Time for Change
Brendan O’Neill is right: something has to change. UPDATE: Alaa Al-Ameri, a British Libyan, has now written (also in in Spiked) about why Salman Abedi grew to hate the rest of […]
Vale
Farewell, then, one of the True Greats not just of motor sport, but of all sport. A man however who’s competitive fire, ironically, burned so brightly that it was to […]
Free Movement
“Labour has recognised that free movement is not a basic principle of socialism.” That’s in The Guardian, of course.
Thank You
This man saved my life. Twice. Thank you, Dr Heimlich.
Suffrage
It’s a curious fact that democracy, as a formal system of government, seems not to have evolved, but been directly invented: Addressing an assembly of the citizens, Cleisthenes proposed what […]
Demos
So 2016 has turned out to be the year that the ordinary people who have been increasingly mocked, ignored and vilified for decades have finally woken up and had their […]
Perhaps I’m Becoming a Marxist..?
American academic Frank Buckley pretty much hit the nail on the head in a speech he gave earlier this year, providing an analysis of the ossification that has struck the previously […]
Matt: Simply the Best
Link.
Capitalism
The defence rests.
They’ll Always Have Paris
Climate alarmism is dead. Not that most eco-activists or starry-eyed environmentalists realise it, but as a political force, it’s over. It has been killed, of course, by its own self-proclaimed […]
Useless
So that’s the Labour party consigned to electoral oblivion. I’m sure they’ll hang around for another decade or two, and garner a few million votes at general elections, but there […]
Interesting Times
Well, well. We’ve discovered all sorts of interesting things in the last few days: The British people still retain their ancient instinct for democracy. Gauging by those calling for a […]
Je Suis Asad
All victims of religious intolerance deserve to be remembered.
Trump? Trump!
Would Donald Trump make a good US president? No. How sick does the US body politic need to be if Trump is the cure? Very. Is the US body politic […]
Sovereignty
I am bemused by many of the to-and-fro arguments made about the EU by both Leavers and Remainers, as they seem so irrelevant. To my mind there is only one […]
Climate Glossary
For non-experts it can sometimes be difficult to understand exactly what climatologists mean when they use technical language. To help, I have prepared a quick introduction to some of the […]
Howling at the Moon
Another day, another blogger realising just how great an abomination of science Stephan Lewandowsky’s work truly is. Of course, Moon Hoax is such an easy target that it’s hard not […]
I’m Enjoying This…
Although the upcoming enthronement of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader is a source of intense and ongoing hilarity, I am utterly mystified by those members of a party founded explicitly […]
Some Real Scientists Speak…
Some real, actual scientists have been speaking about their work recently – and about how they know that what they think is wrong. Not wrong wrong, like thinking that Wincanton […]
Review of ‘Why Models Run Hot’
This paper is an example of some very clever people creating a potentially useful tool and then proceeding to enthusiastically apply it in completely the wrong way. It starts by […]
Clear, simple and wrong
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H.L. Mencken ‘Everyone with half a brain knows global warming is a load of crap, […]
We are the Noldor
So one day you find yourself running around a school while carrying a gun, frantically killing as many children as you can before some soldiers arrive and shoot you down […]
Taking the Long View
How frequently do most of us worry about how we will be viewed by history? Not often I would guess – despite the massive explosion in the amount of documentary […]
The Mothers of Reinvention
Dahhling! It’s just so wonderful to see you! I hardly recognised you, you look so different! Mmmwah! Thank you darling. It’s my new look, what do you think? I love […]
The Carrot and the Stick
They say that the key to judo is to use your enemy’s strength against them. It’s certainly a very neat trick if you can pull it off – allow the […]
Rehashed Alarmism
Those who believe in dangerous man-made global warming are increasingly disturbed that public interest in their fearful predictions is waning fast. Their response centres around trying to improve the way […]
Lies, damned lies and… hang on!
