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Faith, Fiction and J R R Tolkien

Faith, Fiction and J R R Tolkien

The 2019 biopic Tolkien was heavily criticised for almost completely omitting what was one of the central pillars of the author’s life: his Catholic faith. Trying to tell the story of Tolkien’s life without mentioning religion is like trying to tell the story of Hunter S Thompson without

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The Pretendian Who Won Over Hollywood

The Pretendian Who Won Over Hollywood

It’s one of the most beloved stories in the mythology of the modern American left: the night a Native American princess appeared at the 1973 Academy Awards to decline the Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. The only problem is: “Native American princess” was a myth. A

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woman holding silver iPhone 6

Not Too Late to Protest against CBDCs

Connor O’Keeffe Writer and Video Producer mises.org Connor O’Keeffe is a writer and video producer at the Mises Institute. He has a masters in economics and a bachelors in geology. Whether you like it or not, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are coming. That’s the message

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grey metal knights figurines during daytime

Silly Reasons Why We Fought

Let’s face it: very few people who actually experience it like war. Even Patton, who thought that “Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavour shrink to insignificance,” almost shamefacedly concluded that, “God help me, I do love it so”. But to the average soldier or civilian caught

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Mediaeval Winter Was No Barrel of Fun

Mediaeval Winter Was No Barrel of Fun

As recently reported, 536AD is regarded by some as the worst year in human history. All of Europe, the Middle East and even parts of Asia and the Americas were plunged into sudden cold and darkness. The sun gave no warmth and didn’t even cast shadows at noon. Crops

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The Very Worst Year of All

The Very Worst Year of All

Australian scientist Ian Plimer has written that “we must be the first generation of humans to be afraid of a warming climate”. Plimer isn’t wrong: there’s a reason wealthy Europeans flocked to warmer climates, especially for their health. The study of history shows that cooling climates are invariably

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It’s the End of the World… Again

It’s the End of the World… Again

You know, the world’s been going to end in the next ten years ever since I was a boy. If it wasn’t the nuclear war or the killer robots, it was overpopulation or the new Ice Age. Meteors, comets, pollution or the Wrath of God: if you’re

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From Taoism to Buddhism, and Falun Gong

From Taoism to Buddhism, and Falun Gong

Communist China is the most rigorously atheist country in the world. Which should hardly be surprising: Communism is a jealous god, after all. As an ideology of total control, communism simply cannot tolerate rivals for the minds of its subject populations. The Soviet Union similarly crushed the churches. China still

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boy in blue t-shirt and black shorts holding black stick walking on green grass field

Growing up in 1950s NZ

JM White My father, who was a carpenter and never out of work from age 15 until he retired at age 65, drank to excess regularly, once or twice a week, and just as regularly had fits of alcohol-induced rage. Although I didn’t like my father, at least I

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chocolate, bars, dark chocolate

When Money Really Did Grow On Trees

Kathryn Sampeck University of Reading Advent calendars with hidden chocolatey treats, huge tins of Quality Street and steaming cups of hot chocolate festooned with whipped cream and marshmallows are all much-loved wintry staples at Christmastime. But how many of us stop to think about where chocolate actually comes from and

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We Need a Libertarian Rise Up

Dan Sanchez fee.org Dan Sanchez is the director of content at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and the editor-in-chief of FEE.org. Follow him on Substack and Twitter. In his 1973 book For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N Rothbard characterized libertarians as the successors of

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The Rich History of Our Love Affair With Luxury

Peter McNeil Distinguished Professor of Design History University of Technology Sydney In today’s world, it could be said, to a certain degree, that even a relatively impoverished person engages with luxury, in some way. If you enjoy regulated heating or cooling at home, regular lighting, chicken meat, or eat

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Swords, Sandals and Sex Scandals

Swords, Sandals and Sex Scandals

Who doesn’t love a good old sex scandal? Well, apart from possibly at least one of the parties caught up in it. Although at least one target of a Fleet Street sex scandal responded with a splendidly insouciant, “So what?”, most of us would be at least embarrassed to

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There’s Gomorrah Be a Show Down

There’s Gomorrah Be a Show Down

All of us who had the good fortune to grow up when Sunday school was a given, and so imbibed to at least some degree what is one of the key foundations of Western civilisation, Christian culture, know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. So vivid is the Old Testament

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