We cull ruddy ducks to please the Spanish. Strange we're so hesitant about...
CLIVE ASLET: We don’t live in a self-balancing eco system. We humans call the shots, and as there are ever more of us, on a planet whose climate patterns are up the spout, difficult decisions face us...
View ArticleWell done, Royal Mail, for celebrating Britain's landmarks - but here are...
CLIVE ASLET: Hot on the heels of public outrage about rising stamp prices, the Royal Mail have released a magnificent set of commemorative stamps we may not even grumble about having to buy.
View ArticleI love paperbacks but they do disintegrate; so save wall-space and get a...
CLIVE ASLET: Are ebooks really going to kill the paperback? My thinking life has been built on paperbacks, our walls are crammed with them – but I would be ‘intensely relaxed’ if they disappeared.
View ArticleThe Tories have taken the wind out of new turbines' sails - now what about...
CLIVE ASLET: Ministers have hinted that we may have built our last new wind farm. Now, a new battle: Tear down the turbines that already blight our countryside.
View ArticleLet's hope they do scrap the 'church tax' - it's a U-Turn that many have...
CLIVE ASLET: If the planned tax hike on alterations to listed buildings is scrapped - as is being reported - we should all welcome the Chancellor's change of heart.
View ArticleReforming the House of Lords is a Sisyphean task. Who better to do it than...
Bring back Blair: He should fix the House as it was him who established the principle that the ruling party should have a majority in the upper house and filled the Lords with an army of placemen
View ArticleIs the humble WC (made in Britain) to blame for the world's water problems?
CLIVE ASLET: We’ve never had to worry much about water before. Our green and pleasant land is so because it rains. People used to take fewer baths. The power shower hadn’t been invented.
View ArticlePeople should do something about litter, instead of expecting the state to...
CLIVE ASLET: We live in a respectable area of London, but it's knee deep in litter. So I’m not surprised by the report that says our towns, suburbs and countryside are besmirched with the stuff.
View ArticleLeaky pipes are more important to most voters than the House of Lords
CLIVE ASLET: Despite the drought, water companies have said they won’t plug the leaks from their ancient pipes unless they are paid to do so.
View ArticleI'm not opposed to foie gras, but I thought it was called the Great...
CLIVE ASLET: I’m not surprised that the public doesn’t like recipes involving foie gras, but I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the nay-sayers. We’ve all got consciences and I don’t take kindly to...
View ArticleTaking Cathedral and Church alterations out of VAT is a start, but what...
CLIVE ASLET: Hallelujah! George Osborne says that he will think again about clobbering our churches and cathedrals with 20% VAT on alterations.
View ArticleWould the monarchy be stronger with William on the throne? It's not up for...
CLIVE ASLET: The royal family is there because it's there because it's there. It’s the hereditary principle or nothing.
View ArticleWind farms defeat: At least someone is seeing sense
CLIVE ASLET: Mrs Justice Lang has ruled that it’s more important to preserve the beauty of the Norfolk Broads that to disfigure it with wind turbines.
View ArticleBaby calves shot on C4 documentary: People have no right to complain if they...
CLIVE ASLET: What did people think did happen to the calves? Most of the audience will drink milk. How did they think it was produced?
View ArticleClimate change needs the wisdom of elders rather than the evangelism and...
CLIVE ASLET: Nick Clegg seems to be of the opinion that the solution to climate change is to tie struggling businesses up in red tape, by making them quantify and publish their greenhouse gas emissions.
View ArticleWhy living in the countryside is worth the expense, isolation and long walk...
CLIVE ASLET: There’s no Olympics in the countryside, closing roads and clogging underground stations. Rural dwellers relax in a garden, not on a chewing-gum spattered pavement.
View ArticleAsstruggling dairy farmers threaten a milk strike, we should remember how...
CLIVE ASLET: Listeners to the Today programme will have heard a cry of desperation. A dairy farmer, unable to face the prospect of further price reductions for his prime product, milk, threatened to...
View ArticleI can't help it, I love the Shard. Let's hope it kicks off an architectural...
On the whole, CLIVE ASLET isn't much of a one for tall buildings, but the sheer scale of this mighty, heaven-soaring spike overwhelms his better instincts.
View ArticleJust as there¿s no such thing as a free lunch, there¿s no such thing as a...
CLIVE ASLET: Proposals to charge for plastic bags is a good place to start in the battle against a get-something-for-nothing world
View ArticleCLIVE ASLET: The teacher who changed my life died and my one regret is I...
A fortnight ago I heard that the English master who taught me at school, the great Frank Miles, had died, aged 92. I say great — he was great to us, the ones for whom reading came to matter so much as...
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