It is a well-known fact that gangster Al Capone was eventually jailed not for murder or extortion but for tax evasion. In other words, it was not detectives that finally […]
Error upon Error
Even when we have only a hazy view of reality, it is human nature to try to make sense of the world around us. At some fundamental level the human […]
Scientists, One by One
A few weeks ago I was mulling over an idea I had for my next blog post. This was in response to various discussions at WUWT, Bishop Hill and Pointman’s […]
Global Warming: What I Believe
Is CO2 a greenhouse gas that causes the Earth to warm up? Yes, the basic physics have been fully validated. Is the rise in atmospheric CO2 since modern records began […]
A Conspiracy Unmasked
Apparently, as a ‘climate denier’ (i.e. someone who rejects the probability that human-induced global warming will lead to worldwide, significantly damaging changes to the climate) I am signed up to […]
Kelvin
Whilst having a discussion about the hazards of disagreeing with mainstream science (on any topic), it occurred to me that the example of Lord Kelvin could be very illuminating when […]
So I’ve written a book…
I was hoping to find a book, suitable for children aged about 11-12 upwards, outlining the basics of rational thinking, logic and the Scientific Method. But I couldn’t. So I […]
Sticks and Stones
The internet has become a great enabler of many fascinating behaviours, one of which is the ability to sling public insults at a rate never previously approached. I must admit […]
When the sea-change comes
In common with many sceptic commentators, I believe that the Climate Alarmist dam is now riddled with significant cracks, making its final collapse inevitable. The IPCC has jettisoned the Hockey […]
Why is Ignorance OK?
Why is it in our technology-saturated, science-driven, geek-obsessed world that publicly displaying scientific ignorance of the first order is somehow not a cause of social embarrassment and general contempt? If […]
Astro- photography update…
I have recently got some new equipment and have updated the astrophotography page accordingly. Prepare to be awed by beginner-level photos of the majesty of the heavens!
Master of None
Family, friends and regular readers will recognise that there are few things in life that don’t interest me. (In fact, family and friends are sometimes shockingly low down the list […]
Changing My Mind
No-one ever thinks that they are wrong. The closest we ever get is to acknowledge that we have been wrong (perhaps just an infinitesimal blink of the mind’s eye ago) […]
Sometimes…
Sometimes I have brief but intense flashbacks to how it felt to be a child, and I look down and my feet seem to be a very long way away.
Making Beliefs Pay Rent
“Every guess of belief should begin by flowing to a specific guess of anticipation, and should continue to pay rent in future anticipations.” This is probably my favourite quote from […]
Taking Exceptions
My daughters’ school recently ran a programme on bullying. Apparently it was the usual sort of thing: talks from teachers, watching videos, having group discussions and doing a bit of […]
The Art of Darkness
It is certainly true that dark and horrifying beliefs can drive humans to superlative artistic heights, although I’m not sure this is widely realised. The usual cliché is that suffering […]
Socrates vs Confucius
I was recently attending a course of management training (don’t fall asleep just yet) and in a module on staff coaching there was a discussion about varying methods that can […]
A Little Bit of Mystery Goes a Long Way
The most interesting bits of life are the ones we don’t understand. Isaac Asimov once pointed out “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the […]
Politics is Poisoning Society
The religious wars of 16th and 17th century Europe culminated in the Thirty Years War, which killed approximately one third of the entire population of Germany. This conflict also caused […]
Well, isn’t this nice?
I was in the pub with Mrs A the other night, the two of us enjoying a rare chance to go out and have a few drinks. After we had […]
True Believers
It is always a wonderful feeling when a new fact or observation suddenly forces you to revisit previously held beliefs and check whether they are still valid. Those who cling […]
The Big Cause
There is a type of person that needs to be part of a Big Cause. They cannot seem to accept the probability that they live in unexceptional times, that they […]
Lies I Told My Children
Have a look at Lies I Told My Children, my new blog of illustrated stories written to amuse my daughters. They find it funny, so maybe it’s worth a look…
