Patrick Barkham



Profile:
Full name: Patrick Barkham

Area of interest: A variety of topics, including technology, film and television

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:patrick.barkham@guardian.co.uk patrick.barkham@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: Guardian.co / Patrick Barkham

Blogs: Comment is free; The Blog Art & Architecture

Representation:

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Biography:
About:

Education: MA journalism

Career: worked for FT.com and ITN Online; joined The Guardian in 1998, becaming Australia correspondent in 2000

Current position/role: Feature writer and interviewer


 * also writes/has written for:

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Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight: Doctoring the past - Wiki style The Guardian, 10th February 2006

Broadcast media:

Video:

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Books & Debate:


Latest work: Badgerlands: The twilight world of Britain's most enigmatic animal. Granta, October 2013. Read a review here

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate:The Virginia Tech tragedy debate: Were reporters right to solicit information from students' web pages? - Yes, says Guardian feature writer Patrick Barkham; no, argues journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, The Guardian, 23rd April 2007 

The Guardian:
Column name:

Remit/Info: features and interviews, occasionally comment or overlapping into comment

Section:

Role: Features writer

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:patrick.barkham@guardian.co.uk patrick.barkham@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Patrick Barkham

Commissioning editor:

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Articles:

 * The evidence is clear: insecticides kill bees. The industry denials look absurd - The largest field trials to date offer irrefutable proof. We need a total ban, now, to halt the sabotaging of our own best interests - 4th July 2017
 * Flood Oxfordshire? That’s nothing but a pipe dream - The water shortage problem in the south-east calls out for big, brave and dramatic solutions. So don’t hold your breath - 16th May 2017
 * When they act like wolves, are dogs still our best friends? - In Britain we love dogs, but there are too many of them – and politicians are afraid to tackle the danger they pose to children and other animals - 9th May 2017
 * What should we do with our rubbish-strewn roadside verges? Treasure them - Major road embankments are a refuge for more than 800 species of flora. We should care for them with that in mind - 25th April 2017
 * If children want to run free, let them - My children were allowed to entertain themselves on a long hike, with a few cunning diversions, and it ended up the best moment of our holidays - 19th April 2017
 * Badgers v farmers: finally we’re getting away from this polarised debate - Bovine TB has been detected in everything from earthworms to cats. Rather than culling, we need a different way to compensate those who’ve lost cattle - 4th April 2017
 * Let’s tackle Britain’s invasive species – just leave the daffodils alone - Not all non-native plants and animals are vandals, but there’s nothing wrong with controlling those linked to other species’ extinction - 28th March 2017
 * Why Donald Trump should play even more golf - There’s a furore over how much he’s played in his first few weeks as president. But evidence shows that being outdoors could be the best way for him to stay calm and sane - 15th March 2017
 * Decking seemed a great idea in the 90s. But so did Tony Blair - Alan Titchmarsh regrets his role in popularising the wooden abominations – graves for generations of garden animals. But in decay there is an upside - 8th March 2017
 * Luxury flats instead of birdsong: can regeneration ever be the right thing? - The priceless tranquillity of an inner-city green space – yards from St Pancras station – is threatened by a developer. And the developer is a Labour council - 7th February 2017
 * Finland - your sanctuary from the Trumpocalypse - We can’t all flee to the south Pacific like the tech billionaires. Luckily Finland seems an island of sanity – and cheaper - 31st January 2017
 * We need a Ladybird book of climate change deniers - Prince Charles has been signed up by the publishers to write an expert’s book. But maybe readers nowadays prefer spoofs - 17th January 2017
 * Our trees are now a growth industry - From Old Knobbleys to Ding Dongs, the search for Britain’s top tree has put the spotlight on some remarkable examples of our natural world - 20th December 2016
 * Planet Earth II showed that wild animals are the true metropolitan elites - At a time of conservation bad news stories, cities have become havens for many species – as evidenced by the BBC’s extraordinary wildlife show - 13th December 2016
