Recent content by Dietrich

What about freedom of choice? If a pregnant woman breakfasts on cigarettes and scotch the prognosis for the child is rather bleak, but no sane person suggests we ban tobacco or liquor for that reason. The public is well aware that raw milk is risky, just like raw eggs, crossing the road, taking...

That man is Dr Norman Borlaug, undoubtedly the greatest human being ever to have lived.

Here in Britain there was a time when practically all working men would have the same done, labour being cheaper than cloth back then. During the forties, the same would apply to virtually all clothes, with 'make do and mend' being the motto of the day - tatty sweaters would be unpicked to knit...

A tip of the hat from this side of the pond for the pivotal role Reagan, his advisors and many great American economists played in Thatcher's reforms of the British economy. As an Austrian schooler I cannot fully agree with Friedman and the Chicago school (especially when it comes to...

I can't speak for Americans, but the British never did anything unspeakable during the second world war. We fought and we killed but we did that in accordance with our moral and legal values. POWs were treated with respect. Medics were never attacked. Neutral countries were left untouched. We...

'The threat' can never be eliminated. A terrorist attack of the type that happened on 7/7 required four determined men, a few thousand pounds and some household chemicals. 9/11 took two dozen men, some boxcutters and a few plane tickets. Both were carried out in a largely autonomous manner...

Detection and evidence-gathering may need to be done covertly but justice should never be. Secrecy is a useful tool, but to my eyes it is being abused. It is one thing to keep the name of an undercover detective secret during an operation, but it is another thing entirely to deny someone their...

I am sad to say that I will reserve my praise until more information is available. The British police and government have something of a history of violently crying wolf when it comes to terrorism. Today's raids may have been the heroic aversion of a terrible disaster or it may have been the...

For day-to-day freshening of my suits, I hang that day's suit up in the bathroom when I shower and the steam in the room takes out the wrinkles and smoke odor. I have them properly pressed a couple of times a year and only have them dry-cleaned if they're really grubby, otherwise relying of...

If I may, there is a wealth of information about bespoke tailoring at Thomas Mahon's blog. Fundamentally, what seperates made-to-measure from bespoke is that a proper bespoke tailor will draft a pattern especially for you and will shape the garment around you rather than altering a basic pattern...

A fundamental aspect of British culture that will be somewhat alien to American readers is our deep-seated resentment of sucessful people. For whatever reason, many Brits are more likely to see a nice car and vandalise it out of spite than admire it and respect whoever worked to buy it. Perhaps...

I hesitate to intrduce myself on such a negative note, but I feel compelled to refute a falsehood such as this. Death by medical malpractice is a rare occurence indeed. Taken alone, deaths as a direct consequence of surgical error make up a fraction of one percent of all deaths, most of those...