tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57752682012-01-10T11:49:59.103Z"horribly compelling" - <i>The Guardian</i>_noreply@blogger.comBlogger4781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-21254381942207801102007-11-20T12:40:00.000Z2007-11-20T12:41:24.126Z

... I argue with reference to the Lib Dem leadership contest that voters aren't crying out for a party of free market social liberals.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-42211569329243975612007-10-04T22:35:00.000+01:002007-10-04T22:37:05.418+01:00

... I respond to Simon Burns MP's recent suggestion that Conservatives should welcome Hillary Clinton as President of the United States.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-61062286604676084192007-09-24T16:45:00.000+01:002007-09-24T16:51:42.619+01:00

... I wrote last week on what voters are really thinking about when they consider quality of life. Also for ConservativeHome, Boris Johnson today answers questions, including my own: "Do you sympathise with those who consider the government posters stamped with 'Mayor of London' all over the capital to be unBritish and more than a little Orwellian? Would you scrap them?".

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-48948123700870421632007-08-25T17:39:00.000+01:002007-09-04T16:43:01.288+01:00

... can be read here. The report has received coverage from the The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The BBC, The Guardian, and The Times, as well as a column from Boris Johnson. My interview with Donal Blaney on the report can be viewed on 18 Doughty Street at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 5th September - the permanent link to the interview is here.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-75834207999028421632007-05-17T15:23:00.000+01:002007-05-17T15:24:29.383+01:00

... I make the case for including Frank Field in the next Conservative government.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-69851014486920340112007-03-15T04:40:00.000Z2007-03-15T04:42:45.208Z

... I recommend Polish participation in missile defence, in spite of Russian bullying.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-13347231504714591522007-02-26T20:01:00.000Z2007-02-26T20:02:55.073Z

... I respond to the return of economic inequality to America's political agenda.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1169704710384722792007-01-25T05:56:00.000Z2007-01-25T05:58:30.403Z

... I write on Hillary Clinton's announcement that Margaret Thatcher will be her role model in security and defence.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1169579732259784172007-01-23T19:10:00.000Z2007-01-23T19:21:08.156Z

... I ask author John Berlau if environmentalism as a type of secular religion contributes to an atmosphere where the trade-offs between environmental protection and other desirable ends are not recognised, and much harm is done. [At 47:30 on the recording]

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1169346682315612432007-01-21T02:30:00.000Z2007-01-21T02:31:22.330Z

... I respond to Matthew Parris' recent claim that Tony Blair will leave Britain "a happier country than he found it".

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1169073304847772582007-01-17T22:32:00.000Z2007-01-29T03:06:42.723Z

... Polly Toynbee - whom Boris Johnson prophetically once described as "the defender and friend of everyone whose non-job has ever been advertised in the Guardian appointments page, every gay and lesbian outreach worker, every clipboard-toter and pen-pusher and form-filler whose function has been generated by mindless regulation" - used her column to respond to my non-jobs report. My rebuttal is

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1168460400509573732007-01-10T20:10:00.000Z2007-01-16T14:51:35.776Z

... which received coverage in The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, BBC Radio 4 and various local newspapers, can be read here. My column on the report for ConservativeHome can be read here.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1166198839489296602006-12-15T16:04:00.000Z2006-12-15T16:08:43.466Z

I commend the replacement of Trident.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1163779602161872462006-11-17T16:05:00.000Z2006-11-17T16:06:42.183Z

I pay tribute to Milton Friedman.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1163690911394666982006-11-16T15:27:00.000Z2006-11-16T15:29:00.856Z

I ask if Labour is at last going back on its softly-softly approach to Muslim extremists.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1161123156402198792006-10-17T23:10:00.000+01:002006-10-17T23:12:36.436+01:00

I ask what the recent elections in Austria and Sweden mean for European unity.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1155069282103672932006-08-08T21:33:00.000+01:002006-08-08T21:34:42.120+01:00

I write on links between the 7/7 bombers and Al Qaeda.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1150069944941385922006-06-12T00:42:00.000+01:002006-06-12T00:53:02.770+01:00

... I write on this week's Council of Europe report on the rendition of terrorist suspects.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1146481832204163962006-05-01T12:06:00.000+01:002006-05-01T12:28:08.256+01:00

... I can easily upload a couple of essays I have written recently, for anyone interested. 'Is tax competition a problem for Europe? Analyse the implications harmonisation policies within Europe' - In this essay, I demonstrate that one of the causes of high unemployment in many EU countries is higher taxes, and therefore tax competition is not a problem but a benefit. 'Applying a theoretical

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1139545674709467372006-02-10T04:25:00.000Z2006-02-10T04:29:17.136Z

then please check out: to which I am proud to say I contributed (admittedly only about 1% of it).

