About me

I'm a British freelance journalist, and write regularly for Plenty Magazine's Political Climate blog and the Guardian's Comment is free site; I also contribute to Mother Jones, Slate and Newsweek, and blog about Latin American news and politics at Backyard Briefing.

Lately I've focused on US and Latin American current events and environmental technology and policy, but I'll turn my hand to most things in a pinch: I've written about evangelical exorcists for the Boulder Camera, latter-day leprosy sufferers for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, filthy-mouthed celebrity parrots for the BBC and clown funerals for the Montreal Gazette. My work has been featured on the New York Times newswire, and has been widely published in the US, the UK and Canada.

I trained at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where I was a Fulbright scholar; after graduating I spent six months covering health and social affairs for Newsweek before returning to the UK. I then joined the Guardian, where I helped launch the award-winning Comment is free op-ed site. I later worked in the Guardian's DC bureau, helping to launch Guardian America and reporting on the 2006 midterm elections.

Before turning to journalism I studied at the United World College of Hong Kong, spent a long year making lackluster conceptual art at the Chelsea College of Art & Design, and conducted prizewinning neuroscience research at University College London. I'm married to a gorgeous Venezuelan, and split my time between the UK and the US.