Simon Barnes: Why a man who sat on a dead horse became a hate figure

Brits baulk at equine cruelty, but don’t flinch when other animals suffer. Our national obsession has shaped politics and literature – and destroyed a trainer’s career

Simon Barnes: Tiger Woods isn’t normal

The golfer achieved greatness and threw it away. Twice. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when godly beings do extraordinary things

Simon Barnes: Return to the rivers

Beavers are coming back to the waters of Britain, in glorious abundance. They must not be thwarted by the meddling of our own species

Happy the elephant

Nature’s rights

Do all wildlife and all natural habitats have the right to be protected from humans?

The greatest man on Earth

If mankind survives another century or two, the history books of the future will record one man as the giant of our times.

Fractured future

• Hydraulic fracturing provides cheap access to natural gas and has transformed the US energy industry
• But in Britain, where financial benefits do not flow to landowners, the process of extraction has attracted fierce opposition from environmentalists
• To frack or not to frack? That is the question. Or is it?

Oil and water

• Hydraulic fracturing is a proven way of getting inaccessible fossil fuel
• Its high-pressure methods have attracted widespread protest ranging from fear of earthquakes to water pollution
• Its supporters argue that it is a vital new source of cheap energy and would make the UK less dependent on imported oil and gas