What the Paper Said

What the Paper Said: Week Ending 24 September 1922

In this episode, Lloyd George makes a lot of enemies, the joys of rent control, cocaine and the legal profession and the Windsor train mystery.

What the Paper Said: Week Ending 17 September 1922

In this episode I pick out articles on the Fall of Smyrna, the illicit trade in cocaine, the need to pasteurize milk and an extraordinary claim of corruption in the Soviet army.

What the Paper Said: Week Ending 1 October 1922

In this episode I pick out articles on the continuing crisis in Turkey, the uses and abuses of film of sporting events, Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail and the latest on London Underground.

What the Paper Said: Week Ending 10 September 1922

This is the first ever “What the Paper Said”. In this episode I pick out articles on German inflation, Soviet executions and a report into shell shock. 

Brian and I chat for the last time

This conversation was recorded on 5 October 2021 and Brian died 10 days later. It was the last time we spoke.

This was - not surprisingly - an odd conversation. It was dominated by Brian's knowledge that he was not long for this world. It was also dominated by all sorts of connectivity problems. And when all was said and done it wasn't all said and done because Brian called me back because there was a bit he'd forgotten.

Brian had something on his mind. Regular listeners will know that at the beginning of this year we recorded a conversation on the Industrial Revolution and that our most recent conversation whilst starting on the Middle Ages eventually moved on to the Industrial Revolution again. What Brian had on his mind was something to do with the works of Deirdre McCloskey and Emmanuel Todd. What that "something" was I didn't know and still don't. Brian could be a difficult man to follow especially if you're a dullard like me. If you have ever listened to a few of these conversations you will be familiar with my floundering in Brian's wake, not only not understanding what he has just said but not even being able to find the right questions to ask in order to get some clarification. So it is here. It was bad enough at the best of times. Anyone who knew Brian will know that he was very good at dominating a conversation. He was not an easy man to interrupt and that did not get any easier after he was diagnosed with cancer.

So, I failed to pin down just what it was that Brian wanted to say. Maybe it will be obvious to others who are more familiar with McCloskey and Todd or with Brian's own thinking. Maybe we'll have to leave it to some ideological cryptanalysts to decode Brian's remarks. At least there's something to decode.

We also talk about Brian's Last Friday (30:30) which was held on 3 September 2021 in central London. This meant an awful lot to him. 

We also talk about Tommy Robinson (38:00). This was something I wanted to talk about. Well, actually I didn’t but Brian was always most insistent that we should alternate when it came to introducing the subject. So it was to the end. 

And then we talk about Germany and the Industrial Revolution - the bit Brian had forgotten.

So, it was already pretty disjointed before the connectivity issues made it even more so. I have also kept a lot of stuff in that I would normally have edited out. Why? Because it feels like the right thing to do. I can’t express it better than that.

There ought to be another paragraph here in which I come to a conclusion. A concluding paragraph even. Something about what a joy and a privilege it has been to have had these conversations routinely over the last 5 years and intermittently for a lot longer. But I don't have the words. Brian was special.

If you have any comments to make on this please make them at Samizdata.

Brian Quotes

"The big history date of the last thousand years was the wealth explosion and it happened in Britain."

"Emmanuel Todd is quite open about his admiration for the Anglosphere."

"Todd has very interesting things to say about Homo Americanus which he thinks is very similar to original human nature."

"Liberty, equality and fraternity spread in Europe after Napoleon was defeated."

"McCloskey and Todd between them could have cracked this but in fact they needed the intervention of Micklethwait."

"I want to make it clear that I attach great importance to my own opinions about this."

"…and if they [McCloskey and Todd] both get their bits right then between them they have it all, they have the whole story. As it is the only one with the whole story is me."

"I am torn in half about whether America will shake itself loose of all this woke nonsense."

"What I find interesting about Tommy Robinson is that people succeed in creating this false idea of what he is and then if you disagree you are accused of supporting this false person."

Notes

1. The Todd podcast.
2. Battle of Acre.
3. The Battle of Acre book.
4. Lineages of Modernity; a review by Tyler Cowen.
5. Brian's blog post on the gap between the English Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. 
6. Try as I might I cannot find any reference - by Brian or otherwise - to the duke - or any other potentate - who wanted to imprison Beethoven but couldn’t.

Brian and I chat about how lucky we are to NOT live in the Middle Ages

Brian died on the 15th October which seems difficult to believe when you listen to him here. Yes, there are signs of the lung cancer that eventually killed him but otherwise he is alert, keen, articulate, thoughtful. All very Brian.

But, but… please don’t be encouraged or discouraged on that account. For Brian it was the ideas that mattered. We allude to that in this very podcast. I am sure he would far prefer people to listen to this because of the ideas expressed than for sentimental reasons.

In the preliminary discussion to this Brian suggested that rather than determining a title for these talks in advance we should have the chat and then decide what the title should be. This chat was going to be the first try out of this idea. Unfortunately, we got disconnected in our prime (hence the rather abrupt ending). Also, it’s still difficult to tell what we actually ended up talking about. Yes, we start off talking about the Middle Ages but we very quickly start talking about the Industrial Revolution and how lucky we are to live in the age we do. Let's see if I can make something of that. Along the way we talk about the Common Law, Europe’s revolutions and plenty of other things. 

