Richard Smyth
Writer and Critic, UK
Richard Smyth writes features, reviews and comment pieces for publications including The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and New Statesman, among others. He is also a crossword setter, a cartoonist and an author whose books include The Jay, the Beech and the Limpetshell (2023) and the novel The Woodcock (Fairlight Books, 2021). He lives in Shipley, West Yorkshire, UK.
Written by Richard Smyth
essay
Biology
In praise of subspecies
To lump or to split? Deciding whether an animal is a species or subspecies profoundly influences our conservation priorities
Richard Smyth
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Music
Folk music was never green
Don’t be swayed by the sound of environmental protest: these songs were first sung in the voice of the cutter, not the tree
Richard Smyth
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Nature and landscape
Nature does not care
Too many nature writers descend into poetic self-absorption instead of the sharp-eyed realism the natural world deserves
Richard Smyth