At about the same time as a dastardly hacker was stealing the email archive of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, a senior member of the same faculty was addressing a group of villagers in south Norfolk. The professor’s themes were energy and climate change, matters of particular interest in a part of… Continue reading Science must never be political or emotional
Read morePositively the last word on the strange saga of Elizabeth Truss, the Dave’s Darling would-be MP for south-west Norfolk, and her run-in with the Turnip Taliban: it was not about sex or even about using Google. When members of the local Conservative Association objected to her candidacy, the problem was not that she had once… Continue reading Look out, the locals are revolting
Read moreThe GPs have spoken. A plague of “heath hoaxes” is upon us, promoted by those who should know better – the famous and the rich. The most useless of these alternative treatments, according to a survey of doctors carried out by the isurance firm Aviva, is called “cupping” and is associated with Gwyneth Paltrow. Then… Continue reading Do celebrities have all the answers?
Read moreSo at last, it is official. Personal convictions about the environment are no longer to be regarded as matters of logic or science, but belong to the world of faith. As from this week, they are subject to the 2003 Religion and Belief Act. A belief in global warming has been put on the same… Continue reading A guide to the new eco-religion
Read moreSomeone surely should commission a biopic based on the bizarre life of Gyles Brandreth, that Zelig in the world of contemporary celebrity. For more than 50 years, Brandreth has played the fool in one way or another, modifying and varying his act and career as the culture around him changed. When he was at Oxford,… Continue reading The heroic career of an unserious man
Read moreThat contemporary phenomenon, the commercially-sponsored academic survey, can normally be relied on to reiterate whatever the received idea of the moment happens to be. It might be the general hopelessness of men, or the death of childhood innocence, or the frightfulness of modern Britain. This week, though, an unpromising little study, commissioned by a wine… Continue reading Can we talk about me now please?
Read moreIt has taken an unlovely trio to bring current attitudes towards the poor old British countryside into sharp and alarming focus. Donald Trump, James Packer and John Prescott are united in their view that the landscape is an expendable asset, there to be exploited like any other. The American billionaire has bought up part of… Continue reading We must fight them in the fields
Read morePerhaps it is time for Professor Richard Dawkins to scale down his famous campaign on behalf of godlessness. His great enemy, religious faith, may not be defeated but, on recent evidence, the Church of England at least is developing a talent for self-sabotage. That stock character of English life, the local vicar, is changing. Not… Continue reading The new breed of bossy vicars
Read moreToday is our national caring day. Across the country, people will be involved in activities – sporting, musical or just plain odd – which will raise money for charity. On the BBC, the famous will be doing their bit by playing the fool, putting on silly costumes and generally allowing the giving, good-natured side of… Continue reading A great day for famous do-gooders
Read moreFor the past 12 years, Bob Dylan has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. As the list of his achievements has grown longer, so have the reasons why he will never win it. He is a musician, he is American, he hates awards ceremonies and now, with an album of festive favourites called… Continue reading An artist who remains himself
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