The Christchurch Mosque Massacres, Covid-19, deep political disillusionment, and the jealous cruelty of the intersectionists: all had a part to play in causing School Strike 4 Climate’s bright bubble of hope and passion to burst. But, while it floated above us, it was something that mattered. Something Important. Chris Trotter writes – […]
Something important: the curious death of the School Strike 4 Climate Movement
Something important: the curious death of the School Strike 4 Climate Movement
12 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: climate activists, free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
12 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture, health economics Tags: cranks
Dawkins and Sokal on the dumb ideological ploy maintaining that human sex is “assigned at birth”
10 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, labour economics, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

What a pair! The renowned biologist and the hoax-exposer/mathematician, teamed up to attack the medical profession’s new and woke tendency to deny the existence of biological sex as a reality. (Yes, all animals have exactly two sexes, which are not made up by society.) This eloquent op-ed is in the Boston Globe, and you can […]
Dawkins and Sokal on the dumb ideological ploy maintaining that human sex is “assigned at birth”
A Conversation with Gary Becker
10 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, Gary Becker, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality
Harris’ Major Malfunction
09 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture, health economics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: behavioural genetics

Judith Harris’ The Nurture Assumption was a huge influence on me, and the top inspiration for my Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. Her book’s first main lesson is that family resemblance, defined in the broadest possible way to include physical, psychological, and social outcomes, is mostly driven by genetics rather than upbringing. Her book’s…
Harris’ Major Malfunction
An enigmatic statement by George Orwell
07 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics

Years ago I read this statement by George Orwell in his collected essays, and from time to time, especially when I suffer a reversal, I think about the second sentence. “Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any […]
An enigmatic statement by George Orwell
J’Accuse . . . ! : The University of Chicago is not a “free speech university”
04 Apr 2024 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror

This is a story about how the University of Chicago, famed as the #1 Free Speech School of America, is now allowing the suppression of speech, either not punishing those who engage in suppression or giving them ridiculously light punishments. The result is that there is no palpable deterrent to students who want to silence […]
J’Accuse . . . ! : The University of Chicago is not a “free speech university”
“#arrestme”: JK Rowling Dares Scotland to Enforce Anti-Free Speech Law
03 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, Scotland

We have previously discussed the growing anti-free speech movement in Scotland with the expanding criminalization of political and religious speech. The new Scottish law is a perfect nightmare for free speech, expanding the potential of a jail sentence for merely insulting language. In response, author JK Rowling has taken a stand and dared the Scottish […]
“#arrestme”: JK Rowling Dares Scotland to Enforce Anti-Free Speech Law
About April fools day
02 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture
MICHAEL BASSETT: LABOUR’S CRIME LEGACY OF THE LAST THREE YEARS
31 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, labour economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The Labour Government lost the 2023 election when its support halved from 2020. It deserved to lose on economic grounds alone. Covid lockdowns that went beyond the prudent and wrecked livelihoods in the name of saving lives; an orgy of careless spending of borrowed money; and a failure to ensure that the 16,000 extra bureaucrats…
MICHAEL BASSETT: LABOUR’S CRIME LEGACY OF THE LAST THREE YEARS
Cheat sheet
29 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, income redistribution, liberalism, Marxist economics, Public Choice, Rawls and Nozick, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

Times are a changing
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of love and marriage, law and economics Tags: marriage and divorce, political correctness, regressive left
*Who’s Afraid of Gender?*
26 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, gender, law and economics, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
That is the title of the new Judith Butler book, focusing mostly on trans issues. To be clear, on most practical issues concerning trans, I side with the social conservatives. For instance, I don’t think trans women have a right to compete in women’s weightlifting contests. And I have not been happy with how many […]
*Who’s Afraid of Gender?*
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, economics of media and culture, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

This week, parents of students at the University of California at Berkeley took the extreme step of hiring private security to protect their children at the school after years of complaints over rising crime and anti-police policies. The university, however, is focused this week on another threat that has led students to object that they […]
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
21 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

As you know, I go back and forth on the question of affirmative action for college and professional-school admissions, and even after I thought I’d settled on a view (i.e., give some preference to minorities among those equally qualified for admission), it still keeps changing. After I read the long New York Times piece below […]
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves



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