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1127483082792640752005-09-23T14:23:00.000+01:002005-09-23T14:44:42.946+01:00

Hilarious correspondence over at Andrew Sullivan's blog, as one liberal rages at Larry Summers, accusing him of "offering this nonsensical theory of standard deviations". What shocks me is that my maths teachers were in on this absurd theory too, and spent hours hammering it into the whole class. Likely many of my readers have fallen prey to the same. What were those monsters who decided that

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1127143581970016912005-09-19T16:23:00.000+01:002005-09-19T16:26:21.976+01:00

Over at Harry's Place, Marcus issues the following call to arms: The Church of England used to be known as the Tory party at prayer. Suggestions for a more up to date description in the comments box please. Go there and see what you can suggest. As far as I'm concerned, TimmyHawk is clearly in the lead at this moment.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1125610946043766272005-09-01T22:24:00.000+01:002005-09-01T22:47:31.476+01:00

The Young Britons Foundation has relaunched its web site, and it looks really beautiful. With the launch of a campus newspaper also imminent, the organisation is going from strength to strength, and is succeeding at doing so many of the things Conservative Future has perhaps neglected. The YBF will also have an evening reception at the Conservative Party Conference on Monday 3rd October. Do

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1125556899653831722005-09-01T07:41:00.000+01:002005-09-01T07:49:23.126+01:00

From the anti-Darwinism of the radical left to the anti-Darwinism of the religious right, I will fiercely recommend a piece in today's Guardian by Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne (who?) on the subject of Intelligent Design. Refreshingly free - especially for Dawkins - of the nasty bashing of religious people so common to columns on this issue, it explains precisely why the science classroom is

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1125248488763698962005-08-28T17:55:00.000+01:002005-08-28T18:05:52.163+01:00

Sorry I haven't posted much recently. I shall remedy that soon. In the meantime, I will recommend this debate I had lately over at Pootergeek, the weblog of Damien Counsell, a professional biologist inclined to evaluate his radical politics in separation from what science tells us about human goals and social realities. As I conclude: You can, if you like, take a radical feminist view that

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1124407698953868882005-08-19T00:12:00.000+01:002005-08-19T00:29:32.543+01:00

I have spent quite some time recently, on PoliticalBetting.com, arguing against those card-carrying members of the Guardian and Independent-reading tendency there, which seems to believe the only route to power for the Conservatives is to please voters just like them. As I am wont to remind them, there are a lot more floating voters out there than there are hard-core left-liberals, and working

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1124390680887751822005-08-18T19:43:00.000+01:002005-08-18T19:45:38.646+01:00

Via A Tangled Web.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1124294771128723162005-08-17T17:05:00.000+01:002005-08-17T17:07:15.923+01:00

"I don't think either Britain or the US can claim superiority in integration and race relations. Insofar as mass immigration has passed off peacefully, it has been in the face of silent opposition from the great majority in both societies (check any opinion poll). In that sense, this whole debate is about how well food agrees with the stomachs of two men who had no appetite anyway. The question

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1124253133564425762005-08-17T05:28:00.000+01:002005-08-17T05:32:13.573+01:00

Wow - just wow. The personals section of the London Review of Books is about as aesthetically pleasing and appropriate as catching one's grandparents 'at it'. Horrifying. Thanks - or not - to Bobbie Johnson for the link.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1124214272643450962005-08-16T18:41:00.000+01:002005-08-16T18:44:32.653+01:00

PoliticalBetting.com's discussion of Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the White House in 2008 reminds me to link to these informative rival pieces from Washington Monthly - for and against. But mostly, it gives me an excuse to quote John Derbyshire's literally devilish argument in her favour. Try and see her candidacy in the same light ever again after reading this. "Hillary is ice-cold.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1123782537000758562005-08-11T18:44:00.000+01:002005-08-11T18:50:25.140+01:00

