I don’t find that in the least bit surprising. People who have been on the receiving end of injustice will often conclude that you’re either giving the beating, or taking it. (View Post)

You’re seeing pre-industrial rural life in rose-tinted terms. Pre-industrial societies (including Scottish clans and English villages), were only ever extractive. The agricultural and industrial revo… (View Post)

There is something massively appealing to the very idea of running a farm, supporting a family from your own produce, and turning a profit from it. But, I don’t think that was ever available to more … (View Post)

Conversely, I would say that life as a peasant was (for the majority), always pretty rough, and when people got the opportunity to obtain better-paid work in cities, and the new industrial towns, the… (View Post)

I wonder how reliable US growth stats can be, when they result in outcomes that are so poor. GDP per head is 70% higher in the USA than the UK, but the median wage is only 20% higher. Overall, human … (View Post)