The end of one Czech dream
The Škoda car company is in trouble and there is talk of its closure. It is a company that was handed over to a foreign investor for free in the…
Argentinian Havel
When I first read Edmund Burke’s takedown of the French revolutionaries more than twenty years ago, I was beside myself with enthusiasm. I still pull out that book (Burke’s Reflections…
Again on the causes of civilization’s decline
Over the last month I have published several glosses reminding us that the West reached its civilizational peak around 1950-80, that there is incredibly little attention paid to this period,…
On new communists
“Climate activists are the communists of today”,says Lord Nocktom and the more simple-minded people erupt with enthusiasm. Finally, they’ve said it in full. But here’s the uncomfortable question. What are…
How not to be a fanatic
The American psychologist Jonathan Haidt has well observed that people have an incredibly weak ability to apply psychological insights to themselves. An ability so weak that it’s shocking. Even among…
On the neoliberal dystopia
Sooner or later, the advocates of socialism were frustrated by its statism, inefficiency, greyness, bureaucratisation, the birth of a “new class” and the failure to meet original expectations. The same…