Phil England

Phil England is a freelance journalist who has been published in The Independent, The Herald, The Ecologist, New Internationalist, Variant, The Wire and other publications.

Between 2003 and 2015 he produced over 100 hours of broadcasts about climate change under the Climate Radio umbrella with funding from various grant-making bodies. Climate Radio programmes have been broadcast by a network of community radio stations in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the United States. They were also made available by The Ecologist, New Internationalist and Indymedia.

In 1998 Phil co-founded the award-winning community radio station ResonanceFM when he produced a month-long broadcast with Ed Baxter for London Musicians’ Collective as part of John Peel’s Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre.

During the 1990s he worked as the administrator for the London Musicians’ Collective where he also co-edited the magazine+CD Resonance.

During the 2000s Phil was active in local sustainability issues as part of the Haringey Agenda 21 group where he successfully campaigned for climate change related measures to be included in the local authority development framework. He supported HA21’s transition to the new, improved borough-wide Sustainable Haringey network with campaigning, organisational and communications work. As part of SH’s council liaison team, he pulled together the network’s response to the council’s Greenest Borough Strategy and wrote the group’s response to Haringey’s Local Development Framework consultation and the Central Leeside development framework.

In summer 2011, Phil and and sound artist Jim Welton were commissioned by Platform London and Liberate Tate to produce an alternative audio guide for Tate Modern to highlight issues around BP’s sponsorship.

During the 2010s Phil worked on democracy campaigns (journalism, Occupy Democracy, Assemblies for Democracy) and worked with local, organic food social enterprise Growing Communities in a variety of roles (consultancy, farmers market manager, deputy packing manager).

Published writings

Here is a selection of published writings by Phil England. It is by no means complete as it is limited to those that are currently archived online.

The Independent:

• Learning from Iceland’s Pots and Pans Revolution (June 2015)
• What would it look like if we took global warming seriously? (March 2014)
• The Village Against the World – review (November 2013)
• The Oil Road – review (January 2013)
• The revolution will be televised (May 2011)
• The sting in the tail of a resource war (April 2011)
• Tax on carbon: The only way to save our planet? (January 2011)
• Emily James: Lights, camera, activists (October 2010)

Open Democracy

• Why UK needs a constitutional convention: Anthony Barnett (July 2015)
• Changing the way democracy works: Katrin Oddsdottir (July 2015)
• Priorities of the people: Citizens Foundation (July 2015)
• Iceland’s unfinished revolution: Hordur Torfason (June 2015)
• Rebuilding democracy in Iceland: Birgitta Jonsdottir (June 2015)
• Sharing our Future: how the world can avoid climate chaos (November 2013)

Ceasefire Magazine

• “You have been negotiating all my life: get it done” (January 2014)
• Only a challenge to corporate power can save the planet (November 2013)
• London 2012: An Olympian Exercise in Corporate Greenwashing (April 2012)

The Ecologist:

• Step-by-step guide to ‘greening’ your local council (October 2010)
• Merchants of Doubt (September 2010)
• 10 steps to creating your own local currency (June 2010)
• MMS – the three initials behind the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster (May 2010)
• Review of Bill McKibben’s Eaarth (April 2010)
• Should the US Scrap the Waxman-Markey Bill? (8 October 2009)
• Halfway to Copenhagen (July 2009)

Variant:

• George Monbiot vs. James Lovelock (Spring 2007 – NB Footnote #19 was inserted by the editor and does not represent my opinion)
• Climate Change Prognosis and Courses of Action (Spring 2003)
• Blair’s Wars (Winter 2004)
• New Labour’s Arms Trade (Summer 2001)
• Degraded Capability (Summer 2000)

New Internationalist:

• Corporations at the very heart of power – interview with Owen Jones (September 2014)
• Rio+20 Earth Summit – Time to Change the Narrative (March 2012)
• Interview with Gigi Ibrahim (April 2011)
• Fuel on the Fire (April 2011)
• Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine (September 2010)
• The Story of Stuff (June 2010)
• The Age of Stupid (March 2009)
• The Transition Handbook (May 2008)
• Plan B 3.0 (May 2008 – NB: this was submitted as a four star review with the line “this is a major contribution and any incoming president would do well having Brown on their team.”)
• The Next Gulf (April 2006)
• Shell Shock (July 2005)
• Unconquerable World (October 2004)
• Conspiracy to Murder (October 2004)
• High Tide: News from a warming world (June 2004)
• Pre-Emptive Empire (May 2004)
• Modern Jihad (Jan/Feb 2004)
• One No, Many Yeses (2003)
• The Age of Consent (2003)
• Not In Our Name (video, June 2002)
• Mugabe (May 2002)
• Primitive Rebels or Revolutionary Modernisers? (April 2001)
• The Assassination of Lumumba (2001)

The Morning Star

• Merchants of Doubt (September 2010)

Occupied Times

• Rio+20 Earth Summit – Time to Change the Narrative (March 2012)

The Wire (features only)

• Tanya Tagaq cover feature (May 2019)
• London Improvisers Orchestra (Dec 2108)
• Once Upon A Time In London: Victor Schonfield & Music Now (Oct 2018)
• Ceramic Hobs (Feb 2018)
• Invisible Jukebox: Penny Rimbaud (Oct 2017)
• David Dunn (Nov 2013)
• Pedro Reyes’ Disarm (May 2013)
• Penny Rimbaud & Gee Vaucher (Sep 2012)
• Peter Cusack (Aug 2012)
• Collateral Damage (Apr 2012)
• Zoviet France (Mar 2012)
• People Like Us IJB (Jul 2011)
• People Like Us (Jun 2008)
• Little Annie (Oct 2006)
• David Rothenberg (May 2006)
• Max Eastley (Mar 2006)
• Dan Wilson (Jan 2006)
• Oren Marshall (Nov 2005)
• Invisible Jukebox: Mark Stewart (Jun 2005)
• Invisible Jukebox: Steve Beresford (May 2005)
• Elliott Sharp (Apr 2005)
• Alvin Curran (Nov 2004)
• Hafler Trio (May 2004)
• The Fire This Time (Feb 2003)
• Gert-Jan Prins (Jan 2003)
• Acoustic Ecology (Dec 2002)
• Caroline Kraabel (Jun 2001)
• Sainkho Namtchylak (Nov 2000)
• Charles Hayward (Aug 1997)
• Peter Blegvad (Jan 1996)
• :zoviet*france: (Sept 1995)
• Nicolas Collins (Sept 1993)
• Defunkt (Jul 1992)
• Negativland (May 1992)