Matt Ridley



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Area of interest: Environment: evolution, genetics, environment and society

Journals/Organisation: The Times

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Personal website: http://www.rationaloptimist.com

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Blog: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog

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Networks: https://twitter.com/mattwridley



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Articles: 2015

 * Britain now needs to grow its own Googles - Only high-tech innovation will give us the cash to fund our future, so why won’t Cameron or Miliband talk about it? - 20th April
 * Welfare reforms are working for everyone - Job creation has surged in the past five years on the back of Iain Duncan Smith’s tough-love approach to benefits - 13th April
 * Help me escape my parliamentary nightmare - It’s hell . . . a Labour minority government rules, the SNP gnaws away at the Union and no one can afford a fresh election - 6th April
 * Driverless cars should steer us away from HS2 - In fifteen years’ time people will want their own way of getting around, not a hugely expensive high-speed railway - 30th March
 * Here’s how to bring our oceans back to life - Ignore the eco doom-mongers obsessed with climate change: over-fishing is the real threat to marine diversity - 23rd March
 * Cutting emissions is going to bankrupt us - We can’t rely on nuclear or renewables, so we’ve pinned our hopes on carbon capture – but that’s not working either - 16th March
 * Brussels blight is damaging our food supply - Cereal producers are making giant strides everywhere but Europe . . . and officialdom’s war on innovation is to blame - 9th March
 * It’s a scandal that the NHS is too big to fail - When public bodies such as the BBC fail miserably, they still survive. That wouldn’t happen with private companies - 3rd March
 * Who wants cheaper jeans and cheaper beer? - Despite loud opposition to free trade, consumers will benefit if Europe and America open their markets to each other - 16th February
 * Gas is essential. Don’t give up on fracking - With oil prices so cheap and scaremongers in full cry, it might be tempting to forget shale. That would be a big mistake - 9th February
 * The church is wrong on ‘three-parent’ babies - We are not rushing into mitochondrial DNA donation. The safety of this technique has been debated every step of the way - 2nd February
 * It’s common sense: kill the rats, move the bats - Human intervention ruins wildlife everywhere. We mustn’t shy away from taking action to set the balance right - 27th January
 * We must pick our battles in war on cancer - It’s a foe that keeps developing ways to kill us. For some patients, love, morphine and whisky may be the best answer - 5th January



