Politics – Muse & Reason

Hail, Lobster!

April 16, 2021

Burried as I am in books and journal articles, and abjuring the more mass apeal social networks as I do, much in popular culture passes me by. I don’t confess this with any sorrow, nor even much pride, it is just the case, to adopt that hideous phrase: ‘it is what it is.’ As a rule, I find that which is menaingul tends to endure, and generally adopt a wait and see attitude to modern culture. Generally preferring to look forward to hearing the latest music and reading the trendy books in about fifty years once Clio has cast her inevitable judgement. But one piece of the … Read more

Bitcoin’s Dirty Little Secrets – Political

April 13, 2021

"Government" Mural by Elihu Vedder. Located in the Library of Congress

Continuing from my recent essay, Bitcoin’s Dirty Little Secrets – Environmental, I thought I should give some space to the political dimenion of Bitcoins dirty little secrets. Since the white paper was first published under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, the central premise (pun intended) of Bitcoin has been that: A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Yet for all the promise of an alternative to the centralised monetary systems in use by high street banks and backed by government regulators, Bitcoin is … Read more

Doomsday Clock

April 10, 2021July 9, 2020

#onthisday in 1955, Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London. The document sought to highlight the dangers of nuclear proliferation and entreated world leaders to search for peaceful resolutions to conflict. Ten years earlier, on the same day an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the philosopher Bertrand Russell began composing his first comments on ‘the bomb.’

Modern Pocket Boroughs

April 10, 2021June 7, 2020

Writing in 1821, Sydney Smith railed that:

The country belongs to the Duke of Rutland, Lord Lonsdale, the Duke of Newcastle, and about twenty other holders of boroughs. They are our masters!

Letters of Note

April 10, 2021June 2, 2020

In the email age, it is easy to bemoan the declining standards in our written communication. Perhaps it is a case of volume. With billions of people deemed ‘literate’ by UNESCO, does it not stand to reason there will be a greater level of dross obscuring the gold that abounds? Or perhaps it is the case that familiarity breeds contempt, and the easy way in which we can hammer out a missive on a keyboard means less care is taken to the composition?

Parliamentary Privilege

May 16, 2021May 30, 2020

Scrolling down the home page of one of my newspapers of choice the other day, I could only find one article not about Coronavirus. While one of the greatest challenges facing our world at the present, it is a public disservice to permit a single topic to dominate all media channels unless there is a topical angle. In this climate, it came as something of a welcome change to see the news channels lighting up on a different topic; social media vs The President.

Proportionality in Pursuit of Justice

April 10, 2021May 30, 2020

In 1764, Cesare Beccaria wrote a treatise titled On Crimes and Punishments (Italian: Dei delitti e delle pene). In it he drew on Mont e squieu, who had argued that ‘every punishment which does not arise from absolute necessity is tyrannical.’ From this concept, Beccaria concluded:

Distributism

April 10, 2021May 29, 2020

Portrait of William Cobbett by the artist George Cooke

Sir Humphrey: East Yemen, isn’t that a democracy?Foreign Office Official: Its full name is the People’s Democratic Republic of East Yemen.Sir Humphrey: Ah I see, so it’s a communist dictatorship.— Yes, Minister

Grey Eminence

April 10, 2021May 27, 2020

In France during the first part of the seventeenth century, Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis – better known as Cardinal Richelieu – held enormous power as the king’s ‘Chief Minister.’ In addition to his many titles, Richelieu also had the sobriquet ‘Red Eminence’ [Éminence rouge]. Though often regarded as the power behind the throne, behind him stood another. A ‘Grey Eminence’ [Éminence grise].

A Marvellous Idea for a Blog

April 10, 2021May 21, 2020

A young poet once said to Mallarmé, “I had the most marvellous idea for a poem this afternoon.” “Oh dear,” said Mallarmé, “what a pity.” “What do you mean?” said the young poet, stung. “Well,” said Mallarmé, “poems aren’t made of ideas, are they? They’re made of words.”
Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus