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Hippie conservatives – Brian Penton
Penton (1904-1951) is forgotten because he died in mid-career. He almost certainly would have been the standout editor and commentator through the 1950s and the 1960s., flying the flag for classical liberalism and especially free speech. Fortunately there is an excellent biography by Patrick Buckridge and a short version on line. He was born in…
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RIP Barry Humphries 1934-2023
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The spectre of wind droughts
Britain and Germany are in deep trouble with their power supplies and wind droughts are the root of the problem. You can imagine a book to be written one day called How Wind Droughts Destroyed Western Civilization. Texas in 2021 gave us a glimpse of the future when the wind died and the temperature fell…
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Open Thread – Weekend 22 April 2023
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Good Cop, Bad Cop on Sky
Andrew Bolt interviewed Lidia Thorpe’s (white) father on Thursday evening. How that happened who knows. Did Roy Illingworth knock on Bolt’s door? Did Bolt approach Mr Illingworth? Were commercial terms involved? What is clear is that Illingworth would have done better not to do the interview. Bolt asked him some personal questions about his daughter…
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Liberalism, rhetoric, and argumentative decline
Of the many things that are apparent in the present debate over transgenderism and its implications, I find two things recurring here that occurred previously in the marriage debate. Firstly, the proponents of marriage redefinition invoked a rhetoric of ‘exclusion’ by default; and thus the issue from the outset was one couched in terms of…
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A flurry of “voice” own goals.
Australians have been warned that if the voice does not receive approval then it will be the end of Welcome to Country, says Marcia Langton. I suspect that for many, many Aussies a future without WtCs is an agreeable thought. If the voice referendum fails with the result that the WtC recitations permanently became a…
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Open Thread – Tues 18 April 2023
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The Lawson & Thomas show
Book here. Mark Lawson, a versatile writer and fellow traveller with energy realism, has put together a book on the dismantling of the power grid. Those who want to buy the book Dark Ages, the looming destruction of the Australian power grid can follow the link. There will be a launch & lunch in Melbourne, with veteran…
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Life imitates art
The Lumberjack Song first appeared in 1969. This takes you back to 1979.