European Commission buries science on bees
Matt Ridley
Study suggests ban on neonicotinoids has done more harm than good My Times column on a shocking case of European policy cover-up over bees and insecticides: Is the European Commission determined to dim the Enlightenment? I ask this because its behaviour in one specific instance goes so utterly with dogma and against evidence as […]
Faddy fashions in foods conceal a real nutritional problem
Matt Ridley
Food allergies are increasing – because we’ve got rid of our worms My Times column on dietary intolerance: I suggest you finish your breakfast before reading this column. When the National Health Service announced last month that it would no longer prescribe gluten-free food, it surprised me that it had been doing so in […]
When populism falters and the elite strikes back
Matt Ridley
Lessons from the history of failed rebellions against oligarchs My Times column on Douglas Carswell’s book Rebel: I am writing this from the Netherlands, where one of the most gruesome paintings in the Rijksmuseum, by Jan de Baen, depicts the eviscerated bodies of the de Witt brothers, hanging upside down after the mob had […]
Stand up for the right to criticise Islam
Matt Ridley
We risk gradually having an offence of blasphemy imposed on the west “It is wrong to describe this as Islamic terrorism. It is Islamist terrorism. It is a perversion of a great faith.” This is what the prime minister said in parliament after the attack on Westminster Bridge that killed three tourists and a policeman. […]
Matt Ridley
Britain once destroyed India’s economy yet we can still be friends My Times column on Britain and India: By 2022, India will have overtaken China to become the most populous country in the world and, growing fast, will be rapidly returning towards the dominant position it held in the world economy for centuries. It […]
Free trade agreements are easier if you keep them simple
Matt Ridley
Australia offers an example for post-Brexit Britain An expanded and updated version of my Times column on free trade agreements and Brexit: The prime minister will soon press the button and launch Article 50 on its inexorable, ballistic trajectory towards impact in March 2019. From the political class here, let alone in Brussels, comes […]
Matt Ridley
The various ways our statistical reasoning lets us down My Times column on the frequent statistical reasoning mistakes that lead to bad policies: Budget week might be a good time to remind ourselves of the fallacies on which bad policies feed. Last year the University of Michigan’s Professor Richard Nisbett wrote a short book called […]
The possibilities opened up by gene editing
Matt Ridley
Medicine, agriculture and conservation all stand to benefit My recent Times column on gene editing’s possibilities: Scientists at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, said last week that they had edited the genomes of pigs, rendering them immune to a dangerous virus. The announcement is extraordinary precisely because it sounds almost routine these days. Gene […]
How Europe deliberately made air pollution worse
Matt Ridley
The dash for diesel was the result of lobbying by greens and companies My Times column on Britain’s self-inflicted diesel scandal: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is right to try to switch the capital away from diesel engines as fast as possible, even if this is tough on those duped into buying diesel cars […]
The sinister assault on free speech
Matt Ridley
Why is feminism making common cause with religion against freedom? A longer version of my Times column on free speech: “In a free state, tongues too should be free,” wrote Erasmus 501 years ago. In truth, although Britain was often more tolerant than many countries, people have never been entirely free to speak their […]
