Blog

Now look how many sorts of things there are which properly fall within the cognizance of humane reason, into so many branches does the tree of philosophy divide it selfe. And from the diversity of the matter about which they are conversant, there hath been given to those branches a diversity of Names too

Hobbes: De Cive

• New party leader! And?

Action

• A Future for Freedom
• Action: a Powers and Bodies Bill
• Army of clerks
• Build Back Britain, Boris
• Eschatological Rebellion
• Fill(et)ing the Lords – 2
• Hate speech: the Denning Solution
• Hobbes manifesto: taxes and publique charity
• Housing: courting injustice – 1
• Is Twitter evil?
• Mend the Kingdom – roll up that map
• Minutiae – the big failing
• New world-teachers needed
• Our plan for the new Prime Minister
• Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have – 1
• Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have – 2
• Register the establishment
• Rules for conservatives?
• Sir Humphrey’s logic
• Surrendering on the playing fields of Eton
• The Curses of Caesarea
• The doctor and the silent usurpers
• The Long March: conspiracy or accident?
• The new challenges for 2021
• The Wrong Side of History
• We cannot win on social media
• Wednesbury reform will not reverse the Cherry / Miller decision
• What did You do in the Culture War?
• Where is the text, Boris?

Brexit

• 4 years ago we voted
• A Great Deal to Do
• Accidental spies; useful idiots
• Act now!
• Aggressive timidity exploited
• Agree, withdraw and move to Stage 2
• Are we European though, or Anglospherical?
• As several doors open…
• Believe in the bin
• Bishops lead themselves into error
• Bishops to mend a broken Britain?
• Brexit moment 1688
• Brexit moment 1714
• Build the bridge, now
• Burke on Ambitious Parliaments
• Eire applies to be America’s 51st State
• Endgaming
• Every man to do his duty
• Exclusive leaked footage of Brexit talks
• Fay’s pop guide to Brexit
• Fixing the Withdrawal Agreement
• Flybe: Brexit to blame
• Got Brexit Done
• Gyimah gymnastics
• Has the hour of the SDP come at last?
• Have I missed something…?
• Have we started to win?
• Headdesk, again. What next?
• How to fix the Ulster Protocol
• I don’t know what has happened but…
• If it prosper
• Ireland abused, abandoned
• It’s not about Europe
• Last year was so last year, lads
• Liberals, conservatives and the Jordan Peterson thesis
• Major EU trade deal
• Meanwhile, in Brussels
• Mindless commentary; victorless result; pointless election
• Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations
• Operation Casement: still no arrests
• Quid pro quo: repeal Section 13
• Quiet, smug anniversary
• Reviewing the EU’s proposals
• Right, Bill; it’s up to you now
• Securing the exit endgame
• Start spreading the news: we’re leaving today
• Statesmanship, a lost art
• Supreme Tangle
• Tempestuous climate on QT
• The Alliance revolution, possibly
• The Casement Award: no entries yet?
• The five stages of Grieve
• The new challenges for 2021
• The next eleven months
• The vote and the trust issue
• The work begins: Get Brexit Done
• Theresa shoots for an open own-goal
• To Aetius thrice Consul, the groans of the Britons
• Top people are people too
• Trade talks: Summer in the City
• Treason, stupidity, recklessness or hypocrisy?
• UK-EU talks: the British proposal
• Vive L’Empereur?
• Westminster in the exit endgame
• What happens next for Boris?
• What is less known is the reply Aetius sent
• Where is the text, Boris?
• Where the Remainers were right
• You’re on your way now, Bill

