Farmer Starmer
The Labour Leader has shown some encouraging interest in farming of late. But, says Colin Tudge, none of the mainstream parties in the UK takes agriculture seriously enough and none has an agricultural strategy that comes close to meeting our own and the world’s real needs It was good to see Keir Starmer interviewed in … Read more
So many goodly creatures
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What is Biodiversity? Who needs it? And why bother? A series of essays on the website which could turn into a rather nice book. “How many goodly creatures are there here!” Miranda from The Tempest (V.i 184-187) It is fashionable to care about the natural world – or at least to pretend that we … Read more
The absolute importance of the grassroots
A meeting in Bristol next month – “Planet Local Summit” – will discuss the kind of initiatives that are needed if ever we’re to put the world to rights As the world burns and floods and the world’s most powerful people continue to offer more of the same — or else are in denial or … Read more
The essential ingredients of the Global Renaissance
A checklist of the six very big ideas that we need to develop and act upon if we are to save ourselves and the rest of the world from what at the moment looks like an inevitable meltdown. These notes are meant to accompany the new videos – the five conversations on “Real farming, good … Read more
The philosophy of technology
Phil of Tech asks what technology is: what it is for; and – as ever – who should be in control of it, and who or what is affected by it. We need to ask indeed, as E F Schumacher did in Small is Beautiful in the early 1970s, what technology is appropriate. As always, … Read more
From story book to cloud cuckoo land one easy step
George Monbiot’s plan for a world without agriculture is misguided, says Colin Tudge George Monbiot has a three-point plan to feed us all well and look after the wildlife and generally solve all the world’s problems — a somewhat unlikely amalgam of veganism, re-wilding, and high tech, producing ersatz meat from microbes raised in “compact … Read more
Is politics more than a distraction?
Asks Colin tudge May 6: A good day for the Lib Dems and the Greens in the local elections yesterday. Not bad though less than decisive for Labour. A bad day for the Tories, though not as bad as they deserve. After Cameron the spiv, May the interregnum, Boris the malignant clown, Truss the star … Read more
Never mind the evidence – feel the ideology!
It’s not economic “growth” that matters, says Colin Tudge. It’s equality Lest we thought the madness of Trussonomics had disappeared with her own assisted abdication a senior Tory MP popped up on Channel 4 News to tell us once more (a) that the only way to solve Britain’s mounting problems is by economic growth, apparently … Read more
The importance of being idle
In a brief but brilliant soap-box speech (albeit delivered from a Paris balcony), and in the midst of on-going strikes, Jean-Luc Melenchon** argued that the present-day economy and the politics and mindset behind them are, quite simply, mad. We are all of us obliged to work harder and harder in effect to stay in the … Read more
Should we all turn vegetarian?
Perhaps in a perfect world we should all be vegetarian – or indeed vegan. But, says Colin Tudge, this isn’t a perfect world and a low-meat diet served by agroecological farming is probably the best that we should aim for Rumour has it that Oxford City Council, following the County Council’s lead of two years … Read more