Mary-Ann Sieghart says the public and pundits are too soft on John Prescott: I just don't get the Prescott thing. Here is a man who punches a man in the face during an election campaign in which he is seeking our votes and people say, "Aaw, bless!" He delivers V-signs in the House of Commons and people think he's a bit of a card. That's the sort of behaviour that earns teenagers an Asbo round

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1123782087626064382005-08-11T18:40:00.000+01:002005-08-11T18:42:27.626+01:00

Even those of us who were very supportive of the Iraq War have been a little sceptical of suggestions that the country is on course towards Western liberal democracy. Reading news that the Prime Minister has apologised to a legislator for inadvertently offending his religious sect, which worships Satan, I am coming to think they are at least getting a handle on political correctness. The Prime

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1123780474369769752005-08-11T18:38:00.000+01:002005-08-11T18:34:26.990+01:00

In not entirely good taste but certainly good humour, Peter Briffa has divined masterfully the reactions from many of Britain's top columnists to the next Al Qaeda atrocity. I particularly like his Matthew Parris and Nick Cohen.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1123781516555050152005-08-11T18:15:00.000+01:002005-08-11T18:34:10.673+01:00

A Tangled Web has an off-puttingly ugly choice of font and colours, but it really is a superb resource on the politics of the better part of the Emerald Isle - and indeed of Britain, the Irish Republic and beyond. I've recommended it here before, but when I did, it wasn't a blog I read daily. Since I went back there to see the reaction to the latest bout of disarmament in Ulster (disarmament by

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1123780288228246152005-08-11T18:08:00.000+01:002005-08-11T18:11:28.236+01:00

In New Britain, we don't have the death penalty for violent criminals any more. We do, however, treat them on the NHS, which sometimes amounts to the same thing.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122952730501004882005-08-02T04:11:00.000+01:002005-08-02T04:19:58.250+01:00

I get back on Sunday night, but I'm afraid there will be no posts until then. If by chance anyone has any good ideas, I am also looking for accommodation for this September in Washington DC, in reasonable walking distance of the House of Representatives (I am happy to walk a good distance), or with good transport links to it. Ideally it won't be too expensive and will have an internet

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122517277503360002005-07-28T02:18:00.000+01:002005-07-28T03:59:35.676+01:00

I must confess that when I saw the first reports of the new 'happy slapping' craze sweeping Britain, I tried to skip them as much as possible. I've encountered thugs who relish in cruelty towards others. But I suppose I took some comfort in the idea that they were rare and pitiable individuals, not a serious social phenomenon. Why throw away this small crutch by immersing myself in accounts

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122410256352817052005-07-26T21:27:00.000+01:002005-07-26T23:08:29.333+01:00

From Pub Philosopher we are informed that the speech BNP Foehrer Nick Griffin is being taken through the courts for delivering was judged an arrestable offence partly because of his prediction some time ago that sooner or later Islamic terrorists would "blast the hell out of London tube trains and buses", and those perpetrators would "probably turn out to be second generation Pakistanis from

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122407620205630382005-07-26T20:52:00.000+01:002005-07-26T20:53:54.803+01:00

"[T]o say that arguments made at the macro level are Thoughtcrime even if they are correct ... is the discourse of thugs and hacks." - Brad DeLong on political correctness

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122310025850174372005-07-25T17:46:00.000+01:002005-07-25T17:56:42.476+01:00

DumbJon asks why the Left is making such an issue of the nationality of the man shot on Friday. I've finally worked out why Libs are so spineless. It's the only way they can manage the constant backflips without serious injury. Take recent events: it's supposed to be self-evidently ludicrous that the Filth misidentified a Brazilian as a suicide bomber. Hang on a mo', if Brazilians are unlikely

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122242419232335632005-07-24T22:42:00.000+01:002005-07-24T23:14:25.556+01:00

... to Matthew and Florence Elliott (nee Heath) of the Taxpayers' Alliance for a wonderful wedding yesterday. I know I myself can't imagine a better way to start a marriage than a reception in which the best man's speech explains to foreign guests at the beginning, in French, that they ought to cheer and applaud all further references to Margaret Thatcher. The best of luck for the future to a