Constitution

• A cabal of its enemies
• A system failing in the middle
• Army of clerks
• Brexit moment 1714
• Court of Session – Inner House prorogation full judgment published
• Court of Session prorogation case: full judgment published
• Dissolution Of Common-wealths Proceedeth From Imperfect Institution
• Dissolution Of Commonwealths: Want Of Absolute Power
• Dissolution through private judgment
• Fill(et)ing the Lords – 1
• Fill(et)ing the Lords – 2
• Geoffrey Cox: an appreciation
• Hobbes and the Libertarian – 1
• Is the Housing Court dead?
• Justice And Injustice What
• Mend the Kingdom – roll up that map
• Military coup in Westminster
• Minutiae – the big failing
• Murmuring the (supreme) judges – 3
• Murmuring the Judges – 1
• Murmuring the judges – 2
• Ochlocrats
• Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations
• On popular grievances
• Proud man, Drest in a little brief authority
• Puritans and the Pilgrim
• Register the establishment
• Some Foolish Opinions Of Lawyers Concerning The Making Of Lawes
• Supreme Tangle
• The Abilities required in a Judge
• The beggars: fake charities
• The Long March: conspiracy or accident?
• The necessity of normality
• The work begins: constitutional reform
• The year begins – 2020
• Things they won’t do with the British Constitution
• To the Extinction of their Democraty
• What did You do in the Culture War?

Fay Kinuise

• 101 Uses for a Dumped MP
• 2019 in review, with Fay Kinuise
• A hard rain’s a-Cummin’
• Brexit to blame for COVID-19
• Chuka who chucked ChUK chuckles and swallows the bird
• Court of Session – Inner House prorogation full judgment published
• Court of Session prorogation case: full judgment published
• COVID-19: a nation divided
• Eire applies to be America’s 51st State
• Exclusive leaked footage of Brexit talks
• Fay’s pop guide to Brexit
• Flybe: Brexit to blame
• Further leak of US-UK trade talks
• Joe Biden’s inaugural speech leaked – exclusive
• Labour: wear a mask when shopping on-line
• Leaving Verbier
• Magical Scottish town appears briefly from the mist
• Major EU trade deal
• Meat Month
• Messages pour in for Joe
• New comedy act opens in Brighton
• New Government slogan ‘to bring clarity’
• Operation Casement: still no arrests
• Revealed: why Britain did not reach the Moon first
• Rory Roars off into the sunset
• Sarah Wollaston joins Plaid Cymru
• Second wave of bad rainbows threatened
• Sturgeon: Scotland has its own, distinct coronavirus
• Ten new Constituencies now under offer
• The Casement Award: no entries yet?
• The five stages of Grieve
• The Leadership election falls asleep again
• Titanic to appoint new Captain
• Well, Ofsted: what do you have to say for yourself?
• What is less known is the reply Aetius sent

History

• A melancholy centenary for Wales
• Art in the word
• Brexit moment 1688
• Brexit moment 1714
• Cromwell and the parliaments
• Cromwell despairs of Parliament again
• Dark times and better times
• Depart, I say; and let us have done with you
• Empire, interrupted
• Every man to do his duty
• Fill(et)ing the Lords – 1
• Honest, Georgian elections
• How easy to lose the peace
• Jacobean court farce
• Let us make a reparation to Africa
• Military coup in Westminster
• Mill, Calvin and Hobbes
• Never again.
• Pitt triumphant
• Puritans and the Pilgrim
• The Case of China
• The Eighteenth of June
• The oldest story in the World
• The Wrong Side of History
• Titus Oates
• To Aetius thrice Consul, the groans of the Britons
• To the Extinction of their Democraty
• Treaties bedevil a wayward parliament, 1644
• Turbulent parliamentarians; the Cromwell approach
• VE-Day: rejoicing 75 years of victory and freedom
• What is less known is the reply Aetius sent

