Just a day after Christopher Snowdon’s reflections on a decade of the smoking ban, Spiked Editor Brendan O’Neill has had his say on it, also in the Spectator. O’Neill has a reputation for forthright argument, and here he does not... Continue Reading →
If voters get the governments they deserve, then we worry for America’s northern neighbours. They seem such a nice, polite nation. What did they do to merit the bunch of busybodies that now want to meddle with their groceries? In... Continue Reading →
Wine fraud raises an interesting philosophical question. Say you believe yourself to have had a pleasurable taste experience, for which you have been happy to pay a handsome price – and say you have been misled over the taste or... Continue Reading →
A good read on Spectator Health this week, highlighting the mindset of health regulators – and how they collude with establishment interests to sabotage digital developments in their field. They may claim to be protecting the public, says the writer,... Continue Reading →
If the Australian Liberal Senator David Leyonhjel ever needs a new job, he might consider writing social-realist novels. This Antipodean Zola has just penned a wonderful parable about the interactions between 'little people' and a state that ignores both them... Continue Reading →
What kind of expert advocates a law which they know won’t work, which will be an unnecessary imposition – and which may well achieve the opposite of its intended effect? Why, an advisor to the World Health Organisation, of course:... Continue Reading →
Who do you vote for, if you're a Brexiteer? A libertarian? A free thinker? It's a tough question. The Liberal Democrats are anything but liberal. Labour have never been more big-state than they are today. The Greens and UKIP, supposedly... Continue Reading →
While corner shops around the UK endured the chaos caused by new plain-pack rules for tobacco, the Independent newspaper took its time about commenting. But a fortnight after the draconian regime’s introduction, the old bird has flapped down from her... Continue Reading →
You might recall that some weeks ago the journalist Yael Ossowski went toe-to-toe with the plain packaging brigade in South African publication BizNews. In a bizarre set of circumstances, first BizNews journalist Chris Bateman added an amendment to Ossowski's article,... Continue Reading →