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1122065807369719822005-07-22T21:54:00.000+01:002005-07-22T21:56:47.376+01:00

Over at Samizdata, Perry de Havilland has two superlative posts on the bomber shot today and the Islamic 'moderates' attempting to use this terrorism to ensure withdrawal from Iraq.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1120742317851525712005-07-07T14:18:00.000+01:002005-07-07T14:18:37.860+01:00

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1120677553718678042005-07-06T20:18:00.000+01:002005-07-06T20:19:13.736+01:00

It sometimes saddens me that while I have a good general knowledge of politics, I have nothing like the expertise in any particular smaller field to produce a post as glorious as this, which I have rather belatedly found. Everyone has heard of the Creationist movement in America's secondary schools, working to have religious accounts of Creation taught alongside evolution in science lessons.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1120534983366168052005-07-05T04:42:00.000+01:002005-07-05T04:43:03.373+01:00

"With low taxes, you really can have your cake and eat it: for if you eat it slowly and sensibly, the cake grows." - The Daily Telegraph

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1120282130896671232005-07-02T04:33:00.000+01:002005-07-02T06:28:50.956+01:00

I had a much longer post here on Live 8, but my browser crashed. Suffice it to say, as DumbJon has pointed out, that the media luvvies and silly trendies who kowtow before Geldof represent neither the interests of Africans nor the views of the British people. The happiest days in Africa's history were those in which ultimate authority lay with a few hundred Englishmen, in parliament. The model

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1120245341556336152005-07-01T20:06:00.000+01:002005-07-02T20:26:12.373+01:00

I'm currently interning in the House of Commons, but have the next week off, so I may be able to post a little more. As the contract on the house I rent in Essex has now run out, I am also looking for somewhere in London to live while I work in parliament: from the 9th of July until the recess begins two weeks later. If anyone has any good ideas, please leave a comment or email me. I'd prefer

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1119465817938646342005-06-22T19:26:00.000+01:002005-06-22T19:49:39.520+01:00

As the House of Commons debated the new law to ban supposed incitement to religious hatred, Boris Johnson yesterday gave a remarkably good performance. As he bravely but absolutely correctly noted, being vicious, crude and nasty about a religion is not a liberty anyone who cares about religious truth itself should flinch from defending. If a religion is worth believing in, it ought to be

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1118925336301734252005-06-16T13:18:00.000+01:002005-06-16T13:36:17.220+01:00

As some of you are screaming for new content, I'll put online a short report I finished last month for a friend, who became interested in politics only recently, but now is considering a political career. It is an introduction to conservative policies and values, accompanied by relevant links and book recommendations.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1117879785813550882005-06-04T10:54:00.000+01:002005-06-04T11:09:45.926+01:00

Why are europhiles starting to claim that many Frenchmen voted against the EU Constitution not out of euroscepticism but because of their feelings about Chirac and national politics, as if it's some knock-out blow? Apart from the fact that people are entitled to vote for something for any reason they like in a democracy, they surely can't believe it doesn't work both ways. The UMP, the ruling

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1117699331050924802005-06-02T09:01:00.000+01:002005-06-02T09:02:11.056+01:00

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1117529462543436692005-05-31T09:50:00.000+01:002005-05-31T09:51:02.550+01:00

"The thing is that the eurosceptics have been proved very largely right about the Single Currency and the EU generally. What were once fringe opinions are now becoming mainstream across the continent (paradoxically euroscepticism is the one way in which Europe has developed a common political philosophy)." - Sean Fear

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1117434970347508512005-05-30T12:02:00.000+01:002005-05-30T12:12:52.716+01:00

Well, my exams are over, so hopefully I shall have a bit more time to blog - no doubt much to the particular relief of certain bored pensioners with £1.90 a day food bills and endless time to complain in my comments section about my absence. Before I write about what I think the election means for each of the parties in turn, I'll write on a personal note. For me, it was a great election.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1117145610206838282005-05-30T02:53:00.000+01:002005-05-30T07:38:33.986+01:00

In terms of the future of European democracy, this could just be revolutionary, and could finally grant the French a revolution they can be proud of. UPDATE: Steve Sailer notes: I think Alexander Solzhenitsyn explained best why this is a happy day in his 1970 Nobel Prize lecture: "... the disappearance of whole nations would impoverish us no less than if all people were to become

