#Habermas imagined a society where ideas competed through "the non-coercive force of the better argument." An ideal worth striving for, or an impossible dream? @patrickxwest on one of the world's most influential contemporary philosophers: philosophynow.org/issues/174…

English and Irish genetic profiles are very close. The Irish reference has slightly more Steppe-related ancestry: 50.1% versus 46.8% in the English reference. 🧬 Curious about your own ancestry? 🌍 Explore your DNA at worldgenetics.app/

Closing Labour conference, deputy leader (and Manchester City fan) Lucy Powell tells the party's conference: "Can I just say to all those United fans who have been gloating all week - you're still crap and you know you are." I'm sure that'll go down well.

Labour MPs today aren't the brightest, well-read or most worldly lot. And Riddell-Carpenter is very much of her kind, and of her generation. This kind of hysterical, 24-hour obsessiveness is something we have come to expect from emotive, millennial leftists. Her nocturnal torments bring to mind the recent revelation by Paloma Faith, also born in the 1980s, that she tucked up her children in bed at night with the words 'Free Palestine'. While Riddell-Carpenter grew up in rural Suffolk, it's more significant that she went to Soas in London, where she studied History and Politics, followed by a master's in Islamic history. Whereas it's unlikely that she would have read anything by Orwell at Soas, a crucible of anti-Western theorising, it's certain that she would have been instructed there in the teachings of Edward Said, the figure whose writings have taught generations that their country's past is immersed in racism, and that most of what they know about their nation's history is confected. ✍️ Patrick West Article | spectator.com/article/why-th… | @patrickxwest

By me: For Creasy, free speech means state-regulated speech. It means only people with approved views can speak, and anyone who steps out of line must be silenced and, if necessary, punished. spectator.com/article/the-ir…

The dark side of humanity was on grim display last week when footage emerged of a migrant abandoning an infant in the English Channel as he clambered onto a dinghy, leaving his baby to be picked up by rescuers. Whether that child was his or not was not the point: how could any human being leave a baby to its own fate that way? Furthermore, whether this man was so desperate to flee persecution or fear of death in the land of his origin that he would do go to any lengths to seek asylum in Britain (notwithstanding that his immediate country of origin was France), or whether he was just seeking a new life where opportunities and benefits were more forthcoming, neither reason can forgive his behaviour. ✍️ Patrick West Article | spectator.com/article/what-k… | @patrickxwest

A 'Crypto City' is in its initial stages on the Venezuelan island of Margarita; Norway's first private city, Liberstad, was pronounced in 2019; and in Honduras, the PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has helped to finance the creation of the private city of Prospero. No one seriously expects Piddington to throw up border fences, but let's not forget we still have a micronation off our shores: Sealand. Established in 1967 on a disused North Sea fort seven miles off the Suffolk coast, it promised hope for a previous generation of utopians who believed they could break free from the dead hand of the past. ✍️ Patrick West Article | spectator.com/article/forget… | @patrickxwest