Bullard sorry, was out to lunch
I described the column over which David Bullard was fired as offensive and condescending, but given the supercilious faux-Victorian persona he's cultivated, not all that surprising, and not worth...
View ArticleSense and civility
"The mark of an educated mind is the ability to entertain a thought without accepting it." That's one lesson to take from the Big Bad Bullard Barney.
View ArticleWho turned down global warming?
The Australian, a newspaper in, well, Oz, reports that global warming appears to have stopped in 1998, that 2007 saw a 0.7°C drop in temperature, and that sunspot activity suggests we may be entering a...
View ArticleFood inflation: lessons from India
The current rise in food prices is very, very dangerous. Not because food will be more expensive, but because chances are the government will intervene to prevent this. The unions in South Africa have...
View ArticleBeware the alchemists
Last night, I found a neatly printed-out and stapled copy of Beware the Alchemists, by Ludwig von Mises. It is surprisingly accessible. It takes an initially complex topic, encrusted with 100 years of...
View ArticleThe great polar-bear crisis
The US has declared the polar bear to be a threatened species. So from today, global waffling alarmists will be able to cite the doomed polar bear for their doctrinaire opposition to energy production,...
View ArticleGreat countries welcome immigrants
We, of all people, should welcome immigrants. We should thank them for thinking our country worth making a new life in. We are the rainbow nation. Or aren't we?
View ArticlePeak Oil paranoia on path to presidency
Last week, the Financial Mail led with a lengthy cover story on the oil price and its implications for the South African economy. It contains some enlightening facts, but the article spends much of its...
View ArticleScrooge McDuck is fictional, you know
Free market advocates often hear the charge that they don't care about the poor. That their belief in the power of markets driven by self-interest and the profit motive implies they're selfish and...
View ArticleThe anti-capitalist clown
Over on ThoughtLeader, Bert Olivier, an academic of the philosophical persuasion, rails against those who defend "the unforgiveable practices of capitalism". I hardly know where to start, but as one of...
View ArticleBeijing Olympics: Red and green converge
It's almost time for the 2008 Olympics, and the Chinese authorities are making sure their coming out party is as green as possible. And what does environmentalism entail? Draconian restrictions, of...
View ArticleFracking controversy
On The Daily Maverick, I recently wrote a column about “fracking” in the Karoo. It was, shall we say, explosive. It got hundreds of comments, many of which I tried to do justice with a reply. It took...
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