Britannia Radio

Melville’s Typee (1846) and the Case for Civilization

From the desk of Thomas F. Bertonneau on Tue, 2009-05-19 08:01

My subject is Herman Melville, and more specifically Melville’s case for civilization, but I would like to approach his Typee (1846), where he makes that case, through a preamble having to do with the figure against whose arguments Melville stakes his own: Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

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Oh Canada! ... Role-Reversal in North America?

From the desk of Marc Huybrechts on Mon, 2009-05-18 18:23

Stereotypes are often rooted in some current or past reality, but they can also become outdated.  While the USA and Japan have for a long time been regarded as small-government countries, among industrial countries, Canada has long been considered more ‘socialistic’ and closer to the big-government model of Western Europe.   However, a careful look at the relevant economic data casts serious doubt on that old stereotype.  That is exactly what three economists did in a recent article in The Washington Post (Chris Edwards, Jason Clemens and Niels Veldhuis,Great Right North, Sunday, May 17, 2009), using data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development (the OECD, which is specialized in constructing ‘comparable data’ for industrial countries) as well as on national data from the USA and Canada.   Consider the following 7 criteria for judging the degree of socialism in North America (excluding Mexico). 

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The Surprising Rise of UKIP

From the desk of A. Millar on Mon, 2009-05-18 13:21

Not so long ago it seemed that the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) was no longer an effective force in politics. Disaffected Labour voters – and there are many – have either stopped voting, or have generally turned to the Conservative Party, even though its leader, the eco-friendly David Cameron, does not command great enthusiasm.

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