The beginning is plagued by connectivity issues which I’ve kept in partly because I am too lazy to take them out and partly to demonstrate what we were up against but, believe me, it does get better.

We recorded one more conversation after this which I will publish as soon as I get round to it. 

Notes

1. That King John podcast? Might be this one.
2. James II did indeed get a nose bleed at a bad time.
3. The Kink. 
4. The Great Stink was in 1858.
5. Semmelweiss.
6. The Industrial Revolution podcast we refer to is here.
7. I, of course, mean the Taiping Rebellion.
8. The podcast about German Second World War code-breaking is here. 
9. It was Rob Thompson (not Geoff) I was referring to and here is a talk of his on First World War logistics. 
10. Finlay Dunachie’s How Britain got Lucky.
11. The famous fort designer was Vauban.

 

Brian and I chat about communications technology

Disclaimer time. If you're looking for an explanation of the ins and outs of TCP/IP or packet switching this is not the podcast for you. This is about how Brian has used printers, photocopiers and the internet down the years to get the libertarian message across. The key thing - for Brian, at least - has been how to keep the costs down.

Along the way, we talk about LA Pamphlets, Brian and the libertarian big cheeses, universities in the late 1960s, the Royal Festival Hall's dreadful acoustics, how to sell tickets to student plays, the difference between the Libertarian Alliance and other free market think tanks and Crossrail. We even manage to find time right at the end to talk about Deidre McCloskey.

Brian quotes

"I've learnt from experience that when people say things in public they generally mean them."

"I was just observing the absurd antics of the Lenins with hair who were infesting this university in this completely delusional state of mind."

"The Royal Festival Hall was built at a sort of 2000-year low in acoustic competence."

“…look at Boris Johnson. You get the impression that his latest wife occupies about half of his head.”

“Most men are very frightened about boring people about what they do and tend to be very evasive about it.”

Notes

1. Simon Rattle's concert hall.
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh would indeed appear to be the oldest surviving story.
3. “Rob” is Rob Fisher who runs the Brian Micklethwait Archive.

Brian and I talk about Northern Ireland

Or “Ulster” as I would have it. Back in the day I was an Ulster unionist - still am for what it is worth - but I was a bit keener with my unionism in those days.

As such, Brian picks my brains on why there was ever a conflict, why it ended and what we can learn from it.

In doing so we talk about my personal experiences of the Republic of Ireland, the role of religion [spoiler alert: there isn't one], when ethnic disputes arise and when they don't, how the Swiss manage things, what we may be in for in England and the importance of the Cold War.

Brian Quotes

"It’s always felt to me like an inevitable future that Ireland would eventually be a single nation."

"Even lies that get around can tell you something."

"There was one particular quality of the Irish scrounging classes that I especially detested and that was when they would say, 'Cheer up' to you, and my answer was always, 'Fuck off!'"

“I do think language is central to this.”

“But the fact that the Irish don’t have any designs on governing Manchester or London is all part of why people like me just don’t really bother with it.”

Notes

1. The academic survey I refer to is Richard Rose's Governing without Consensus.
2. Irish began to be displaced by English in the 18th century. The number of people speaking Irish on a daily basis is in the region of 73,000. And, yes there was an Irish language qualification for the civil service.
3. It would appear that Serbo-Croat is one language  while Slovene is distinct.
4. Franco certainly tried to make everyone speak Spanish (Castillian).
5. The United Kingdom has a population of 67m and 84.3% of them live in England.
6. I can't find any evidence that there was a huge underestimate of the number of EU citizens who had applied to stay in the UK but I can find a huge discrepancy in the number of applications that the Daily Mail says were made and   the number that Wikipedia says were made.
7. The Darien Scheme.
8. How were Irishmen who fought for Britain in the Second World War treated on their return? According to the headline of this article, badly but there's not a lot of evidence given to back it up.
9. Eamon de Valera expressed condolences on Hitler's death.
10. The Ed Hussein video that Brian talks about may be this one.
11. Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent.
12. Hamilton & Montgomery were indeed the organisers of the largest plantation.
13. According to this list there do not appear to have been any rebellions by the natives in Britain after Boudica.

 

Brian and I don’t talk about the LA Split

This perhaps requires some explanation. Originally, the idea was to talk about the Libertarian Alliance split which we do briefly talk about in the podcast. However, it rapidly became apparent that this was not going to be the main thrust of what we were going to talk about; rather we were going to talk about what the “other” side did, meaning what they achieved, which was quite a lot as it happens.

In doing so, we cover Orwell, Mises, Marx, atheism and why people are not as closed minded as we often think.

We also meander but you, the regular listener, wouldn’t expect anything else. Such meanderings include: Chris Tame’s Randianism; Murray Rothbard; the economic calculation debate; the Anti-Soviet Society and woke politics. 

Brian quotes

“I would far rather be understood and disagreed with than agreed with because misunderstood.”

“Your expectations of the future feed into what you think is going to happen now.”

“In other words [the socialists] kept the enterprise going and changed the excuses for it.“

“There is a point when lies go up to another level.”

