On liberalism
Certain parts of academia seem to wish to turn the study of classics away from a historical, language- and evidence-based…
Cicero, mutuality and BLM
The Black Lives Matter website (different from the new Black Liberation Movement) mostly presents an image of an organisation of…
Take the hard road
Diversity is ‘about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion,…
Words to that effect
In his 37-book Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) wondered why we wished people ‘Happy new year’ (primum…
Respect vs rigour
Professor Toope, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge university, had proposed a motion ordering all members of the university to ‘respect’ each…
Plato beats the pundit
Today presenter Nick Robinson has been reflecting on the political interview. He contrasts his interviews with scientists about Covid with…
Swear words
Freed from the bonds of the European Union, Britain is now in a position to sign whatever trade deal it…
Classic examples
To what use does one put history? Romans thought it provided ‘lessons’. Modern historians rather sniff at the idea, but…
Trump’s revenge
Donald Trump may be a narcissist, but since he is not mentally ill in the technical sense, he is not…
In it to win it
So Humpty Trumpty has had his great fall. But how democratic or logical was his election in the first place…
Natural order
The ancients knew nothing about global warming, but they still reflected on the relationship between man and nature. In the…
Sovereign value
The term ‘Carthaginian’ is often used of the EU’s attitude to post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, i.e. as if…
The madness of crowds
To beat the virus, the government is asking us to keep to simple hands-face-space guidelines. When these are not followed,…
Who speaks for Boris?
A spokeswoman has been appointed ‘to communicate with the nation on behalf of the Prime Minister’. He apparently needs ‘a…
How to be content
The Covid-19 pandemic is apparently causing a large number of mental health problems. On that subject, one could do a…
Too clever by half
Organs of the press are filled with opinion pages. The sublime confidence about Covid with which commentators advance these opinions,…
Revenge of the snitch
If neighbours break whatever new Covid rules might soon emerge, it has been suggested that the Good Citizen might snitch…
When language gets polluted
Pursuing last week’s theme, this week’s column raises the question: if there is no such thing as ‘race’ — since…
The Romans and race
Rod Liddle has questioned whether Ms Jolly, chief librarian of the British Library, was right to say that whites invented…
Little wonder
The British Museum’s aim is to use its collection ‘for the benefit and education of humanity’. If that manifests itself…
Learning the hard way
Many commentators have argued that the recent grading controversy indicates just how important public examinations are. Up to a point,…
World without borders
The kind of arguments raging about migrants crossing the Channel to enter Britain illegally never raged in the Ancient Roman…
Rotating the Lords
Arguments about the purpose or indeed very existence of anything resembling the House of Lords would have struck classical democratic…
Weighty matters
Tackling obesity is the latest government initiative, universally condemned as nannying. Ask a Spartan. From an early age, Spartan children…
On a Roman road
Should the PM move parliament to York? There is, of course, historical precedent for such a move, as he very…
