Undercover and over-the-top

This week, I was meant to be on trial at Nottingham Crown Court on a bizarre trumped-up protest
charge. However, the trial spectacularlycollapsed due to revelations about an undercover cop
who had infiltrated the UK environmental movement. Yes, my life has become a dodgy spy novel.

I’ve written up the full story for the New Internationalist. To my knowledge, it's the only account of
the whole bizarre affair from beginning to end that you can find online. Check it out:

Undercover and over-the-top: the collapse of the Ratcliffe trial

Weird weird world.

My other exciting news is...I’ve written a book! It’s called “The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate
Change”, and it’s my attempt to write an accessible and fun pocket-sized overview of this
complex scary mega-subject, combining all the basics with the latest facts and analysis. It goes
through the science step-by-step in non-technical language, explaining the key evidence and
debunking common misconceptions with the help of (inevitably, for me) bad puns and daft
analogies. It then covers climate targets, solutions, history, politics, and the way forward, with
top tips on how you can go beyond recycling and lightbulbs and actually change stuff for the
better, all in one handy little guidebook. It’s also got a poem in, obviously (I wonder if you can
guess which one?).

The book hits the shops in March, but you can read the first chapter for free and/or order an
advance copy from the New Internationalist website here:

The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change

Please do spread the word to anyone who might be interested. I’m thinking about organising a
book tour, so if you’re part of any sort of local group that might be interested in a combined
climate talk and poetry performance, let me know!

Finally, if you haven’t already seen it my poetry video on the government spending cuts and tax
dodgers is still online here.

Best wishes for 2011 everyone!