England

A Tired Fictional Genre Makes a Last Gasp Argument For ‘Grown Up’ Managerialism

The new Olivia Coleman film Wicked Little Letters pushes the tired genre of cosy English fiction, in which the loony locals need to be saved by a Theresa May-style manager, over the edge of absurdity, says J Sorel.
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Constitutional Violations: Julian Assange, Privacy and the CIA

As a private citizen, the options for suing an intelligence agency are few and far between.  The US Central Intelligence Agency, as with other members of the secret club, pour scorn on such efforts.  To a degree, such a dismissive sentiment is understandable: Why sue an agency for its bread-and-butter task, which is surveillance? This […]

Sunak’s Dad’s Army Option: David Cameron Returns

Openly ignored by his incendiary, now ex-Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was left with few options.  Retaining her would continue a process of blighting his already precarious prime ministership, suggesting weakness and a distinct lack of authority.  Kicking her off the Cabinet front bench would, while reasserting some measure of control, […]

Foolish Exclusions: China and the Bletchley Declaration on AI

At the conclusion of the Second World War, debates raged on how best to regulate the destructive power of the atom.  Splitting it had been used most savagely against the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, thereby ending, to date, the globe’s costliest war.  Visions also abounded on the promise and glory of […]

The Utter Stupidity of Building High Speed Rail in a Small Country Like England

During all the furious arguments about the cancellation of HS2, why has nobody mentioned the utter stupidity of having high-speed trains in a tiny country like England, asks David Craig.
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Macaulay and My 75-Cent Epiphanies, Part 1

Macaulay and My 75-Cent Epiphanies, Part 1 by James Bovard Fearing that my writing style was becoming anemic, I recently sought a literary booster shot from my bookshelves. Happily, a dozen volumes of Thomas Macaulay awaited me. Macaulay made history mesmerizing, and I have been captivated by his speed, grace, and wit for 40 years. […]
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Weaponised Antisemitism Crushed the Political Left:  Now it’s the Cultural Left’s Turn

What does it mean to be antisemitic in modern Britain? The answer seems ever more confusing. We have reached the seemingly absurd point that a political leader famed for his anti-racism, a rock star whose most celebrated work focuses on the dangers of racism and fascism, and a renowned film maker committed to socially progressive […]

Daniel Ellsberg is Lauded in Death by the Same Media that Lets Assange Rot in Jail

Rightly, there’s been an outpouring of tributes to Daniel Ellsberg following the announcement of his death last Friday, aged 92. His leaking of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 revealed that Washington officials had systematically lied for decades about US military conduct in Vietnam. The disclosure of 7,000 pages of documents, and subsequent legal battles to […]