Matt Ridley
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Explore Blagdon
  • Speaking
  • How Innovation Works
    • UK
    • US
    • CA
  • Rational Optimist
  • Books
  • Parliament
  • Contact Me
  • Newsletter
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Explore Blagdon
  • Speaking
  • How Innovation Works
    • UK
    • US
    • CA
  • Rational Optimist
  • Books
  • Parliament
  • Contact Me
  • Newsletter
Blog Archive

Archive

  • 2022

    • June (1)
    • May (1)
    • March (5)
    • February (4)
    • January (3)
  • 2021

    • December (4)
    • November (4)
    • October (3)
    • September (1)
    • August (4)
    • July (6)
    • June (3)
    • May (1)
    • April (2)
    • March (4)
    • February (3)
    • January (2)
  • 2020

    • December (5)
    • November (4)
    • October (4)
    • September (3)
    • July (4)
    • June (6)
    • May (12)
    • April (7)
    • March (10)
    • February (6)
    • January (5)
  • 2019

    • December (4)
    • November (1)
    • October (1)
    • June (1)
    • May (2)
    • April (1)
    • March (2)
    • January (1)
  • 2018

    • December (1)
    • November (1)
    • October (1)
    • August (1)
    • July (2)
    • June (1)
    • May (1)
    • April (4)
    • March (3)
    • February (6)
    • January (4)
  • 2017

    • December (4)
    • November (5)
    • October (5)
    • September (5)
    • August (3)
    • July (5)
    • June (4)
    • May (8)
    • April (4)
    • March (4)
    • February (5)
    • January (4)
  • 2016

    • December (3)
    • November (5)
    • October (8)
    • September (3)
    • August (5)
    • July (6)
    • June (3)
    • May (5)
    • April (8)
    • March (3)
    • February (7)
    • January (3)
  • 2015

    • December (5)
    • November (5)
    • October (7)
    • September (3)
    • August (4)
    • July (5)
    • June (7)
    • May (7)
    • April (7)
    • March (5)
    • February (4)
    • January (7)
  • 2014

    • December (4)
    • November (4)
    • October (5)
    • September (5)
    • August (6)
    • July (6)
    • June (3)
    • May (7)
    • April (7)
    • March (5)
    • February (3)
    • January (5)
  • 2013

    • December (6)
    • November (5)
    • October (7)
    • September (6)
    • August (3)
    • July (7)
    • June (6)
    • May (4)
    • April (4)
    • March (6)
    • February (4)
    • January (6)
  • 2012

    • December (8)
    • November (7)
    • October (5)
    • September (6)
    • August (5)
    • July (6)
    • June (4)
    • May (6)
    • April (4)
    • March (9)
    • February (6)
    • January (8)
  • 2011

    • December (8)
    • November (9)
    • October (18)
    • September (7)
    • August (9)
    • July (13)
    • June (14)
    • May (16)
    • April (17)
    • March (14)
    • February (9)
    • January (16)
  • 2010

    • December (15)
    • November (16)
    • October (16)
    • September (13)
    • August (6)
    • July (17)
    • June (11)
    • May (20)
    • April (25)
    • March (6)

Tags

  • All
  • rational-optimist (609)
  • wall-street-journal (59)
  • the-times (246)
  • Rational Opimist (5)
  • spectator (30)
  • telegraph (30)
  • prospect (1)
  • lecture (1)
  • general (36)
  • human-genome (1)
  • radio (1)
  • financial post (1)
  • the-times (52)
  • Spectator (6)
  • wall-street-journal (62)
  • Australian (1)
  • spiked! (1)
  • Telegraph (1)
  • evolution (2)
  • genetics (1)
  • technology (1)
  • the times (1)
  • shale-gas (1)
  • climate (1)
  • meteorite (1)
  • ice age (1)
  • confirmation bias (1)
  • general (3)
  • the times (1)
  • climate (2)
  • poverty reduction (1)
  • gmos (7)
  • golden rice (1)
  • quillette (1)
  • the critic (1)
  • fracking (2)
  • shale gas (1)
  • extinction rebellion (1)
  • eu (1)
  • regulation (1)
  • innovation (10)
  • the spectator (2)
  • economics (2)
  • environment (12)
  • inequality (1)
  • Reaction (1)
  • Climate (1)
  • BBC (1)
  • The Times (1)
  • Brexit (1)
  • EU (1)
  • Free Trade (1)
  • brexit (6)
  • house-of-lords (2)
  • iea (1)
  • podcast (2)
  • kirkus (1)
  • how-innovation-works (17)
  • book-reviews (3)
  • reddit (1)
  • the-spectator (4)
  • biology (19)
  • coronavirus (62)
  • free-market-conservatives (1)
  • boris-johnson (1)
  • the-critic (3)
  • globalvision (1)
  • energy (12)
  • reaction (1)
  • appearances (5)
  • yaron-brook (1)
  • corona (2)
  • the-remnant (1)
  • political-orphanage (1)
  • blazetv (1)
  • inside-sources (1)
  • PERC (1)
  • samanth-subramanian (1)
  • adam-hart (1)
  • national-review (1)
  • origin-of-covid (21)
  • trade (1)
  • discourse (1)
  • warp-news (1)
  • vaccination (1)
  • the-knowledge-project (1)
  • genetic-literacy-project (1)
  • PoliticsHome (1)
  • food (1)
  • genetics (1)
  • insects (1)
  • interview (1)
  • science (3)
  • daily-mail (2)
  • radix (1)
  • china (3)
  • books (1)
  • politics (1)
  • uk-politics (6)
  • video (1)
  • spiked (2)
  • omicron (1)
  • the-sun (2)
  • russia (1)
  • africa (1)