“The whole point of wokery is that it is bollocks.”

“A lot of arm-twisting goes on in the socialist world.”

Notes

1. America’s Great Depression. 
2. From Marx to Mises. 
3. Mises's Socialism. 
4. Was David Ramsay Steele a lecturer? No. 
5. Atheism explained. 
6. Steele's Orwell book. 
7. Did Margaret Thatcher say, “One day they will be free.”? That’s how I remember it. The Thatcher Foundation seem to think that’s what she said although it is absent from the quoted BBC transcript. 
8. The Soviet Coup. 
9. Kondratiev was indeed a socialist. So socialist in fact that Stalin had him executed in the Great Purge.
10. Politics & The English Language 
11. It is of course the “active voice”.
12. That article for Samizdata Stephen Davies on Brexit and political realignment.
13. Myth of the Closed Mind. 
14. Khrushchev made his “We will bury you.” remark in 1956. 

Brian and I talk about sport

We start off by talking about Euro 2020 and ask why Gareth Southgate has been so successful. We move on to black sporting prowess, what happens when sport gets cancelled and then war and nuclear weapons. We end by considering refereeing and the psychology of fighter pilots.

Brian Quote

“You don’t need a meeting; it happened of it’s own accord.”

Notes

1. The maximum wage was in place from 1901 to 1961.
2. Wellington's army at Waterloo was about 70,000 strong.  which means it was slightly more than British casualties on the first day of the Somme.
3. Keith Miller was an Australian cricketer.
4. Jack Charlton did indeed players to go out there and enjoy themselves. 

Brian and I talk about the Origins of the First World War

In doing so we talk about British justifications for war, Russia and Japan, linear reasoning, nationalism, the European Union and Ireland.

Having listened to this a few times I realise I should have given Brian a lot more push back on the theory about Russia arming against Japan and this alarmed Germany. To the best of my knowledge, all Russian military expansion in the period immediately preceding the war was aimed at Germany. The French would certainly not have been lending them so much money (see Notes) if the expansion was aimed at Japan. 

Also while listening to this it dawned on me that while I am talking about Teddy Roosevelt (1:05:00 or thereabouts), Brian is talking about Franklin Roosevelt. Whoops!
 

Brian Quotes

“Causation is not a linear process.”

“The biggest lie is that the First World War started because no one knew how to stop it.”

“…often what matters is not the actual state of things but the direction in which things are moving.”

“I committed my perennial sin of talking too much.”

 
Notes

1. Our original First World War podcast, or at least the one that Brian was talking about.
2. William leQueux wrote The Invasion of 1910. 
3. Asquith's speeches (amongst others) can be found here.
4. Did the Russians know how dangerous mobilisation was? Well, they certainly did when the Germans issued them with an ultimatum.
5. Did Russia have a treaty with Serbia? Apparently not.
6. Does Norman Stone claim that Russian railways were more East-West than North-South? I tried to find a reference but without success.
7. How much was France spending? A lot it would appear.
8. The Second Morocco crisis was in 1911.
9. Was it the Tsar who backed out of Björkö? Yes. 
10. Did the socialists have a majority in the Reichstag? No, but they had become the largest party. 
11. TIK the YouTuber. 

 

Brian and I talk about Steve Stewart-Williams and evolution

This conversation was inspired by the works of Steve Stewart-Williams principally his book The Ape that Understood the Universe and his Twitter feed. We talk about the nature versus nurture debate, design, the importance of copying, the woke fraternity, Breton fishing boats, the caveman inside us, Richard Dawkins, the importance (or otherwise) of music (and, by extension other forms of culture) before moving on to the horrors of modern architecture and the horrors of Nissen huts in the Winter of 1963.

Brian Quotes

“It could well be that in Malaysia they are more scornful of this sort of thing than we are in the Anglo-Saxon world.”

“Obesity is not exactly a problem they had on the ancient plains of Africa or wherever it is we did our evolving.”

“…humans are, even now, evolving into the culture that humans have created.”

“One of the problems you have if you work from first principles is you have to re-think absolutely everything and you fail to re-think absolutely everything successfully.”

“That was a big pretence by the architectural profession that they had nothing to do with it, ‘Oh, that was the planners.’ Rubbish! They were absolutely up to their necks in this.”

“There’s a sort of labour theory of value that applies to decoration isn’t there? And if it’s just thrashed out by a machine it kind of loses its meaning.”

Notes

1. The Ape that Understood the Universe.
2. Brian has posted several times on this subject. Here are a few:
   1. What women look for in men.
   2. Breton fishing boats.
   3. The evolution of language.
   4. Nurture Only is wrong.
3. Stewart-Williams appears to be an associate professor at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus.
4. It appears that our youthful tank crews were singing something called the Panzerlied which is a new one on me.
5. Kenneth Clark did indeed hold concerts at a then painting-less National Gallery.
6. Did Britain and Germany have the same national anthem in the First World War? Pretty much.
7. For Ayn Rand’s views on architecture see the movie The Fountainhead (or even read the book if you’ve got the patience.)
8. The Great Eastern. Did it have to be that size? To sail to Australia without stopping to re-fuel, yes.
9.  Quinlan Terry.
10.  I was quite wrong, Design as Outcome is not on the Brian Micklethwait Archive just yet. But it is here.
11. Brutalist architecture or wartime Nazi bunker? I'll leave you to decide:

Brian and I talk about Enoch Powell

Enoch Powell was a prominent politician in the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his views on immigation although he was also friendly towards libertarian ideas especially on economics. While a large part of our chat is inevitably taken up with immigration we also discuss Margaret Thatcher, Steve Baker and the end of Empire.

