Fundamentally, I’m an analyst. I look at situations, events, people, companies and countries, breaking them down into their most basic components and mechanisms. I dissect things, understand them and work out how to improve them. I’ve honed this skill through several years as a computer programmer, but now I’ve turned my eye on bigger, more abstract problems.
The medium through which I usually work is writing. I’m nearly at the end of my first book and I’ve just started a second. Otherwise, I write short articles, posted on this site and occasionally elsewhere. I also do some speaking, mainly through Bettakultcha.
To read more about me, please see my biography page. I’m available for hire as a writer, speaker and action hero.
If you missed it yesterday morning, Richard Dawkins appeared on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4, alongside Giles Fraser. I want to start by saying that I like and respect Giles Fraser, although I disagree with his religious beliefs. In the same way, I like and respect my religious friends — but this doesn’t change my evaluation that their beliefs are categorically wrong. I try not to deliberately offend anyone when taking about religion, but conversely, I’m not prepared to hold back on what I consider to be the truth.
The debate today concerned a survey, carried out by an independent agency in the week following the 2011 UK census. The results suggested that the percentage of people who identify as Christian in the UK has fallen significantly since the previous census, down to just 54% — barely a majority, and certainly not enough to make any claims about this being a “Christian country”, never mind justify the inclusion of religious practices into public practices and governance. Continued
If you’ve been following the news lately you might have seen the eagerly-awaited results of two court cases, both involving the role of religion in business and government. Although small cases, it’s important to remember that the precedents set by … Continued
My friend Ivor wrote recently about a scheme being run at his daughter’s school, involving an odd form of sponsorship by a certain doughnut corporation. Long story short, the entire scheme basically just consisted of the school selling doughnuts to … Continued