the following aspects: a) was the quote an accurate record of the statement? b) was any additional meaning imparted by the context in which the statement was made? c) what evidence did the person making the statement base it on? d) what are the findings of the research that has been done on the subject e) what experiments/empirical tests have been performed to validate each main set of findings? e) what is the broad consensus of the professionals in the field concerned regarding each of the main sets of findings?

It’s good to have a contents template when creating documents of a particular type – an audit report, an IT Architecture document, a Project Plan, or a Preservation Plan, for example – there must be hundreds of different types in use today. It would be very useful to have an iPad app which provides all the standard contents for different types of documents. In some instances, a few of the main headings may not be relevant, or you don’t want to go down to such great levels of detail. So the app could help you choose which subset of all the possibilities would be most useful for a particular set of circumstances. Content components could be suggested by users and moderated by the owner of the app.

As computer technology powers ahead, people look back with nostalgia on the earlier models that they used, so the time is ripe for the production of small scale replicas for collection and display. Of course, being computers, they might do a little more than just look good. Building in a chip holding information about the model, and a wifi capability, would enable it to display its details on a local screen; and, depending on the particular selection of models that you have collected together, particular functions and processes could be programmed to occur. For example, the display of footage of an early computer guru speaking, the ability to pay an early game, or the ability to undertake the next stage of a complex puzzle.

When I swim I enjoy going underwater and sometimes picking things up from the bottom. The other day it occurred to me that, by integrating some electronics and chips into the tiles on the bottom of a pool, it might  be possible to make them light up and to switch them off with a touch. This ability would enable a challenging underwater treasure hunt to be constructed. Tiles could be lit singly such that a new one is lit when the current one is touched. Alternatively, the lights could show numbers such that you have to switch them off in the correct order. Software would enable courses of differing tile placement but with the same length routes, to be constructed such that individuals could compete to get the fastest time.

On our recent weekend in Zurich, I saw teacups doubling as lampshades and open books hanging as mobiles from string threaded through holes bored through the pages. Both made me think how everyday objects can be given other contexts and uses which, conversely, makes their own essence more noticeable. I wondered if this might be a way of bringing some of those buried mementos and artefacts to life? Would it work, for example, to create a mobile with some of one’s keepsakes?

As I contemplated the display of digital versions of posters and pictures, my mind wandered to other aspects of digitisation such as the creation of objects with 3d printers. The slippage between real and digital will become increasingly easy and prevalent. Consequently the world of the future will need ways to easily, quickly and reliably differentiate between what is original and what is copy – an ORI mark system. Detailed forensic investigation will always be an option to get an absolute answer, but people will need a more immediate mechanism to help them navigate an increasingly mixed reality world.

Sometimes it’s just hard to imagine the size of things when they are written about in the newspapers – or even when they are shown in pictures. A recent TV programme about glaciers and icebergs showed a huge glacier front many kilometres long and very high, but it was impossible to grasp its scale until the research vessel came in shot at the foot of this monster. Of course the place we do fully grasp the size of is our home and its environs. So maybe some innovative software company could create an app which would enable you to select an object or geographic place and have it inserted into a picture of your house. With appropriate accompanying sounds, the insertion of the Grand Canyon into the back garden (and surrounding land for many miles each way) would be both dramatic and instructive.

The UK movement to encourage employers to provide a living wage, as opposed to a minimum wage, is a commendable initiative. Perhaps it would gain more momentum if those in power could spend a week with a family on the minimum wage – or even on the living wage! A longer term strategy might be to have school leavers undertake the same experience.

To add a bit of frisson to a sharing platter, provide a tot of different kinds of sherry with each of the major elements of the dish.