Inside the Bubble

• 101 Uses for a Dumped MP
• A cabal of its enemies
• A hard rain’s a-Cummin’
• Agree, withdraw and move to Stage 2
• And then there were seven
• Believe in the bin
• Bizarre self-defenestrations
• Blood on the carpet
• Boris, the chosen one
• Brecon and Radical Rethink
• Build Back Britain, Boris
• Chuka who chucked ChUK chuckles and swallows the bird
• Competitive panicking
• Conservative Conference 2019: The Speech
• Conservative Conference Report: Day 3
• Counter-cheque Quarrelsome
• Court of Session – Inner House prorogation full judgment published
• Court of Session prorogation case: full judgment published
• Dane-geld
• Demanding sacrifices to the baalim
• Downing Street: and so it begins
• Enter Ross
• Exclusive leaked footage of Brexit talks
• Five try to squeeze through one door
• From the Conservative Conference 2019
• Geoffrey Cox: an appreciation
• Green light, red faces, and Amber
• Gyimah gymnastics
• Has the hour of the SDP come at last?
• Have I missed something…?
• How would I answer last night’s leadership questions?
• I don’t know what has happened but…
• If it prosper
• Iphigenia’s sisters
• Is Boris Good Enough?
• It’s not about Europe
• Jacobean court farce
• Jeremy, hunted by his own quick hounds
• Last year was so last year, lads
• Leadership or caution
• Mindless commentary; victorless result; pointless election
• New comedy act opens in Brighton
• Ochlocrats
• Oh the things we said in dark corners….
• Operation Casement: still no arrests
• Our plan for the new Prime Minister
• Praying for Boris
• Questions for Boris Johnson
• Quid pro quo: repeal Section 13
• Rishi Sunak’s budget speech
• Rory Roars off into the sunset
• Rudd, Amber: Green light for Boris
• Sarah Wollaston joins Plaid Cymru
• Sir Humphrey’s logic
• Supporters come out, but no Kingmaker
• Supreme Tangle
• Ten new Constituencies now under offer
• The Casement Award: no entries yet?
• The five stages of Grieve
• The grossest abuses of power
• The Leadership election falls asleep again
• The maddening of a paper MP
• The necessity of normality
• The new challenges for 2021
• The next eleven months
• The quiet leadership contest
• The Russia Report: was that it then?
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Budget
• The whirligig of time brings in his revenges
• The work begins: Get Brexit Done
• The year begins – 2020
• Titanic to appoint new Captain
• Titus Oates
• Top people are people too
• What happens next for Boris?
• Where it all went wrong for – Change UK
• Winner is coming

Law reform

• Action: a Powers and Bodies Bill
• Challenging the challenges
• Housing: courting injustice – 1
• Is the Housing Court dead?
• Judicial review: the Manifesto
• Law: an abused word
• Murmuring the (supreme) judges – 3
• Murmuring the Judges – 1
• Murmuring the judges – 2
• Nicola’s Muzzle – 2
• The Abilities required in a Judge
• The Constitution, mice and “yes but”
• The Constitution: mice undermine the wall
• The rule of lawyers
• The UK Internal Market consultation
• The work begins: constitutional reform
• Wednesbury reform will not reverse the Cherry / Miller decision
• What is judicial review

Matters abroad

• A stronger President than we realise
• As Rome gave way to Byzantium…
• Betsy Ross and the losses of Victory
• Blaming China
• China: a world apart
• Divided by a common politics
• Eire applies to be America’s 51st State
• Empire, interrupted
• Fragile China
• Gorged Washington
• In America now
• Joe Biden’s inaugural speech leaked – exclusive
• Messages pour in for Joe
• New world-teachers needed
• Oh, Vienna!
• Putin it like that, no
• Scruton’s Anglosphere
• South Sudan praying for peace
• Statesmanship, a lost art
• The Case of China
• The Russia Report: was that it then?
• To the Extinction of their Democraty
• What of Lagos?
• Who are the Iranians?

America

• A stronger President than we realise
• As Rome gave way to Byzantium…
• Betsy Ross and the losses of Victory
• Divided by a common politics
• Eire applies to be America’s 51st State
• Gorged Washington
• In America now
• Joe Biden’s inaugural speech leaked – exclusive
• Messages pour in for Joe
• To the Extinction of their Democraty

China

• Blaming China
• China: a world apart
• Empire, interrupted
• Fragile China
• The Case of China

Russia

• Empire, interrupted
• Putin it like that, no
• The Russia Report: was that it then?

