While Michael Sandel’s arguments against the meritocratic ideal and the skill with which he deploys them in his latest book make an ostensibly compelling case, is there not perhaps more to the argument than the skilled practitioner on stage is revealing to us? Has the professor, like so many others, not become unduly beholden to the social justice movement?
Boris cleans up for Christmas
Crickey, this omicron business is coming at a bad time of year, although a good time for me. Let’s me sweep that business about parties during last year’s Christmas lockdown under the carpet. Did you know that they deliberately passed over the Greek letter Xi, which should have been the next in line for naming… Continue reading Boris cleans up for Christmas
The Totalitarian Ratchet: how fear, ignorance and disgust is eroding the democratic spirit and presages an ominous future.
The recent decision by Austria to mandate vaccinations for all its citizens, followed now by Germany and the Czech Republic, is the latest turn of the ratchet in the process by which democracies collapse into authoritarian, even fascist, states. It is one thing when a dictatorship is imposed on an unwilling population by a minority;… Continue reading The Totalitarian Ratchet: how fear, ignorance and disgust is eroding the democratic spirit and presages an ominous future.
Cluster____’s Last Stand
Now gather round children; Today I’m going to tell you a story about one of the heroes of our country, General Cluster____ Please Miss? Yes, Jerome? Wasn’t he a white man? Well, yes, Jerome, strictly speaking he was Then didn’t he have white privilege, like you were telling us about Miss? Well, no, not really,… Continue reading Cluster____’s Last Stand
On the Virtue of Conflict
Viruses and vaccines are very much on our mind at the moment, and they stand in also as ready metaphors for social dangers and prophylactics. There may well be more to the analogy than convenient literary devices though. The similarities between biological entities and societies seen from a systemic perspective has intellectual respectability. In fact,… Continue reading On the Virtue of Conflict
Is “Positive Action” a Legitimate Means to an End?
It is often stated that so-called “positive action” aimed at righting historical injustices is permitted and indeed encouraged under UK law. But how true is this in reality? And is the use of such justifiable as a means of pursuing the end of diversity and inclusion targets?
Top Trumps
The next people to face the Dragon’s Breath are a young man from Swindon [pause for sneer], called Bobbie and a young woman from Middlesbrough called Al – he’s the one with the spiky red hair and the nose-ring and she’s the one with the forked beard and the wooden leg, just in case…. Together… Continue reading Top Trumps
Personal Authority and the Social Contract in the ‘Crisis of Freedom’
The concept of freedom, which has held sway in the West for at least the past 250 years and been a feature, particularly in the English-speaking world, for much longer, is now under attack on multiple fronts.
The Quest for Social Justice?
The notion of “social justice” has been transformed and weaponised in recent years by proponents of applied postmodernism making use of a category mismatch between the political and moral realms. An understanding of their tactics and methods is needed to counteract the sleight-of-hand that is thus being deployed.
Sic Gloria Transit Mundi
Two slight acquaintances are seated in a Roman bathhouse: Gaius Julius? Sextus Lividicus; my wife knows your wife Hm How is your wife? Taken to her bed. Worn out by too much gossiping with her sister. How is your wife? Taken to my best friend’s bed, damn him. I’m recommending to the Assembly that he… Continue reading Sic Gloria Transit Mundi