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Two great stories this week about Quality meeting representatives of the common (wo)man. One such was the Federation of Cumbria Commoners which was holding its AGM at Newton Rigg agricultural college near Penrith, where they encountered environmentalist George Monbiot (Stowe, Brasenose...

The issue of the BBC and its search for balance on coverage of climate change was explored recently in the Guardian, with this owing at least some debt to skepticalscience.  It seems to me that the BBC’s problem lies in its...

As I write this, the first daffodil buds have burst and yellow floods the garden.  Welcome as daffodils are as a sign of advancing spring, I’m no great fan of many of the cultivated varieties we have today – those...

A video report on the BBC, reports extraordinary goings-on in North London, where the tax-payer funded Yesodey Hatorah Girls' School has been removing questions on evolution from GCSE science papers before their students could answer them. The examination board in question,...

I've written before about our own domestic solar pv generation (most recently here), which is now some 33 months into its life.  To put our modest production (an average of around 11 units / day) into perspective, the UK's installed...

I listened to Andrew Quarles, Technical Director of Cuadrilla, at the university last night, as he gave an I-SEE talk on his company's exploration for gas from the Bowland shales in Lancashire.  For those wanting technical detail, and clarification around...

I'm writing this on the last train from London (last night).  Just been to the Guardian University Awards evening (celebrating excellence, creativity and innovation). Jamie Agombar, the NUS's ethical and environmental manager (and all round sustainability champion), was nominated in...

When English Heritage was drawing up plans for its new Stonehenge visitor centre, authenticity was a key value.  It was fortunate, then, that an exhaustive search of the archives from its digs at Durrington Walls revealed Neolithic stone carvings which...

From The Guardian, March 1st 2008 James Lovelock believes global warming is now irreversible, and that nothing can prevent large parts of the planet becoming too hot to inhabit, or sinking underwater, resulting in mass migration, famine and epidemics.  Britain...

I have written before about the poor quality of both the Welsh education system and its leadership, and about the potential for corruption when a minister of education moonlights as the school exams regulator.  See for example, this (UK PISA...