Utopia, you are standing in it!

We learn of the first thirteen popes from Irenaeus of Lyons, who documented their colorful mythology from Peter to Eleutherius. This was a time of great paranoia for Christians following the Great Fire in Rome and the subsequent Neronian nightmare as well as a resurgence of violent persecutions under Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) who promoted a delusional form of self-deification, dominus et deus or “master and god,” and began torturing the new religion once again. This was the context in which the fevered Book of Revelation was likely written –a text which gleefully celebrates the downfall of Rome and subversively refers to Jesus as a “King” in contrast to the Roman Emperor. The Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius are generally remembered as more tolerant rulers, however the crowds in Rome still raged for more bodies to fill the ongoing circus festivals. Two of the most important Christian leaders were…

Nothing focuses thinking on energy policy like not having heat, light and power on tap.

With Europe now hostage to its aggressive Eastern neighbour – thanks to a maniacal obsession with intermittent wind and solar and the need to back it up with oil and gas – policy wonks of all descriptions have started talking about energy supplies in the present, rather than the future, tense.

The reason for the recent uptick in the intensity of thought isn’t difficult to find: if Vlad turns off the gas tap, large tracts of Europe will be plunged into freezing darkness, particularly the Germans, who, years ago, committed to killing off their reliable nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

Now, though, faced with the reality of actually trying to rely exclusively on wind and solar, even Germany’s Greens are talking about maintaining their ability to produce coal-fired and nuclear power for the foreseeable future…

The following are some notes I cobbled together upon reading John Julius Norwich’s 2011 single volume history of the papacy Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy. The book is a delightful survey of this most curious and enduring institution –the papacy– offering erudite and concise summaries of key moments in the unfolding character and history of the papacy. I also used Diarmaid MacCulloch’s 2009 work of popular history, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years as a reference as well. After recently completing a survey of the kings and queens of England using several different sources (including Winston Churchill’s History of English Speaking Peoples) I decided to turn my gaze toward that other present-day monarchical tradition spanning two millennia. How is it that a religion which venerates the “meek” and the “poor in spirit?” has managed to elevate a supreme pontiff who governs the faithful like a global…

Wind and solar advocates keep carping that ‘coal is dead’, as if thermal power generation had gone the same way as the dodo and flared trousers.

This wouldn’t be the first time an obituary has been published way to early. Mark Twain noted that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated. So too, coal-fired power.

Thermal coal prices are off the charts, with record demand driving record prices: Australian thermal coal prices recently hit $US$400 ($548 a tonne), with prices still on the rise.

True enough, the ex-KGB lad with his sights set on crushing Ukraine has played his part. But, so too has the West’s suicidal obsession with chaotically intermittent and heavily subsidised wind and solar. In Europe, Germany in particular, the harsh reckoning of foolishly locking themselves into reliance on Russian oil and gas has caused a major rethink about their attempt to run on sunshine and…

Like a jilted bride, wind and solar have lost all love and favour as Europe scrambles for reliable and affordable energy.

Now it seems that the only inevitable thing about the ‘inevitable transition’ is that when people are forced to choose between electricity delivered reliably and affordably and the purportedly clean and green kind, they couldn’t care less about where it comes from.

Even Germany’s Greens have backflipped on their policy to kill off its nuclear and coal-fired plants; all of a sudden infantile ideology has given way to necessity and sound engineering.

Who would have thought that a modern Stalin would herald the end for chaotically intermittent wind and solar?

Hitherto the model was fairly simple: Europe would ditch its reliable and affordable generation systems; squander billions of euros on subsidies to inherently unreliable wind and solar; and use Russian oil and gas to run highly inefficient gas…

When debating big issues such as the size and scope of government, I like to think that facts matter. Maybe I’m being naive, but people should look at evidence before deciding whether to make government bigger or smaller.

And with Biden proposing a big expansion in the size of the welfare state, this is why I regularly compare the economic performance of the United States and various European nations.

After all, if we’re going to make America more like Europe, shouldn’t we try to understand what that might mean for the well being of the citizenry?

With this in mind, I want to share this tweet (based on this data) from Stefan Schubert at the London School of Economics.

The obvious takeaway is that the average person in the United States enjoys much higher living standards (more than 50 percent higher) than the average person in…