Let in more scientists, not fewer
Matt Ridley
Science can thrive after Brexit: there is public support for skilled migration My Times column on skilled versus unskilled migration and Brexit: Michael Kosterlitz, one of the four British-born but American-resident winners of Nobel prizes in science this year, is so incensed by Brexit that he is considering renouncing his British citizenship: “The idea of […]
Bat surveys benefit only one species — bat surveyors
Matt Ridley
Last week my business demolished a derelict brick building used by glue sniffers and fornicators. It took several years to get planning permission to do so and predictably the last hurdle was bats. We had to wait till the summer to do two costly bat surveys, which as expected found no bats, let alone rare […]
Put the animal sentience bill out of its misery
Matt Ridley
Lobsters and the like are given no more protection from cruelty under this legislation but bureaucrats will thrive on it My article for the Times: Like a lobster in boiling water, a parliamentary bill on animal sentience is being tortured in the House of Lords. The problem is political rather than ethical. Nobody objects to […]
Britain will thrive if we side with innovators
Matt Ridley
The government can kickstart a 2020s boom by giving entrepreneurs fewer rules, simpler taxes and cheaper energy My article for The Times: Tomorrow Britain starts to set its own rules, free of the directives of imperial Brussels. Boris Johnson said recently that his government kept deliberately quiet in 2020 about how it would unleash the […]
Matt Ridley
Letter from 12 Conservative peers to The Times: Sir, It is now clear that a policy of lockdown failed to bring the virus under control while having crippling economic and social side effects. Sweden has achieved a lower death rate from Covid-19 than the UK, with far less economic and social damage, despite being a […]
EU can look to 1783 for a way through Brexit
Matt Ridley
Britain’s strategy after losing the War of Independence was generous and helped trade thrive My article from The Times: Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, is singing a more friendly tune to Britain than his fellow commissioners: “We’re not going away and you will always be welcome to come back”. In a similar […]
The EU’s absurd risk aversion stifles new ideas
Matt Ridley
Excessive regulation means the health and environmental benefits of new technology are suppressed My article from The Times: With tariffs announced against Brazil and Argentina, and a threat against France, Donald Trump is dragging the world deeper into a damaging trade war. Largely unnoticed, the European Union is also in trouble at the World Trade […]
The near misses of scientific history
Matt Ridley
A new book uncovers those who almost found the secret of life My Times review of Gareth Williams’s new book Unravelling The Double Helix. Who discovered DNA? James Watson and Francis Crick, right? Wrong. Eighty years before they even approached the topic, in 1868, a young Swiss researcher, Friedrich Miescher, working at the University […]
Matt Ridley
Scare stories about Brexit without a withdrawal agreement are exaggerated An expanded version of the my recent Times article: Suppose Britain leaves the EU on March 29 with no deal, just a series of last-minute fixes on things such as aviation and data. And suppose it proves to be a fairly damp squib, with […]
The genes that contribute to human intelligence and personality
Matt Ridley
A crucial new book by a pioneer of behaviour genetics My Review in The Times of Robert Plomin’s new book: For a long time there was an uncomfortable paradox in the world of behaviour genetics. The evidence for genes heavily influencing personality, intelligence and almost everything about human behaviour got stronger and stronger as more […]
