Category Archives: Uncategorized

Heather: I must say, I think you were a bit unkind to David Brooks there. I speak as someone with mixed feelings about Brooks, who, when he departs from what he’s really good at — observational sociology — usually fails to impress. … Continue reading →

The resolution recently passed by the UN’s entertaingly mis-labeled Human Rights Council on the topic of “religious defamation” is, of course, nonsense and dangerous nonsense at that. The Economist does a good job here  of explaining why, but one particular … Continue reading →

Been reading with much enjoyment Juvenal’s Tenth Satire, possibly the gloomiest major poem ever written. George Gilbert Ramsay, who translated it for the Loeb Classical Library, calls it “a profoundly depressing and pessimistic poem.” Just my cup of tea. There’s a 1693 translation, … Continue reading →

In an era when some (rightly) worry that blasphemy laws may be being reintroduced under the guise of prohibiting speech that gives ‘offense’, here via the New York Times is a reminder that the original approach lingers on in America … Continue reading →

I’ve long thought that some aspects of modern environmentalism (particularly many of the attitudes and beliefs associated with, to use the shorthand, ‘global warming’) are in a good number of respects ‘religious’. Here (via the Daily Telegraph) is a story … Continue reading →

By way of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, I reviewed Kevin Myers’ memoir of the Northern Ireland troubles, Watching the Door, for Taki’s Magazine. (Review not yet posted.) I noticed the following curiosity on p.159, though I didn’t include it in my review. … Continue reading →

Writing in the London Times, Dominic Lawson interviews a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity: Hannah’s description in the book of the moment when her “community” discovered the “safe” home where she had fled after becoming an apostate is terrifying. … Continue reading →

Via the Independent… Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy in Afghanistan, has been told he will spend the next 20 years in jail after the country’s highest court ruled against him – without even hearing … Continue reading →