Samizdata quote of the day – Neoliberal myths

As the man doesn’t understand what neoliberalism is his critique is going to be weak tea, no? – Tim Worstall | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

There’s a word for this

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@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Catastrophic care protocols

If you have not seen this, discussing catastrophic care protocols, it beggars belief. If anyone with more germane technical knowledge can pick holes in this, please do so in the comments because if this is entirely correct, we should be looking at a Nuremburg level response. Rela … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – dissent will not be tolerated

We couldn’t find a single negative review of Unsettled that disputed its claims directly or even described them accurately. Many of the reviewers seem to have stopped reading after the first few pages. Others were forced to concede that many of Koonin’s facts were correct but obj … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Universities cannot withstand the assault on objective truth

After expressing my general admiration for the course, I raised my misgiving in the following way (and this is nearly an exact quote): “We need to keep in mind that we’re a state university. Our mission is to pursue, ascertain, and disseminate objective truth, and to equip our st … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – treat these tyrants as what they are: awful people

The woke think of themselves — and want everyone else to think of them — as deeply moral. If they have a flaw, it’s that they just care too much. They’re too idealistic, too empathetic, too eager to make the world a better place. That’s bulls–t (pardon my French, Pepé!). If you l … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Nicole Hannah-Jones gives her opinion on Thomas Sowell’s expertise and hears some opinions in return

The ratio Nikole Hannah-Jones got for this tweet is a sight to behold: Other than being Black, what exactly is Sowell's expertise in slavery or history? — Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) February 10, 2023 I’ve tagged it “self-ownership” because it’s a self-own. Sue me. For thos … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – state mandated schizophrenia

Nothing speaks to the madness of the modern elites better than their war on farming. Consider France. One day President Macron is telling the world to get serious about ‘food security’. Post-Covid and with war raging in Ukraine, we must make sure food keeps being made and transpo … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Resistance is not futile

We are many, they are few. The Welsh Rugby fans did their country proud and they did the cause of liberty proud by defying the petty little tyrants who would rule our lives and restrict our speech. And a big fuck you, to Chris Bryant, which is what he deserves. It is by resistanc … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – America’s race war has no place in UK

The vast differences between US and UK policing practices are not just a matter of public perception, either. During the fiscal year 2020 in the US, federal law-enforcement agencies reported 65 arrest-related deaths – 47 per cent of which were homicides. And there were a total of … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

The Lede Vanishes

I have a complaint about the media. First they make a bunch of films with the same stupid plot hole. I refer, of course, to the 1938 Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes, its 1979 and 2013 remakes, and several other movies inspired by it, such as Bunny Lake is Missing and Flightplan. … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Kann Union wirklich Meister werden?*

Well over a decade ago fellow Samizdatista Michael Jennings and I walked into a bar in Berlin. There was a game of German Second Division football on the telly between Ingolstadt and Union Berlin. Union scored and the place went nuts. Other than ourselves and the bar staff there … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

EU “chat control”

Let me start by saying that I am no techie and I do not understand exactly what the EU are proposing with this law. Perhaps I am getting steamed up about nothing. But it sounds horrible. I first read about this topic via a link from Reddit Europe to a post from the blog of a Swed … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day: Royal Air Force recruitment disaster version

“Why might an organisation such as the Air Force be tempted to pursue compliance with such zeal that it ends up unlawfully non-compliant? The simple, if cynical, reason is that for any bureaucracy, targets related to process are much easier to hit reliably than targets related to … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“Governments over the years have ruined many successful domestic industries. Interference in football could well have the same doleful effect. We have enough problems for the government to sort out before it interferes in yet another area of economic and social life.” Professor L … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

This brings a whole new meaning to “brigading” on social media

What is the 77th Brigade for? According to its own website, the mission of this unit of the British Army is to CHALLENGE THE DIFFICULTIES OF MODERN WARFARE. Despite the capital letters I do not feel hugely better informed. It continues, We are a combined Regular and Army Reserve … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Let’s not re-write the recent past

Becoming vaccinated was the easy choice, not the hard one. There was never any evidence it was the sensible choice and it could be argued – and this may seem harsh – that if you were determined to be part of the group, wilfully and determinedly deaf to any counter-argument or eve … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

So, when does the Brexit dividend arrive then?

This is a slightly altered version of a comment I left on a Brexit page on Facebook as prompted by this article about IMF forecasts and related issues at Reuters: The most ardent Brexit supporters have to take this sort of analysis on board because it is relentless in much of the … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Congrats on the hit piece, Konstantin!

What’s more, a hit piece from a mainstream media outlet is rather a status symbol in my line of work. “You’ve arrived,” a friend helpfully explained. Indeed I have – following the viral speech at the Oxford Union, a second appearance on BBC Question Time and now this hit piece, I … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

The inadequacy of political “kindness”

In response to a Times article called “How I watched the halo slipping from Jacinda Ardern”, a commenter called Iain Thorpe made a very good point: There are deep problems with “kindness” as a political philosophy. If kindness is the answer to all problems, then the problems must … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Challenger tanks are no panacea

Like many Brits the fact that we were the first to promise to supply Ukraine with modern main battle tanks was a source of tremendous pride. And Jingoism. Let Putin eat British lead, depleted uranium, HESH etc,. Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the steppes etc,. Luckily, the YouTub … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Current countdown on the Extinction clock…

April 18th 2003: Crash course towards massive species extinction, says Defenders of Wildlife. Nina Fascione, Vice President for Field Conservation Programs at Defenders of Wildlife, quote: “Frankly, it looks like we’re on a crash course towards massive species extinctions in the … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Brian Micklethwait interviewed on the subject of the history of libertarianism in London

I have updated the Brian Micklethwait Archive with a recording of an interview kindly given to me by Mal McDermott. On 25th January 2020 Mal interviewed Brian on the subject of the history of the libertarian movement in Britain. The interview of course contains much insight into … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – corporation version

“Unlike government, a corporation has no legal authority to force anyone to do anything. It can’t tax you, arrest you, or conscript you. It can’t force you to work for it. It can’t force you to invest in it. It can’t force you to buy its products. Bakan, however, says corporation … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Telling people they are not welcome, then being surprised that they leave

“Private rents in Glasgow rocket as landlords exit market” What brought this on? The report from the Glasgow Evening Times quotes Colin Macmillan of Glasgow Property Letting as saying, “Whilst the reality of the Scottish Government’s sanctions and actions are filtering through th … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

The Precautionary Principle and “synthetic meat”

Virginia Postrel, whose book, The Future and Its Enemies, is shown on the upper-left of this blog’s page (under the work of Karl Popper and the handgun), recently wrote an article that got me thinking about how the Right has its own form of Precautionary Principle. A few days ago … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“We are all capable of hypocrisy. When someone says at a party, `I’m a great listener,’ you just know they are going to yak on about themselves for hours.” Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph. (£) | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – not a conspiracy theory

The media have taken umbrage at some of the rhetoric of the [15 minute city] schemes’ critics. Some opponents have referred to the scheme as akin to a ‘climate lockdown’, which The Times dismisses as an ‘outlandish claim’. While some conspiracy theorists may take this term litera … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day

It was generally known [the Inspector-General said] that great quantities of opium were grown up-country and smuggled into the wealthy cities in violation of the law with the connivance of the provincial and military officials. The illicit growth, transport, and consumption had b … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – a pox on antipodean authoritarianism

We almost certainly haven’t seen the last of Ardern. No doubt a plum job at the United Nations, the World Health Organisation or some other ghastly supranational body beckons. Nor have we seen the last of the elitist politics that she came to represent. It’s high time we had a re … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Swatted by Siri

“How a personal trainer’s smart watch caused 15 armed police officers to turn up to his Sydney gym while he was teaching a client” – Daily Mail. Apparently, Jaime Alleyne, who is a a Muay Thai and boxing trainer, called out “one, one, two” followed by “good shot” to a client he w … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

You were entirely in the tank, Jacinda

‘Jacinda Ardern has announced she will quit as New Zealand prime minister ahead of this year’s election, saying she no longer has “enough in the tank” to lead’, reports the BBC. ‘Ms Ardern choked up as she detailed how six “challenging” years in the job had taken a toll Labour Pa … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day

“A reasoned case can be put that the NHS, the education system, welfare state, housing stock and even our transport infrastructure cannot cope with a rapid and relentless growth in the number of people living here. However, these are all areas run or heavily controlled by the sta … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

The truth about private fire brigades

Long ago – I think it was at primary school – I was told that in the dark days of freedom there were private fire brigades owned by insurance companies. You paid the insurance company a premium and if your house caught fire they would send their fire brigade to put it out. They k … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Brief reflections on Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson, one of the great figures of post-war British journalism, has died at the grand age of 94. He was the author of about 50 books, and I read several of them in my youth. Of all the books, the one that stands out for me is Modern Times. That was a one-volume study of th … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

He who pays the piper says when the tune stops

“Canada wrestles with euthanasia for the mentally ill”, reports the BBC. Actually, the headline starts with the question “Who can die?” to which I would have thought the answer was obvious. But while death undoubtedly comes to us all, where the state pays for healthcare it pays t … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Harry Windsor edition

“But fully mature people still have a sense of their own privacy, they keep to themselves what is properly kept to oneself. Privacy isn’t some relic of the pre-tech past, as I said once, it is connected to personhood. It has to do with intimate things—the inner workings of your h … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – the King is not your friend

This argument hints at why so many rich, virtue-signalling celebrities argue not just for Net Zero but ‘Real’ Zero, with the banning of all fossil fuel use. King Charles said in 2009 that the age of consumerism and convenience was over, although the multi-mansion owning monarch p … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – offence taken edition

Just because you’re offended, don’t mean you’re right – Great Grass MCR Ltd | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

US education apocalypse comment

“Skeptical American employers, to remain globally competitive, will likely soon administer their own hiring tests. They already suspect that prestigious university degrees are hollow and certify very little. Traditional colleges will seize the moment and expand by sticking to mer … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Rights – true and false

There is a problem, so it is said, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving the workforce in their early 50s. Many of them are, I suspect, affluent and think they can afford to do this, although I suspect a number of them will need to return to work not just because their fin … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

An industry that despises its customers, and I don’t mean Hollywood

I shall miss the Times. My subscription only has a few weeks left to run. I cancelled it because it is no longer permitted to comment under a pseudonym. Will I still see interesting little stories like this when I make my hejira to the Telegraph? “French cinema is full of flops, … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

The circuit breaks

In the Times, Giles Coren explains why he has pulled the plug on his electric car. As I watch my family strike out on foot across the fields into driving rain and gathering darkness, my wife holding each child’s hand, our new year plans in ruins, while I do what I can to make our … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – Swiss ski resort and health spa edition

“Precisely how and where `free-market fundamentalism’ has run amuck remains a mystery. After all, we live in a world in which most governments in developed nations routinely control 40 per cent or more of their nation’s GDP.” Samuel Gregg, Spectator (maybe behind paywall). Gregg … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

A message from Niall Kilmartin’s widow

My husband and I are currently staying with Niall’s widow. Though she describes herself as not one for comments, she has long been a Samizdata reader. She asked me to say how comforting it was to read the replies to the post announcing his death. She described it as “a real joy” … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – national suicide pact edition

Ending fossil-fuel consumption now would be a disaster. It would obliterate our already weak energy security, subjecting households and industry to exorbitant energy costs and unreliable supplies. Travel would be severely limited. The farming industry would be gutted by restricti … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

Samizdata quote of the day – pessimism edition

Surely no year could be as bad as 2020, which had seen families sundered, schools closed and businesses destroyed in a hysterical over-reaction. After all, by December 2020, the second lockdown had ended and the UK had begun its vaccine rollout. The new year, it seemed safe to as … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago

British political tweeting

The endless line at Geneva Airport to get through passport control for British passport holders. No queue at all for EU or Swiss citizens 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/WwPbgDcpqo — Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) December 30, 2022 Not a great pic, but there must have been 20-30 electric car … | Continue reading


@samizdata.net | 1 year ago