Samizdata quote of the day

And then there’s that rather larger point that if the censor gets to decide what can appear on Facebook then what about claims in the wider media? The opinion pages of all newspapers carry pieces w… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Now, on top of all of that, if some Muslim goes ahead and dares to criticize her religion, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, you also see a lot of liberals turn against her. I have my political differences wit… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Since nasty, backward British voters cannot be trusted to believe in or vote for the right things, we need human rights imposed on us at a European level, so that present and future UK governments … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

As Mr Monbiot put it in Wednesday’s article, he believes that “… the ultra-rich [have] learned how to buy the political system.” If this were true, what would we expect to o… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Oh my God, they killed Godfrey!

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” ― Obi-Wan Kenobi, se… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Jeremy Corbyn and his party of enablers have mainstreamed anti-Semitism in Britain in ways Oswald Mosley could only dream about, so I hope the Brownshirt Left will understand why their grimaces and… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Aunty Agatha dispenses useful advice…

Agatha offers sage advice to another worthy: I think you should undertake a single-handed voyage around the world. I know you have no experience of sailing, but that’s never stopped you taking on o… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Brexit Britain fails to play the game

But not quite in the sense that the Telegraph’s Brussels Correspondent, James Crisp, thinks. He has written a piece entitled “Terrible translations of Brexit White Paper make Britain a … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

As Mr O’Toole says it doesn’t need a majority just enough people that are prepared to use intimidation, at which point I look at Antifa and their habit of turning up to peaceful events masked and a… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Imagine that we did have some arbiter of what was true, what was not. Then the definition of truth will be whatever the consensus is, wouldn’t it? Something which might well benefit those who… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The special costume shop

Things had been very boring in the rue de la Fête. Mr Benalla thought, “I think it is a good day to visit the special costume shop.” Inside the shop, as if by magic, the shopkeeper appe… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

More sage advice…

Dear “Shrill Voice,” This is difficult. Normally I tell has-beens and never-has-beens (and you seem to be both) to rake in the loot and live comfortably. But you’ve already done that. C… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Conservation of prohibitionism

July 1st 2018: Jeremy Corbyn backs calls to decriminalise possession of cannabis Jeremy Corbyn said he would like to see the possession of cannabis to be decriminalised as he backed calls for the d… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

EU plunders Google

Google worked with others to make software for phones. They did not have to do this, and nobody had to use their software. People just found it useful enough that they agreed to use Google’s … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Food science vs government

Terence Kealey has a policy analysis on the Cato Institute entitled Why Does the Federal Government Issue Damaging Dietary Guidelines? Lessons from Thomas Jefferson to Today. I found this from a co… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Get them while they’re young

The Courier reports: Scottish Government asks eight-year-olds to reveal their Brexit views The Scottish Government is appealing to children as young as eight to share their views on Brexit. Critics… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“What all of this points to is a new kind of protest. There is a new generation for whom protesting is largely indistinguishable from a music festival. It has the same vibe, the same style, a… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Elon Musk just made a lot of enemies in Britain

There is a lot to admire about Elon Musk. I thought the space car was glorious. The whimsicality of it, which so many objected to, delighted me. It is sad that Mr Musk has now shown that his whims … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Is it time for Parliament to dust off impeachment?

Our friends in the rebellious Colonies have the still active remedy of impeachment for those in office who, one might say, go off the rails, and other remedies as well. In the UK, impeachment is no… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

As a woman, I am much more interested in protecting the right to free speech than I am in catering to the possibly-offended. If we are raising girls to feel damaged by a photo of a woman in a bikin… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

A Lusitanian* adventure

Last month, the Sage of Kettering and I went on another trip, this time to England’s oldest ally, Portugal. *It involved brief excursions into Spain over a raia (‘the stripe’ as it is c… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Even the use of that N word to point out how different things are today as opposed to that past is to be verboten? In a media training exercise? Well, yes, it appears so. As with the various versio… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable – John F. Kennedy I am not exactly a fan of the late JFK but I find this quote timely. | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Branding as a service

In discussions about the necessity of regulations to protect consumers, I have argued that brands can fulfill the same role. In order to maintain a good reputation they need to provide reliability … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

What Paddy Ashdown said when he thought Remain would win

Given the recent Brexit-related shenanigans, it seems appropriate to post this quote from former leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown, made as the referendum votes were being counted but b… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The ‘Baby Trump over London’ balloon is being hailed as a triumph of freedom of expression…

And I agree, it is. And so… Let’s make ‘Giant Sadiq Khan ‘baby balloon to fly over London’ happen. Works for me. | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

This is how I see it…

The future in Britain is actually quite clear: either Theresa May get deposed and we get a meaningful Brexit of some kind, or we get Prime Minister Corbyn by a big margin in next election. It doesn… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Discussion point: what do the Tory resignations portend?