 * Why is a banned pesticide that harms bees actually being used more? - Scientists fear that neonicotinoid manufacturers are copying tobacco industry tactics in a bid to end the moratorium on this devastating chemical - 6th December 2016
 * First, catch your feral kitten. Then call in the experts - My neighbourhood is over-run with wild moggies, so I decided to act – and now an animal has a home - 8th November 2016
 * Vanity projects are so 15th century. Theresa May would have fitted in well - As things stand, future generations will remember the prime minister for HS2, Hinkley Point and Heathrow. But it doesn’t have to be that way - 2nd November 2016
 * Wild campers should be tamed, not banned - Scotland has maintained a health culture of enjoying nature – and pitching your tent where you liked was part of this. Better education is the way forward - 26th September 2016
 * Bring back childhood’s wild side - The opportunities to roam free are not what they once were, but the rise of forest schools shows we still see the outdoors as a great educator - 13th September 2016
 * Is it right to launch mass chemical warfare on Zika mosquitoes? - As South Carolina has discovered, using planes to spray large areas with neurotoxins can have dangerous consequences - 6th September 2016
 * SOS: save our swimming lessons - It has to be the best form of exercise – life-saving and a supreme pleasure. So why are so many British schools failing to provide tuition despite their national curriculum obligations? - 30th August 2016
 * How much is Britain prepared to pay to protect its wildlife? - Farmers do crucial conservation work for species like the stone curlew. But will we pick up the tab when EU funding dries up? - 9th August 2016
 * Granting this licence to shoot buzzards will unleash a killing spree - With business interests being prioritised over wild birds, a deadly precedent has been set. The natural world is under assault and needs all our help - 4th August 2016
 * An 81-year-old as shadow leader of the house? Hear hear - I hope Paul Flynn’s appointment to the shadow front bench ushers in new thinking in a world where youth can be prized over experience - 4th July
 * The flight of the painted lady butterfly shows migration in all its beauty - Every year the north African species arrives in Britain in its thousands. As with many other visitors to our shores we would be poorer off without them - 27th June
 * Nigel Farage butterfly spotting? Our politicians could use some wild reinvention - We might better identify with MPs if they communed with nature. Even the Ukip leader might seem less loathsome - 21st June
 * Why Twitter fans are more itchy than twitchers - A study shows that smartphone addicts are more anxious than nature lovers. But technology can be a window on to the natural world too - 14th June 2016
 * St Kilda’s remoteness doesn’t shield it from man’s influence - The tiny Scottish archipelago celebrates 30 years as a World Heritage site this summer, but its sea birds are suffering the results of overfishing in the Atlantic - 31st May 2016
 * Golfers are slicing through our wild spaces - For Aberdeenshire 47 golf courses isn’t enough – even if the 48th, designed by Jack Nicklaus, destroys a woodland refuge of red squirrels and pine martens - 3rd May 2016
 * Stop this Disneyfication of our coastline - Our coast is seen as contemporary common land, the last wild place. ‘Selling’ it with something as attention-seeking as Tintagel’s ‘Arthur’ sculpture shuts down the imagination - 26th April 2016
 * Would it kill you to say hello on a country walk? - I greet deer and blackbirds – so there is no way I would ignore other walkers. It’s sad if we need a social media campaign to encourage friendliness - 19th April 2016
 * We’ve betrayed our children for the love of cars - A break in the Isles of Scilly showed me how children thrive away from traffic. Just a shame that we had to navigate the M5 to get there - 12th April 2016
 * Will no one stop Poland destroying Europe’s most precious forest? - If the EU can’t save Białowieża from the loggers, its protections are meaningless - 4th April 2016
 * Fourteen years a bachelor – meet the loneliest soul in Britain - The greater mouse-eared bat in Sussex should have up to five females in a harem, but his species was declared extinct a quarter of a century ago. Who’d be him? - 29th March 2016
 * Are they still afraid of the big bad wolf in Finland? - The animals are being slaughtered – yet other European nations are able to live alongside lupines. It seems hunters don’t want to give up their total control of the countryside - 1st March 2016
 * Make a honk for rare geese - Climate change is helping many species of wildlife, but not the Greenland white-fronted goose. If the 21 left in Wales look troubled, there’s good reason - 16th February 2016
