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Perry de Havilland
Practicing capitalist, social individualist, handgun & rifle shooter, activist, cosmopolitan, hippopotamus enthusiast... hippos? Yes, strange but true.
Recent Activity
A perfect example.
An Intellectual Being Rides Again
Melissa Fabello, the managing editor of Everyday Feminism, the one who told her readers that feminism is a Joy-Bringing Total Explanation For Everything In The World, is once again unhappy: When you’re a human being of any combination of marginalised identities making your way through the world...
I can still hardly believe it myself. Cannot stop grinning :-)
http://www.samizdata.net/2016/06/i-should-have-believed-what/
I was wrong - again - HOORAH!
Yesterday I glumly forecast that we 'Brexiteers' would lose which is what I have thought since the referendum was called. Last night I went to bed at just after 10.00pm with the pollsters saying that 'Remain' looked certain to win. I woke up about 2.00am and plugging in my radio ear-piece I he...
I can still hardly believe it :-)
O frabjous day!
A short and simple post on this wonderful day. I am delighted with the outcome of the referendum. It's a remarkable achievement given that the game played by "Remain" was anything but cricket. From the misuse of taxpayers' money and the improper use of the Civil Service to campaign, through the ...
Hmmmm.... raw meat ;-)
Virtue signalling
Libby Purves - not, I have to say, a writer whose opinions I always agree with - is quite amusing about the storm of post-election rants from friends on social media about "Tory fascist scum". In the Times (£): The most savage, bilious, self-righteous rants are from people living affluent self-p...
There are a few things wrong with the Libby Purves article.
>>"It matters, because many of these show-pony protesters have real influence"
The election result suggests otherwise.
>>"being rightly admired for entertainment or artistic work or ebullient personalities"
No, being wrongly admired. Reinhard Heydrich was a superb violinist yet somehow I cannot bring myself to admire him. Ideas have consequences and people who give voice to thuggish evil ideas should be treated with disdain, even if they are good at pretending to be someone else (i.e. an actor) or are ebullient (is that really a reason to admire someone?) or being artistic. These things pale compared to wanting to see other people robbed and controlled. When a thug wants to debate, well fine. But if he gets in my face, I spit in his followed by a fist if the message need repeating. And I really don't care how charming or artistic they are when it suits them.
Virtue signalling
Libby Purves - not, I have to say, a writer whose opinions I always agree with - is quite amusing about the storm of post-election rants from friends on social media about "Tory fascist scum". In the Times (£): The most savage, bilious, self-righteous rants are from people living affluent self-p...
"What matters is not so much who owns the assets but the quality of asset management."
Well no, not really. There are oh so many differences between me owning the cow and the state giving me the milk.
Political motivations and commercial motivations are materially different, and a state owned asset is always... and I do means always... ultimately a creature of political forces. I think it is a fallacy to think a given management team with a given quality of management skill will not be materially affected by whether or not it operates underpinned by a politically delimited or commercially delimited set of axioms. Most importantly these axioms *will* change over time.
In the final analysis, regardless of how savvy the first iteration of a state managed institution is, over time it becomes more and more a creature of political convenience as surely as night follows day. In some societies that process might take only a few years, or it may take several generations, but it *is* inevitable. There is no ring fence that will not be climbed over eventually.
And that does not even touch on the moral issues involving ownership, but I know better than to go there ;-)
Public Ownership of Commercial Assets—A Quarter Century Phony War
Posted by Dag Detter and Stefan Fölster1 For more than a quarter of a century there has been a phony war raging between those in favour of public ownership of commercial assets and those against: privatisation versus nationalisation. This polarised and binary debate has missed the point. Wha...
My comment on that Daily Mail article you linked to was picking up on this:
"Brooke liked to compartmentalise his life"
Yes it is called "being English". Nothing wrong with that. Not everyone needs to know you are obsessed with growing marrows, or shagging sheep, or singing Anglo-Saxon drinking songs. Indeed it is a nasty modern failing to inflict everything you are upon everyone you know.
"If I should die think only this of me ..."
"That there's some corner of a foreign field/ That is forever ..." filled with the bones of a psychotic sex maniac who could have shagged for Britain at the Olympics! Yes, I'm afraid that is Rupert Brooke, the poet who penned arguably the most patriotic poem since Shakespeare wrote Henry V's sp...
"Nor should we expect companies to support freedom. Those bloggers who have criticized newspapers for not reprinting Charlie Hebdo's cartoons miss the point – that people become bosses by surrendering principle to pragmatism, which is no basis for a vigorous defence of freedom"
I disagree with it comes to the Fourth Estate. It is not a job like being a baker or delivery driver or banker. Freedom of expression lies at the very heart of western civilisation and if journalists will not take risks for that then they should find some safer job to do or expect to be criticised for their lack of courage.
But if they do take up the pen, they should be held to certain standards socially and if they lack the fortitude for the job, then they have no business saying "Je suis Charlie" because they ain't unless they republish something calculated to offend certain sensibilities.
