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’s photo frenzy spreads across the blogosphere

Manly philosopher Will Wilkinson over on The Fly Bottle has posted a picture of himself getting in touch with his, um, feminine side.

More mug shots

Three of Samizdata’s intermittent guest contributors are revealed (but not reviled)


The sinister Andrew Dodge of Dodgeblog infamy.


The mysterious Lagwolf


The ubiquitous Mommabear

You want a picture…of Johnny?

The owl man has requested that I post the most recent picture of myself. I think the photo shop goofed and gave me the negative instead!

And for a slightly more up to date picture

This is me conferring with my political advisor. I have often been accused of being a libertarian hawk, but perhaps an owl might be more accurate (which presumably means I am wise… or then again perhaps it means I hunt at night and eat mice)

Update: In response to all the e-mails, yes, of course I went to Hogwarts.

More funny pictures from the Samizdata Team

So this is me and my famous skidding car that I was in when I had my mishap on an icy road in Austria.

And another member of the Samizdata team is revealed

These pictures show two of my favourite things in the background:

First picture was taken on the London Eye by Alice and shows favourite thing number one: London

And the second shows favourite thing number two: Libertarian Alliance pamphlets

Who started all this photo lark anyway?

I just want everybody to know that I have been forced into doing this against my better judgement. I was perfectly happy blogging away in semi-anonymity but I have now been un-burquered by Perry. He telephoned me tonight and told me that if I didn’t upload a photograph he would have no choice but to use the hood and goggles on me (again!)

This photo was taken about 4 years ago when I took a career break from the law to become a scriptwriter and stand-up comic. It was snapped by a producer at a cable TV company who was going to use it as a part of comedy show promotion. I was supposed to exude street-wise cynicism and moodiness but I’m not entirely convinced that I managed to pull it off

Two for the price of one

If Dale can get away with an old picture then so can we…so that you (sort of) know what we look like, here is Walter Uhlman and Perry de Havilland back in 1986, before we got older and fatter.

Walter and Perry

This was back when we both worked as henchmen for some guy with a white cat called Bloefeld. The pension plan was great but then SPECTRE was involved in a merger with ENRON and the rest is history.

Photo Funnies

When our esteemed (or steamed?) editor Perry de Havilland put out the photo opportunity call to the Samizdata team, I found my scanner wanting. The scans came out dark beyond Imagemagick’s Redemption. In lieu of something newer, I found this old black and white from a gig of my old Belfast rock band Transit. It’s a decade old, but it will have to serve for the moment.

He’s pretty fly for a white…well, grey…guy

There is a funny post on the NRO Blog ‘Corner’ by Rod Dreher relating to Lord of the Rings. The final remark is hilarious… but they do kind of have a point!

National Review On-line’s ‘Corner’ blog

As Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit points out, it is nice to see National Review On-line deciding to copy Samizdata’s format of multi-contributor blogging. I am sure we were foremost in their minds the whole time

Update: Cal Ulmann over on Where HipHop and Libertarianism meet has a rather entertaining take on NRO Corner<. Cal wrote:

The Corner on National Review Online is National Review’s attempt at a blog. They don’t want to call it a blog though. I guess that would mean their opinions are no better than anybody elses opinions.

Welcome back oh wayward daughter of blogdom

Our very own Balkan Blogger, Natalija is showing signs of life once more, so expect a wave of post-illness Croatian candor and Slavic snideness from the banks of the River Sava

Welcome back.