Gentleman, scholar, acrobat
The Return of the Public, by Dan Hind
Dan Hind’s clarion call for a return of the spirit of the radical political tradition rooted in English republicanism is compromised by his suspicion towards private interests.
Continue reading “A curious plea for a disinterested public”
Taming the Gods: religion and democracy on three continents, by Ian Buruma (Princeton University Press, 2010)
Ian Buruma’s short book is a kind of sequel to Death in Amsterdam, his book about the murder of Theo van Gogh and the limits of tolerance. It goes beneath the superficial counterpositions of today’s religion debates – religion versus secularism, multiculturalism versus intolerance – to identify some more interesting dynamics at work. Perhaps most usefully, Buruma shows that ideological disorientation within Western culture is at least as important as tensions between West and East, or even ‘secular liberalism’ and radical Islam. Continue reading “The politics of secularism”
Continue reading “‘These rocks are here for me, waiting for the drill’”
A keynote essay for the Battle of Ideas 2008
A keynote essay for the Battle of Ideas 2008
Continue reading “Lead on, Macduff*: McLeadership and the real thing”
Gang Leader for a Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh, Cop in the Hood, by Peter Moskos, Homicide, by David Simon
What’s so bad about abortion?, Future of Abortion conference, London, 24 June 2008
How an unloved system survives by default, and how its would-be critics condemn us to more of the same
Continue reading “Cynical capitalism, cynical anti-capitalism”
Maximilien Robespierre was a fearless critic of tradition and incorruptibly committed to liberty: a million miles from today’s webcam jihadists. Continue reading “Defending the Terror”
Dolan Cummings 