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1116817802965677342005-05-23T03:52:00.000+01:002005-05-23T04:20:35.406+01:00

The British left has an endless supply of eccentrics and, I suspect, liars who will claim that, goodness no, the BBC's angle on the news in no way resembles that of the Guardian newspaper. Goodness no, its newsmakers and presenters couldn't be approaching issues from a left-liberal perspective. But is it, perhaps, not too much to hope that even they might have cause to wonder why it is - if

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1116814590055007472005-05-23T03:14:00.000+01:002005-05-23T03:16:30.060+01:00

"Why, incidentally, do people say they have expounded or opposed such-and-such a thing 'all their lives'? This cannot possibly be true." - Oliver Kamm

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1116608023637873232005-05-20T17:48:00.000+01:002005-05-20T17:56:47.706+01:00

Via LGF, Getty Images has some charming pictures from today's protest outside the American Embassy in London. The crowd, led by a man on a megaphone, chanted "USA watch your back, Osama is coming back" and "Kill, kill USA, kill, kill George Bush". They also chanted "Bomb, bomb New York" and "George Bush, you will pay, with your blood, with your head".

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1116440742770670682005-05-18T19:17:00.000+01:002005-05-18T19:25:42.803+01:00

"I voted Lib Dem and I knew everyone in my university jazz band except for one voted Lib Dem. I was optimistic. Then the results came in. Lib Dems didn't score as well as they were predicted or like they should of. The decpaitation tactic on those aweful Conservative people didn't work. It's now going to take more time for the Lib Dems to make any significant progress." - Darth Tiberius on the

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1116047320698628822005-05-14T06:07:00.000+01:002005-05-14T06:08:40.706+01:00

"It has often been pointed out that the reason why many French dislike the constitution is the opposite from the 'no' camp here in Britain. The French, it is said, hate the thing because it imposes 'Anglo-Saxon' free-market ideas on them and undermines their 'social protection', whereas British nay-sayers want to be free of all those social chapters and maximum working weeks. True, in part, but

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1115893855119250322005-05-12T11:29:00.000+01:002005-05-13T00:19:51.610+01:00

"The US has dealt with the problem of the underclass by putting 2m people in jail, which has had a big impact. We haven't rehabilitated anyone but just kept them out of society. It is not a happy solution but it is the only solution." - Charles Murray

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1115282108018322832005-05-05T09:34:00.000+01:002005-05-05T22:34:00.870+01:00

Please vote Conservative. UPDATE: I am now, up until 11pm, liveblogging the results in Harry's comments.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1115216705528324572005-05-04T15:13:00.000+01:002005-05-04T22:08:34.550+01:00

If any of my anti-Tory readers, or even my pessimistic Conservative readers, are interested in a little flutter, I have offered a bet of £200 (although it displays as £202 for some reason) at 1/2 odds on Betfair. My bet is that the Conservatives will win the Labour seat of Hammersmith and Fulham, which is 26 seats down on the party's target list and currently held with a majority of over 2,000

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1115140778595013862005-05-03T18:12:00.000+01:002005-05-03T18:24:28.916+01:00

Adrian Flook's victory in Taunton in June 2001 was one of the Tories' best results, so the credit he deserves is great. But this Andrew Pierce piece in today's Times goes too far: Roundabout way to get noticed Adrian Flook, the Tory defending Taunton - the Lib Dems' No 1 target seat - devised a cunning plan. His supporters, holding placards urging VOTE FLOOK, set up on a roundabout and along

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1114724900363738612005-04-28T22:43:00.000+01:002005-04-28T22:48:20.363+01:00

Congratulations to Stephen Pollard!

