Final word

This week's Final Word comes from a biologist who was spectacularly doused by his colleagues:

"The stewardship of environment is a domain on the near side of metaphysics where all reflective persons can surely find common ground. For what, in the final analysis, is morality but the command of conscience seasoned by a rational examination of consequences? And what is a fundamental precept but one that serves all generations? An enduring environmental ethic will aim to preserve not only the health and freedom of our species, but access to the world in which the human spirit was born."

The winner of last week's competition, who correctly identified Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall , is Radhakrishnan Nayar of Coventry.