We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day – People are such rubes

And, btw, when it comes to words, Trump made one of his most astonishing public lies recently about how Putin did not help Iran in the recent war. Speaking at the G7, Trump went out of his way to praise Putin for being “neutral” in the Iran War. Here is what he said.

“And I want to thank Vladimir Putin, he was very neutral. They could have made it much more difficult for us.”

Of course, Russia was anything but neutral in the war, and provided key support to Iran, support that seems to have helped the Iranians win the war and defeat US forces (and defeat Trump). This Russian help went from vital drone components, targeting intelligence to help the Iranians hit US bases, sanctions evasion help and the delivery of finished munitions.

So Trump has recently gone to great lengths to lie and protect Putin and to loosen sanctions on the Russian economy. But hey, he did not insult Ukraine.

People are such rubes.

Phillips P. OBrien

Samizdata quote of the day – We’re against easing the pain of paying tax

Yes, yes, we know, paying tax is the price of partaking in civilisation. But that’s still a price, a cost. We think that people should see, up close and personal, the cost of that civilisation being built on their money. We are therefore against this:

Income tax will be automatically deducted from state pensions for millions of retirees under plans being considered by Labour, The Telegraph understands.

Not because the state pension should, or should not, be taxed. But because this is easy taxation. Some to many will not really even note it. Tax should be painful so that proper consideration be given to how much is being demanded.

Tim Worstall

Samizdata quote of the day – shed no tears for Two-Tier Keir

Can a man whose legacy will be full-term abortion, censorship, digital surveillance, and the abolition of trial by jury really claim to have rescued Britain from the moral abyss? Can a man who gave us soaring youth unemployment, who shrugged at farm suicides, who thinks nothing of bankrupting schools for disabled children and religious minorities, really boast of returning to Britain a sense of pride?

Mary Harrington

Samizdata quote of the day – why Big Government fosters corruption edition

“The more big and active the state is, the more it is worth purchasing.”

– Deidre N McCloskey and Alberto Mingardi, The Myth of the Entrepreneurial State (page 97).

Samizdata quote of the day – the Belfast riots are a symptom of a dysfunctional immigration system

Well, in the nine years since the slaughter at Manchester Arena, our elites have continued to “choose love” by leaving our borders wide open, which has continued to allow some people who prefer to ‘choose hate’ to come here and attack us. The Belfast-based writer and podcaster Jenny Holland quite aptly and wittily remarked in last week’s episode of her highly recommended podcast that instead of an anti-racist demonstration, perhaps an anti-beheading rally would be the more fitting response to an attempted public beheading. We live in such demented times that coming out publicly as beheadophobic is probably a cancellable offence in much of the public sector and creative industries that are dominated by open borders fanatics.

Andrew Devine

Samizdata quote of the day – The EU produces rules, the US produces companies, China produces scale.

Europe has spent decades believing that you can regulate prosperity, tax innovation, and distrust entrepreneurship, while Silicon Valley and Shenzhen built the future.

Now, European Commissioner Virkkunen “Spuit11” warns that Europe is dependent on American and Chinese AI for digital security. As if that were a natural disaster. It’s not a natural disaster. It’s policy.

The EU produces rules. The US produces companies. China produces scale. Europe produces commissions that explain why we’re falling behind.

Roald Schoenmakers

Samizdata quote of the day – Property rights

That government can be scarcely deemed to be free where the rights of property are left solely dependent upon the will of a legislative body without any restraint.

Joseph Story

Samizdata quote of the day – Instruments of tyranny

No Government has the right, whether to flatter fanatics or in mere vagueness of mind, to forge an instrument of tyranny and say that it will never be used.

– William Butler Yeats, written in 1928 in opposition to censorship legislation in the Irish Free State

Samizdata second quote of the day – The Fixed Quantity of Biscuits fallacy

There is a never ending number of biscuits, not finite. Socialists think there is a biscuit tin under the bed, everyone has to share, 1 for you, 1 for me. They fail to learn how to make cookies with their granny who thought grandad was talking sh1t. Families 😂😂

Jean McMillan

Samizdata quote of the day – AI cracks mathematics puzzle edition

“Mathematics will need to develop a research culture that can accommodate AI as a partner. This will involve journals that require verification, hiring and tenure arrangements that reward exposition and checking, and collaborative practices for the verification of proofs. Checking and explaining AI-generated mathematics must count as original intellectual labor. The stronger AI becomes, the more valuable this human expertise will be.”

Daniel Kipnis, Wall Street Journal ($)

Samizdata quote of the day – Police State Britain is not even hiding the reality anymore

Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce sweeping reforms tomorrow banning under-16s from 10 major social media platforms, including X, but not the Left-wing platform Bluesky.

Toby Young

Samizdata quote of the day – the climate cult

The huge influxes of research funding for compliant scientists have made it difficult to oppose the fable of a threatened planet. Any scientist who speaks up against the cacophony of nonsense about a climate threat is treated like Dr Thomas Stockmann in Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People. Rather than being thanked for discovering that the water of his town’s popular spa is contaminated with deadly disease organisms, Dr Stockman and his family are viciously ostracised by most of the town’s citizens, who are making a good living by promoting the supposed health benefits of the spa.

Climate nonsense will eventually end and will be dumped onto the ash heap of history where it belongs. But the longer the cult goes on, the more damage is done. We should all do what we can to stop the madness as soon as possible.

William Happer