Brian quotes

"He regards office as a trivial thing by comparison [with ideas]."

"He [Powell] probably would have submitted it to a bigger publisher, the bigger publisher would have said 'Do you think you could tone this down?' and the answer was 'No!'"

Notes

1. Simon Heffer’s biography 
2. Powell’s history of the House of Lords 
3. Powell and King’s Langley. I can’t find any subsequent reference to his theory so I have no idea whether it has become accepted or not.
4. Powell resigned from the Macmillan government in January 1958.
5. The substance of the House of Lords reform that both Conservative and Labour backbenchers could object to was the amount of front bench patronage involved.
6. He became professor at the University of Sydney in 1937.
7. His Wikipedia entry lists well over 30 writings. Some are books, some papers and some collections of speeches. 
8. Powell was elected as an Ulster Unionist in the October 1974 election.
9. East of Suez.
10. There is some evidence to suggest that Blair used immigration to rig elections.
11. Our diversity podcast.
12. After the Falklands War, Powell had this to say in the House of Commons, “Is the right hon Lady aware, that the report has now been received from the public analyst on a certain substance recently subject to analysis and that I have obtained a copy of the report? It shows that the substance under test consisted of ferrous matter of the highest quality, that is of exceptional tensile strength, is highly resistant to wear and tear and to stress, and may be used with advantage for all national purposes?” The words were framed and hung in her office.
13. The story about Powell and his Indian colleague appears on p.95 of Heffer.

Brian and Patrick talk about the divisions within libertarianism

This conversation came about from the observation made by both of us that on the big issues of the day whether they be Brexit, Trump or lockdowns, libertarians find themselves on either side of the divide - often vociferously so. Can libertarians be effective when they are so divided?

Sadly, we never really manage to answer this question. We do, however, manage to spend time talking about the importance of prosperity, the differences between active socialists and active libertarians, women orchestra conductors and the growth of the Anglosphere.

Right at the end we mention silences. There were plenty during the recording as the two of us (mainly me) gathered our thoughts. These have now been removed.

Brian quotes

“Libertarianism is a statement about how the world is.”

“If you by going on holiday and spread the plague you might as well be waving a machine gun in the air and firing it.”

“Optimism is a good technique”

Notes

1. Kristian Niemitz 
2. Anton Howes 
3. One of Brian’s postings on Steve Stewart-Williams 
4. What J K Rowling has to say 
5. Perry de Havilland gets banned
6. Brian on Chris Tame 
7. I have been unable to find the speech by Brezhnev.
8. J P Floru 
9. Mancur Olsen

 

Brian and I talk about what they don't tell you about death

At least that was the intention. Unfortunately, (or should that be "fortunately"?) we tended to get side-tracked - perhaps because it is a depressing subject, perhaps for other reasons. The main side track was the economics of the Royal Marsden Hospital which would appear to be quite good.

Notes

1. Brian on NHS diagnosis v NHS treatment 
2. The Machine 
3. The Brian Micklethwait Archive
4. Brian on charities
5. Overheating Samsungs
6. LG does indeed stand for Lucky-Goldstar
7. The Five Stages of Grief (that aren't)
8. The Mask
9. Monorails
10. Francis Fukuyama and the end of history
11. Does Communist China hold sham elections? Yes it does.
12. Google cars
13. Brian on robot trucks

Brian and Patrick chat about the Industrial Revolution

Luckily the introduction is on the recording so I don’t have to introduce the subject here (well, that’s how it seems to me.) However, there are notes to be done so here goes:

1. Findlay Dunachie
2. Brian's blog posting on the books he's been reading. 
3. Anton Howes
4. The Kink 
5. Lilburne was imprisoned but he was not executed.
6. I haven’t been able to find a date for when the word “inventor” came into the language.
7. This chart seems to indicate that literacy rates in Britain were similar to those in Germany and Sweden in 1750. Of course, these are estimates. After all, who was counting?
8. Luther had 95 theses.
9. I think Brian is referring to the German Peasants’ War of the 1520s.
10. “There are doubts as to the extent of George Stephenson's literacy. Most of his letters were written by secretaries or his son Robert, but signed by George Stephenson himself. “
11. On the subject of the destruction of the Song’s ocean-going ships I can find precious little - nay, disturbingly little - evidence for this especially on Wikipedia. There were “Treasure voyages” but they were in the Ming period. Some say the ships were destroyed but Wikipedia is silent.
12. The Duke of Northumberland’s River would appear to have been built well before the 1700. Well before the English Civil War even. 
13. The Bridgewater Canal was indeed commissioned by an aristocrat (a duke as it happens) and opened in 1761; bang, slap in the middle of the period we are talking about. 
14. Sudha Shenoy 
15. Emmanuel Todd 

Blast from the Past! Brian and I talk about Emmanuel Todd

If you know Brian Micklethwait you will know that he is a big fan of French anthropologist/sociologist Emmanuel Todd and has been for a long time. The name frequently crops up in our recorded conversations. What Todd believes, in essence, is that family structure has a big impact on politics. Some 13 years ago, Brian and I sat down to discuss his ideas. One of Brian’s greatest hopes is that he can find a critique of Todd’s ideas. Did he ever find one? He doesn’t seem to have done so. 

