The stupidity and cowardice of our leaders neatly dovetail with our own totemistic cult, that of political correctness. All religions and all cultures are equally respectable, aren’t they? They have their culture, we have ours, who’s to say ours is better?

You know how it is. All sorts of petty concerns get in one’s way, and somebody’s birthday slips one’s mind. So here’s a belated happy birthday to Russia’s beloved statesman. Vlad Lenin, the founder of the very same Soviet Union Vlad Putin wants to recreate, thereby reversing “the greatest geopoliticalRead More

It’s St George’s Day today, and we must all hope that the saint hasn’t yet withdrawn his patronage from England. This is sorely needed, for the country is under attack from all sorts of dragons. This format doesn’t allow compiling a complete taxonomy, so I’ll just focus on the politicalRead More

Every country honours its iconic personages, those seen to have served the nation particularly well. And the choice of icons is telling. The English erect statues to Nelson. The French, to Louis XIV. The Italians, to Garibaldi. Acting in the same spirit, Putin’s government has just unveiled a statue toRead More

Dr Anthony Radice and Mr Alexander Boot. A panel discussion chaired by Dr Joseph Shaw. This is part of The Quarterdeck Series, recorded on Wednesday 11 February 2015. The Quarterdeck Series is a programme of short extra-curricular evening talks designed to complement the Defence Academy’s ethos of developing minds thatRead More

Unlike today’s spivs who stack parliamentary votes by knavish trickery, Colonel Thomas Pride was a straightforward man of action. When in 1648 it looked likely that the Long Parliament would vote the wrong way, the good colonel moved in with his troops and removed those MPs who hadn’t seen theRead More

Our papers’ unquenchable thirst for regurgitating yesterday’s news is nothing short of amazing. That Lech Walesa was in cahoots with Służba Bezpieczeństwa, the Polish secret police, has been mooted since 1989, when he was universally hailed as the heroic liberator of Poland. His codename in the Służba, Bolek, was alsoRead More

A pontiff is infallible only when speaking ex cathedra on matters of doctrine. It’s kind of Pope Francis to remind us that otherwise a pope may be very fallible indeed. The latest reminder was given last Sunday, when His Holiness called for wholesale abolition of the death penalty. With allRead More

The other day I suggested that trying to support a wrong proposition can make even intelligent people sound silly. Any defence of Russia’s aggression against the Ukraine does just that. Witness Peter Hitchens, who generally makes sense when arguing in favour of supportable propositions, such as leaving the EU orRead More

Of all Latin proverbs, the relativist adage De gustibus non disputandum est just may be the most subversive. The implication is that taste is wholly subjective, with no right or wrong anywhere in sight. You like Bach, he likes Amy Winehouse, they like Eminem – who’s to say that oneRead More