Across the Western democracies, the political centre is under pressure. The populist right is rising, especially in Europe and the United States, while younger voters are showing renewed interest in socialism, or at least in much more interventionist economic policies. The result is not that the centre has vanished, but that it has lost much […]
The Hollowing of the Political Centre
The Hollowing of the Political Centre
27 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: voter demographics
The mighty hurdle facing The Opportunity Party
27 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
Since 1996 no new party has entered Parliament without either a sitting or former MP leading it. The Conservative Party in 2014 came close to doing so, scoring about 4% of the party vote, but ultimately failed and never attained that level of support again.
The mighty hurdle facing The Opportunity Party
I’m a non-gestating parent!
26 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The NY Post reports: A woke new bill erases the terms “mother” and “father” from state child custody and parental laws — a gender-neutral rewriting that’s expected to spark a flood of similarly clunky legislation. “Mother” would be replaced with “gestating parent” while “father” becomes “non-gestating parent” or “parent” in family court along with in domestic and education law,…
I’m a non-gestating parent!
IKE AND WINSTON: WORLD WAR, COLD WAR, AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP by Jonathan W. Jordan
26 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: World War II
(Churchill and Eisenhower) Jonathan W. Jordan has written a superbly blended dual biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Winston S. Churchill entitled IKE AND WINSTON:WORLD WAR, COLD WAR, AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP. He focuses on their relationship from the time they met in 1941 carrying through World War II and the Cold War. It is carefully […]
IKE AND WINSTON: WORLD WAR, COLD WAR, AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP by Jonathan W. Jordan
Protecting the Truth of the Holocaust
25 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II
++++++++++++++CAUTION: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES++++++++++++++++ When Dwight D. Eisenhower entered Ohrdruf Concentration Camp after it was liberated, he had the foresight to document the horrors he saw with his own eyes. Ohrdruf was liberated on 4 April 1945, by the 4th Armored Division, led by Brigadier General Joseph F. H. Cutrona, and the 89th Infantry Division. […]
Protecting the Truth of the Holocaust
Cost of Renewables Holding Back Net Zero!
24 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism Tags: British politics, celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power
By Paul Homewood h/t Doug Brodie Reality has finally caught up with the crooks: From the Telegraph: Labour’s green levies on energy bills are holding back Britain’s net zero push, government advisers have warned. Extra charges on energy bills to subsidise the growth of wind and solar plants championed by Ed […]
Cost of Renewables Holding Back Net Zero!
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
24 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
I’ve been sent a copy of a report by FTI Consulting on the tobacco black market in NZ. It is referenced here by Retail NZ. It is 63 pages long and full of data. It is produced for the three main tobacco companies in NZ (not surprisingly they are against their product being stolen). Some…
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
The Partition: Ireland Divided 1885 to 1925 by Charles Townshend (2021)
23 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: Ireland
‘None of the Irish leaders understood the northern situation or the northern mind.’ (Cahir Healy, Irish nationalist born in Ulster, quoted on this book’s last page)) This ought to be a great book – a long, scholarly, up-to-date and immensely detailed description of the social, economic and cultural reasons why Ireland was partitioned. All the […]
The Partition: Ireland Divided 1885 to 1925 by Charles Townshend (2021)
Slow Growth: Mexico Edition
23 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, labour economics, Public Choice Tags: Mexico
For the last eight years or so, going back before the pandemic, Mexico’s economy has been growing at 1% per year or less, which is barely faster than the population of Mexico has been growing. It is a fact of arithmetic that an upper-middle-income country, as Mexico is classified by the World Bank, will not…
Slow Growth: Mexico Edition
The Hubris of the Horizon: Re-examining Operation Barbarossa
22 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War II
For those of you who don’t speak English as a first language, you may not be familiar with the term ‘Hubris’ the definition is : excessive pride or self-confidence. On the dawn of June 22, 1941, the largest invasion force in human history surged across a 1,800-mile frontier. Over three million German and Axis soldiers, […]
The Hubris of the Horizon: Re-examining Operation Barbarossa
Red Dwarf – An excellent suggestion, sir, with just two minor drawbacks
22 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
In UK politics, is Andy Burnham an unelectable Jeremy Corbyn 2.0?
21 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Marxist economics, politics Tags: British politics
I’ll treat this as a comparison of political positioning, leadership style, and electability rather than a slogan. I’ll check the current context first, since both Burnham and Corbyn’s roles/reputations can shift with recent Labour politics. Not really. Andy Burnham is better seen as a soft-left, regionalist, pragmatic Labour populist — not “Jeremy Corbyn 2.0.” The […]
In UK politics, is Andy Burnham an unelectable Jeremy Corbyn 2.0?
Ancient Clay Tablets Show Markets Worked 4,000 Years Before Economists Explained Them
21 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, international economics, law and economics, property rights
Clay tablets unearthed in Asia Minor reveal a sophisticated commercial order emerging spontaneously nearly four thousand years before economists explained how markets work. By Surse Pierpoint of The American Institute for Economic Research.”A clay tablet from Kanesh, in what is now central Turkey, contains the founding charter of a twelve-partner trading company. Twelve merchants pooled thirty-three…
Ancient Clay Tablets Show Markets Worked 4,000 Years Before Economists Explained Them
Adrian Wooldridge on Sweden and liberalism
20 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in economic growth, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics Tags: Sweden
Sweden is continuing to reap the rewards of this mixture of fiscal rectitude and pro-market reforms. GDP is projected to grow by 1.8% to 1.9% this year; headline inflation stands at 1.5%; debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, at just above 35%. There are some flies in this ointment, of course:…
Adrian Wooldridge on Sweden and liberalism
Inflation: the struggle for simplicity
20 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand
Why the Reserve Bank must distinguish monetary inflation from supply shocks
Inflation: the struggle for simplicity
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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