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Matt Ridley
@mattwridley
Biologist, columnist | Author of Red Queen, Genome, Rational Optimist, the Evolution of Everything, How Innovation Works, Viral and Birds, Sex and Beauty.
Northumberland, UK
mattridley.co.uk/blog
Joined June 2009
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Mar 27
    In my lecture at @NIH, at the invitation of @NIHDirector_Jay, I explained why I changed my mind from thinking the lab leak theory of covid origins was unlikely to thinking it was almost certainly true. Please watch and assess the evidence yourself.
    videocast.nih.gov
    NIH VideoCast - NIH Scientific Freedom Lecture – Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19
    This lecture series is designed to promote the principles of gold standard science by providing a formal venue for thoughtful discussion of complex scientific topics. Each session will highlight...
    254K
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Jun 5, 2022
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Oct 29, 2024
    BBC, 19 August: "The violence was started by false online rumours that the suspect in the Southport attack was a Muslim." BBC, 29 October: "[He] has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an al-Qaeda training manual." Verify that.
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Aug 28, 2022
    "The lockdown was an experiment in authoritarian government unmatched in our history even in wartime....Throughout history, fear has been the chief instrument of authoritarian rule. During the lockdown it was what enabled the government to silence dissent and inhibit discussion."
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Feb 1, 2022
    The origin of every emerging virus in recent decades was traced: HIV, Lassa, Marburg, Hanta, Ebola, SARS, MERS, Nipah, Hendra, zika... In no case did the trail go cold or the scientific community lose interest. Till now. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the Farrar-Fauci phone call
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Sep 3, 2021
    The UK from the ISS Taken with a digital camera!
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Aug 2, 2022
    When government picks winners...
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Nov 27, 2024
    A truly black moment for Britain to hear a prime minister effectively endorse the idea that we should reintroduce blasphemy laws.
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    David Davis MP
    @DavidDavisMP
    Nov 27, 2024
    For centuries, one of the most important features of Britain's freedom of speech is the absolute right to criticise religion. Freedom of speech is fundamental to everything we have and everything we stand for. I regret @Keir_Starmer did not make that clear to Mr Ali at PMQs.
    00:00
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Jan 24, 2025
    Britain's net-zero-obsessed energy policy came unstuck this week in six different ways:
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    May 15, 2022
    A WHO pandemic pact would leave the world at China’s mercy. My latest article:
    A WHO pandemic pact would leave the world at China’s mercy
    From telegraph.co.uk
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Dec 14, 2021
    There is one thing we should be able to agree on: The world deserves to know how this all truly started.
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    May 9, 2020
    A fascinating example of dystopian, pessimistic fiction displacing the hopeful, optimistic truth. Turns out that Lord of the Flies is dead wrong. Maroon some boarding-school boys on an island and they act sensibly, generously and imaginatively.
    The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months
    From theguardian.com
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Sep 1, 2022
    Never forget that in the very month when the pandemic most likely began, a US based scientist was boasting about how many experiments he had funded in a place called Wuhan manipulating SARS-like viruses and infecting humanised mice with them.
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    Matt Ridley
    @mattwridley
    Jul 24, 2021