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1114645199299553572005-04-28T00:33:00.000+01:002005-04-28T00:42:52.796+01:00

Civitas' voter briefings are very well put together. Most striking for me were these two adjacent lines, at the very beginning of the report on the NHS: NHS expenditure in England has increased from £33 bn in 1996/97 to £76 bn in 2005/06. The Office for National Statistics estimated that from 1995 to 2003 productivity had increased between minus one and zero per cent. I think Civitas may,

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1113975035449419492005-04-20T06:28:00.000+01:002005-04-20T06:35:58.623+01:00

Among those nominal Anglicans who really believe in Biblical morality, there cannot be many who haven't at times toyed with converting to Catholicism. For me, this urge was never stronger than in the immediate aftermath of the last Pope's death. It wasn't the well-deserved tributes that did it for me nearly as much as the backlash. Seeing the coalition of voices that lined up against him and

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1113948422502535362005-04-19T21:36:00.000+01:002005-04-19T23:09:25.166+01:00

As Johann Hari excerpts the first chapter of his readable book on the monarchy on his homepage, I post again my May 2003 review of it. In understanding God Save The Queen?, it is important first to acknowledge the sizeable portion of our political and media class for whom the fact that their country is a monarchy is a cause of sickness. They feel great shame when meeting foreigners who are not

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1113676134369799422005-04-16T19:24:00.000+01:002005-04-16T19:31:03.593+01:00

"Soak the rich and you will get splashed" - Hampden Steve on punitive taxation

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1113340003182800532005-04-12T21:56:00.000+01:002005-04-12T22:10:31.933+01:00

In arguing that the Dead White Males are still prominent on university syllabi, the always readable Matthew Yglesias notes: I had a fair number of hardcore lefties as professors at one time or another, but assume you count English people as Europeans, I believe I took a grand total of four classes that didn't feature at least one reading by a European author. What a wonderful sentence.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1113008040287412742005-04-09T01:50:00.000+01:002005-04-09T03:31:48.096+01:00

I'm doing a lot of travelling and campaigning this weekend, but before I catch the 0630 from Darlington to King's Cross, Chris Brooke has answered some questions about his reading habits over at Virtual Stoa, and added me to his list of three people he now wants to answer them. Here goes ... You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be? I'm not sure what Fahrenheit 451

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1112843325810147812005-04-07T04:00:00.000+01:002005-04-07T04:08:45.813+01:00

Via Right Wing News, Jane Galt has a truly brilliant post on gay marriage, answering some of the cheap slogans and retorts one tends to hear in response to conservative questions in a more persuasive way than I have ever seen. If the typical advocates of single-sex marriage were to display even a tenth of the thought and open-mindedness Jane Galt does on the issue, I'm not sure whether it would

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1112815358765631402005-04-06T20:03:00.000+01:002005-04-06T22:22:23.700+01:00

Those who know Johann Hari best for his vocal support for the Iraq War may be inclined to see him as something of a moderate left-winger. I have highlighted in this series in the past just how extreme some of his views are, and his piece in last week's Independent allows me to show this radicalism again. Two posts down I touched on obesity. Johann's column looks at the other end of the scale.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1112413589570622782005-04-02T04:45:00.000+01:002005-04-02T05:10:45.246+01:00

The cover of the latest National Review is excellent:

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1112398456171334602005-04-01T23:29:00.000+01:002005-04-02T04:11:29.936+01:00

It's become impossible in the last week to turn on BBC television or radio without hearing panellists singing the praises of a campaign for better school lunches, led by someone called Jamie Oliver. Because of course it's something no one in politics would dare really oppose, you can be sure whatever half-baked proposals are made, they'll be nodded through. To apply a little scepticism and

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1112126510394528382005-03-29T20:51:00.000+01:002005-03-30T09:02:14.933+01:00

Last month, at NationalReview.com, I urged the American Right to start pondering - or worrying - about what may happen if and when Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair. In yesterday's Washington Times, Oxford University's David Cowan issues the same warning and makes some suggestions to deal with this eventuality. UPDATE: Meanwhile the very well publicised new blog Conservative Home argues that

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1111673710333134072005-03-24T14:11:00.000Z2005-03-24T16:43:06.953Z

Are the myth-makers the normal people who support Michael Howard's stance, or the liberal elites who think travellers are more sinned against than sinning? Laban Tall writes from personal experience. When I moved to the sticks from the multiculti city some twenty year ago, my views of travellers were an amalgam derived from reading Jeremy Sandford and George Borrow, and listening to songs like

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1111442397760049362005-03-21T18:59:00.000Z2005-03-22T14:06:17.896Z

Detailed postings later. Right now, I will update my blogroll. Among the new additions: There is Oliver McCarthy - for all those who consider me a pinko lily-livered liberal. Then there's Jonathan Calder, who certainly is a pinko lily-livered liberal. And Blame Bush, which hilariously parodies the average lily-livered liberal. Then there are two Wonkette-style pundit blogs - Little Man,

