Only a few weeks ago no-one knew who Josef Fritzl was, except, obviously, his friends, family and neighbours. But now we all know Josef Fritzl, or least we all know he is an Austrian who locked his daughter up for years and fathered 6 or 7 kids by her without even his own wife getting […]

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A combination of re-decorating, tidying, and assembling flat-pack furniture has prevented me from writing my usual articles this week. It’ll be business as usual next week, but for now I thought I go for some light relief for you all to enjoy at the end of a hard week’s work. Some of these were given […]

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Meet Broderick Lloyd Laswell. Broderick has been an inmate in an Arkansas prison for eight months. Like most prisoners he is isn’t entirely content.
Now, we might imagine all manner of complaints that an inmate might have about their prison: like being there at all when they are “innocent” (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) and merely suffered at the hands […]

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There are issues over which libertarians disagree: abortion, capital punishment, roads, and children being amongst the things that can set brother against brother in a fight of biblical proportions. And sometimes it might look like libertarian ideals clash.
Libertarians believe in religious freedom. This is simply an extension of the right to freedom of thought and […]

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For libertarians freedom is central: to act in whatever way we so desire as long as we do not infringe the fundamental rights - to life and property - of other people. Choosing to act one way or another requires freedom of the will: which means, contrary to determinism, that when we choose to act […]

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There’s nothing quite like a good put-down. For a polemicist the put-down is a vital tool of the trade, and can win hearts and minds just as well as a good argument: putting both together can amount to a powerful tool of persuasion. Some might regard put-downs as nothing other than a bit of funny […]

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There’s something about the creationism-versus-evolution debate that makes me want to poke my own eyes out just so I have something to throw at the opposing sides. A plague on both their houses!
Now, let me clarify my view that the basic theory of evolution is generally correct. I’m not a scientist, but so far as […]

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Earlier this week I was amazed to discover that I had never written about the BBC licence fee, and I immediately remedied that. To keep with the theme of plugging gaps in my blogging catalogue I also discovered I have never written a critique of anything written by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee. So, I thought […]

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Coke from a glass bottle poured into a cup full of ice: beverage heaven. I reckon my teeth will be falling out long before time due to a serious addiction to Coca Cola. For me there’s only one beverage that compares: a well brewed coffee. At the moment I’m enjoying a strong smoky coffee called […]

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I was amazed to discover from my blog back-catalogue that I have never written about the television licence fee, quite an oddity given how much it pisses me off. For those of you who live outside Great Britain you may well be amazed to discover that we must pay a fee of £140 each year […]

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It’s the nightmare of many men: being pregnant and giving birth. According to some commentators that very fear was played on by the series of Alien films, in which people would get infected and have baby aliens bursting from their bodies. Seemingly some men have maternal instincts. But I guess it helps if the man […]

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Would you give up your seat on a city bus for an elderly person? A pregnant woman? Someone with a load of shopping bags? A disabled person?
I would do pregnant women. Well, when I say “do” I wouldn’t literally “do” them there and then on a city bus, but I would give up my seat […]

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Tom and Stephanie sat on the grass in the Minneapolis sunshine, gazing lovingly into each others eyes. They were always glad of the short time they could spend together away from their spouses and kids. Tom regarded his family life as being “in a life I don’t want to be in” and dreamed of being […]

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Anyone who lives in Britain is probably well acquainted with the “Chugger” phenomenon. Since I’m not sure if our transatlantic friends have “chuggers” or not I’d best spell out what they are. “Chugger” is short for “charity mugger”: people who work for charity fundraising companies and hang out in the street trying to make money […]

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With Easter upon us we enter one of the most religious periods on the year and, as with Christmas, we are treated to endless debates about the historicity and meaning of the events being celebrated. I’ve given our religious brethren a bit of tough time over the past few weekends so thought I’d turn my […]

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Belfast has a brand new shopping centre called Victoria Square and my wife and I went to see it last Sunday. What an amazing piece of architecture, absolutely state of the art and modern. In light of this new development local commentators have been babbling on about how Belfast is now a truly modern European […]

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If I ever saw an advertisement in which libertarians were portrayed as ugly numb-skulls with small penises (including the women) would I be offended? No, not even a little bit. I respect the rights of all people to express themselves and speak their mind, and I’m not going to get all emotionally upset about it. […]

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Recently I’m pleased to see that a number of stories I have written about have panned out the way I argued that they should. I found out yesterday that another story went down the only rational path available. I wrote about gambler Graham Calvert taking a bookmaker to court for breaching it’s duty of care […]

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When he wrote the Ten Commandments on a few chunks of rock held by a young Charlton Heston, God’s omniscience let him down and he neglected to mention a bunch of stuff that was sinful. Thankfully we have the Roman Catholic Church to help us out. As if 10 Commandments and 66 books of the […]

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The Belfast Telegraph printed another letter of mine today. It was a response to an Irish Language enthusiast pontificating about “Irish language rights.”
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/letters/article3509436.ece
In her letter (Write Back, March 5) Janet Muller talks about language rights and, in particular, Irish language rights, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she already has the right to speak and […]

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