Weekend Reading
Writing worth reading - 16th/17th September 2023
Is owning a second home unethical? A philosopher reflects by Julian Baggini
“But the UK’s second-home scene presents unique challenges due to a perfect storm of its geography, economy, housing policy and welfare system. Start with housing policy. The restrictions on new developments that help preserve the charm and character of many towns and villages make them more attractive to second-home owners and help drive up prices beyond the means of people who live there.”
Liberals must overcome their aversion to conflict by Janan Ganesh
“The woke left is a threat to liberalism. So is the post-truth right. But each is now well understood. The extent to which liberals themselves are a problem isn’t. Because their creed puts such stress on reason, it attracts those who are hopeless at conflict: at the recognition of its frequent necessity, and at the actual waging of it.…”
Our new PM must whip No 10 into shape by Rohan Silva
“I called over to one of the civil servants and asked if he knew how to change this. “Well,” he told me, “you’ll have to wait until the IT team are back in tomorrow, because autocomplete has been switched off for every computer in the building.”