Wednesday 22 February 2012

Dilettante at the Adam Smith Institute: It is secondary education that needs to 'get real', Mr Ebdon

In my latest contribution to the ASI blog, I update and reprise my earlier assault on Simon Hughes and try to explain how state educators are using their political power to try to keep their outcomes and achievements as far away from the rigours of 'the real world' as possible.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Dilettante on Tory Hoose: If we cannot justify British government, how can we justify Britain?

In a contribution to the Scottish Conservative website Tory Hoose I comment on David Cameron's mention of more powers to Holyrood in the event of a 'No' vote in the referendum, more specifically Alex Massie's assumption that it means he's offering Home Rule. I make the case that Home Rule is an anti-unionist outcome.

Monday 20 February 2012

Dilettante on Open Unionism: Not 'uber-' unionists Tim, just unionists.

Over on OU, I draw attention to the latest attempt to rhetorically recast opponents of ever-looser-union as extremists, from ConservativeHome Editor Tim Montgomerie.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Dilettante at the Adam Smith Institute: What turns doctors into dictators?

In response to the British Medical Association's recent proposals to ban smoking in cars, I update my ConHome USA article and summarise the way that public attitudes towards 'preventable death' have had a profoundly malign and illiberal impact on the medical profession.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Dilettante at the Adam Smith Institute: The shape of a regulated press

 My latest piece for the ASI blog is a response to last week's Question Time, and warns that a 'regulated' free press would be shaped by the more sanctimonious readers of unpopular newspapers in line with their own prejudices.

Monday 13 February 2012

Do Students Need a 'Union'? Dilettante on The Student Journals

 In my latest TSJ contribution I posit that the framing of student issues in labour rather than consumer terms damages students interests for the sake of playing up to the left-wing fantasy of 'solidarity'.

 An abridged version of this article also appeared on the Adam Smith Institute blog.

Friday 10 February 2012

Dilettante at the Adam Smith Institute: Could industrial 'Patriarchy' ever survive the market?

In my latest article for the ASI, I posit that the economically groundless and nakedly sexist employment practises Cameron hopes to counter with boardroom quotas could not - and probably have not - survive the rigorous competition of the free market.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Dilettante on The Commentator: Why mandates matter in the fight for the Union

In my latest Commentator article, I point out that even devolutionary unionists have to start defending the legitimacy of Westminster and the British parliament before they find themselves unable to justify the continued existence of the British state.

As expected, a cybernat immediately starts getting nasty in the comments.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Dilettante at the Adam Smith Institute: Would Salmond make a colony of Scotland?

I'm on a two week internship with the ASI as a prize for winning the Young Writer on Liberty award. The placement involves writing blog pieces for them and my first is on Scotland: I look at the SNP's proposals for post-Union Scotland and ponder whether it will end up a very large Overseas Territory.

They decided to change my original title on this one.