On Good Friday, 1834, John Henry Newman, later Cardinal, lamented that his position as a minister compelled him to speak his own words; on so solemn a day he would rather have remained silent. Eric Griffiths comments: ‘The heretic wishes ever to speak his own words, the orthodox welcomes the opportunity of shutting up along… read more »
‘Highly intelligent, soft-hearted liberals, who can unite only on issues like freedom of public speech, any threat to which endangers the life of the mind.’ (Lawrence Stone) from Ideological Commentary 56, May 1992.
SYSTEMATIC ideology ascribes both institutional religion and the law to the one ideology, that of principle / domination. Richard Hughes, writing on transportation, brings out some of the detailed correspondences. He likens the rhetoric and diction, the costume and rituals of the judges to those of the priests. In their addresses the judges delivered the… read more »
History falls short on political correctness, it shows that domination is not peculiar to men. Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I, Boudicca, Mrs. Gandhi, Mrs. Bandaranaike and Our Lady of Grantham all behaved in much the same way as men holding similar positions. So do women teachers, murderesses, wardresses, judges, chairs and police-women, so do Edith… read more »
Under this head the Socialist Standard (February) quotes an official report that of the 589 people accused of killing in Scotland 1986-90, only 193 were strangers to the victims. (Rape and child abuse, also, take place mainly between victims and aggressors known to each other). Yet there are people around who want us to exchange… read more »
S.i. identifies the ideology underlying anarchism as that of repudiation. Two examples: In fact, we regard the notion of Marxist and Anarchist traditions as only holding back revolutionaries today who hold on to either of them – an important element in the development of revolutionary ideas is the rejection of past ideas… revolutionaries today need… read more »
Half a century ago James Burnham saw that the Marxists, calling on us to admire their splendid revolutionary robes, were in fact naked. His book, The Managerial Revolution, [1] showed that socialism had not replaced capital- ism anywhere and had no reasonable prospect of doing so; instead, the managers were taking over. By managers Burnham… read more »
Witing on recent political events Ernest Gellner [1] traces their beginnings to the Reformation / Counter Reformation in division in Europe. One side moved towards limited and accountable government, high status for commerce and production, a generalized individualism and freedom of thought. The other favoured inherited status, martial honour and political domination. Paul Johnson had… read more »
MICHAEL Gossop reviews Solomon H. Snyder: Brainstorming; The science and politics of opiate research. (Harvard UP) and Ronald K.Siegel: Intoxication; Life in pursuit of artificial paradise (Simon & Schuster). Both authors point out how drug control strategies can do more harm than good. Snyder describes how the American campaign to eradicate the use of opium… read more »
UNITED Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts that population will rise from five billion to eight billion by A.D.2020. IS BORIS GOOD ENOUGH? Under this headline Norman Stone recalls that when the tanks stormed into Moscow they stopped at red traffic lights. Memory adds that when the Parisian Communards wanted to open the bank vaults… read more »