Blast from the Past! Antoine Clarke and I talk about the occupation of the Ruhr

The latest podcast with Brian Micklethwait rather put me in mind of another podcast I recorded some 9 years ago with Antoine Clarke. This was ostensibly about the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 but it quickly became about the whole history of Franco-German animosity. And none the worse it was for that!

Anyway, after a bit of rootling around for it I eventually found it. And then I found it again here. Well worth a listen I’d say.

I may republish some more of these in due course.

Brian and I talk about the French military

For a long time in the English-speaking world the French military has been regarded as a bit of a joke. Words and phrases like “defeatism”, “Maginot LIne”, “red trousers” and “cult of the offensive” get bandied about. The more I study the subject - and I by no means claim to be an expert - the less I believe this. It seems to me that in the Second World War the French army was quite good, just unlucky. In the First it was pretty bad but not for the reasons we think. 

In the course of our conversation we cover Napoleon and, of course, Hitler, the German preparations for war, the fall of empire, American independence, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, American anti-Americanism, the break-up of successful coalitions, French art and the move from war to watercolours, Emmanuel Todd, counter-factual history. 

Notes

1. In the victorious 100 days offensive the British took 48% of the prisoners and 42% of the guns. The French took 36% of the prisoners and 28% of the guns. So, the French weren’t doing nothing.
2. Simon House Lost Opportunity
3. In the Middle Ages 1 in 4 Europeans was a Frenchman. This proportion has been declining ever since especially since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
4. Dreyfus Affair 
5. Boulanger 
6. Findlay Dounachie's LA pamphlet 
7. Foch was the commander of all the Allied armies in 1918 
8. On that comment about the French PM asking Haig about the merits of the Nivelle Offensive I have got confused. He was asked by the French War Minister about the merits of Nivelle before the offensive began (24/3/17). He was asked by the French Prime Minister about the merits of other French generals after the offensive began (26/4/17).
9. Do the French remember the Battle of the Ardennes? Yes, but not particularly well. There is a Battle of the Ardennes page on French Wikipedia but it took a while for me to find. 
10. According to David Fraser’s biography of Alan Brooke (p137), the review of French troops took place in the presence of General Corap who Brooke found complacent. Unfortunately, this was written after the Fall of France. 
11. For more on Germany’s High Command and their plot to oust Hitler in 1938
12. This would appear to be the battle between Caesar and Pompey that Brian was referring to.
13. Dien Bien Phu was a bit bigger than I thought but nothing like the scale of the First World War.
14. “Only” 80,000 British soldiers surrendered at Singapore 
15. There may have been as many as 40,000 French civilian dead in the Normandy Campaign.
16. Here is de Gaulle after Paris was liberated. My French may be rusty but I am pretty sure there is no mention of either Britain or America. 
17. This is the book by Ross King that Brian mentions 
18. David’s portrait of Napoleon 
19. The French word for “sympathy” is “sympathie”.
20. I can’t find any evidence that Haig was sceptical about the Nivelle Offensive

 

Brian and I talk about the lockdown

As I write, Britain and a whole host of other countries are in lockdown. Although there has been a loosening of arrangements in recent weeks, at its outset people were asked/told to stay indoors and go out as little as possible. Many people had - and continue to have - a large proportion of their wages paid by the state.

Brian and I talk about this crisis which has now been going on for 10 weeks. Did I say talk? Meander might be a better way of putting it. We talk about safety, analogies with war, Ludwig Erhard, the capitalism-needs-war argument and even child-rearing. We agree - thus making for a dull conversation - that there are a great deal of unknowns and it is thus difficult to be sure of anything.

Where we disagree is on whether the baked-into-the-cake economic collapse is a good thing or a bad thing. Being an Austrian purist I say that the economy is built on foundations of sand and the sooner it collapses the better. Brian is not so sure. But we agree - dullsville once again - that the way out is the same way the West Germans chose in the late 1940s. Whether or not we get that is another thing.

Notes

1. Ludwig Erhard 

2. I may have been wrong about the ironwork 

3. Here is an example of what price control does 

4. I think this is the J.P.Floru book Brian is referring to 

5. It occurs to me that the great crisp surplus may have been due to the great party shortage and not to a mass conversion to the benefits of healthy eating.

 

Brian and I talk about the Vietnam War

When I was about 5 years old I received my first piggy bank. It was in the shape of a globe. My first question was "Where is Britain?". My second question was "Where is Vietnam?" The reason was because I had heard the word again and again and so, therefore, I felt it must be awfully important.

