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Prices may have fallen, but it’s the cleanest and safest of fossil fuels My Times column on shale gas: I don’t know about you, but I have been especially glad of my gas-fired central heating and hot water in the past few frigid weeks. Gas really is rather special: it provides us in this country […]

If it is safe, then we should not prevent families using it My Times column on Britain’s impending decision to allow mitochondrial donation: Tomorrow’s vote in the House of Commons on whether to allow mitochondrial donation has at least flushed out the churches. Both the Catholic and Anglican churches have decided that it is not […]

A book about bitcoin’s implications My review of the book Cryptocurrency appeared in the Times: When the internet started, few guessed how it would develop. I remember reviewing a string of books in the early 1990s arguing that it would lead to atomised and isolated lives, cut off from social contact. Social media put paid […]

Alien invasives are the biggest conservation problem, not habitat for bats My recent column in The Times is on wildlife conservation: On the day last week that the House of Commons was debating a private member’s bill dealing with bats in churches, conservationists were starting to eliminate rats from the island of South Georgia by dropping […]

My contribution to edge.org’s annual question Edge.org has an annual question to which 190 people are invited to respond. This year it is “What do you think of machines that think?” and the answer I gave is below:   What I think about machines that think is that we are all missing the point still. […]

The polarisation of the climate debate has gone too far This article appeared in the Times on January 19, 2015: I am a climate lukewarmer. That means I think recent global warming is real, mostly man-made and will continue but I no longer think it is likely to be dangerous and I think its slow […]

Genetic modification raises yields and cuts pesticide use My Times column on genetic modification of crops: The European Parliament votes tomorrow on whether to let countries decide their own policies on growing genetically modified crops. The vote would allow countries such as Britain to press ahead because of hard evidence that such crops are good […]

Tumours are the wages of age, not the wages of sin My Times column on cancer, luck and good deaths:   If we could prevent or cure all cancer, what would we die of? The new year has begun with a war of words over whether cancer is mostly bad luck, as suggested by a […]

Welcome signs of an end to public sector IT over-runs and failures In December, I omitted to post my Times column on government IT and digital policy:   The travel chaos last Friday was a reminder of just how much life depends on Big Software doing its job. The air-traffic control centre at Swanwick was […]

800 years after Magna Carta and 200 after Waterloo, the UK’s in good shape My Times column is on the UK’s high standard of living and social freedoms: Years ending in 15 (or 65) have often been good ones to be British. In January, we celebrate 750 years since Simon de Montfort first summoned Parliament […]