This week, we received news of the unfortunate loss of Sir Roger Scruton, who passed away from cancer at age 75. As Rev. Ben Johnson wrote, Scruton was a “noted philosopher, expert on aesthetics, and intellectual architect of modern conservatism,” recently described by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “the greatest modern conservative thinker.” Continue Reading...
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January 14, 2020
NHS leader: Stop ‘prioritising’ your own health
A senior official in the UK’s single-payer healthcare system says that patients should stop selfishly putting their own health and well-being first in order to improve the funding and “morale” of the NHS. Continue Reading...
January 13, 2020
10 quotes: Sir Roger Scruton
Sir Roger Scruton, whom Acton Institute co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico once described as “perhaps the world’s leading conservative philosopher,” passed away from cancer Sunday at the age of 75. His profound intelligence probed every subject from aesthetics and sexuality to religion and the minutiae of governing. Continue Reading...
January 13, 2020
Hayek, Catholic social teaching, and social justice
Last week David Deaval, Visiting Professor at the University of St. Thomas and 2013 Novak Award winner, wrote a very thoughtful essay on Fredrich Hayek, the question of social justice, and Catholic social teaching at the Imaginative Conservative. Continue Reading...
January 13, 2020
The ‘great adventure’ of Sir Roger Scruton, RIP
“Real grief,” wrote Sir Roger Scruton in Culture Counts, “focuses on the object, the person lost and mourned for, while sentimental grief focuses on the subject, the person who grieves.” Continue Reading...
January 10, 2020
The NHS: The god that failed
In 1949, half-a-dozen ex-Communists wrote a book about their former faith, dubbing socialism The God that Failed. As the UK’s revered National Health Service enters its worst spiral on record, it seems to have earned that title. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2020
Things are getting (even) worse for religious believers in China
There’s more depressing news from China. Its Religious Affairs Office has announced that, not only must all religious organizations get state approval for any activity they undertake, they are also expected to “spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party.” Continue Reading...
January 09, 2020
How California’s new ‘gig-work’ law threatens local artists
Capitalism is routinely castigated as an enemy of the arts, with much of the criticism pointed toward monsters of profit and efficiency. Others fret over more systemic features, worried that commercialization and consumerism will inevitably detach artists from healthy creative contexts. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2020
Gertrude Himmelfarb: Teacher of the Free and Virtuous Society
Since the passing of Gertrude Himmelfarb I have been reflecting on just how much she taught me through her voluminous historical scholarship. In this week’s Acton Line Podcast I interviewed Yuval Levin, Resident Scholar and Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at AEI, who was also her student. Continue Reading...
January 08, 2020
Doug Bandow: China exports its ‘social credit’ system to Venezuela
China’s social credit system seeks to tie each individual’s credit rating and privileges to his support for the Communist regime. Venezuela’s socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro, has moved to import “perhaps the creepiest tool of repression” to his own country, writes Doug Bandow in this week’s Acton Commentary. Continue Reading...