Stop the bombing! Lift the blockade! End apartheid!

The two million people of Gaza, half of them children, have been besieged for nearly two decades. They live in a prison camp, under a crippling economic blockade, and have been periodically massacred by Israeli forces. We have now seen a massive intensification of Israel's violence; this is the most devastating attack on Palestinians in … Continue reading Stop the bombing! Lift the blockade! End apartheid! →

The Radical Appreciation of Thomas Hobbes

In 1839, the English radical Sir William Molesworth1 had all the works of Thomas Hobbes reprinted and published at considerable cost. George Grote, another radical, published a notice of the new edition in the Spectator that same year. The notice is a good summary of what these radicals, who were passionate democrats, considered to be … Continue reading The Radical Appreciation of Thomas Hobbes →

The IHRA definition is still a threat to academic freedom

Two years ago I wrote an article where I warned the IHRA definition of antisemitism would be used to restrict academic freedom. I therefore urged universities to drop it: https://web.archive.org/web/20210512141702/https://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/why-we-should-drop-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism/ The article, quite predictably, outraged many people. But though stupidity and prejudice might triumph in the short term, truth and reason triumph in the end. … Continue reading The IHRA definition is still a threat to academic freedom →

James Mill’s Essay on Government (1820)

The Scottish radical James Mill was invited to contribute articles to the Supplement to the Encylopaedia Britannica by Macvey Napier in 1814.1 The essay on Government was published in 1820; it presented a vigorous argument for representative democracy from first principles, condemned Britain's aristocratic constitution, and did so with impressive brevity. The essay had a … Continue reading James Mill’s Essay on Government (1820) →

Notes on Harold Wilson’s Labour Government 1964-1970

Some years ago I read Clive Ponting's book Breach of Promise: Labour in Power 1964-1970 (1990). I began to read the rest of Ponting's work after completing his biography of Churchill - a book of nearly nine hundred pages, but with such literary and analytical merit that I read it with speed and pleasure.1 Breach … Continue reading Notes on Harold Wilson’s Labour Government 1964-1970 →

J. S. Mill’s Thoughts on ‘Great Man’ History

The young John Stuart Mill wrote a short critique of 'great man' history as part of an 1824 article for the Westminster Review: ‘Romance is always dangerous, but when romance assumes the garb of history, it is doubly pernicious. To say nothing of its other evils, on which this is no place to expatiate, it … Continue reading J. S. Mill’s Thoughts on ‘Great Man’ History →

James Mill on Periodical Literature (II)

In another article on periodical literature for the Westminster Review,* the Scottish radical James Mill (1777-1836) turned his attention to the Quarterly Review, the most authoritative Tory publication. Whereas the Edinburgh Review, with its Whig politics, employed what Mill called the see-saw - in the main supporting the aristocracy, but sometimes making common cause with … Continue reading James Mill on Periodical Literature (II) →

Jeremy Bentham and George Grote on Natural Religion (Part II)

This is a continuation of my notes on Bentham and Grote's Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion Upon the Temporal Happiness of Mankind (1822). Part II discusses the discrete harms natural religion causes to the individual and society. Part II - Catalogue of the various modes in which natural religion is mischievous. Chapter 1 … Continue reading Jeremy Bentham and George Grote on Natural Religion (Part II) →

Jeremy Bentham and George Grote on Natural Religion (Part I)

The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), now best known as a proponent of utilitarianism, wrote on a variety of social and political subjects including religion. George Grote (1794-1871), besides his fame as a historian of ancient Greece, was an English radical in the same tradition as Bentham. Together these thinkers produced a book called Analysis … Continue reading Jeremy Bentham and George Grote on Natural Religion (Part I) →