Two pieces commissioned by the New Zealand Food and Drink Council, published at Food Navigator Asia. The first is on the comparative price of milk and sugary sodas (14 October), the second on regulation as a tool to reduce alcohol consumption (21 October). I had complete editorial control of both pieces.
ReadNIGHT WAVES – BBC RADIO 3. I was on the programme last night discussing cynicism with classicist Richard Seaford and presenter Rana Mitter.
Read“In ‘A very British populism’, a thoughtful exploration of British culture and politics, philosopher and writer Julian Baggini argues that the same springs of populism that fuel the far right elsewhere in Europe exist in Britain. He warns against the complacency of the ‘it could never happen here’ mindset; whether in the form of a ‘softer-edged’ UKIP, or a more sinister movement, populism could be at our doorstep.”
ReadTWO EVENTS IN FOLKESTONE – 17 NOVEMBER. I’m taking part in two events in this year’s Folkestone Book Festival. At 10:30 I’m doing a Cafe Philo on “What Use are the Arts?” and at 2:30 debating “Can Atheists learn anything from Religion?” with Richard Norman and John Butler.
ReadThe chef Richard McGeown has faced bigger culinary challenges in his distinguished career than frying a meat patty in a little sunflower oil and butter. But this time the eyes and cameras of hundreds of journalists in the room were fixed on the 5oz (140g) pink disc sizzling in his pan, one that had been five years and €250,000 in the making. This was the world’s first proper portion of cultured meat, a beef burger created by Mark Post, professor of physiology, and his team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands…
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