Samizdata quote of the day

Leave means leave – Marina Wheeler | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“From a libertarian perspective, the best course of action is not to elevate Trump to Satan or to Saturn, but to acknowledge that he is a mixed bag. In this, he’s perhaps more like Bill… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

What could have caused the crisis in Venezuela? It is a total mystery

It was tides. No, chemtrails. Or Trump? No, Jews, you can never go wrong blaming Jews. Or maybe it was just ‘bad luck’. Or perhaps Brexit? Ah, it was global warming! Yes, global warming… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Strange companions on the boat to Canada

Robert Peston says, David Davis may win his Canada-style Brexit deal David Davis may have won. What do I mean? Well I am hearing from multiple sources that the only trade deal the EU’s lead negotia… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

I tried to get people to care about the pointless “security” provided by the TSA, which I see, in part, as obedience training for the American public to be docile in the face of having … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

On This Day

On 3 September 1939 the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. But we are in no danger of forgetting that. When did you last think about Belsan? | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Antifragility applies to emotional health as well. When you guard children against every possible risk – do not let them outside to play or walk home alone – they exaggerate the fear of such situat… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The UK imitates Red China’s ‘Social Credit’ with the ‘Honours’ system

Red China has, like the mature totalitarian society that it is, a system of ‘Social Credit’, as Wikipedia puts it neatly: The system is a form of mass surveillance which uses big data a… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Why is John McCain kicking the bucket a big deal with the media?

US Senator John McCain, an ultra-hawk super-statist on the leftmost edge of GOP, kicked the bucket recently. And it seems that this is big news, given the constant stream of articles on the topic e… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

And if someone died—for real Twitter addicts, that’s Asshole Christmas. If you could make a facile point that reinforced your team’s political stance on the day someone collapsed in front of his wi… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

We’ve a new little report, piece of scientific research, telling us that cheese and red meat are good for us. This in entire opposition to everything governments have been telling us about diet for… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Aunt Agatha gives some wise career counselling

Dear “Switcher,” No. You need a new career because you obviously have no future in politics since your current party lies second in only 37 seats. I know you are getting on, but your onetime collea… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

So, imagine this. We desire to move 500 lbs of food from the field to the town where the people want to eat it. It’s about 10 miles from field to town. We have two available technologies. Ten peopl… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Stop politicising my dumplings!

Visit the post for more. | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Is there any reason I should not sign this EU petition?

I refer to this petition: Permanent European Union Citizenship. Main objectives EU citizens elect the European Parliament and participate in its work, thus exercising treaty rights, enhancing Union… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

I am persuaded that no system of government — democratic, oligarchic, aristocratic, monarchical, tyrannical, oriental despotic or worse, liberal-progressive — can deliver anything resembling justic… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

As originally reported by Janet Burns of Forbes, the New York City Council has denied city residents access to additional ride-sharing services. In a 39-6 vote, the bill caps the current supply of … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

To avoid confrontation

The Daily Mail reports, Ex-wife of top chef Albert Roux is forced out of her £5m Chelsea home after scammers change the locks and start renting it out for £835-a-night online The former wife of Mic… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The system will be brought down by its internal contradictions

Mr Corbyn also suggested a series of proposals for the BBC, including publishing the social class of “all creators of BBC content, whether in-house or external”, reports the BBC, trembl… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Venezuela is a mess due to terrible policies

“Why is Venezuela a country in turmoil?” asks Adam Parsons, writing for Sky, whereupon he talks about monetary policy, the price of oil, hyperinflation, increases in the minimum wage. I… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Aunt Agatha threads her needle through the eyelids of another unworthy seeking advise

I spot you’ve never been short of cash, from your days of ‘golden sacks’ to your current take-home of over £800,000 a year. So what you need is the satisfaction of a role that fits your character. … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

I don’t think the average South African looks at Zimbabwe and says “I wish we lived like that”. But I bet Ramaphosa looks at Mugabe and thinks “I wish I lived like that̶… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

South Africa has until recently been a decent model for other countries to orient their policies toward. But if the continent’s biggest economic engine moves more and more in the direction of Zimba… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

It is not obviously progressive to insist that equal numbers of men and women work eighty-hour weeks in a corporate law firm or leave their families for months at a time to dodge steel pipes on a f… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Jeremy Corbyn, cultural appropriator

