social philosophy

The ‘Scrambled Egg’ Brigade.

February 14, 2011

The Minister for Climate Change, a Canute figure forever muttering ‘Back dastardly warming’ to himself; The Under-Secretary for the Rubber Band Cupboard; The Chief Executive of the National Committee on the Numerical Sequence of Egg Cartons; how many times have you heard a man gloomily refer to himself as ‘the Sous-Chef’ when he has accomplished [...]

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What is ‘Justice’ ?

January 28, 2011

I watched a programme on BBC 4 recently called ‘Justice -a citizens guide‘ by Harvard Professor Michael Sandel who is a political philosopher. It was beyond excellent, even though Sandel is a reluctant communitarian, which I am not. It was the first time in my life I had actually considered what the word ‘Justice’ means, [...]

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From Flight to Reality.

November 30, 2010

It wasn’t Howard Flight’s ‘first’ acknowledged gaffe – that was his statement in 2005 that an incoming Conservative government would make deeper cuts than those publicly announced. Michael Howard removed him as a Conservative candidate for that transgression. His latest alleged ‘gaffe’ was to say that: “We’re going to have a system where the middle [...]

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Sexual Politics | Storm in a C cup.

November 19, 2010

The massed nipples at Mumsnet are rigid with indignation, Twitoris ablaze with passion. The ‘beyondretrograde’ (Oh the irony!) blog has thrown up a genuine old fashioned feminist scandal. A woman’s nipple was shown in public – quelle horreur! A generation of women who think nothing of walking round in the depth of winter with their [...]

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The ConDem’s greatest mistake so far.

July 30, 2010

Was not to cull the BBC on day two of the new government. Sean Gabb of the Libertarian Alliance said as much in a speech a few years ago: “Have no doubt that we are engaged in a cultural battle for the soul of Britain. Failure to defeat the ‘last bastion of  Fabianism’ will lead [...]

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