Richard D North.

Evan Davis lightly mentioned in Programme 1 of his Evan Loves Tax (BBC Radio 4) that on current plans the Coalition might (intends to?) end its first term with a 36 percent tax-take (as against total GDP). I always thought the Con-Libs were conducting an extraordinary coup, but this confirms it, if true. Here are two cheers. Read more...

Andrew Marr seems so obviously nice and clever that it seems odd to find some of what he says very irritating. Last Sunday, for instance, he announced on his BBC1 Sunday show that he thought that there ought to be a crackdown on dodgy facial hair.... Where would would this end? Read more...

I had a v brief outing on Radio 4's Sunday religious current affairs programme, and it's a privilege to be asked.  Here's the crib I prepared for the event, in which I was asked about the protest dimension of the Pope's forthcoming visit. Read more...

RH, the BBC's environment analyst, promised us a soul-searching assessment of his track record in reporting climate change over 20 years. Here's a rather unenthusiastic assessment of his assessment.  Read more...

Climate change politics is creeping into a kind of inevitable realism. (If you will forgive me, I'll mention that I have argued for nearly 25 years that it would, sooner or later.) It is becoming clearer that it is now legitimate and necessary to say that there will be no silver bullet. Bjorn Lomborg's new book (discussed in 2 new Guardian prepublication pieces, here and here) looks like helping quite a bit. Read more...

This show sounded like a major apologia and a minor mea culpa from the BBC's chief climate change analyst . It was, though, mostly depressingly familiar. Read more...

A little late, I know, I picked this book up whilst hanging around to see a movie. It might have been The Hurt Locker or The Ghost, and either is relevant. Read more...

Two sparky delights. But were they one tad too perfect, too technical? Read more...

Can't stand sci-fi? Allergic to blockbusters? Try this great big blockbuster sci-fi movie.... Read more...

The audience was lively by Chi standards, and that sort of swept one along... Read more...