Welcome to Matt Ridley's Blog

  • Home >
  • Blog

Matt Ridley is the author of provocative books on evolution, genetics and society. His books have sold over a million copies, been translated into thirty languages, and have won several awards.

Please note that this blog does not accept comments. If you're reading this blog and want to respond then please use the contact form on the site, or comment on his Facebook page. You can also follow him on Twitter @mattwridley.

Sign up for his new newsletter and like the new Viral Facebook page to make sure you don't miss any upcoming content.

availablenow.2to1.png

Matt Ridley's latest book Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19, co-authored with scientist Alina Chan from Harvard and MIT's Broad Institute, is now available in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

    Archive for date: July, 2014

  • Renewable energy is not working

    Published on: Thursday, 31 July, 2014

    Too much cost, not enough output or too little emissions reduction

    My Times Column explores why renewable energy has been so disappointing.

    On Saturday my train was diverted by engineering works near Doncaster. We trundled past some shiny new freight wagons decorated with a slogan: “Drax — powering tomorrow: carrying sustainable biomass for cost-effective renewable power”. Serendipitously, I was at that moment reading a report by the chief scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change on the burning of wood in Yorkshire power stations such as Drax. And I was feeling vindicated.

    A year ago I wrote in these pages that it made no sense for the consumer to subsidise the burning of American wood in place of coal, since wood produces more carbon dioxide for each kilowatt-hour of electricity. The forests being harvested would take four to ten decades to regrow, and this is the precise period over which we are supposed to expect dangerous global warming to emerge. It makes no sense to steal beetles’ lunch, transport it halfway round the world, burning diesel as you do so, and charge hard-pressed consumers double the price for the power it generates.

    Read Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
  • Atheists and Anglicans could unite against intolerance

    Published on: Thursday, 24 July, 2014

    Segregating schoolchildren by faith is a bad idea

    My Times column is on religion in schools:

    We now know from Peter Clarke’s report, published today but leaked last week, that there was indeed “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos into some schools” in Birmingham.

    Whistleblowers first approached the British Humanist Association in January with such allegations, weeks before the appearance of the Trojan Horse letter. The BHA (of which I should declare I am a “distinguished supporter” though I’ve never done much to deserve this accolade) properly passed on the information to the Department for Education.

    Read Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
  • On Slippery Slopes

    Published on: Thursday, 17 July, 2014

    Arguments against reproductive technologies appeal to a false analogy

    My Times column tackles the misleading metaphor of the slippery slope:

     

    Who first thought up the metaphor of the slippery slope? It’s a persistent meme, invoked in many a debate about ethics, not least over the assisted dying bill for which I expect to vote in the House of Lords on Friday. But in practice, ethical slopes are not slippery; if anything they are sometimes too sticky.

    Read Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
  • The BBC and balance

    Published on: Wednesday, 09 July, 2014

    The broadcaster bowing to pressure from green activists

    My Times column on the BBC's unbalanced environmental coverage:

    The BBC’s behaviour grows ever more bizarre. Committed by charter to balanced reporting, it has now decided formally that it was wrong to allow balance in a debate between rival guesses about the future. In rebuking itself for having had the gall to interview Nigel Lawson on the Today programme about climate change earlier this year, it issued a statement containing this gem: “Lord Lawson’s views are not supported by the evidence from computer modelling and scientific research.”

    The evidence from computer modelling? The phrase is an oxymoron. A model cannot, by definition, provide evidence: it can provide a prediction to test against real evidence. In the debate in question, Lord Lawson said two things: it was not possible to attribute last winter’s heavy rain to climate change with any certainty, and the global surface temperature has not warmed in the past 15 to 17 years. He was right about both, as his debate opponent, Sir Brian Hoskins, confirmed.

    Read Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
  • GM crops are good for the environment

    Published on: Wednesday, 02 July, 2014

    Fighting pests with genes is better than fighting them with spraysRead Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
  • Fat and fattening: exploding the myths

    Published on: Wednesday, 02 July, 2014

    The flimsy evidence behind low-fat dietsRead Full Post
    By: Matt Ridley | Tagged: rational-optimist, the-times
Subscribe to my blog

Receive all my latest posts straight to your inbox. simply subscribe below:

Name: *  
Email: *    
Captcha
Type the characters: *  
Please note: Any personal information you supply by submitting this form will be used solely for the purpose it was intended for. We will not be passing your information onto a third party or using your email for any additional marketing. Please also refer to our Privacy Policy on our website.

[*] denotes a required field

  • Site Map
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
Site by: Retox Digital