In 1955 Vietnam was divided between Communist North and non-Communist South. In the early 1960s an insurgency began with the aim to force the South to become part of the North. In 1965, the US, under President Johnson put in ground troops. The war became very divisive. By 1973, the US, by now under Nixon had withdrawn all its ground troops having seen some 58,000 of them killed (that's about 30 a day). In 1975 - Nixon having been forced to resign as a consequence of the Watergate scandal - the North invaded and the South fell. Immediately afterwards Cambodia and Laos also fell to Communist forces of one sort or another.

This podcast stems from my watching a documentary on the Vietnam War on PBS. I didn't like it much. And I decided to do some checking to see if there was an alternative point of view. There was.

My essential argument is that just about everything you have heard about Vietnam is wrong and that by 1972 the US had engineered a situation where South Vietnam could be defended at acceptable cost. That "victory" was then squandered by Congress.

Brian was a young adult in the 1960s and given that his generation was all anti-War etc I expected that he would have plenty to say from first-hand experience. I was wrong. But that doesn't stop us.

I begin by outlining how I see the war. We go on to have a discussion about the Johnson administration's approach to the war, the role of the left, the role of the media and the role of what Brian calls "anti-anti-communists", John Paul Vann and the ramifications of the fall of South Vietnam. I outline the argument that the war may not have been a complete waste.

Towards the end I speculate whether our tiring of Iraq has led us to miss something quite important and we discuss nation building.

Notes
=====

1. That stuff about the end of Black Lives Matter? Whoops!

2. A lot of my information has come from Vietnam Veterans for Truthful History.

3. The boat people 

4. Dien Bien Phu 

5. Case-Church 

6. Nixon was President from 1969 to 1974. Henry Kissinger was his National Security Adviser.

7. Watergate 

8. I mention a South Vietnamese commander who wanted to invade the North - or at least take some of it. Try as I might I can't find a reference.

9. Doctrine of gradualism 

10. Richard Pipes The Russian Revolution 

11. Carthago delenda est 

12. Why MacArthur was sacked 

13. Statements from Johnson and Nixon about the purpose of the war. This one from Johnson seems plain enough. This one from Nixon, if anything, seems less resolute

14. My Lai 

15. Tet Offensive 

16. Hue Massacre as an example of VietCong thuggery 

17. Lee Kwan Yew on the Domino Theory (as reported) 

18. It would appear that Thailand was never under significant threat despite numerous border clashes with Vietnamese forces

19. Vietcong a Northern creation  

Brian and I talk about the Bomber Offensive

In this podcast Brian and I talk about the Bomber Offensive of the Second World War with particular focus on what later-on became known as “Big Week”. I must admit that this was something I had never heard of but it turns out it was crucial for the Allies in gaining air superiority in Western Europe. 

Big Week was made possible by the introduction of the P45 Mustang, the fighter that could go all the way with the bombers. Much to my surprise it turns out that this quinitessentially American plane had a huge amount of British involvement. Inevitably, we mention the Merlin engine and then demonstrate our ignorance trying to explain what was so good about it.

We get diverted - as is our wont - into talking about Dowding and the aftermath of the Battle of Britain. I had always found it odd that he was removed from command immediately after having won the most important battle since Trafalgar. Brian explains why. He also explains Dowding’s achievement.

We have a brief discussion about the morality of this but it turns out that neither of us is particularly interested. We do however discuss the role of bombing as punishment and deterrent. And then we get on to the subject of corporal punishment at public schools. 

Brian has a great anecdote about an Me262 pilot.

Towards the end Brian points out a practical difficulty in the theory that bombing could have won the war alone. 

Notes

1. James Holland's book on Big Week.
2. Sherman production was slightly less than 50,000 and Panther production a bit more than 5,000.
3. The successor to Ira Eaker was Hap Arnold
4. I have not yet been able to find where I found that stuff about Germany allowing Japan to enter the war.
5. Steve Davies is a mere PhD and his opinions can therefore be ignored.
6. Rolls Royce Merlin engine
7. Bishop George Bell
8. That book on the collapse of Army Group Centre
9. The Soviet Union went to war against Japan the day after the Hiroshima bombing.
10. The war between Russia and Japan in 1939.
11. This is the Harris snippet that Brian was referring to.
12. The Allies were indeed intent on dropping nuclear weapons on Germany.
13. He177
14. This is the book by John Ray that we talk about.

Brian and I talk about the Falklands War

In this episode we discuss the Falklands War of 1982. We find there is a lot to talk about from nuclear submarines, logistics, the Labour Party, how the British won when they were outnumbered, Bluff Cove and the Harrier, to the Black Buck raids and how a year later we were all almost engulfed in nuclear armaggedon.

By the way, the Admiral who convinced Thatcher to fight was Henry Leach.

Brian and I talk about the First Wold War: what happened next?

A few weeks ago I gave a talk on what happened after the First Wold War. I mainly concentrated on the many ethnic conflicts that broke out in Central Europe. In this podcast we decided to do a follow up. There were quite a lot of issues, surrounding the chaos of the time, which were brought up which on the face of it at least led us to some rather uncomfortable conclusions - as you will hear.

In doing so we talk about massacres in the English Civil War - spoiler: there weren’t many - the inviolability of national boundaries, Ireland, the potential for a Welsh Civil War, Brexit - inevitably - Great Men and anti-semitism. 

