Hello,
Obligatory shilling. This month, I wrote at THE ZONE about grooming gangs, Andrew Tate, art and AI, writers and their lies, the Southport killer, karaoke and whether the right is cruel.
I wrote for The Critic about grooming gangs, London’s gangs, British affirmative action, Starmer and Southport, political lying and political opportunism.
I wrote for the Washington Examiner about rap and murder and the American Conservative about grooming gangs.
Finally, I did a video with Outpost Studios about belief and tribalism.
Liberating Britain. Aris Roussinos reflects on Anglofuturism:
The logic of Right-wing Progressivism rests on centring the security and prosperity of the British people over any other global aspiration, or any self-imposed moral obligation, the polar opposite worldview to that of our current governing class. It is the quest to remain world-leading that has left Britain in decline; paradoxically it is only in turning inward that Britain can become a great power once again.
Can we do things? Ed West writes about the realisation that governments can govern:
What is very notable this time around is the sense of dynamism in the new American regime – they’ve decided that you can just do things. This contrasts with Keir Starmer’s government, and a party which came into office seemingly without any plan. It is not even clear why Starmer wants to run the country, what he wishes to change, or what his vision of a good society is. He seems to exist simply to continue the system as it is - one in which decision making is taken from democratically elected politicians towards arm’s-length bodies, NGOs or activist judges, held in place by the post-1997 new British constitution.
The nihilism of alienation. Chris Bayliss considers very modern forms of violence:
Rather than fanaticism or zealotry, our new generation of violent attackers seem to be displaying signs of nihilism. In fact, there is a genuine question as to the extent to which this kind of activity can even be described as “terrorism” anymore, given that it seems to be lacking any particular political cause or objective in whose name they are trying to terrorise the populace. They are not driving cars into crowds of Christmas shoppers to unite the Ummah, or to bring down the corrupt imperialist hegemon. Rather, it is the ultimate expression of contempt and resentment for a society they do not understand, and feel no connection to.
Vibe shit. I think the left-wing writer John Ganz makes some valid points about what might be loftily called the new right-wing avant-garde: that in its obsession with a “vibe shift” it accepts the reduction of cultural and intellectual life to moods, and that it is excessively reactive against its liberal and leftist opponents. As always, the problem with the quest for right-wing art is that it begins with the politics and not with the art.
Free speech and fertility. Pimlico Journal always provides interesting essays to chew on, and this month I really enjoyed their pieces on the origins of American free speech and alarmism about birth rates.
Pigs and the Promethean. Mary Harrington reflects on a right-wing split over industrial society:
Sustainable and healthy food has long been associated with progressive politics — at least in the days when the Left was more unambiguously anti-capitalist — but has more recently been adopted on the Right as well. And yet the paradox of MAHA and factory-farming reveals, Trump’s coalition is far from unified on this issue. On the contrary, it’s split between instincts we might characterise as “organic” and “Promethean”: that is, defenders and disruptors of the natural order.
It’s a very interesting piece, though I am averse to absorbing my opposition to intensive livestock farming into some sort of broader worldview. Whether you oppose torturing cows and pigs from the position of someone who loves traditional farming methods or someone who’s really into researching lab-grown meat, you’re still to some extent a friend of mine. If we were opposing the bombing of civilians, I wouldn’t stop to ask for your thoughts on renewables.
And is it true? Bethel McGrew considers apologetics:
I think the boring old debates actually do still matter, for all that they were sometimes tedious and flawed and much more boring than they needed to be. I don’t think the New Atheists ever actually won the argument. They won a certain kind of PR war, even as they’ve lost another one. It’s a curious paradox: Nobody really likes them anymore, yet people seem to take it for granted that they were basically right, in a boring kind of way. There’s a funny moment in a new conversation between Tom Holland and Nick Cave where Holland talks about flirting with the idea of faith, then worrying “Am I betraying Richard Dawkins?” before deciding dash it all, he doesn’t care what Richard thinks. Tom is of course being light-hearted, but underneath the joke is the unquestioned assumption that there was something intellectually substantive to “betray” in the first place.
It seems to me that if this whole Dialogue is ever to level up and stop (mainly) idling in neutral, it’s going to require the collective questioning of that assumption, and many others.
Unlike Bethel, I’m not a believer, but I think she’s absolutely right.
RIP David Lynch. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed television as much as I enjoyed the first fourteen episodes of Twin Peaks. Granted, the rest was absolute shite — but gold is rarer than shite.
Have a lovely month,
Ben