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Deirdre McCloskey’s feast of words on the “great enrichment” My review in the Times of Deirdre McCloskey’s Bourgeois Equality:   It took me two months to read this 650-page, small-type book, the third volume in a trilogy. In that time I read several other books, absorbing Bourgeois Equality in small doses on trains, ships, Tubes, sofas […]

Most European science funding and collaboration is not EU dependent My column in the Times on British science and the European Union: The House of Lords science and technology committee, on which I sit, has produced a report on British science and the European Union. Most scientists are enthusiastic to remain in the EU but […]

Uncovering the subversion of scientific methods in pursuit of politics My Times column on pseudoscience:   Science, humanity’s greatest intellectual achievement, has always been vulnerable to infection by pseudoscience, which pretends to use the methods of science, but actually subverts them in pursuit of an obsession. Instead of evidence-based policymaking, pseudoscience specialises in policy-based evidence […]

The surprising restoration of Britain’s wildlife My review of Stephen Moss’s book Wild Kingdom from the Times: The wildlife of the River Tyne, near where I live, has been transformed in my lifetime. When I went pike fishing on the Tyne as a bird-watching-obsessed boy, it was empty of salmon, sea trout and otters. It […]

For both obesity and heart disease, saturated fats are not the problem I have published two articles this week on the crumbing of the dogma that fat is bad for you. This was in the Times: Britain’s obesity tsar, Susan Jebb, says that it is not fair to blame fat people for their failure to […]

Unilateral policies export jobs and emissions My Times column on the role of UK emissions policies in driving aluminium, steel and other industries abroad:   Before Redcar and Port Talbot, remember Lynemouth, where Britain’s last large aluminium smelter closed in 2012. In aluminium, as in steel, China is now by far the largest producer, smelting […]

Current protected species policy is expensive and counterproductive My Times column on the sensible proposal to reform the way protected species are helped during development:   Natural England, the government body charged with protecting Britain’s wildlife, is currently consulting on reforming the way protected species are rescued from bulldozers. The rethink is focused on the […]

Sustainable exploitation or no-take zones in marine protected areas? My Times column on the growing movement for marine protected areas in British overseas territories:   Britain may no longer have an empire, but it still rules a heck of a lot of waves. One of the manifesto commitments of the Conservative party in the last […]

Trade treaties are not essential for trade; the EU distorts the UK’s trade My Times column on free trade the European Union:   The late Sir George Martin created substantial British exports. Had the import of his music to America been banned to save the jobs of US musicians, Britain would have missed out on […]

EDF cannot afford to build Hinkley Point and we cannot afford its electricity My Times column on Britain’s delayed and every more expensive EPR nuclear power station Last week the British and French governments announced that they remained confident that the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset will be built. But EDF, the […]