Many SW1 Conservatives seem trapped in the cognitive trauma of the Hague/Howard years, when the instincts of the ‘Tory base’ were seen as an electoral liability. Cameron’s geniality and ’modernisation’ on social issues successfully stitched together a broader electoral coalition, while keeping the base on-side.

1. I have just posted a short essay on the thought of René Girard, whose esoteric ideas have a niche but committed following of ‘Girardians’.

To say that Girard’s ideas are enormous in their scope is an understatement.

mythinking.rocks/WillMartin/ren… 2. The 2 big ideas at the centre of Girard's work are 'mimetic desire' & 'sacrifice of the scapegoat' from which he weaves extraordinarily rich insights

His profound understandings of philosophical, religious & literary texts repeatedly startle with their lucidity & seriousness

1.I note from this thread how many people have nominated 'Thinking Fast & Slow' as a book which has profoundly affected they way they think. I count myself among them, & it would be interesting to understand in more detail what has been particularly impactful for different people

https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1015261932473864194

2. I think for me the 'blew me away' insight is best captured when Kahneman says that when asked to remember stressful incidents from their past, most people run out of examples after giving three or four

1. Like many people I have been drawn to Christopher Hitchens. Perhaps the many recordings of him on YouTube will mark his legacy more than his writings because the real-life roundness of his warmth, intelligence, acerbity and fearlessness seem a unique and lamented combination 2. But when I was younger I remember reading some of his magazine contributions, and while admiring the flash of his prose and the range of his knowledge, I was unconvinced by the gusto of his righteousness and his strong allegiance to the romance of socialist politics