Politics
Forty Years On
Forty Years On is the name of a play by Alan Bennett based on the title to the Harrow School Song. This year is forty years since the start of the Great Miners’ Strike and [more…]
Socialism
Economics
Thinking Properly About Public Welfare
The debate over publicly funded welfare can be solved very quickly. There is constant demand for more welfare: more money for longer periods of time for those out of work, more money for the handicapped [more…]
20th Century
Of Poetics and Politics
How do you like your Poetry? Richly allusive, with detectable rhythm, a certain musicality about it? Or do you prefer a stripped-down, unembellished terseness-to-the-point-of-inarticulacy, a Tacitean, telegraphic brevity? Whichever, preference is yours, would you consider [more…]
Authoritarianism
Sound Individualism vs Toxic Collectivism
When it comes to the State, however, and all its ministries, branches and institutions, a very different set of rules seems to apply – a much more lenient, flexible and liberal one. For example, the [more…]
Communism
Plugging away – the story of an FOI request
Although I do some project management stuff from time to time as part of my daily grind I am by no means an expert, but I do properly understand the basics. I was pondering the [more…]
Culture
A View From (Inside) The Greenhouse; A Rift In The Political Continuum
No rest for the wicked, also, or so it seems, no rest for Dave, who continues to throw himself, wholeheartedly, at the creation and preparation of our outdoor growing area. After much discussion about the [more…]
Conservatives
A pathetic array of muddled and utterly unprincipled tax policies
The chief role of government is to enact laws that protect the lives and civil freedoms of its citizens. Any “add-ons” warrant the most careful scrutiny before being admitted to the nation’s laws. However, even [more…]
Authoritarianism
The slow, stealthy but steady spread of absolutism
Over the last couple of years, we saw countless examples of free speech suppression and of the steep price paid by those who chose to exercise that right. Divergent ideas and thoughts contradicting the government [more…]
Authoritarianism
The slow, stealthy but steady spread of absolutism
The struggle and rivalry between the “West and the rest” might be grabbing news headlines due to the Ukraine war these days, but in truth, it is anything but newsworthy. This antagonism, this battle for geopolitical, [more…]