Ross Clark (journalist)
Ross Clark (born 12 September 1966) is a British journalist and author whose work has appeared in The Spectator, The Times and many other national newspapers. He is the author of several books, including How to Label a Goat: the silly Rules and Regulations that are strangling Britain[1] and The Great Before, a novel which satirised the pessimism of the green movement.[2] He is a frequent critic of British government policy, especially on its interventions in the housing market.[3]
Early life
Clark was born in Worcester and brought up in East Kent, where he attended the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. He studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge[4]
Career
In 1989 Clark won The Spectator Young Writers Award, part of the prize for which – a lunch — he later claimed not to have received.[5] He established himself as a freelance journalist, with his work appearing in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday and The Times, where he frequently writes the Thunderer column. His work is strongly associated with libertarianism and free market economics, writing the "Banned Wagon"[6] and "Globophobia" columns in The Spectator.[7] In 2013 he was co-winner of the Bastiat Prize run by the Reason Foundation.[8] He was also shortlisted for the prize in 2004.[9] In 2010, shortly before the general election, he co-wrote, with Neil O'Brien, The Renewal of Government, the manifesto of Policy Exchange, a think tank strongly associated with David Cameron. However, since then he has shown hostility towards Coalition policies; in a piece in The Times in March 2013, he accused the Chancellor, George Osborne, by means of a plan to underwrite £130 billion of mortgage debt, of forcing the taxpayer to take the same speculative risks which had caused the banking crisis.[10] In 2012 Clark's musical Shot at Dawn was performed as a workshop at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden. The musical was a success and was later restaged as a full scale professional production in 2014 at Upstairs at The Gatehouse and The Mumford Theatre, Cambridge.[11] He also wrote, with Martin Coslett, the The Perfect City, which was performed at the Etcetera Theatre in March 2013.[12]
He lives in Reach, Cambridgeshire, and is a member of the village's parish council.[13]
Books
- Cambridgeshire, part of the Pimlico county history series, 1996
- The Great Before: a satire, 2005
- How to Label a Goat: the silly rules and regulations that are strangling Britain, Harriman House, 2006
- The Road to Southend Pier: one man's struggle against the surveillance society, Harriman House, 2007
- A Broom Cupboard of One's Own: the housing crisis and how to solve it, Harriman House, 2012
References
- ↑ Clark, Ross (20 November 2006). "How do you label a goat?". Mail Online. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ↑ The Spectator 31 December 2005
- ↑ A coalition of the complacent, Spectator blogs 7 January 2013
- ↑ Cambridge News 1 July 2003
- ↑ Daily Telegraph 20 September 2003
- ↑ Banned Wagon
- ↑ Globophobia
- ↑ Newsday's Lane Filler and The Times' Ross Clark Win Reason Foundation’s Bastiat Prize, Reason Foundation, 6 November 2013
- ↑ www.policynetwork.net
- ↑ If property prices fall, this scheme will be a disaster, The Times 21 March 2013
- ↑ Shot at Dawn
- ↑ The Perfect City at Etcetera Theatre, 18 March 2013
- ↑ Parish Council