Monbiot

Woebot

Well-known member
always rather timorous of this guy.

discovered he has a website

www.monbiot.com

and i was kinda surprised to notice that he doesn't just cover eco issues but the full gamut of "sensational" topics.

got me to thinking, perhaps rather cynically, that he's carved himself a career niche as the revolutionary firebrand.

and to be honest it didnt but underline my feeling that there's a section on the website dedicated to giving career advice to aspiring young journalists. all couched within the most right-on rhetoric, but at the end of the day career advice is career advice. how to be a successful firebrand like me (purr purr)
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
I think he's alright.

Bear in mind, there's nothing the British left / progressive types like more than slagging off one of their own who is actually doing something.

I expect Eden will be along in a minute [goads] :)
 

sufi

lala
moonbat?

no ta,

no evidence so far of actually doing something apart from furthering his own rep
 

martin

----
No, I think he's alright, I'd rather someone furthered their rep by doing what he does than writing about their weekends in Lisbon or why Gnarls Fucking Berkley are worth listening to, or whatever. Didn't he play guitar in the anarcho-punk band DIRT?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"no evidence so far of actually doing something apart from furthering his own rep"
I reckon that drawing people's attention to things that they wouldn't otherwise know about - which I think he does - counts as doing something.
The only thing I wonder is how he gets to all of those international conferences and stuff - obviously not by plane so how does he do it?
 
D

droid

Guest
Hes a very good writer who's highlighted a lot of important issues in his work - from climate change to privatisation.

'Captive State' is an essential guide to coporate shenaigans in the New lab era, and 'The age of consent' is a semi-practical attempt to come up with some kind of manifesto for tackling a lot of the political, economic and environmental problems we face today, along with some very interesting history on global financial systems. id never heard of the Bancor system until I read that book.

How many of his critics here have actually read more than the occasional article?
 

jenks

thread death
Thought 'Captive State' was very good, particularly on the way PFI works. He does well to explain the complex economics in a way a total dunce like me can understand. I'd rather read him than Will Hutton that's for sure.
 

sufi

lala
conservativehome.blogs.com said:
If Zac Goldsmith would make a good Tory MP, then why not George Monbiot. YOu would find it extremely difficult to point out ideological differences between their positions (with two exceptions, Zac Goldmsith is pro-hunting, Monbiot is against - and Zac Goldsmith is rather more - not less - histile to globalization.

Some of you like Zac Goldmsith because of his impeccable conservative/right-wing credentials - ie his father James Goldsmith. Well George Monbiot has equally impeccable conservative credentials, his father is Sir Raymond Monbiot, Chairman of the Conservative Party's National Convention. And at least Sir Raymond never set up another party which lost us (probably) an extra 10 - 20 seats that we would have lost otherwise.

I say if we wnat a Green Toff as a Tory MP, let's go for George Monbiot. At least then we will know that we have formally given up every principle and are willing to say anything - and adopt any other principle - to be elected.

George Monbiot for the Tories,

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2005/12/goldlist_candid.html
December 09, 2005


moonbat at the tory conference 4 October, 2006 :mad:
 

dHarry

Well-known member
what is the problem with him? he seems to me like a very credible and necessary voice of eco-conscience in the Guardian, on his blog (http://www.monbiot.com/), and in his books, constantly highlighting the nefarious and anti-democratic and anti-ecological practices and policies of government and big business. A good thing, surely?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"what is the problem with him? he seems to me like a very credible and necessary voice of eco-conscience in the Guardian, on his blog (http://www.monbiot.com/), and in his books, constantly highlighting the nefarious and anti-democratic and anti-ecological practices and policies of government and big business. A good thing, surely?"
Yeah, I completely agree. I don't see what harm there is in him being a successful firebrand (and even making money) while doing stuff that I support. There doesn't seem to be any substance to any of the things people are saying beyond "I don't like him".
 

shudder

Well-known member
anyone read "heat"?? Is it worth reading? I've been looking for the right book to really know what I'm talking about w/r/t global warming.
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
anyone read "heat"?? Is it worth reading? I've been looking for the right book to really know what I'm talking about w/r/t global warming.

every week mate, just to see what our (uk) hot celebs are wearing as they fall out of trendy nightclubs.
global warming doesn't get much of a mention beyond what size knickers to buy though
 

shudder

Well-known member
every week mate, just to see what our (uk) hot celebs are wearing as they fall out of trendy nightclubs.
global warming doesn't get much of a mention beyond what size knickers to buy though

I'm obviously missing something............................. is heat a tabloid of some kind??
 

alo

Well-known member
I'm obviously missing something............................. is heat a tabloid of some kind??

Imagine the exact polar opposite of George Monbiot...

Anyway, yeah, for what it's worth i really like Monbiot. He's certainly more than just an average journalist that's for sure. 'The Age Of Consent' is great: An attempt to imagine a functioning global parliament by explaining the history of Bancor, the World Bank, the role of the UN, free market economics as a tool of protectionism, the externalisation of environmental cost by business, etc...

There is a great bit about a financial system invented by the late economist Lord Keynes and tabled to the G8 countries back in 1943 that would effectively, give or take a nip and a tuck, have democratised international trade by balancing import and export credit. Because Britain was broke, its bargaining position was compromised (every other country supported the system), and because the US was becoming wealthy it nixed the idea in favour of the current World Bank/IMF system of unpayable 3rd World debt.
 
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