Perhaps modern societies are so disjointed and diverse that only authoritarian governments can hold them together? And when authoritarianism fails the solution is to ratchet it up some more. Sooner o… (View Post)

Given the way people in the public eye are 'unpersoned' and have their career irrecoverably destroyed, even after paying the legal penalty, it's surprising suicide isn't more comm… (View Post)

If someone lunged at me in the park, shouting, screaming and threatening violence, I'd be entitled to call the police. But if they do so via the agency of their dog I'm expected to smile sw… (View Post)

A recent social development I've observed: young thirty-ish couples, apparently bright and well educated, running bijou cafés in tourist towns. This always strikes me as being a sad waste of tal… (View Post)

NATO would prefer Russia to lose after a long war rather than a short one. Putin seems willing to oblige. (View Post)