Articles: 2014

 * Happy new year, Britain . . . and here’s why - History suggests that 2015 will bring numerous reasons to be cheerful. So long as we don’t go on a spending spree - 29th December
 * More monogamy makes the world less violent - When rich, powerful males take many wives, those left without a mate are driven to crime. Just look at Islamic State - 22nd December
 * To avoid big IT catastrophes, follow Darwin - These creationist computer projects have cost the taxpayer billions. The government now realises evolution is the key - 15th December
 * Scientists must not put policy before proof - Environmental researchers are increasingly looking for evidence that fits their ideology, rather than seeking the truth - 8th December
 * Hurrah for the little-changing face of Britain - If Daniel Defoe came back today he’d find a very familiar country. Cultural evolution has worked better than revolution - 16th November
 * Cheap oil makes the world richer . . . and fairer - The falling cost of energy, helped by fracking, should be celebrated. It can deliver a circle of prosperity and innovation - 20th October
 * We can beat ebola with beds on the ground - But if we lose the battle against this terrifying disease, we may be facing a pandemic as bad as the Black Death - 13th October
 * Brussels and its busy bees are a perfect pest - An EU pesticide ban that was supposed to protect bees has done no such thing. All it does is damage farmers’ crops - 6th October
 * Could these weird coins transform our lives? - The electronic bitcoin may one day replace flawed currencies and make banks, and even governments, redundant - 29th September
 * Don’t fall into the Brussels home rule trap - The last thing England needs is another expensive tier of government. It would only help the EU to cut us down to size - 22nd September
 * The ozone hole isn’t fixed. But that’s no worry - The risk from extra UV light is just one of the dangers that have been overplayed by the eco-exaggerators - 15th September
 * Government is the acceptable face of violence - The threat of force is implicit in law and order but a modern state should recoil at the armour on show in Missouri - 25th August
 * Dismal Europe must embrace free enterprise - The Anglo-Saxon economic approach is working: open markets and deregulation good, subsidies and high taxes bad - 18th August
 * Gamekeepers are one of nature’s best friends - Grouse moor owners spend twice as much on our heathery hills as the RSPB spends on all of its conservation projects - 11th August
 * This ebola epidemic should frighten us all - Though the disease is unlikely to spread globally, we need to concentrate on its likely host – the myriad bat species - 4th August
 * Another renewable myth goes up in smoke - If wood-burning power stations are less eco-friendly than coal, we are getting the search for clean energy all wrong - 28th July
 * Anglicans and atheists, unite against intolerance - The excesses of the Trojan Horse scandal would be allowed in faith schools. Religious practice has no place in education - 21st July
 * Beware alarmists warning of slippery slopes - Opposition to vital medical developments means we are forced to struggle more than we should to enjoy the benefits - 14th July
 * The awkward squad won’t let Sydney sell its soul - Notebook - 30th June
 * Eat up your GM crops. They’re good for you - Genetically modified foods are cheaper to grow, need fewer pesticides and can be enriched with anti-cancer agents - 23rd June
 * You don’t own the land 300m below your feet - Householders can’t be allowed to hold up underground energy projects. In fact, many property rights are too strong - 9th June
 * Start spreading the good news on inequality - All over the world, the poor are becoming less poor. In Britain, the tax system is doing its job by reining in the rich - 2nd June
 * Sometimes it is right to wipe out a species - Mankind would not overreach itself by making extinct some organisms that cause misery – or by bringing back others - 26th May
 * If Nigel Farage was Gladstone I’d vote for him - You rarely find governments that stay clear of both boardroom and bedroom. A new liberal realignment is needed - 19th May
 * Humans are not all the same under the skin - There are genetic variations between races, but they don’t matter. It is co-operation that brings progress to our species - 12th May
 * The Goldilocks effect tells us we are all alone - How can intelligent life exist only on Earth? Because a series of lucky breaks has made us the planet that is just right - 5th May
 * Don’t expect public science to lay golden eggs - If you put government money into research you don’t necessarily get technology – and growth – as your reward - 28th April
 * The richer we get, the greener we’ll become - The world’s climate change experts are now saying that strong growth doesn’t hurt the environment, it protects it - 21st April
 * Looking for work? Let’s put that in writing - The way job numbers have recovered suggests that Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms may be having an effect - 7th April
 * The most baffling disappearance in history - The mystery surrounding flight MH370 is greater than anything we’ve known before - even in the pre-satellite age - 31st March
 * We’ll be relying on Putin’s gas for years yet - Fracking could have been a huge benefit, but at least there are signs that the Government is getting its act together - 24th March
 * No need to fear the hi-tech jobs massacre - Silicon Valley wonders if its robots are destroying work. But humans will always finds new ways to occupy themselves - 17th March
 * Surprise! Now the good news about diseases - The incidence of malaria, far from going up, is in steady decline. The same is true of HIV and TB but it’s hardly reported - 10th March
 * The sceptics are right. Don’t scapegoat them - There is no evidence, Mr Miliband, Lord Stern and others, that our floods and storms are related to climate change - 17th February
 * Science keeps showing us how little we know - The ancient footprints on a Norfolk beach are just the latest mystery in the tangled story of our earliest ancestors - 10th February
 * The bare necessities of life will come to you - Most of us think the poor stay poor and inequality is exploding. Wrong. The evidence is that these are times of plenty - 3rd February
 * Successful societies can’t afford monkey business - Poorer men are the big losers in cultures that don’t honour monogamy. Violence and polygamy tend to be bedfellows - 20th January
 * The West was behind this Chinese atrocity - A green idea based on a false premise, the one-child policy was the result of mathematical modelling - 13th January 2014
 * Roll up: cherry-pick your research results here - It’s not only Tamiflu where inconvenient data goes unpublished. Try climate science and psychology too - 6th January 2014



