On the difference between a people and a nation 26 May 202426 May 2024 I have a new and unpaid notice on my substack here: https://johnwilkins.substack.com/p/on-the-difference-between-a-people This is me inviting hate, I guess. History Politics
History The Blue Book is in PDF 10 Sep 2009 Systematists know the tome by Gareth Nelson and Norman Platnick, Systematics and Biogeography (1981), as the Blue Book (shades of Wittgenstein!). It was published once and is now so hard to get that I have been unable to find a copy in ten years of looking. Now, Malte Ebach tells… Read More
Politics The meaningless mythical mandate 10 Nov 201210 Nov 2012 Politics, as we are constantly reminded, is the art of the possible. And yet there is this equally persistent theme in political discussion about who has a mandate after an election, and for what. Policies are presented to the electorate as a bundle by political parties, not as a series… Read More
Australian stuff On rednecking 2 Apr 2010 A comedian known for his scatological and iconoclastic humour calls Australians “basically English rednecks”, offending three ethnic and regional groups in one go. I watched this and laughed. It was very funny. But a prime minister, who is so uptight only dogs can hear when he farts, takes umbrage, and… Read More