Outside the Bubble

• 4IR: understanding and fear
• As Rome gave way to Byzantium…
• Berlin – 30 years
• Bishops to mend a broken Britain?
• Bydded i’r Hen Iaith Barhau
• Competitive panicking
• Dark times and better times
• Don’t make us resent this
• Eschatological Rebellion
• Family, faith, flag, freedom
• Hobble Christmas and we starve
• I’ve got a little list: do you?
• In a sentence, Her Majesty defines us
• Liberate the DIY stores
• Local politics is back
• Man to Man is an arrant Wolfe
• Never again.
• Not sure I should be bored
• Ochlocrats
• Ordinary extraordinary men
• Out to the blue remembered hills
• Oxford Street begins to reawaken
• Peace at Christ-tide
• Putin it like that, no
• Quite enjoying the Cancel Culture, actually
• The beggars: fake charities
• The dawn is coming after night
• The new challenges for 2021
• VE-Day: rejoicing 75 years of victory and freedom
• We are better than this
• We cannot win on social media
• What did You do in the Culture War?
• Who are the Iranians?
• You’ll never take me a-skive, copper

Parliament

• 101 Uses for a Dumped MP
• Accidental spies; useful idiots
• Act now!
• Aggressive timidity exploited
• Bizarre self-defenestrations
• Boris unleashed
• Brecon and Radical Rethink
• Build the bridge, now
• Burke on Ambitious Parliaments
• Bydded i’r Hen Iaith Barhau
• Cromwell and the parliaments
• Cromwell despairs of Parliament again
• Depart, I say; and let us have done with you
• Even Corbyn opposes Corbyn
• Every man to do his duty
• Fallen riders – Auntie’s list
• Further leak of US-UK trade talks
• Gaius Cassius and Cingonius Varro
• Have I missed something…?
• Have we started to win?
• He that is to govern a whole nation must read in himself…
• Headdesk, again. What next?
• Hobbes manifesto: taxes and publique charity
• Honest, Georgian elections
• Judicial review: the Manifesto
• Knockout
• Law: an abused word
• Letterboxes, endless letterboxes
• Military coup in Westminster
• Minutiae – the big failing
• Nicola’s Muzzle – 2
• Not a sch-lur but a telling sch-lip
• Not sure I should be bored
• Pitt triumphant
• Politics makes screaming madness
• Questions for Boris Johnson
• Quid pro quo: repeal Section 13
• Right, Bill; it’s up to you now
• Rishi Sunak’s budget speech
• Rory Roars off into the sunset
• Round 1: both challengers still standing
• Securing the exit endgame
• See how they run
• Selecting the select few
• Some Foolish Opinions Of Lawyers Concerning The Making Of Lawes
• Supreme Tangle
• The fine art of pop-up journalism
• The five stages of Grieve
• The Last Tory Government?
• The maddening of a paper MP
• The patient is dying. There is one cure
• The Russia Report: was that it then?
• The UK Internal Market consultation
• The work begins: constitutional reform
• The work begins: Get Brexit Done
• The year begins – 2020
• Theresa shoots for an open own-goal
• Treason, stupidity, recklessness or hypocrisy?
• Treaties bedevil a wayward parliament, 1644
• Turbulent parliamentarians; the Cromwell approach
• Wednesbury reform will not reverse the Cherry / Miller decision
• Westminster in the exit endgame
• What happens next for Boris?
• Where the Remainers were right
• You’re on your way now, Bill