Articles: 2013

 * Britain’s best days may still lie ahead - The Anglosphere nations’ bottom-up experiment with liberty under the law can still dominate the future - 30th December 2013
 * Woolwich shows how civilised we’ve become - Behind the horrors of the Rigby murder and recent paedophile scandals lies a more optimistic picture - 23rd December 2013
 * Jupiter to Earth — who’s in charge here? - If we do find alien life forms, watch the arguments begin about who has the authority to deal with them - 16th December 2013
 * Britain’s IQ test is to raise the lower levels - About half our intelligence is inherited, but the other half comes from education and experience - 9th December 2013
 * Green energy could kill Britain’s economy - George Osborne needs to act fast if we are to benefit from falling gas prices in the rest of the world - 2nd December 2013
 * Let immigrants in. Then send them home - It isn’t racist to say that an influx of foreigners causes problems – but let’s use them to export our values - 25th November 2013
 * Does China need democracy to be rich? - Westerners are subject to more economic meddling from the State than our Communist-led cousins are - 11th November 2013
 * London isn’t burning. Don’t fetch the engines - Dramatic reductions in the number of fire incidents across Britain mean we can afford a smaller fire brigade - 4th November 2013
 * We won’t be blown away by St Jude’s storm - Technology, trade and globalisation mean that the weather can wreak less damage than ever before - 28th October 2013
 * With nuclear power, small is beautiful - Instead of turning to China for huge projects such as Hinkley Point, we could mass-produce reactors - 21st October 2013
 * Are those white elephants in the water? - Pride in our offshore wind farms is wildly misplaced. They are costlier than all other forms of energy - 14th October 2013
 * Don’t stub out this great way to quit smoking - E-cigarettes will save lives if we keep them out of the itching regulatory hands of the health nannies - 10th October 2013
 * Progress won’t end if chips stop shrinking - Silicon technology will no longer get smaller and cheaper. Now Man’s ingenuity must take over - 3rd October 2013
 * Global lukewarming need not be catastrophic - There’s a middle way between those who deny climate change is real and those who say it’s disastrous - 28th September 2013
 * Green energy or cheap? Ed can’t have both - It is breathtaking hypocrisy for the architect of expensive renewables to call for a price freeze - 26th September 2013
 * Lighten up, Sir David. Our wildlife is safe - Attenborough’s fears are unfounded. Population levels will drop and more land will revert to nature - 12th September 2013
 * Man who cleared up a question of pollution - The economist Ronald Coase showed how free markets help the environment - 5th September 2013
 * Why I’m torn between freedom and security - Was the detention of David Miranda an assault on the press or a necessary protection? It’s impossible to decide - 21st August 2013
 * Let’s shatter these five myths about fracking - Shale gas does not cause earthquakes, pollute water or use toxic chemicals. Wind turbines do far more damage - 15th August 2013
 * GM crops don’t kill kids. Opposing them does - ‘Golden rice’ prevents the vitamin A deficiency that kills millions every year. Yet Greenpeace is blocking it - 1st August 2013
 * Don’t give Alan Turing a pardon. Give him a plinth - As well as being a codebreaking war hero, he was one of our greatest scientists. We must celebrate his achievements - 18th July 2013
 * There’s no cure to the health spending paradox - At the same time as it gets cheaper to do IVF or cataracts, our constant innovations will inevitably push up budgets - 11th July 2013
 * The dash for shale oil will shake the world - . . . but not because of earthquakes: the enormous riches being discovered could slash oil prices across the globe - 3rd July 2013
 * Cancer fights hard. We must be bold to beat it - We know prevention is easier than cure. But for all our scientific breakthroughs, progress is disappointingly slow - 27th June
 * Culling badgers is good. Even for the badgers - TB is not the only problem. The explosion in their numbers is also destroying the smaller animals they feed on - 13th June
 * So who will lobby for the poor old taxpayer? - The real scandal is politicians putting the interests of narrow (often undeserving) groups before those who foot the bill - 6th June
 * Earth to Met Office: check your climate facts - The latest science suggests that our policy on global warming is hopelessly misguided - 20th May
 * Don’t write off Bitcoins as just another bubble - Demand for the virtual currency proves people don’t trust governments with their money - 19th April
 * Weird weather? That’s the pub bore forecast - Forget the anecdotes and face the facts: weather always fluctuates. Arctic springs and angry summers are not oddities - 27th March
 * ‘Burnable ice’ will set the energy world on fire - Even the most die-hard environmentalists should not argue against this new power source - 15th March
 * World outlook: rosy. Europe outlook: awful - Weighed down by bureaucracy and suspicion of science, we seem determined to turn relative into absolute decline - 2nd January



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