The sell-off of England's forests

The government wants to sell off much of England's publicly owned forest, turning the Forestry Commission from an owner of woodland into a regulator. But the idea has sparked strong opposition across the political spectrum. Simon Wilson looks at what the government hopes to achieve, and weighs up the arguments for and against.

The government wants to sell off swathes of publicly owned forest but the idea has sparked strong opposition. Simon Wilson reports.

What is the government up to?

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Simon Wilson’s first career was in book publishing, as an economics editor at Routledge, and as a publisher of non-fiction at Random House, specialising in popular business and management books. While there, he published Customers.com, a bestselling classic of the early days of e-commerce, and The Money or Your Life: Reuniting Work and Joy, an inspirational book that helped inspire its publisher towards a post-corporate, portfolio life.   

Since 2001, he has been a writer for MoneyWeek, a financial copywriter, and a long-time contributing editor at The Week. Simon also works as an actor and corporate trainer; current and past clients include investment banks, the Bank of England, the UK government, several Magic Circle law firms and all of the Big Four accountancy firms. He has a degree in languages (German and Spanish) and social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge.