Another reason why state funding of political parties is a bad idea
“Viktor Orban ruins his rivals with power grab”, the Times reports. Under a regime described by critics as the “omnipotence law”, Mr Orban’s government is able to take sweeping measures to tackle the...
View ArticleThe lasting impact of Wuhan coronavirus will be geopolitical
The report findings come as a group of Conservative MPs in the UK have written to the Trade Secretary to say that they plan to amend the Trade Bill currently before Parliament to legally require the...
View ArticleA change of tune
“Brussels moves to preserve access to London clearing houses”, reports the Financial Times. Brussels is to adopt emergency measures to preserve Europe’s access to crucial UK financial market...
View ArticleI look forward to next week’s study on the superiority of male leaders in...
The Guardian reports, “Female-led countries handled coronavirus better, study suggests” Countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better” Covid-19 outcomes, research appears to show,...
View ArticleModern slavery
At CapX, James Bloodworth writes, And yet, left-wing politicians and activists still flock to anything emitting a whiff of revolution “like bluebottles to a dead cat”, as George Orwell once put it. The...
View ArticleAnd the lesson for today is…
…from the Second Book of Kings, Chapter 20, Verses 12-19: 12 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 13...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
“It is one thing to compete with China. I firmly believe we need to do that in every domain, from artificial intelligence to Covid vaccines. But the minute we start copying China, we are on the path to...
View ArticleReaders’ poll: what on earth did Boris mean?
Sky News on Twitter: “Boris Johnson has suggested the world’s leading nations should support a more ‘gender-neutral and feminine’ way of post-COVID economic recovery.” “Gender neutral and feminine”?...
View ArticleHow long will the doctors be in loco parentis?
Thirty years? Women of childbearing age should not drink – WHO How about forever? Face masks should continue ‘forever’ to fight other diseases, says Sage scientist
View ArticleDeleting the weather report to make the rain go away
“Facebook axes team over far-right data”, says the Times. Facebook has disbanded one of its teams after the data they produced suggested that far-right commentators outperformed all other users....
View ArticleHere we go again
BBC News 17:16 BST: Taliban take over Presidential Palace – reports Conveniently, Afghanistan has had its own Samizdata tag for nearly twenty years. It is interesting, if depressing, to look at the old...
View ArticleWhy have a US government at all?
Mark Steyn wrote the other day, Indeed, what difference would it make if it closed down its military? Obviously, it would present a few mid-life challenges for its corrupt Pentagon bureaucracy, since...
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Ian Birrell in the Mail on Sunday asks, What are they hiding? At the start of Covid many scientists believed it likely leaked from Wuhan lab – until a conference call with Patrick Vallance changed...
View ArticleThat has such people in’t
How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in’t. – William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene I Hillel Neuer welcomes the New Year...
View ArticleDoes aid to evil regimes cement them in power? Should we do it anyway?
When I was young I read many earnest articles saying that international aid should be directed towards eradicating the long term causes of famine and poverty rather than short term fixes for specific...
View ArticleCome to think of it, comrades, I do want Jones back
George Orwell, Animal Farm: “Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?” Once again this argument was unanswerable. Certainly the animals did not want Jones back; if the holding of debates on Sunday...
View ArticleThe Americocentric delusion
I am seeing a phenomenon being floridly expressed today, but it is something I have observed for many years: nothing happens in the world, at least nothing good, unless the malign USA is driving it....
View ArticleThe Guardian finds a few, a very few, Christians it likes
Christians in MP Steve Baker’s seat pray for him to quit role on climate thinktank Protesters gathered in High Wycombe on Friday to implore their MP, Steve Baker, to quit as a trustee of the Global...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
The West’s Green delusions empowered Putin. While we banned plastic straws, Russia drilled and doubled nuclear energy production. – Michael Shellenberger
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
Conflict with Russia seems suboptimal. But avoiding necessary conflicts is not avoiding but just delaying. Why would you do that? Putin’s miscalculation makes regime super fragile *for now*. Which...
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