It’s grim but it’s my feeling - and I think Brian’s too - that you have to go where the facts take you.

Brian and I talk about Christianity

I start by outlining my dilemma. 

We then go on to talk about Biblical tales, the Quakers, Christianity and children, architecture and music.

Further in we talk about the influence of Christian intellectual tools and Biblical support for the division of labour. Before getting back to architecture again.

We finish off by talking about war.

Notes

Brian talks about the origins of the word “religion” (not according to Wikipedia). But others disagree. 

My comment about universities being all about religion is probably wrong.

This is the Siedentop book Brian mentions.

And, no, the gladius did not look like a crucifix.

Brian and I talk about Brexit

With the clock counting down to what in theory was going to be Independence Day on 29 March, Brian and I sat down to discuss Brexit. We - or, more accurately, I - began by making a prediction of what would happen in the next month or so.

We then try to get inside the heads of Remainers. I think they’re mad. Brian thinks they’re in shock. 

We talk a little bit about the referendum campaign and how surprised we were at the result. 

Brian raises David Goodhart’s The Road to Somewhere and the battle between the “somewheres” and “anywheres”. 

After that we talk about the Vote Leave campaign, the EU’s incompetence, how we have to thank convinced Remainers like Gordon Brown and the prospects for a second referendum.

The uncomfortable subject of immigration gets an airing. And hot on the heels of that: the Anglosphere. And after that - inevitably - Emmanuel Todd. 

We finish by discussing the influence that libertarians have on the world and how while it is easy to spot losers from Brexit it is much harder to spot winners. 

Brian and I talk about why the West won the Cold War

We begin by talking about what the Cold War was and the importance of NATO, nuclear weapons, communism, the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.

We then talk a little bit about Cold War movies and the general lack of them. The movie I refer to is The Deadly Affair which was based on Le Carré’s novel Call for the Dead

We ask why the Russians didn’t copy the Chinese but don’t get very far.

We mention the problems the West had such as the welfare state, and a communist 5th column.

We also ask why the Soviet Empire collapsed without a fight. The best answer seems to be that Gorbachev was played by the West. I can’t deny I am a bit dubious about that one. By the way, it was Boris Yeltsin on that tank not Mikhail Gorbachev.

We finally get round to talking about the horribleness of the Soviet Union. It started early. The Ukraine Famine, the Gulags. You weren’t even safe if you were a loyal communist. The Purges. “Stalin only ever trusted one person in his whole life and that was Hitler.” The Crozier Monarchy Theory gets an outing.

Brian advances the theory that in the end competence is decisive. 

Corrections, footnotes and further reading:

The Economic calculation debate refers to this. 

The Lubyanka was the headquarters of the KGB (the Soviet secret police)

This was a Trabant.

This is what we were referring to when we talked about the Bekaa Valley 

Brian and I talk about History

In this podcast we talk about why we like history and what we seek to gain from it. In so doing we talk about narratives, putting oneself in other peoples’ shoes, how the world has become more peaceful and grand theories of history.

A few links: Detlev Schlichter; Alan McFarlane; Arnold Toynbee and our podcast on the First World War.

Unfortunately, we got cut off at 48 minutes. Mea culpa. About a week later we reconvened to see if we could remember what we said.

Brian and I talk about transport

In this episode Brian and I attempt to cover the vast subject of transport. Our conversation ranges from British Rail privatisation to robot cars via fares, Coase’s theorem, Selfridges and the amazing Chuo Shinkansen.

Brian and I talk about the importance of being number three

By about 1900 it was becoming clear that Britain was going to be overtaken by both the United States and Germany and that one of them would emerge as top dog. It is Brian’s contention that Britain chose America. 

So we talk about that and Roosevelt’s desire to get America into the Second World War and his dislike of the British empire. After that we digress - as is our wont - and talk about such subjects as Anti-Americanism, the rise of the English language, Trump’s taste in art, the half-hearted nature of the War of the Roses before speculating on Russia acting as number three between the US and China.

One correction. China, of course, did invent a few things.  Rather important things. Just a long time ago.

Also, Towton was even bloodier than I had thought. Worse, indeed than the first day of the Somme.

Brian and I chat about Trump

In this podcast Brian and I talk about Trump. Eventually. I thought our pre-formal proceedings chit chat was interesting enough to include.

We begin by asking how it was that Trump won. In doing so the financial crisis comes up as - bizarrely - do the Empire Loyalists. We agree that his tweeting was hugely important. That and apple pie.

We go on to discuss the delusions of the global elite, the Rat Pack and Kanye West before returning to the subject of Trump’s tweets.

Brian and I chat about Diversity

Diversity + proximity = war. That is the proposition under discussion. I start off with Northern Ireland, Bosnia and a hundred other places. Brian counters with London and its many little communities.

On our way we consider the libertarian approach to the Red Army, terrorism and - inevitably - Islam.

Eventually, we manage to get off that particular subject and end up talking about Brexit, the greatest Briton and the secret Jews in Shakespeare’s time.

Brian and I chat about Television (Part VII)

In this last part we talk about history. David Starkey, Michael Portillo and K. G. B. Taylor all rate a mention. 

