Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, (born 7 February 1958) is a British journalist and businessman. He is best known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics. He has written several science books, including The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (1994), Genome (1999), The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (2010) and The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge (2015). He publishes a blog and has been a regular contributor to The Times newspaper.
Ridley is a libertarian, and a staunch supporter of Brexit. He has been a Conservative hereditary peer since 2013, with a seat in the House of Lords.Ridley was chairman of the UK bank Northern Rock from 2004 to 2007, during which period it experienced the first run on a British bank in 130 years. He resigned, and the bank was bailed out by the UK government; this led to the nationalisation of Northern Rock.

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