Environmentalism
Tate’s finances are on the skids and I think I know why
Among the many destructive after-effects of the pandemic, the impact of two years of lockdowns has had serious consequences for…
Man’s fraught relationship with nature extends back to prehistory
Archaeology indicates that the first migrations of hunters through Asia into the Americas and Australasia directly contributed to collapses in the Pleistocene megafauna
Policed conviviality: Serpentine Pavilion 2023 reviewed
As I sat down at this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, I overheard a curious exchange. ‘You mustn’t create art within art,’…
The podcast that makes the world strange, mysterious and compelling again
It’s interesting that we have decided shaming and yelling are the easiest ways to change people’s minds. Which is not…
The only things left worth watching on the BBC are foreign buy-ins like The Last Wave
Soon, very soon now — even sooner than I imagined, if A Suitable Boy turns out to be as lacklustre…
Oodles of fun – but unfair on climate sceptics: Kill Climate Deniers reviewed
Kill Climate Deniers is a provocative satire by Australian theatre-activist David Finnigan. The title sounds misanthropic and faintly deranged but…
The new Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker is a delight – but the script isn’t
You won’t be aware of this because the BBC has been keeping it very quiet. But the new Doctor Who…
This V&A show, about fashion’s fascination with the natural world, will seduce and appal
One of the prettiest pieces in the V&A exhibition Fashioned from Nature is a man’s cream waistcoat, silk and linen,…
The slow death of environmentalism
Would you describe yourself as an ‘environmentalist’? I would, mainly to annoy greenies, but also because it’s true. If your…
I offered Zac Goldsmith £50 to stay 20 feet away from me
I once tried to bribe Zac Goldsmith with a £50 note, but he didn’t bite even back then. He was…
My eco-home nightmare
Buying an eco-home? Expect stifling springs and summers
The Green party isn’t nearly tough enough on Ancient Greece
The Green party’s manifesto appears to make saving the planet only a small element in its otherwise painfully unoriginal agenda.…
Calling the Green party socialist is an insult to socialists
The Green party has been likened to a watermelon: green on the outside and red on the inside. But that…
The darkest secret about commuting: some of us enjoy it
In the early days of Victorian railways, train journeys were (rightly) considered so dangerous that ticket offices sold life insurance…
Does Ukip believe in anything any more?
I’m worried about Ukip. It’s possible that my concerns are entirely misplaced but let me give you some examples of…
Tim Rice’s diary: From Eternity to here
Last October, in these very pages, I wrote with what is now annoying prescience, ‘Like almost everyone else in the…
Spectator letters: Wind and bias, and the Scots at war
Caution over wind Sir: While the broadcast media have assailed their audiences with simplistic yet blanket coverage of the floods…
The Environment Agency cares more about wildlife than people
The Environment Agency may not be much use to humans, but it does great things for the depressed river mussel
You, too, can be a shale profiteer
Here’s how to get a slice of the fracking action
The martyrdom of Mark Steyn
When I first read, many months ago, that the notorious US climate scientist Michael Mann was suing the notorious right-wing…
How the MPs' expenses scandal proved the wisdom of Alain de Botton
Whenever I’m tempted to pretend to be nicer so that fewer people hate me, I remember my old friend Alain…
Why we should let Faroe islanders hunt whales
Marine charities should stop obsessing about a few Faroe islanders and go after the real villains
Agitprop for toddlers: the oddly strident politics of CBeebies
The oddly strident politics of CBeebies
Why climate change is good for the world
The current scientific consensus is that climate change is doing more good than harm
