All entries by this author

Alain de Botton’s Book is on QualityPaper *

May 15th, 2006 | Filed by

‘Mangling some of the facts is one thing, but de Botton’s cruelty to English prose is less forgivable.’… Read the rest



A Seductive Story

May 15th, 2006 | By Allen Esterson

There are some historical stories that are so compelling that no amount of scholarly refutation seems to undermine them. One such is the familiar tale that early in Freud’s career as a psychotherapist most of his female patients told him they had been sexually abused in childhood, generally by their father. On 7 May 2006 New Zealand National Radio broadcast a programme devoted to Freud in which this story was taken as historical fact. Most of the programme was devoted to two interviews, one with Jeffrey Masson, the other with Eric Kandel, a professor of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University. As one would anticipate, Masson was asked about the events that made his name familiar to a wide … Read the rest



Interlude for Own-trumpet-blowing

May 14th, 2006 7:54 pm | By

Okay how can I do this without being repellent and awful. I can’t. Okay I’m going to be repellent and awful. But hey, there’s such a thing as marketing and advertising, you know – don’t think of it as being repellent and awful, think of it as advertising. What am I supposed to do, co-write a book and then not say anything about it? Well then!

Right, so Johann Hari wrote this review of Why Truth Matters. It seems fair to say he thinks it’s good. Boastful and repellent, but fair.

He concludes pleasantly.

In Why Truth Matters, Benson and Stangroom answer the clotted, barely readable sentences of the postmodernists with sentences so clear you could swim in them.

Read the rest


Opus Dei Has Historically Always Been Bad Guy *

May 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Now they get to be victim: ‘a small Catholic group that is being beaten up by big, bad Hollywood.’… Read the rest



Rod Liddle on Ruth Kelly *

May 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Is it possible to be minister for equality while wishing in your heart to smite all sodomites asunder? … Read the rest



Roadblocks to Equality for Women *

May 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Worldwide, the situation is grim. Keep your eyes on the prize.… Read the rest



Johann Hari Reviews Why Truth Matters *

May 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Modesty forbids.… Read the rest



Hello, Canada?

May 14th, 2006 1:15 am | By

The walls keep getting closer and closer and closer. Read Michelle Goldberg on the subject if you want to have nightmares for a week.

Speaking to outsiders, most Christian nationalists say they’re simply responding to anti-Christian persecution. They say that secularism is itself a religion, one unfairly imposed on them. They say they’re the victims in the culture wars. But Christian nationalist ideologues don’t want equality, they want dominance.

Yes of course they say secularism is a religion. Secularism is a religion, science is a religion, ‘evolutionism’ is a religion, ‘Darwinism’ is a religion, atheism is a religion, humanism is a religion, naturalism is a religion, rationality is a religion, everything that doesn’t bow down and grovel before their benighted … Read the rest



Eve Garrard on Joffe Bill *

May 13th, 2006 | Filed by

The person whose life it is is best able to decide what its intrinsic value is.… Read the rest



Michelle Goldberg on Theocrats Militant *

May 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Be afraid.… Read the rest



Shirin Ebadi Against the Mullahs *

May 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Forced to resign as Iran’s first female judge when the revolutionaries decided women were unfit.… Read the rest



Adam Smith Abducted Again *

May 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Smith’s genius as an economist cannot be separated from his decency as a human being.… Read the rest



Samuel Brittan on Mill *

May 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Mill’s views on politics came from the same vein of thinking as his scholarly studies.… Read the rest



Joffe Bill Blocked *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

You Gov poll commissioned by Dignity in Dying showed overall public support for the law.… Read the rest



Lords Block Assisted Dying Bill *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Thank the archbishops if you die in pain.… Read the rest



The Loony Scientist Stereotype *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

How it does linger.… Read the rest



Fired Editor of CMAJ on Editorial Independence *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

‘The notion that politically sensitive topics can be expunged from a medical journal is folly.’… Read the rest



Poland Bans Some TV Ads During Pope’s Visit *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Alcohol, underwear, contraceptives (well duh), and – sanitary towels? Because…?… Read the rest



Polly Toynbee Resists Cabal of Believers *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

‘Today is the day when the forces of superstition will try to cut off any further debate.’… Read the rest



Religious ‘Leaders’ Team Up to Fight Legislation *

May 12th, 2006 | Filed by

‘We believe that all human life is sacred and God-given.’ That’s nice, but so what?… Read the rest