Philosophy

• A new muzzle from Nicola
• Are we European though, or Anglospherical?
• Armed on the street
• Art in the word
• Betsy Ross and the losses of Victory
• Bishops to mend a broken Britain?
• Bloodlust
• Bydded i’r Hen Iaith Barhau
• Caliban the wild man
• Counter-cheque Quarrelsome
• Creature of the Full Moon
• Credulity – ignorance – curiosity
• Dark times and better times
• Dissolution Of Common-wealths Proceedeth From Imperfect Institution
• Dissolution Of Commonwealths: Want Of Absolute Power
• Dissolution through private judgment
• Eschatological Rebellion
• Family, faith, flag, freedom
• Gaius Cassius and Cingonius Varro
• Hate speech: the Denning Solution
• He that is to govern a whole nation must read in himself…
• Hobbes and the Libertarian – 1
• Hobbes manifesto: taxes and publique charity
• I always side with the Morlocks
• In fear of Jahannam
• In praise of plagiarism
• Iphigenia’s sisters
• It’s an anti-social distance, actually
• Justice And Injustice What
• Let us make a reparation to Africa
• Liberals, conservatives and the Jordan Peterson thesis
• Madnesse
• Man to Man is an arrant Wolfe
• Melchizedeck was King of Salem
• Mill addresses no-platforming
• Mill on truth in its fragility
• Mill, Calvin and Hobbes
• New world-teachers needed
• New Year: new opportunities
• Nicola’s Muzzle – 2
• Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations
• Of the Difference of Manners
• Of the Difference of Manners – 2
• Of the Natural Condition of Mankind …2
• Of the Natural Condition of Mankind …3 – nasty, brutish, and short
• Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning their Felicity and Misery
• Oh the things we said in dark corners….
• On popular grievances
• One small step for the Isle of Man
• Our Planet Matters to Auntie
• Peace at Christ-tide
• Propitiating the gods, like the Romans
• Proud man, Drest in a little brief authority
• Puritans and the Pilgrim
• Putin it like that, no
• Quarrel of a dying empire poisoning modernity
• Rage and Melacholy Madnesse
• Reason, Error and Absurdity
• Scruton’s Anglosphere
• Sir Roger Scruton – in memory of greatness
• Some Foolish Opinions Of Lawyers Concerning The Making Of Lawes
• South Sudan praying for peace
• Surrendering on the playing fields of Eton
• The Abilities required in a Judge
• The Babylonish Captivity of the Church, politically
• The broken fence
• The Curses of Caesarea
• The doctor and the silent usurpers
• The fearsome state of manhood
• The fine art of pop-up journalism
• The Leviathan
• The Noble Savage, Caliban, and Hobbes
• The road and Damascus
• The Salisbury Review, still brilliant
• To the Antiquity itself I think nothing due
• Ultima Thule at the woke frontier
• University What It Is
• Waking as from sleep
• Warre Of Every One Against Every One
• We cannot win on social media
• Well, Ofsted: what do you have to say for yourself?

Reason and science

• 4IR: understanding and fear
• A less preachy BBC: praise be
• All the things I meant to do
• Are we at last to be free?
• Between two fires
• Blaming China
• Brexit to blame for COVID-19
• Competitive panicking
• COVID-19: a nation divided
• Covid-22
• Credulity – ignorance – curiosity
• Deeper into communal panic
• Does anyone understand the rules?
• Don’t make us resent this
• Eschatological Rebellion
• Ethiopia, mending paradise
• Famine speculators – the Adam Smith view
• Fifty years on, and the frontier is open
• Hobble Christmas and we starve
• I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
• It’s an anti-social distance, actually
• Labour: wear a mask when shopping on-line
• Leaving Verbier
• Liberals, conservatives and the Jordan Peterson thesis
• Liberate the DIY stores
• Lost amongst the trees
• Madnesse
• Mr Internet’s Sunday Morning Service
• New Government slogan ‘to bring clarity’
• One small step for the Isle of Man
• Our Planet Matters to Auntie
• Out to the blue remembered hills
• Oxford Street begins to reawaken
• Praying for Boris
• Quarrel of a dying empire poisoning modernity
• Quite enjoying the Cancel Culture, actually
• Reason, Error and Absurdity
• Scarcely a street, too few houses
• Second wave of bad rainbows threatened
• Sturgeon: Scotland has its own, distinct coronavirus
• Surrendering on the playing fields of Eton
• Tempestuous climate on QT
• The broken fence
• The Case of China
• The dawn is coming after night
• The necessity of normality
• The patient is dying. There is one cure
• The Ulster Bridge
• The Way to the Stars
• Theatre online? Why then the world’s my oyster
• Trade talks: Summer in the City
• Ultima Thule at the woke frontier
• Under marshal law
• Waiting for the storm
• Waking as from sleep
• We are going green
• What about those who are immune?
• What happened to immunity passports?
• Why all medical advice is wrong
• You’ll never take me a-skive, copper

