Utopia, you are standing in it!

In the course of the 18th century a variety of spas and seaside resorts became popular destinations for busy Georgians seeking cures for a variety of chronic conditions, as well as for relaxation from the dramas of high politics. Dr Robin Eagles, Editor of the House of Lords 1715-90 project, considers the experiences of some of the high-profile individuals who took their holidays at two of the most popular in the late 18th century.

Among the most popular resorts for members of the elite seeking the benefits of sea air during the later part of the 18th century were Brighton and Weymouth. Earlier in the period Scarborough had been the foremost spa town, but in the course of the century it had been steadily eclipsed by a variety of rivals and by the 1760s and 70s the delights of East Sussex were beginning to attract regular holiday-makers. Brighton’s burgeoning…

Neoclassical economics is now bifurcated between Marshallian partial-equilibrium and Walrasian general-equilibrium analyses. With the apparent inability of neoclassical theory to explain the coordination failure of the Great Depression, J. M. Keynes proposed an alternative paradigm to explain the involuntary unemployment of the 1930s. But within two decades, Keynes’s contribution was subsumed under what became known as the neoclassical synthesis of the Keynesian and Walrasian theories (about which I have written frequently, e.g., here and here). Lacking microfoundations that could be reconciled with the assumptions of Walrasian general-equilibrium theory, the neoclassical synthesis collapsed, owing to the supposedly inadequate microfoundations of Keynesian theory.

But Walrasian general-equilibrium theory provides no plausible, much less axiomatic, account of how general equilibrium is, or could be, achieved. Even the imaginary tatonnement process lacks an algorithm that guarantees that a general-equilibrium solution, if it exists, would be found. Whatever plausibility is attributed to the assumption that…

Gina Florio delivers a fascinating talk discussing the relentless indoctrination she was subjected to at Harvard and how she was able to ultimately reject what she was taught. The left’s domination of academia is the source of its power both here and abroad.

In order to ultimately defeat them, the left’s stranglehold on education must be ended. If not, the political fight the defenders of civilization are engaged in will, ultimately, fail. Higher education is now geared to turning out brainwashed graduates who are destroying the country and, by extension, the world.

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (August 4, 1900 – March 30, 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the last Empress of India from 1936 until India gained independence from Britain in 1947. After her husband died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Born into a family of British nobility, Elizabeth was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis (later the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne in the Peerage of Scotland), and his wife, Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Her mother was descended from British Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and Governor-General of India Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, who was the elder brother of another prime minister, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Elizabeth spent much of her…

There’s a yawning gulf between what wind turbines and solar panels are capable of delivering and what’s actually delivered. Sunset and calm weather will do it every time.

Terms like “capacity factor” and the “Levelized Cost Of Energy” are bandied about with great scientific certitude by renewable energy rent-seekers.

As to the first, wind and solar advocates always overstate the output of wind turbines and solar panels; and then, only in terms of pointless averages. As to the second, these characters are bound to lie about the true LCOE of wind and solar, as well. The subterfuge is as much about omission as embellishment.

Willis Eschenbach explains the nature of the game below.

The Real Cost of Wind and Solar
Watts Up With That?
Willis Eschenbach
25 June 2021

I keep reading how wind and solar are finally cheaper than fossil fuels … and every time I’ve read it, my…

Hydrogen future? [image credit: cleantechnica.com] The UK’s next problem is that there’s no domestic hydrogen supply, and it will be costly to create one, then (in theory) produce vast amounts of hydrogen from renewables and/or nuclear power. Unless hydrogen for homes is going to be cheaper than electricity then electric boilers, with none of hydrogen’s safety issues and available now, could be a viable competitor in the home heating market if/when gas is shut down.
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It would appear that Boris Johnson’s Net Zero promise to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 won’t happen after all now that Britain’s big boiler firms have promised households that they will be able to buy cheap hydrogen boilers instead says The GWPF.

The only question is how much the hydrogen that is supposed to heat our homes will cost consumers.

We’ll have to wait for the government’s…

80 years ago on this day, August 4th 1941, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill set sail across the Atlantic to make history.

Upon Sunday, August 3rd, 1941, Mr Winston Churchill and the Chiefs of Staff travelled by train to the North, where on the following day, and in conditions of the greatest secrecy, they embarked in a battleship.  Five days later, upon Saturday, August 9th, the battleship dropped anchor in a lonely bay off the shores of Newfoundland.  American warships were waiting there with President Roosevelt, who had come so secretly to the rendezvous that the entire Press of America was speculating on his disappearance.  In that desolate bay, which reminded everyone of the Hebrides, with low hills rising mistily in the air, the warships lay at anchor while the two statesmen conducted their conference, the published outcome of which was the Atlantic Charter.  (p.9)

So begins H V Morton’s…

Administration

After 1066, William did not attempt to integrate his separate domains into one unified realm or Kingdom with one set of laws. His seal from after 1066, of which six impressions still survive, was made for him after he conquered England and stressed his role as king, while separately mentioning his role as Duke. When in Normandy, William acknowledged that he owed fealty to the King of the Franks, but in England no such acknowledgment was made – further evidence that the various parts of William’s lands were considered separate.

The administrative machinery of Normandy, England, and Maine continued to exist separate from the other lands, with each one retaining its own forms. For example, England continued the use of writs, which were not known on the continent. Also, the charters and documents produced for the government in Normandy differed in formulas from those produced in England.

In common…

At the conclusion of the first round of voting for the French National Assembly, with projections showing a majority for newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP ranging from nearly two thirds to more than three fourth of the seats, I posed the question of whether France needed a new electoral system. With the party system fragmented, yet now dominated by two large and relatively moderate parties, the old majority-plurality two-round system no longer seemed to be serving the country well. When the electoral system was adopted in 1958 (and used for every election since then, except for 1986), there were no real “giants” in the fragmented party system and not even two clear blocs. One of the largest parties was a doctrinaire Communist party. In that context, a system that very quickly realigned the parties into two major blocs and led to the under-representation of the Communists was a…

Chen Yeh in this Richmond Fed economic brief:

Recent research has emphasized the importance of a few large firms in driving overall economic fluctuations, a view known as the “granular hypothesis.” I find that the granular hypothesis can explain about 15 percent of aggregate U.S. fluctuations, a smaller share than found in other research. Thus, the granular hypothesis plays a meaningful role for the U.S. economy, but there is still plenty of room for aggregate factors to be relevant.

15% is quite large.