One important question for political philosophy concerns the extent to which order is intrinsic to the world, as opposed to its being arbitrary what one calls "order" such that one man's order could be another man's anarchy. Christmas provides us with part of an answer. If there really is a moral order, for example, then ideal policy […]
There is a big and silly fuss today about Alan Hansen's remarks on Match of the Day in which (in the context of discussing racism in football) he said "There's a lot of coloured players in all the major teams and there's a lot of coloured players that are probably the best in the Premier […]
On Wednesday I asked whether, in the event of an Irish referendum on staying in the euro, the British government should clarify that, in the event the Irish did decide to leave, a currency union with Sterling might be available – as was the case until the 1970s. In the light of the comments, I had […]
Reacting to Lib Dem disquiet about the veto, newspapers today carry multiple reports that David Cameron is about to offer an "olive branch" to Nick Clegg. As the Telegraph puts it: "Mr Cameron is also preparing to make a significant concession to Mr Clegg and his party on the way Britain deals with the countries who […]
Having recovered from our weekend hangovers, through some combination of over-excitement about the veto and abandonment of austerity for the duration of our office Christmas parties, we emerge this week, blinking, into a strange new world. How did it all happen? What does it all mean? And where do we go from here? I guess […]
Okaaay. Well, that's set the cat amongst the pigeons. A few questions, in no particular order: Are we going to buckle in a couple of weeks, and sign up despite the show last night? Having been so adamant that we had to have an opt-out from financial regulation that we vetoed a Treaty, but not […]
If I say: “Suicide is selfish”, or “abortion is wicked” or “most fat people should try to be less greedy”, I shall be widely upbraided and censured. People might concede that I can hold such an opinion, if I must, but they think I should restrict my expression of such views to private discussions with […]
Once again, this week, Britain’s refusal to renegotiate stands in the way of the success of the European Project. The point of the European Union is, and always has been, to create a Single European State. Other than for a brief period from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, as well as being true that […]
By Andrew Lilico Lord Ashcroft tells us to "Turn down the volume on Europe or lose the next election". Matthew d'Ancona condemns the events surrounding the EU referendum debate as "self-harm" and argues that the Conservatives appear not to be ready to be a party of government. For years, Cameron and Hague have feared the […]
By Andrew Lilico In 2001, 2005, and 2010, I campaigned for a party that had, in its manifesto, a commitment to repatriate powers from the EU. I listened to Conservative potential candidate after candidate assure selection meeting after selection meeting that this was a conscience issue for them, that though Conservatives had let down their […]
By Andrew Lilico Events have really kicked off in Greece in the past day or so. On Monday the Greek Prime Minister announced there would be a referendum in January over whether Greece should accept the new Eurozone deal. Opinion polls suggest 80% of Greeks oppose the deal, but 70% want to stay in the […]