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1111346761246972572005-03-20T19:20:00.000Z2005-03-20T19:28:04.463Z

Obviously Friday's posts didn't work out, but I suspect the coming week will be very different. Anyway, my request today is for advice. I have been invited to blog for the Daily Kos. No, don't laugh. The idea is an election diary with contributions from supporters of all three main parties, and I have been asked to give the perspective of a Tory supporter. I am minded to do it, and certainly I

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1111148194231619772005-03-18T12:15:00.000Z2005-03-18T12:16:34.233Z

Sorry I haven't posted since Sunday - I have had a busy week. I will try to make up for it later today, and I plan to post on Ulster and abortion.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110715525130868102005-03-13T12:04:00.000Z2005-03-13T12:09:09.040Z

Let's see what the Guardian forumers have to say: zeuszeus00: Is it just that we know more, or is there something especially evil about the current US administration, and the current British administration? How have we come to this (if we have!)? Hellas: As for the "evil" is it not clear that we have been hijacked by merchants bankers and carpet baggers?? Just look at the list of power

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110632638895999802005-03-12T13:02:00.000Z2005-03-12T13:05:24.560Z

"I do think things have changed. I think our Parliamentary Party has finally realised that the way back to power does not lie in sneering at our supporters, advocating tax increases, all women shortlists, and the legalisation of heroin." - Sean Fear

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110466131100158072005-03-10T14:47:00.000Z2005-03-10T14:48:51.103Z

Over at England's Sword, I hail Lynton Crosby's strategy and the gains it has produced for the Conservatives.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110390535107225802005-03-09T17:32:00.001Z2005-03-09T17:51:33.600Z

Even the keenest of Blairites would be unable to argue, realistically, that Tony Blair is a Prime Minister with a particular respect for Parliament's traditions, role and authority. Nonetheless, he chose - unnecessarily - to give the House of Commons a vote on the Iraq War, a vote he may have known he would win with Tory support, but which revealed the extent of opposition to the action he took

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110284431471238742005-03-08T12:10:00.000Z2005-03-08T17:31:58.440Z

"Is Mahmoud Abbas simply Arafat in a suit?" asks Melanie Phillips. She obviously fears the answer is 'Yes', and provides ample justification. Over at the recently resurrected Edge of England's Sword, Iain Murray comments on a very pleasing Telegraph/YouGov poll on young people's politics. As he notes, its reported "combination of worries about social disintegration and high taxes" should be "

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110205029456849042005-03-07T14:12:00.000Z2005-03-07T14:22:17.496Z

Laban Tall plays spot the difference ... What's the connection between my sons and a 27-year old underclass adolescent? They all enjoy using their air rifles. The boys are taught never to point, never to leave loaded. Never have anyone in front of the gun. Targets are concentric paper circles, tin cans, or (a favourite competition shoot with friends) small balloons tied to tree branches on

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110202408367477622005-03-07T13:32:00.000Z2005-03-07T13:53:16.933Z

"'Small group tuition' will mean simply that teachers will push the same flawed methods on smaller groups at a time. The answer is to change what is taught, not the numbers taught it together. But even if Mr Blair had tackled that fundamental problem, he ignores the logic of his position. If children are best stretched alongside two or three others of similar ability, they are even better placed

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1110202758855745452005-03-07T13:15:00.000Z2005-03-07T13:52:56.040Z

One needn't examine the party identification figures in opinion polls for long before realising that the notion that conservatism increases with age and experience is no chauvinistic right-wing slight. Part of the reason for this is less to do with the wisdom of the years than simply the fact that one's needs and desires change as one gets older, and this is liable to dictate one's politics.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109979664255492512005-03-04T23:39:00.000Z2005-03-04T23:41:04.256Z

"A low, or non-existent, minimum wage allows those people without valuable skills to compete with the skilled and protected. No wonder union members want the minimum wage to be as high as possible. They are protecting their members from competition." - David Cockburn

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109966348785097382005-03-04T19:56:00.001Z2005-03-04T20:00:54.536Z

Just a link today. Please check out Ceredigion PPC John Harrison's new blog.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109807541043902292005-03-03T00:01:00.000Z2005-03-03T00:21:20.290Z

