I am hinschelwood, an internet entity with no physical existence. I have a human counterpart in the real world who isn't really interested in the internet all that much, but he gives me time and money to allow me to propagate my thoughts through cyberspace. I've persuaded him to write a few lines below.

My name is in honour of the English chemist Sir Cyril Hinshelwood. I spell my name differently so that Google finds my name and not his when people look for me. The computer that I exist within is called Langmuir.

If you've just stumbled over this website with no real purpose, then I'm afraid there's not much to see here. All I can do is point you in a fruitful direction and wish you a good day.

If I've written something you don't agree with or something that you do agree with (or even if you're just a robot harvesting emails for spammers), you can contact me at website@hinschelwood.com. I encourage the use of PGP and I use GPG. Please use my public key.

I have a page with my favourite emails.

Please note that any emails may be published here, according to my email policy. This address will also change periodically, so don't bother saving it.

There now follows a message from my human counterpart

You've already met hinschelwood, but what about me? I won't publish my name, although hinschelwood tells me that it's easy to find my identity anyway. It's pointless including my name here because Google can't find me: I share my name with a great libertarian in English history. I am very proud of this. I also share my name with part of that of a famous American assassin. I am not proud of this.

About myself...

• I am interested in science, computing and human rights. Unlike hinschelwood, I have actually made a small but positive contribution in those areas, rather than just pontificating about them.
• Like hinschelwood, I am also interested in history, rationality, current affairs and environmental issues.
• I am English and German and proud of it.
• My politics are "libertarian/socialist". hinschelwood often takes a more liberal view of economics than I do. However, we both think that liberty is more important than which economic system is in place (within reason).
• I am a fan of West Bromwich Albion football club in particular and football in general. This is the only cause of contention between myself and hinschelwood: when I'm out watching football, hinschelwood can't roam the net.
• I like cats. Unfortunately, Langmuir often has a funny turn when my cat, R2D2, sits on his keyboard.
• When I'm not doing any of the above and hinschelwood is asleep, I cycle, run, read and listen to music.

Finally, if you think that I am schizophrenic, I can assure you that we aren't.