Adam Smith

• Famine speculators – the Adam Smith view
• The Case of China

Environment

• A less preachy BBC: praise be
• Between two fires
• Eschatological Rebellion
• Ethiopia, mending paradise
• Lost amongst the trees
• Our Planet Matters to Auntie
• Tempestuous climate on QT
• The broken fence
• We are going green

Plague

• All the things I meant to do
• Are we at last to be free?
• Blaming China
• Brexit to blame for COVID-19
• Competitive panicking
• COVID-19: a nation divided
• Covid-22
• Deeper into communal panic
• Does anyone understand the rules?
• Don’t make us resent this
• Famine speculators – the Adam Smith view
• Hobble Christmas and we starve
• I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
• It’s an anti-social distance, actually
• Labour: wear a mask when shopping on-line
• Leaving Verbier
• Liberate the DIY stores
• Mr Internet’s Sunday Morning Service
• New Government slogan ‘to bring clarity’
• Out to the blue remembered hills
• Oxford Street begins to reawaken
• Praying for Boris
• Quite enjoying the Cancel Culture, actually
• Scarcely a street, too few houses
• Second wave of bad rainbows threatened
• Sturgeon: Scotland has its own, distinct coronavirus
• The dawn is coming after night
• The necessity of normality
• The patient is dying. There is one cure
• Theatre online? Why then the world’s my oyster
• Trade talks: Summer in the City
• Under marshal law
• Waiting for the storm
• Waking as from sleep
• What about those who are immune?
• What happened to immunity passports?
• Why all medical advice is wrong
• You’ll never take me a-skive, copper

Reviews

• 2019 in review, with Fay Kinuise
• 4IR: understanding and fear
• A less preachy BBC: praise be
• Ban ‘Jerusalem’? Yes: long overdue
• Dane-geld
• I always side with the Morlocks
• I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
• In praise of plagiarism
• Magical Scottish town appears briefly from the mist
• Puritans and the Pilgrim
• Rules for conservatives?
• Scarcely a street, too few houses
• Summer of Rockets – a personal review
• Surviving the Stone Age: reviewed
• The oldest story in the World
• The Salisbury Poisonings – a review
• The Salisbury Review, still brilliant
• The Secret History of Writing: musings
• The War of the Worlds on the BBC – a review
• Theatre online? Why then the world’s my oyster
• Waiting for the storm

Scrutony

• New world-teachers needed
• Our Planet Matters to Auntie
• Scruton’s Anglosphere
• Sir Roger Scruton – in memory of greatness
• The Salisbury Review, still brilliant

Ulster

• Close the Ulster Bypass
• How to fix the Ulster Protocol
• Mend the Kingdom – roll up that map
• The Alliance revolution, possibly
• The UK Internal Market consultation
• The Ulster Bridge

Warre and Peace

• And then there was silence
• Armed on the street
• Army of clerks
• How easy to lose the peace
• Never again.
• South Sudan praying for peace
• To Aetius thrice Consul, the groans of the Britons
• Treaties bedevil a wayward parliament, 1644
• VE-Day: rejoicing 75 years of victory and freedom
• Warre Of Every One Against Every One
• We are better than this

Where it all went wrong for…

• Where it all went wrong for – Change UK
• Where it all went wrong for – Theresa May