European Diary: Vienna, November 2021 In the spring of 1985, a few of us who had formed the Hayek Society at Oxford for discussing classical liberal and conservative ideas invited Friedrich von Hayek to dinner at the Ritz in London. At the close of the event, a group of musicians approached our table and asked […]
European Diary: Paris, October 2021 In Paris, intellectuals are taken much more seriously than elsewehere. On French television, frequently there are long and animated debates about ideas. Books sometimes become sensations. The French would not say flippantly like the English: What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. When I was growing up […]
European Diary: Akureyri, October 2021 Most of Iceland’s population live in the southwestern corner of the country, in the capital Reykjavik, and in towns nearby. The only sizeable town elsewhere is Akureyri in the north of the island, a busy port, the site of flourishing fishing firms and a service centre for the adjacent rural […]
European Diary: Lisbon, September 2021 During the Covid Epidemic, I spent fifteen months grounded in Iceland, almost as if under house arrest, although it must be said that the government measures there were much milder than in many other Western countries. It was therefore quite a relief when I could travel again. One of my […]
European Diary: The Escorial, June 2021 Finally the Plague was over. My first trip abroad after the Covid Epidemic was in June 2021 to Madrid where I lectured at the Summer University organised jointly by the Brussels research institute New Direction and the Spanish think tank Fundación Civismo. It was held at the Escorial, the […]
When I studied philosophy in Reykjavik and Oxford long ago, one of the classic topics of discussion in classes were whether merchants could deny service to individuals on the basis of who they WERE and not what they HAD DONE (or said). I personally wanted as much freedom to choose one’s customers as possible (both […]
Evrópska hugveitan New Direction hélt 20.–22. september 2023 fjölmennt þing í Madrid, þar sem hægri menn báru saman bækur sínar og sóttu hinn árlega kvöldverð í minningu Margrétar Thatchers. Ræðumaður var Robin Harris, sem var ræðuskrifari Thatchers og ævisöguritari. Ég mælti á þessari ráðstefnu með samstarfi frjálshyggjumanna og íhaldsmanna. Ég leiddi rök að því, að […]
Strax eftir stríð urðu fjörugar umræður á Norðurlöndum um framtíðartilhögun stjórnmála. Í Svíþjóð og á Íslandi snerust umræðurnar aðallega um þann boðskap Friedrichs von Hayeks, að sósíalismi færi ekki saman við lýðræði. Smám saman hurfu vinstri menn í báðum löndum þó frá róttækustu hugmyndum sínum. Í Danmörku tóku umræðurnar á sig aðra mynd. Þar skrifuðu […]
Nú er komið í ljós, að það var ekki Ísraelsher, sem réðst á Al-Ahli sjúkrahúsið í Gaza 17. október 2023, heldur hafði ein af eldflaugunum, sem hryðjuverkasamtökin Jihad skutu á Ísrael, bilað, fallið niður á bílastæði við hlið sjúkrahússins og sprungið. Talið er, að um 50 manns hafi látist, en ekki 500, eins og Palestínumenn […]
Heimspekingar hafa mjög velt fyrir sér merkingu orðsins „þjóð“. Minn gamli lærifaðir Karl R. Popper hafnaði þjóðernisstefnu með öllu, taldi hana ættbálkahugsun endurborna. Hann kvað ekkert dæmi til um raunverulega þjóð, nema ef vera skyldi Íslendinga, en þeir sæju þó ekki sjálfir um varnir sínar. Sir Isaiah Berlin hélt því fram, að þjóðarvitund yrði oftast […]
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