Freedom's supporters
"Why do liberals find it so hard to persuade Muslims about free speech?" asks Sunny. And he gives a good answer - that so many of those who are proclaiming their support for freedom are inconsistent or, as David North puts it, dishonest and hypocritical. As Jacob Levy points out, it is hypocriti...
That is why I like having a group blog, less pressure to jump on the soapbox quite so often :D
Anyway, just poke me at any time in the future if you ever want to take me up on the offer.
Goodbye and good luck
You cannot, as the man said, step in the same river twice. I was away from Britain for 20 years. The Britain I returned to was not the Britain I left. Even though I had visited often, kept in touch with friends and family and followed political developments assiduously while living abroad, it ha...
I think you greatly underestimate the value of expressing your thoughts. I hope you change your mind eventually but all the best to you regardless of what you ultimately decide to do. Indeed if you even want a by-line at Samizdata if you ever get the occasional urge to say what needs saying, just let me know.
Goodbye and good luck
You cannot, as the man said, step in the same river twice. I was away from Britain for 20 years. The Britain I returned to was not the Britain I left. Even though I had visited often, kept in touch with friends and family and followed political developments assiduously while living abroad, it ha...
If resources actually mattered much to national prosperity, Japan would be the poorest nation on earth.
Why I fear Scottish independence
Union ‘has cost Scotland £64bn over 30 years’ | The Sunday Times. Let me be clear. Since I overheard a ned pour vile anti-English hatred into the ear of his toddler son at the Wallace Memorial some years ago, I have been in favour of Scottish Independence. I realised that poor, innocent little b...
I have never seen the issue as one of 'Scottish' independence as much as 'English' independence.
Why I fear Scottish independence
Union ‘has cost Scotland £64bn over 30 years’ | The Sunday Times. Let me be clear. Since I overheard a ned pour vile anti-English hatred into the ear of his toddler son at the Wallace Memorial some years ago, I have been in favour of Scottish Independence. I realised that poor, innocent little b...
Well I'd say wait a couple years and then odds are you will be about 10% of the entire Tory Party and thus well positioned to shift them to more rational policies.
Reader poll
I am toying with the idea of re-joining the Conservative Party; an organisation for which I have very little current sympathy. It is a violent, statist party; interested far more in power than justice, honour or integrity. I have no doubt that I would feel rather soiled to be in its ranks. David...
Sam Bowman's view are why I am so in favour of the private ownership of firearms.
When he (theoretically) points his (theoretical) gun at me to force me to risk my life to save another, I would say "Yes sir... oh and do you also want me to rescue that burning baby over there?"
And when he turns to look, I would (theoretically) produce my (theoretical) handgun and put two (theoretical) 40 cal rounds in the fucker's chest and then one in his head.
And then I might actually go rescue the (theoretically) drowning baby and thereby have done two good things in a single day.
Liberty League Freedom Forum 2013 #LLFF13
Liberty League Freedom Forum 2013 Tickets Now Available! | Introducing the keynote panel featuring philosopher Anders Sandberg, politician Douglas Carswell and university vice-principal Terence Kealey, chaired by Dominique Lazanski I thoroughly enjoyed my day at this event. Realising it was...
Interesting. I also wrote about that some years ago.
http://www.samizdata.net/2003/05/libertarian-socialism/
Can a libertarian be a Socialist?
My only grave objections to socialism are the force involved in establishing it and the (usually far greater) force involved in maintaining it. If all the Socialists in Britain want to pool their assets and share their joint earnings equally in a sort of virtual commune, that's absolutely fine b...
Clearly a case of "Life imitates The Onion".
Truly beyond parody.
Tony Blair is given a medal for his support for "liberty"
Pity the satirist. You could hardly make this up: Tony Blair is to be awarded a £100,000 Liberty medal by the National Constitutional Center based in Washington for his role in "bringing liberty to people around the world". Hmm. Let us note, inter alia: ID cards Control Orders 28 day detenti...
I thought the trailer was excellent and it got me quite interested in this project.
VIDEO: 'Prince of Persia' trailer
The trailer for Disney's Jerry Bruckheimer movie "Prince of Persia" hit the Web like a sandstorm today. Let's take a look at what we got: We got a very busy trailer where the camera never stops moving, the images are coming at you fast and furiously while a voice-over is explaining th...
What connotations are those?
Euphemism of the Day
Being taken up the Oxo Tower. Compounding the hilarity of this one is that the Oxo Tower actually does exist, and it also has a restaurant at its top, so one can find examples of people using this phrase and being utterly unaware of the other connotations ...
This is thigh slappingly great stuff :-) Let the serpent eat its own tail and choke to death.
The tale of the discriminating Chairman of the Discrimination Committee
Trevor Phillips, the Chairman of the government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, was yesterday in the dock charged with discrimination by a member of his own staff. Irish-born Brid Johal (an aide to the aide of Phillips) accused the Chairman of over-looking her for promotion as a result ...
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