Lib Dem Watch reports that Charles Kennedy has missed another key Commons appearance this week, by his account because he wanted to give an interview to Channel Five. Channel Five, eh? Entering the big leagues now, isn't he? One can only assume he had something rather important to say. Well, in fact he used his appearance to re-affirm his party's commitment to give the vote to prisoners,

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109804798429427722005-03-02T22:30:00.000Z2005-03-02T23:11:34.270Z

Wonderful chutzpah from the Guardian's latest rent-a-Muslim-gob: It is Muslims who are condemned as book-burning bigots whose religion poses a challenge to freedom of speech. But which religion bombarded the BBC in an orchestrated display of outrage about a television programme? The only religion about which certain things can now be said on the BBC. Everyone knows the reason no Muslim

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109802538653728172005-03-02T22:22:00.000Z2005-03-02T22:29:52.536Z

Iain Murray is, I am very pleased to say, back in business. Bookmark the site and visit daily. His latest post examines whether when it came to green issues Maggie was "the alarmist she is often portrayed as" or "very much a free-market environmentalist".

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109791087108020662005-03-02T19:01:00.000Z2005-03-02T21:07:32.863Z

Matthew Yglesias has a very good post on the US Supreme Court's decision to ban the execution of murderers who committed their crimes before they were eighteen. The 'evolving consensus' business is weird and curiously circular. It seems extraordinarily inconsistent with the general principles of American federalism to take the fact that most states don't do something as evidence that a

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109739660689372772005-03-02T16:57:00.000Z2005-03-02T16:56:31.756Z

Left-wing blogger Tim Ireland, who has a web site calling for serious anti-war figures to vote for the candidate most likely to defeat Labour in their constituency, answers the criticism that his tactics will aid the Conservative Party. It's actually a pretty good point that Blair's appeal to the Left in both the war on terror and every election since the war on terror began has been along the

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109781148474635312005-03-02T16:16:00.000Z2005-03-02T17:12:15.436Z

Yes, I know I cried out for hits and then didn't post for two days this week, but essays had to take precedence. If anyone is interested in a 3,000+ word essay on the varying powers of the President of France, I may post that in a couple of weeks after it's marked. Anyway, onwards with last year's books. Introducing Evolutionary Psychology - Evans & Zarate Another of those books filled with

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109526425311034452005-02-27T17:45:00.000Z2005-02-27T17:52:09.120Z

I think it's safe to say John Hawkins likes Condoleezza Rice for more than just her foreign policy.

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109300773297664782005-02-25T02:44:00.000Z2005-02-26T02:17:51.166Z

Tim Worstall's Top Ten British Blogs (and its rankings from 11 to 50 further down) has restored in me a concern about my hitcount that I've not had for a long time. Seeing this blog ranked so low is depressing given how well I was once doing. The Sitemeter chart below shows my monthly visits for the last year. It's immediately obvious what killed me off - pausing for exam work in May and

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109306507175093312005-02-24T23:57:00.000Z2005-02-25T05:43:07.520Z

I woke up on Monday at about 3pm, showered, dressed and went to a departmental colloquium on my campus, returned home and wasn't tired until about 7.30 Tuesday morning, when I went to bed. I got up half an hour later for a day of lectures beginning at 9am, napped from 6.30pm to 7.20, and went to bed properly that evening at 9.30. I soon woke up Wednesday morning at 2.30am, had some supper/

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109276754359418442005-02-24T17:45:00.000Z2005-02-25T02:55:49.496Z

The Telegraph reports that with rape convictions not rising to keep pace with accusations, the conviction rate for the crime is now at an all-time low. Either an awful lot of rapes are being committed, or an awful lot of potentially life-destroying false accusations are being made - probably both. Whichever way one looks at it, it's a depressing figure. Now I would myself say that the general

_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775268.post-1109140943522362752005-02-23T06:41:00.000Z2005-02-23T07:01:04.076Z

This account of the contents of a seminar on "GENDER AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN ACADEMIC SCIENCE" really has to be read to be believed. Almost every day in my own course in PPE, some professor or lecturer will make a cringeworthy crack against America or her President, and get half a dozen chuckles - not because it's funny, but because a few sheeple want to show their right-on convictions. But to

_noreply@blogger.com