You remember biorhythms, the theory that our bodies operate according to varying biological cycles that periodically coincide, for better or worse? The Wikipedia page on Biorhythms absurdly suggests that this idea is all pseudoscience: Critics state that biorhythms are based only upon numerological associations. The plausibility of biorhythmics is contested by mathematicians, […]
I have never in these pages given you an (almost) full account of the expulsion from Moscow of a number of British diplomats back in May 1996 for – the Russians said – spying. This was the first major spy row between Moscow and a ‘Western’ country following the end […]
I have linked here previously to the wonderful smart writings of Professor Kenneth Anderson on some of the moral and legal issues arising from modern warfare. See eg here. He now looks at legal and ethical issues facing (sic) future robot soldiers. See how he starts by cleverly framing the […]
The Daily Express warns us that a new massive figure is set to take over Europe – just like the Holy Roman Emperor! And Napoleon! The UK will be scrapped! A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, […]
Update That one didn’t take long. Chen has left the Embassy with the US Ambassador, heading for a medical facility. It obviously suited both sides to cut some sort of quick deal, including the Chinese expressing strong dissatisfaction with the US willingness to take Chen in, and (according to the […]
Here is an excellent and readable analysis of a failed attempt by a Congolese national based in Brussels to persuade a Belgian court to ban the 1930s book Tintin in the Congo on (basically) the grounds that it promoted and still promotes racist hatred. The legal move failed: This is all […]
While our political elite descends into fevered squabbling about who did what to which newspaper and vice versa, the United States and China are slugging it out in a battle for psychological (and military and commercial) dominance in the Pacific and South China Sea. Knowing next to nothing about that part of […]
Should we all be ‘altruistic’? And if so, why? Some observations from me on this ever-fascinating subject over at Commentator: Think too about the force of a morality founded in self-respect and free trade between free people. What’s the alternative? The beggar says: “I exist, and I have misfortune. Please […]
Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan turns a beautiful insightful phrase – and is impossibly grand. She also knows a thing or two about public speaking: An example of the power of plain words: In late 1996 the writer Tom Wolfe made a speech in New York in which, according to a […]
What, you ask, are Honorary Consuls? The FCO gives the answer (ignore if you can the clueless gramar): Honorary Consuls are volunteers who help our Posts overseas provide a more accessible and responsive service to British nationals and other nationals for whom we have consular responsibility for (sic), particularly in difficult […]
