Monthly Archives: June 2010

The War on Smoking has been running for a long, long time. But in the UK until 3 years ago, it relied almost entirely on persuasion. Now it’s straight coercion. The law has been invoked to ban smoking almost everywhere. … Continue reading →

Over on Watts Up With That, Anthony Watts is running a competition to design climate sceptic yellow badges, after he’d asked: “Will we have to wear yellow badges to climate science conferences?”. That’s a reference to the Yellow badges imposed … Continue reading →

It seems that the EU is going to ban eggs and oranges and apples being sold individually. They’ll have to be sold by weight. Iain Dale commented: Too many bureaucrats, with too much time on their hands. That’s what comes … Continue reading →

Via DP’s latest Link Tank, I’ve been reading on American Thinker (and the White House) about Obama’s executive order establishing a US National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council. On 1 July 2010 this body is to provide a … Continue reading →

I think I’ll have to read this book by Matt Ridley. What Ridley was on to was a bold and immensely seductive theory, extensively and elegantly demonstrated over 350-odd pages, with examples from the Stone Age to the internet and … Continue reading →

I sat down by the river today. I gazed on its rippling water. I visited Barcelona last November. I’ve been a regular visitor over the past decade or so, because I know a few people there. At the time, it … Continue reading →

On Monday I bought a couple of bottles of whisky. It wasn’t that I needed any. It was just that I thought the budget the next day would see the duty on it rise sharply. So best to save a … Continue reading →

Determined readers of my blog will know that, as part of my ongoing struggle against healthist zealots, I have not only carried on smoking and drinking, but I have been trying to eat as unhealthily as possible as well. Over … Continue reading →

40 years ago, when I was a young and idealistic architectural student, I became very interested in what were then called Autonomous Houses. These were essentially houses which had very high thermal insulation in their external envelope, small windows, very … Continue reading →

I don’t swear very much. I keep swear-words as a kind of nuclear option, a last resort. And I don’t mind very much if other people swear. I rapidly get used to it. What I find shocking is when people … Continue reading →