Big Brother Lives Next Door
16 June 2025
Please Give Generously to Keep the Daily Sceptic Afloat
16 June 2025
by Toby Young
Medical freedom, like rock fishing, may be dangerous – but as Dr David Bell argues, the right to risk one's own life is the essence of liberty, not something to be dictated by experts.
Watch out for the ratchet effect, says Abbie MacGregor. Otherwise we risk sleepwalking into the end of personal responsibility, where every aspect of life is subject to bureaucratic control in the name of public health.
When the state confined whole populations to their homes and bossed us around for years during Covid, where were the philosophers who say they love liberty? Cheering on the authoritarians, says Prof James Alexander.
Lord Sumption has said that if we are to be free we should do as much as possible by convention, not by law. That's right, says Prof James Alexander. But how does one recover conventions that have been lost or destroyed?
Team GB golfer Charley Hull has said the Olympic ban on smoking may harm her chances of a gold medal as cigarettes help her relax after an ADHD diagnosis last year.
Labour is "mission-driven", says Keir Starmer. But the last thing anyone should want is a Government with a mission, says David McGrogan. That's because a Government with a mission needs conscripts. That's you and me.
The insidious growth of 'nudging' as a subtle means of controlling democratic populations is undermining our freedom in the West. But there's an important reason it cannot work for long, says Prof James Alexander.
The mounting evidence of harms from lockdowns and vaccines has swelled the ranks of the sceptics. But principled opposition to coercion doesn't depend on efficacy or safety, says Nick Rendell.
The West used to know why we should obey the law – our Christian faith gave us the answer. But as the sea of faith continues to withdraw, the void is being filled by sinister ideologies, says Prof James Alexander.
David Bell says his tribe on the 'progressive Left' abandoned him during Covid as it lurched into authoritarianism. But he moved to Texas and found a new community with those who love freedom.
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