Last Orders
How innovation will defeat Covid-19
29th May 2020
Impeachment, royal censors and OK signs
The spiked team discuss the attempt to topple Trump, and more.
Should Donald Trump be impeached? Why are liberals cheering Harry and Meghan’s war on the press? Are we overegging the threat of the far right? Brendan O’Neill, Sean Collins, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss, on this week’s spiked podcast.
Picture by: Getty.
To enquire about republishing spiked’s content, a right to reply or to request a correction, please contact the managing editor, Viv Regan.
Comments
Log in
Register
Ven Oods
8th October 2019 at 7:57 pm
” I think it will be a whole lot of fun, fun, fun when he is King.”
I’d rather his mum lived to be 150 and never, ever, abdicated. Charles can spend the time selling his Duchy tat.
Andrew Leonard
6th October 2019 at 8:09 am
Re the over-emphasis on the alt-right.
This is unavoidable in a democracy, as follows.
Human psychology follows this simple pattern:
* Behaviour follows incentives
* Beliefs follow behaviour
Incentives > Behaviour > Beliefs
Beliefs are little more than rationalisations for behaviour.
All modern democracies function with high rates of taxation and spending.
Any major party can, with just occasional exceptions, be assured of something approaching 50% of the vote, at least, simply by offering enough free stuff; welfare, health, education, and public utilities, being the main categories.
Behaviour follows incentives, therefore half of us tend to vote for parties offering more of the above, and generally these parties are on the political left.
Beliefs follow behaviour, and so there tends to be a sort of equilibrium position that democracies move toward, in which virtues and vices (defined at multiple levels; from simple self-interest, to the heavily philosophical), are equally distributed.
Post WW2, the political right has (fairly or not), been associated with fascism and racism. Now that the progressive left is heavily pushing authoritarianism and racial division, the equal distribution of virtue and vice is getting increasingly harder to “maintain” (the quotes indicate that the word is being used metaphorically – it is a social process being referred to). This is driving the search for, and need to exaggerate vice on the right, and consequently, groups like the alt-right are having their true influence greatly amplified.
Philip Humphrey
5th October 2019 at 11:33 am
Can’t help feeling that all the whistleblower and the Democrats will achieve is to bring down the Bidens. Trump seemed to be fairly certain that the Bidens had been up to no good, and there would be little point in suggesting the Ukranians investigate unless there was a lot to find.
Dominic Straiton
5th October 2019 at 8:09 am
George VI would have sorted out Brexit at least three years ago.
A Game
5th October 2019 at 5:36 am
The impeachment is to bring down Joe Biden, isn’t it? DNC have form on choosing who should win the nomination and who shouldn’t. So its never designed to go the distance.
Also, Nance possibly feeling neglected at present, others getting attention. No point getting all that p.surgery if your light is hidden under a bushel.
Of course they’re being cheered by the Liberal Hierarchy. They’re terrified of not being woke if they don’t. Its racist, isn’t it, to judge MM and H on their characters and actions? Also, MM might be their ticket in to the top. (Oh, you quote the Jones person… yep…there it is.) They all revere Vogue.
I like Charles. Camilla seems to be a rock. I think it will be a whole lot of fun, fun, fun when he is King.
Controlling actions, now, not just speech. They are trying to shatter the mortar of kinship and solidarity that bonds society, piece by piece. Turn everyone into insecure, scared doubters, terrified to communicate.
The more air time the alt right get, the more boring and repetitious they become. Shutting them down does give them the cache that they perhaps have amazing, revolutionary ideas, you know, that they’re real thinkers. They aren’t.
Can’t beat a thumbs up.