WHAT ARE WAGES? Michael Frayn, who used to write a satirical column in the Guardian, reprinted in The Book of Fub (1961) a piece in which a public-relations consultant explains, on behalf of the responsible Ministry, why the various professions get paid at different rates. He starts with the principle that the more devotion a… read more »
The Church of England has been described as the Tory Party at prayer, and the connection between nonconformism and liberalism is hardly less close. Both refuse comfortable compliance, displaying a cross-grained determination to get things right, both insist on freedom of thought and conscience yet hold back from fundamental interference with accepted relationships; as liberalism… read more »
Now Available: Beyond Politics; An Outline of Systematic Ideology by George Walford. IC has long admired the courage of the journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; it holds firmly to its title, and is now issuing T-shirts bearing it in bold letters: MAN. Four-letter words are bad enough, but a three-letter one! “NEW York is… read more »
Revision of January 1990. IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as an independent journal of systematic ideology, but it does not claim final knowledge of this theory; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the account given here will be subject to continuous revision. Systematic ideology is the creation of the… read more »
MERSEYSIDE RESPOND (Part One of Three) Merseyside Branch of the (A-) SPGB have sent a response to some of the comments on this party made in IC . Too long to print as one item it will appear in three parts (each with a reply from IC ) of which this is the first. –… read more »
This is not intended as propaganda either for anarchism or against it. It’s about freedom, using anarchism as a test-case because this movement is usually believed, by anarchists and others, to stand for unlimited freedom, in every sense, for everybody. One would expect anarchism to be among the biggest movements, for how can anybody reject… read more »
A big problem in systematic ideology, and one that seems likely to be with us for a while yet, is to pin down the first appearance of each of the major ideologies. Not just their emergence as enduring political movements but their truly first appearance, first in any field. It seems probable that even the… read more »
A Letter to the Editor. Sir, George Walford in his review (IC 46) of Spanner (Issue No. 1) is misinformed. There is no such thing as a “Spanner group” – at least not in any formal sense of the word – and, consequently, the title of his review of the same organisation from which he… read more »
Access to land has long been one of the more important freedoms, and libertarians will be glad to know that the “More Land for Homes Campaign 1990” (a consortium of building societies, builders and builders’ merchants) is demanding that the authorities release more land for building. The Campaign estimates that up to two million more… read more »
During a squabble in the House of Commons one Tory whip described the condition of the Parliamentary Labour Party as “total anarchy.” His own side, on the contrary, is run like the Praetorian Guard: “If the chief whip says ‘jump out of the window’ we form an orderly line and out we go.” (Sunday Times… read more »