The Joy of Curmudgeonry

“In Parliaments, Men wrangle in behalf of Liberty, that do as little care for it, as they deserve it.” George Savile, Marquis of Halifax,...

It is true that the word “cult” can be applied maliciously against any small group so as to provoke antipathy towards it; for “cult” now car...

“[T]he whole idea of discrete, concrete races is bunk.” [1] I do not know of anyone who believes that human races in the sense under consid...

“Opening my newspaper the other day, I saw a short but emphatic leaderette entitled ‘A Relic of Medievalism’. It expressed a profound indign...

“Not long ago the periphery of the city was untouched meadowland, stretches of bucolic peacefulness unlike anything else in Germany. This h...

Illegal immigrants gathered openly in Trafalgar Square yesterday to protest against the “injustice” of not being British citizens, and yet f...

“The indignant Monarch for a moment gave way to his natural hastiness of temper—‘Prisoner, Sir! I am not an ordinary Prisoner!’ But if Charl...

“There are fits of forgetfulness or deceit which terrify: you open your ears, you rub your eyes, not knowing whether you are awake or asleep...

“A better St George’s day message would have been to emphasise that George was either Turkish or Palestinian and that, like Christianity its...

“The materialist who is convinced that all phenomena arise from electrons and quanta and the like controlled by mathematical formulae, must ...

“The news that two children aged 10 and 11 have been charged with the attempted murder of two other boys is deeply depressing, . . . but I d...

“Police intercepted a blue armoured car containing 10 anarchists — known as the Space Hijackers — who had come to the protests to make their...

“It is a most extraordinary fact that all modern talk about self-determination is applied to everything except the self.” G.K. Chesterton, “...

“To the south-east — three thousand leagues — The Yüan and Hsiang form into a mighty lake. Above the lake are deep mountain valleys, And men...

“It seems to me, upon the whole matter, that to save or redeem a nation . . . from perdition, nothing less is necessary than some great, som...

Iconoclasm is for the philistine a sacred idol never to be broken.