Against critical theory [This post was previously titled: Philosophy to the rescue? A credo, or something like it ] It’s time I stopped prevaricating and laid ou...

Decline of the modern left. Part 1 Modern left-wing arguments are all too often bad: they are weak, and they are bad-tempered. Why is this? Why are so many left-wing people ma...

Decline of the left, part 4: Ferguson, Baltimore, and race Since the previous post in this series it has become ever clearer that left-wing commentators are wise to the failings of the left that ...

Winter still has not come - pt. I I talk below about George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, including the fourth and fifth novels . Where possible spoilers w...

Decline of the left, part 5: Guilt by resemblance This is the final post in this series of arguments against the modern left. There's more to say, but then there always is, and there wil...

Should the government repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a ‘British Bill of Rights’? This is an essay I wrote pre-GDL for a scholarship competition at Oxford Brookes University. I didn't win any money, but it was an inter...

Rise of China - a paper tiger? This one's about China - the country, not the ceramics. I'll tell you my thoughts on earthenware another day. A successful and no...

ISIS: Why Obama fiddles Yes more depressing news from the Middle East with the ISIS conquest of Ramadi in Iraq and of Palmyra in Syria . As Ramadi was falling, ...

Decline of the left, part 2: Timidity The first post in this series asked why some on the modern left behave as badly, and as bigotedly, as those they oppose. The problem in p...