By the way, Brian sent me a link which explains a bit more about our Gary Halliday mystery. After a bit more Googling I discovered that it was Gary Halliday that made way for Doctor Who.

 

Brian and I chat about Television (Part VI)

This time we get back to talking about sport and then talk about the wisdom of Boris Becker aged 17; David Beckham “I don’t regard thinking about an answer before you give it is evidence of stupidity” and why Big Internet is biased towards the left.

Brian and I chat about Television (Part V)

In this part (recorded a week after Part IV) we begin with a bit of re-capitulation and talk about the A-Team; “fatuously enjoyable” is Brian’s verdict. After that we start flying off on tangents discussing such things as cultural assumptions and the importance of rationality. On the way we do manage to mention in passing Doctor Who, Wheeler Dealers and Monty Python. “[John Cleese] stopped being funny ever since he started seeing a psychiatrist.” as Brian says.

Brian and I chat about Television (Part IV)

 

Can TV be a force for freedom? Surely not! But Brian makes the case that it was one of the factors that led to victory in the Cold War.

Brian and I chat about Television (Part III)

“[Sport] sucks all the fascism out of real life and stuffs it into a football stadium where it belongs.”

Yup, we’re talking about sport on TV. This may be where I explain how it’s a great alternative to mogadon. But it might not be. 

And after sport we talk about the Doctor Who missing episodes and missing episodes generally before (somehow) getting on to the subject of Jane Austen and violence. 

Brian and I chat about Television (Part II)

In this part we mainly discuss the impact TV had on crime. Brian thinks it had quite a lot.

Also the Gary Halliday mystery gets a little less mysterious. OK, so we don’t know who he was, what he did or where he came from, we do get to find out that he had a rag.

In the previous post I may have suggested that this podcast will end up having 5 parts. I was wrong. It looks like we're going to end up with 7.

Brian and I chat about Television (Part I)

This podcast has had something of a troubled beginning. First of all, we ran out of space on the SD card meaning that 10 minutes of the greatest conversation in history is now lost for ever. It was mainly about cricket.

Then, we found that although Brian had plenty to say I had few questions to ask which rather put the damper on things. At that point we decided to abandon and come back another day. Which we did. The second session was much better and much longer. In fact we gabbled on for so long we had to have the odd break.

The upshot is that we have ended up with 5 parts. In Part I Brian states that he likes TV and that "proper" TV involves implausibly good-looking people doing implausible things. Sadly we never do get to find out who Gary Halliday is.

Other parts will be posted up as they become available i.e. when I get round to editing them.

Brian Micklethwait and I chat about the First World War

Usually it's me doing the interviewing but since I am the resident expert on the First World War for once I am the interviewee. But don't worry Micklethwait fans, Brian does plenty if not a majority of the speechifying.

We start off by talking about why Britain went to war.

Cobden Centre Radio: Detlev Schlichter on Where's my monetary collapse?

Most Cobden Centre supporters will be thoroughly familiar with Detlev Schlichter through his book Paper Money Collapse and his blog The Schlichter Files.  In this podcast I ask how it is that the collapse he predicted in the book has been averted.  Detlev explains how western governments have propped up their banks, how we have seen a massive change in the money creation process and how inflation expectations will act as the trigger for the final collapse.

Cobden Centre Radio: Douglas Carswell MP on The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy

Are democracy and sound money incompatible?  Many people think they are but Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, begs to differ.  Indeed, he has begged so much that he's produced a book: The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy.

In this podcast we discuss how debts are undermining Western civilisation, the significance of unequal taxation and how iDemocracy most definitely does not mean voting by computer.  And, oh yeah, what is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?

Cobden Centre Radio: Brian Micklethwait on Propaganda

In this podcast, Brian and I discuss the difficulties in making the case for Austrian economics, the difficulties in reading the case for Austrian economics, the importance of the term "Austrianism", how things are going and how best to deal with socialists (answer: agree on the problem: disagree on the solution). We also manage to get into a bit of a pickle over whether TARP and the Stimulus were Keynesian or Monetarist.  If there are members of the commentariat who could enlighten us we would be grateful. Here is a link to Brian's piece on the importance of being Number Two

John Butler on the Golden Revolution

Antoine Clarke and I talk about the occupation of the Ruhr

At least, that's how it starts. But soon enough we're talking about the Battle of Jena and all points between, which include the Franco-Prussian War, the siege(s) of Paris and the Dreyfus Affair.

Watching TV in bars and cafes abroad

In this edition Michael Jennings and I talk about what you can learn from watching TV in bars and cafes abroad. Quite a lot, as it turns out, though not, sadly, in the case of that enigma wrapped up in a mystery that is Australia.

Paul and I talk about everything

"Everything" to include unemployment, the Fairness Doctrine, liberation theology, Guatamalan novelists and banking - a subject that prompted Paul to remark: "If you consider it and think about it too long, you go mad."

Brian and I talk about the IPL

It's new and it's roots are shallow but the Indian Premier League (IPL) looks set to stay. Brian and I talk about why I like it and what is says about India and cricket in general. Some swearing.

Patrick and Brian talk about the rise of Austrian Economics

Why it is rising, the strength of western democracy, the 1970s and the failure behind greenery.