Blog

A list of all the articles published on this site

  • Fresh Inspiration

    When faced with the same old ingredients we need to get inventive. Its time to learn something new.

  • Is atheism just a fancy name for bigotry?

    Atheists commonly claim to be “rationalist” – and so they tend to be. But, says Colin Tudge, they have misunderstood the nature and the limits of rationalism A good friend of mine in an exchange of emails referred to himself self-deprecatingly as a “cranky old irreconcilable atheist”. For my part, I’m not a fully paid-up…

    4 responses
  • Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping – and the nightmare of 1984

    Colin Tudge suggests that the world is now more or less precisely in the state that George Orwell described 80 years ago in one of the greatest of all dystopian works of literature George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948 when memories of World War II and Hitler were still fresh – indeed the full extent…

    One response
  • Why don’t Starmer and Reeves try Socialism?

    The labour party as it stands means Tory with a more benign exterior – and it has rapidly become deeply unpopular. colin tudge suggests that it would serve the country and the world far better – and attract far more support – if it returned to its socialist, moral roots The word “Socialism” seems to…

    6 responses
  • Soup of the Day

    Soup is one of our most primordial foods, cooked since whenever a pot was first hung over a fire, a source of nourishment and warmth – the attributes that make winter the prime soup making season.

  • Why is the ORFC so successful?

    One of the co-founders of the annual Oxford Real Farming Conference, Colin Tudge, reflects on its phenomenal growth and impact since its tentative launch in January 2010. Does the obvious success of the ORFC reflect a global mindshift? Is this a much-needed “green shoot”? Even if the ORFC folded tomorrow (which heaven forfend!) it will…

    5 responses
  • Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England

    The post-Christmas period is one in which I used to enjoy reading the latest new cookery publications, but there have been very few of quality in recent years.  So, I was more than happy when Colin suggested I devote an entire blog to one of our enduring favourites – Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England.

  • What is “biodiversity? – and what price BNG, aka “biodiversity net gain”?

    The launch of a new series to explore the ramifications of a huge and very tricky concept that has become a buzz word and is the subject of new laws.  By Colin Tudge  Developers or anyone else who aspires to change Britain’s landscape significantly is required these days to demonstrate that their project will achieve…

    3 responses
  • 1. Biodiversity: a necessary concept but not sufficient

    An introduction to the first of four sections of an intended series on the infinitely complex issue of biodiversity. By Colin Tudge What, first of all, do we mean by “biodiversity”? Most obviously it is taken to mean the number of species in a given habitat. But this immediately raises a whole raft of issues.…

    One response
  • The fork in the road

    We could still aspire to the Sunlit Uplands, says Colin Tudge – but the world’s leaders are taking us and our fellow creatures in the opposite direction. The “People-led Renaissance” is necessary and urgent  Truly, humanity has reached a fork in the road; and, influential creatures that we are, whichever way we go we will…