 * Drone-fighting eagles – a reminder of nature’s superpowers - Scotland Yard is looking at using eagles to take down unmanned flying objects – yet another argument for preserving all species, in case they might prove useful later - 9th February 2016
 * From London to Delhi, air pollution kills. Why do we do nothing? - Pollution in some world cities is more than 12 times higher than safe levels. Maybe it explains why residents aren’t taking to the streets to complain - 19th January 2016
 * Endangered: the police unit that protects wildlife from human cruelty - The National Wildlife Crime Unit has tackled badger baiting, hare coursing and tiger-teeth jewellery. But after March it may no longer exist - 9th January 2016
 * Parks are good for us – so why are they being neglected? - It may seem sensible for Brighton and Hove city council to save £175,000 a year by sacking its rangers, but the hidden costs are great - 5th January 2016
 * Lock up your fish, the fen raft spider is back - One of Britain’s largest arachnids has been brought back from the brink of extinction. Which is bad news for pond skaters and water beetles - 3rd November 2015
 * Why is there so much anger around country paths? - Many landowners regard footpaths as an unfortunate relic from pre-enclosure days, when peasants swarmed unimpeded across the countryside - 1st September 2015
 * Britain’s badger cull is back – despite all the evidence against it - The government’s chaotic, secretive killing plan is far more costly, and far less efficient, than simply vaccinating these animals - 25th August 2015
 * Austerity latest: now the axe falls on Britain’s trees - Studies show trees boost physical and mental health, and reading books is vital to children’s education. Yet both are under threat from the cuts agenda - 18th August 2015
 * How to protect hen harriers? Give them names, of course - A teenage blogger is behind a bold move to increase satellite tagging of Britain’s most endangered breeding bird - 11th August 2015
 * Seagulls are not terrorists. This war is a bad idea - After a few gull attacks on family pets, David Cameron has talked of culling. He would be better off imparting a bit of common sense - 21st July 2015
 * When planting trees becomes a shallow PR gesture - Celebrities stick saplings in the ground for many reasons – but the hope of seeing something grow may be the least of them - 30th June 2015
 * How the garden shed could solve our housing problems - Shed of the Year features spectacular structures. But planners could draw inspiration from the simplicity of the original concept - 23rd June 2015
 * Forget HS2 – for real renewal, rebuild our crumbling coastline - Much has been done for this rich resource. But ideas such as a coastal pathway could benefit us all - 26th May 2015
 * 97% of Britain’s wildflower meadows have gone. Here’s why it matters - The loss of natural habitat since WWII is vividly reflected in the fate of the marsh fritillary butterfly. So it’s worrying when meadows are shaved like football pitches - 19th May 2015
 * I was saved by Ikea therapy - Being able to assemble flatpack furniture makes me feel qualified for modern life - 28th April 2015
 * Imagine if we neutered all the cats – how the birds would sing - My birdwatch loitering has got me fantasising about what would happen if we had just 20 more years of feline company - 27th January 2015
 * India’s tiger revival is a boost for that rarest beast in conservation: hope - In India and Europe completely different approaches have been applied to saving big carnivores – and both have been successful - 22nd January 2015
 * Five simple ways to help your child get into the wild - The Oxford Junior Dictionary may have dropped words such as ash and catkin but let's not jettison nature for the nagging demands of technology - 14th January 2015
 * Sandra the ‘nonhuman person’ is sadly not the face of a welfare revolution - A remarkable court ruling will free an orangutan from a zoo, but animal lovers may be better off backing conservation as a way to make progress - 23rd December 2014
 * Hapless huskies, dumped dalmatians: let's stop treating pets as disposable - With Game of Thrones and Twilight blamed for record numbers of abandoned huskies, film and TV have a lot to answer for - 6th September 2014
 * From Big Belly to the Discoed Yew: the trees that grow on us - We bond with trees like no other living thing. And now we can celebrate them in a competition to find the nation’s favourite - 30th August 2014
 * And the winner of Wikipedia's influence list is … an 18th century botanist. Hear hear - Carl Linnaeus is hardly a household name, but the Swedish doctor who created a global naming system for species deserves this accolade - 13th June
 * What do robins, badgers and buzzards have in common? They're all on the Tories' kill list -Britain's wildlife is trapped between traditional Tories and their neoliberal counterparts, who think any green regulation a burden - 27th May 2014