Boris Johnson quits to add to pressure on May over Brexit David Davis and Steve Baker had resigned earlier. What will happen with Brexit? Will May hold on? Don’t ask me, ‘cos I’m … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Finally, an achievable socialist goal

Abolish profit is the proclaimed goal of The New York branch of Democratic Socialists of America (they would also like to abolish prisons, cash bail and borders, but abolishing profit comes first).… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Mrs May’s ‘Brexit’ means ‘Anschluss’, if what Lawyers for Britain are saying is correct.

The good folk at Lawyers for Britain, (all donations welcome) led by Martin Howe QC, a nephew of Sir Geoffrey but we probably all have embarrassing uncles somewhere, have done a thorough preliminar… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Every decent person who understands why America has a constitutionally protected press wants to see the press succeed. As the only unregulated private sector industry in America, the free press’s e… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

From the NHS to Francis Channing – an example of self deception

The National Health Service celebrations have been interesting. It has been repeatedly claimed that everyone had to pay at the point of use for medical care in Britain before 1948 – untrue as… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Sage advice for a London politico…

Aunt Agatha suggests a certain London politico do a Dick Whittington, over and over again… I suggest you take on Momentum. This will not be difficult, given your stance as a Social Democrat, … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Football news for people who aren’t really interested in football

I hear there is a footballing tournament taking place. Apparently the English team is not doing too badly, and some people feel happy about this. Naturally, the Guardian is on the case. Steve Bloom… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Me, too?

Canada’s second generation Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in a spot of bother. The Guardian reports, “Justin Trudeau ‘does not remember’ groping reporter at festival”… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Congratulations Mr. Brokenshire, you’ve just killed every buy-to-let mortgage. of which there were 1.8 million even back in 2015. It’s a standard clause in every single one of those mortgages that … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Destructionism – with a few British examples

The last part of Ludwig Von Mises great work Socialism is entitled “Destructionism” and is not, formally, about socialism at all. In the main body of “Socialism” Ludwig Von … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“A few weeks ago in central London, I watched a group of protestors holding aloft anarchist signs as they demanded greater government spending. They seemed almost as confused as the fellow who twee… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Why Dan Hannan never went native…

The indefatigable Madsen Pirie has written an interesting article about Dan Hannan, describing how his background influences helped him avoid that oh so typical fate of many an idealistic soul: goi… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

The 20th century saw the state getting bigger and bigger, and thus the citizen getting smaller and smaller

In NZ, the UK or Australia, one may own a rifle or shotgun, but it has to be locked in a cabinet when not in use. Thus, it is of no use for a sudden life or death situation. A twelve bore which is … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Of course, Dugin’s vehement attacks on ‘American liberalism’ expose his dishonesty and the incoherence of his selectively relativist philosophy. If a culture can only be legitimately ju… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

Meet the new face of Ukip: The free speech extremists who could make Ukip dangerous again – Mikey Smith’s headline of a Mirror article about UKIP. Now it does not matter a damn what you… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Those awful Americans and their guns. Not like civilised New Zealanders.

The Times reports: Online stalker who flew round the world shot by girl’s mother A 25-year-old man who flew 9,000 miles from New Zealand to see an American teenager he had met online was shot by he… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Samizdata quote of the day

That there are now more overweight humans than starving humans is one of mankind’s greatest achievements. – Damien Counsell has said it many times. Good for him. | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Ejecting people from restaurants

The Whitehouse press secretary was required to leave a restaurant because the restaurant owner did not like her views. This seems like a perfectly civilised and non-violent way of objecting to some… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

“If a nurse didn’t like you, you were a goner”

Remember the mockery that Sarah Palin got for her prediction that state health care might result in “Death panels”? She was wrong about a few things. There is no need for a panel of bur… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Ça ira toujours

Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira Les aristocrates à la lanterne! That is the famous song sung by the female revolutionaries storming the gates of Versailles in this clip from a 1953 film called “Si… | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago

Stealth taxes

Visit the post for more. | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 6 years ago