Those who claim to be “conservatives” would shred the very fabric of the nation.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 3rd May 2017
Conservatism takes three main forms. Inclusive conservatism seeks to protect objects of value for the benefit of everyone. These might include great urban vistas, or national parks, or wildlife, or works of art, or great institutions, such as the NHS and the BBC. This is the conservatism governments invoke when a nation goes to war.
I would rather live with Jeremy Corbyn’s gentle dithering than Theresa May’s brutal efficiency
By George Monbiot, published in The Guardian, 26th April 2017
Where are the nosepegs this time? Those who tolerated anything the Labour Party did under Blair tolerate nothing under Corbyn. Those who insisted that we should vote Labour at any cost – with a handy peg to exclude the stench of rotting corpses in Iraq – turn their backs as it seeks to recover its principles.
A note on the poison gas attack at Khan Sheikhoun, Syria
By George Monbiot, published on monbiot.com, 27th April 2017
There’s an element on the left that seems determined to produce a mirror image of the Washington Consensus. Just as the billionaire press and Western governments downplay and deny the crimes of their allies, so this element downplays and denies the crimes of the West’s official enemies.
By reframing the economy, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics changes our view of who we are and where we stand.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 12th April 2017
Freedom is used as the excuse for ripping down public protections on behalf of the very rich.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 5th April 2017
Why would Scotland wish to be tethered to the political wasteland south of the border?
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th March 2017
Here is the question the people of Scotland will face in the next independence referendum: when England falls out of the boat like a block of concrete, do you want your foot tied to it?
Digital technologies could be used to destroy democracy, or to save it.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 7th March 2017
Has a digital coup begun? Is big data being used, in the US and the UK, to create personalised political advertising, to bypass our rational minds and alter the way we vote? The short answer is probably not. Or not yet.
A short, simple factsheet on the impacts of traffic pollution on children’s health
By George Monbiot, published on monbiot.com, 5th March 2017
I wrote this short factsheet for a local school suffering high levels of air pollution, that are caused in part by the parents, sometimes driving their children just 100 metres up the road. Part of the problem is that many people are unaware of the link between pollution and health issues.
For some of those immersed in virtual worlds, everything loses its meaning – even racism and fascism.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 1st March 2017
Everything is possible. Nothing is possible. Nothing hurts any more, until the consequences crash through the screen. Immersed almost permanently in virtual worlds, we cannot check what we are told against tangible reality. Is it any wonder that we live in a post-truth era, when we are bereft of experience?
My (very controversial) column on the lives for which the schooling system prepares our children.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th February 2017
In the future, if you want a job, you must be as unlike a machine as possible: creative, critical and socially skilled. So why are children being taught to behave like machines?