As all should know, cultural appropriation is Not OK. It is particularly offensive when white westerners imitate the religious practices of others despite having no belief in that religion. So I wa… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Hands up everyone who thinks that Liz Warren wants that shareholder interest to be even more powerful in American firms? Quite, then she’s not proposing the Nordic model of corporate governance, is… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

It is a pity that the lifeblood of industry in this country is small businesses, and by small I don’t mean the UK definition of “SME”, I mean a handful of people, mostly one perso… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Cosplayers and gamers

Some Guido commenters were wondering why socialists in the UK are so far removed from “working class” people. One pointed out that the left is mainly “wealthy people cosplaying so… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

And do note that interesting little difference between London and New York. In NYC you must have a medallion to gain a taxi permit. The money from the restriction on the number of cabs flowed to th… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“Perhaps Corbyn really is just unlucky. But it seems more probable that he’s not. And that, far from being the decent man of legend he’s actually thoroughly indecent. The only possible altern… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

no bible cake – fine; no trans cake – crime

Ironically, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission actually defended another baker who refused to bake a cake that would convey a message. In 2015, the commission declined to take up an appeal involv… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“I heard the other day of a quite senior minister who has not been rung for the last six years by the political editor of the newspaper in his local city because he, the minister, can be reli… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The dream of peace

“Jeremy Corbyn: I was present at wreath-laying but don’t think I was involved”, reports the Guardian. Jeremy Corbyn said he was present but not involved at a wreath-laying for ind… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata mystery quote of the day

Something horrible flits across the background in scenes from Afghanistan, scuttling out of sight. There it is, a brief blue or black flash, a grotesque Scream 1, 2 and 3 personified – a woma… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Rowan Atkinson hits the nail on the head yet again

These remarks are as apposite today as when they were first delivered in 2012. The Boris Johnson ‘burqa’ furore is actually not about burqas at all (nothing happened when Ken Clarke mad… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“Perhaps, then, the most dangerous piece of `common sense’ in Peterson’s new book comes at the very beginning, when he imparts the essential piece of wisdom for anyone interested in fig… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

A brash, native New Yorker commits the most heinous of crimes, refusing to apologise

The man is a politician known for his implausible hair, and has certainly made some outrageous remarks about a certain foreign politician, which was no bar to high office. I refer of course to the … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Aunt Agatha has some wise words for an usual supplicant

Dear “Algy,” The clue is that word “celebrity.” Because people are bored seeing you yet making money by humiliating people through deception, you should do something that ha… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The Windy City

“An explosion of drive-by shootings erupted on Chicago’s South and West sides this weekend. At least 74 people were shot, and 11 killed, between 3 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday. In one … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Boys lead the way

“Boys lead slump in university applicants”, says the Times, like it’s a bad thing. The first sign that young people are turning their backs on university educa­tion is expected ne… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Victory at Amiens

On 8 August 1918 in Northern France, a mainly British force attacked on a 15 mile front and advanced to a depth of 7 miles. In so doing it inflicted 70,000 casualties on the Germans capturing 500 g… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The shambles of the European Arrest Warrant system

Damien Phillips, a friend of mine, has an excellent article on why Theresa May’s “Brexit-in-name-only” stance is so bad. One reason, he states, is that it keeps the UK within the … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Tim Newman and Ezra Levant on the persecution of Tommy Robinson

If, like me, you are a Brit, then I recommend you depress yourself about Britain by reading Tim Newman’s posting entitled Tommy Robinson’s Appeal. (Although, if you are from some other … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

In the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Parliament committed the huge sum of 20 million pounds sterling to compensate slave owners for the loss of their “assets”. That was equivalent to 4… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“In relation to the Irish border, we need to be tougher and call the EU’s bluff. Currently a border already exists between the UK and Ireland – in currency, VAT, excise duties and security wh… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The watchers do not like it when you watch them…

Our masters do not think it is appropriate for us to observe and record the fact we are being observed and recorded… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“As for those “bad ideas” the Kochs have, they’re the reason for whatever governing success Mr. Trump has had so far. Pro-growth cuts in tax rates, deregulation and originalist judges have be… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

I have never seen so many lefties attacking a Labour leader. And I have never seen so many grass roots Tories attacking a Tory leader. It is a bizarre race to the bottom in which who wins the next … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago