In 1994, Ridley became a board member of the UK bank Northern Rock. He is a proponent of fracking. [24] He participated in a February 2000 Ditchley conference. He was born in England in 1958. [29] Attracting over 100,000 people per year, the Northumberland art project, tourism and cultural landmark has won a global landscape architecture award, and has been named 'Miss World'. It was "skeptic bingo", showing Ridley as "a techno-optimist of the Lomborgian mold". But nobody saw it coming! Steve continues to energetically promote this agenda. I am a social and economic liberal: I believe that economic liberty leads to greater opportunities for the poor to become less poor, which is why I am in favour of it. [68], In 2011, the Manhattan Institute awarded Ridley its $50,000 Hayek Prize for his book The Rational Optimist. It’s not a question of being the most brilliant person who can figure it out in your head. Ridley sits on the advisory councils of the British lobby groups Sense About Science and Reform. In his acceptance speech, Ridley said: "As Hayek understood, it is human collaboration that is necessary for society to work... the key feature of trade is that it enables us to work for each other not just for ourselves; that attempts at self-sufficiency are the true form of selfishness as well as the quick road to poverty; and that authoritarian, top-down rule is not the source of order or progress. And that is a surprisingly difficult and large task. Indeed, on one account, there are 21 different people who deserve credit for the light bulb independently of each other around the same time. In 2015 Ridley's team won the celebrity Christmas special[78] of University Challenge representing Magdalen College, Oxford, the year after the team of his son, also Matthew, had won the student version[79] representing Trinity College, Cambridge. Innovations are not always unalloyed positives. [12] He is the nephew of the late Conservative MP and minister Nicholas Ridley[13] and the great grandson of Edwin Lutyens. He is best known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics. They singled Ridley out for having failed "to provide against the risks that [Northern Rock] was taking and to act as an effective restraining force on the strategy of the executive members". Ridley is best known for his books, which mainly focus on evolution and genetics, but he has also written for numerous (mostly conservative) newspapers. Ridley was chairman of the UK bank Northern Rock from 2004 to 2007, during which period Northern Rock experienced the first run on a British bank in 150 years. Ridley is former chairman of Northern Rock Plc (2004-2007) and Northern 2 Venture (1999-present). [47], Ridley has responded to Monbiot on his website, stating "George Monbiot's recent attack on me in the Guardian is misleading. In both 1996 and 2000, Steve campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. He holds a directorship at Northern Investors (1994-present). This is a very good example of the asymmetry of innovation. [59] This was summarily dismissed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. That’s what I find so interesting. Amazingly we really don’t know. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is. [4], Ridley joined The Economist in 1984, first working as a science editor until 1987, then as Washington, D.C. correspondent from 1987 to 1989 and as American editor from 1990 to 1992. [1] He is also the 9th Baronet Ridley. Monbiot showed that Ridley had failed to learn from the collapse of Northern Rock.[8][9]. "[69] In 2011, Ridley gave the Angus Millar Lecture on "scientific heresy" at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley, The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Lawrence Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation, Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human, Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think, House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley, Matthew White Ridley, 2nd Viscount Ridley, Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Viscount Ridley, "Governments aren't perfect, but it's the libertarians who bleed us dry", "Ex-Northern Rock chairman Ridley joins Lords", "Viscount Ridley: Spoken material by date", "Northern Rock chairman quits after criticism from lawmakers", "Northern Rock chief admits to 'catastrophic black mark, Northern Rock chairman gives chief full backing, "Professor Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Economics from London;", "Fisheries: managing international common resources", "Matt Ridley FRSL FMedSci: Science writer, Chairman of the International Centre for Life, Newcastle-upon-Thames, and Patron of the BHA", "Northumberlandia's no angel, but she's my Lady of the North", "Northumberlandia named 'Miss World' in global competition", "Northumberland's Blagdon Estate landowner wins prestigious national award", http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/sjnav/books/2, "2011 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize For Non-fiction Shortlist announced", "Evolution of Everything Book by Matt Ridley - Matt Ridley", "The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley review – the rightwing libertarian gets it wrong", "THE EVOLUTION OF EVERYTHING by Matt Ridley - Kirkus Reviews", "The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley - Review - BookPage", "The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley, book", "Evolution of Everything Book by Matt Ridley", "The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley, book review", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A_zzJKDXdI, "What's your dangerous idea?