 * Why it is ethical to kill deer but let the badgers live - Conservationists like me can condemn one cull while supporting another – it all depends on what's best for wildlife diversity - 4th December 2013
 * Tigers and pandas in zoos are the dancing bears of our day - Zoos should quit their addiction to big-beast box office gold and switch to a business model based on our smaller native species - 16th October 2013
 * The official secrecy around the badger cull is anti-democratic - Defra and Natural England monitors are silent about the culling – so how can we be sure it is being carried out properly? - 12th September 2013
 * Norwich for the Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa premiere? Bravo - Why, despite reducing Norwich to a caricature of a cheesy Travel Tavern, Steve Coogan is loved by us Norfolk folk - 9th July 2013
 * Hedgehogs are disappearing fast – gardeners to the rescue - The decimation of the UK's prickly population hasn't been recognised as the tragedy it is. They need some champions - 23rd May 2013
 * Thatcher funeral crowd shows little sentimentality, or dissent, at St Paul's - True-blue Tories, Falklands veterans, council house-buyers and immigrants predominate as most detractors protest elsewhere - 17th April 2013
 * Slaughtering badgers is not the answer to bovine TB - Bovine TB causes farmers real misery. But shooting badgers is just a cheap way to spread the disease - 16th December 2011
 * Britain to Australia and back again: what's the Ping-pong Poms' game? - I sometimes wonder why, despite my great life in Australia, I came home. But unlike others, I haven't bounced back again - 3rd November 2011
 * Gill's spittle-flecked indignation is of no consequence to Norfolk'' - The critic's recycled braying about anywhere outside London perplexes those who don't spend all day tweeting and sneering - 3rd March 2011
 * Bring back British Rail - Thanks to privatisation, our rail network is incapable of adapting to any minor malfunctions – as I discovered this weekend - 15th December 2008
 * Men need armpit hair solutions too - Unilever is launching a range of deodorants that promise to reduce armpit hair – but why are they only for women? - 9th December 2008
 * How to humiliate an overpaid footballer - It is obvious that red cards, suspensions and fines do nothing to improve the behaviour of our spoilt-brat footballers - 17th November 2008
 * Has Russell Brand turned to Hare Krishna? - The mantra beloved of bald people swathed in orange is a strange form of 'no comment' for a show-off comedian in trouble - 30th October 2008
 * The ministerial race to drive the cleanest car - The new big cabinet split is whether to choose a Jag or a Prius as an official car - 23rd October 2008
 * Sleepless in SW1 - The financial crisis is keeping politicians from their beds with rounds of all-night meetings. Is this wise? How much sleep deprivation can anyone take before their judgment takes a fall, asks Patrick Barkham - 14th October 2008
 * What's in a wink? - Some find it reassuring, others downright sinister. We look at some of the many prominent winkers, from Sarah Palin to David Niven - 6th October 2008
 * Who will be worst hit by the financial crisis? - Meet the winner and loser of the financial crisis - Mrs Saﬀy AS Houses and Mr Cred C Runch - 1st October 2008
 * The tragic tale of a celebrity polar bear and his keeper - Zookeeper Thomas Doerflein plays with Knut the polar bear at Berlin Zoo at the height of his fame in 2007 - 24th September 2008
 * What do estate agents do all day? - In terms of sales inquiries, estate agents are doing virtually zero - 13th August 2008
 * Can open fields be turned into forest? - Despite its reputation as a green and pleasant land, much of Britain's ancient woodland has been lost. Now the Woodland Trust plans to transform 850 acres of Hertfordshire countryside into England's biggest new continuous forest - 30th July 2008
 * Oops! There goes another Warhol - the art that can't be moved - Famous art does more air miles than ever these days and even respected galleries can damage work - 22nd July 2008
 * What is the knowledge economy? - The term can be misleading but it's a description of the changing nature of the economy - 17th July 2008
 * Golly! What has Camilla got in her bag? - Patrick Barkham: Burberry bags don't usually come with a golliwog keyring. But there it was, the smiling racist totem, among the belongings of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at the Hampton Court flower show - 9th July 2008
 * What are people pawning? - When credit crunches, pawnbrokers cheer - 7th July 2008
 * The craze that made even Clarkson join the slow lane - Hypermiling, the art of driving your car so it delivers better fuel economy, is going mainstream in the UK as fuel prices soar - 3rd July 2008



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Links:

 * Wikipedia biog.