What Rosa Lister has said about Sycamore Gap tree

2 quotes · 1 episode · Jul 20, 2026

Rosa Lister, London-based writer who covered the Sycamore Gap trial for Harper's Magazine, has been quoted on Sycamore Gap tree 2 times in 1 episode of This American Life, most recently on July 20, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

  • Lister noted that sycamores are generally disliked in Britain and often regarded as weeds.

    “The truth is that people in Britain don't really like sycamores. Gardeners go so far as to despise them”

    This American Life: 892: Trapped on a Bus (Jul 20, 2026) · Listen from 43:32

  • Lister argued the more disturbing explanation was that the men deliberately felled the tree because they knew how loved it was.

    “That they had thought about it quite extensively, that they knew how much people had loved the tree, and had cut it down for precisely that reason”

    This American Life: 892: Trapped on a Bus (Jul 20, 2026) · Listen from 48:31

Episodes

  • 892: Trapped on a Bus

    This American Life · Jul 20, 2026 · 1 h 3 min

    Guest host David Kestenbaum presents stories of unwanted journeys: a runaway bus, a neighbor-spy and bipolar paranoia, Havana blackouts, the Sycamore Gap felling, and an in-flight bite.

Rosa Lister on other topics