Author Archives: bernardporter2013

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About bernardporter2013

Retired academic, author, historian.

Do People Really Want Freedom?

That is, as opposed – if it is opposed – to security, comfort, a home, entertainment, and a host of other ‘goods’ that don’t necessarily depend on it. Sigmund Freud thought not: https://www.socratic-method.com/quote-meanings-and-interpretations/sigmund-freud-most-people-do-not-really-want-freedom-because-freedom-involves-responsibility-and-most-people-are-frightened-of-responsibility. (His argument is summarised in that link.). … Continue reading →

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Trump in History

The evidence of Trump’s ignorance, stupidity, lying, narcissism, greed, corruption and cruelty is so ubiquitous just now, that there seems scarcely any point in adding to it. So I’m not going to; even after just having finished reading Mary L … Continue reading →

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Trump Addiction Syndrome

I have an addiction. Kajsa thinks it’s to my cellphone, which she sees me hooked on to longer than is healthy for me, or for our relationship. I recognise that this could be the sign of a psychological addiction, of … Continue reading →

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Soccer Inc.

The radical reform that Gianni Infantino is proposing for the football World Cup – to ‘privatise’ it (to an extent) by selling shares in it to private investors – is yet another symptom of the seemingly inexorable advance of untamed … Continue reading →

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The Baltics

The Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – ought to be considered parts of Scandinavia, but rarely are, because of the way history has impacted on them. By ‘history’, of course, I mean Russia, especially in recent years when … Continue reading →

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The Mount Rushmore Address

Here’s Trump’s pre-Independence Day speech yesterday, in front of the huge iconic carvings of four of his presidential predecessors on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfGOBUsHwU. (Sorry about the adverts; but you should be able to be able to skip … Continue reading →

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MAGA on the Skids?

Can it be that Trump is already on his way down? I don’t mean all the way to Hell, necessarily; although I imagine they’re waiting eagerly for him there. But his ‘approval ratings’ in the latest polls seem to be … Continue reading →

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Starmer, Burnham and Some Pigs

I welcomed Keir Starmer as Labour’s leader, and now Prime Minister (if only for a few more weeks). I didn’t agree with all his policies; but he seemed solid, rational and decent, in contrast to all the Prime Ministerial crap … Continue reading →

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The World Cup

I remember seeing at a football match – it was probably a West Ham game; if so it was very apt – a huge banner unfurled in one of the stands, reading: ‘FOOTBALL: CREATED BY WORKERS, STOLEN BY CAPITALISTS.’ (Or … Continue reading →

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Swedish ‘Anti-Semitism’ again

We’ve seen this in Britain, haven’t we: so-called ‘anti-semitism’ being ‘weaponised’ against Leftists, dishonestly, by the Right-wing media? In Britain’s case it was Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party that was targeted in 2015-19, to damaging electoral effect. I’m sorry to say … Continue reading →

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