The Latest Breaking News from John Stuart Mill

A new article from the Daedalus (Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) Future of Free Speech Symposium.

The philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill once wrote about why he didn’t take holidays. “No holidays allowed,” he explained, “lest the habit of work should be broken, and a taste for idleness acquired.”

Identity plays a crucial role in life choices, liberty & resources. Chief Justice Chandrachud discussed the relationship between identity & liberty, & the role of the State in perpetuating social prejudices & hierarchies. He cited John Stuart Mill's book on Liberty & the idea of "Your right to swing your…

I just read and much enjoyed this new book, and highly recommend it: It's readable, factually detailed, and thoughtful in its analysis and recommendations. For a taste of the argument, see this Substack post. And here are a few of the jacket blurbs from others: This riveting book presents compelling…

In this series, The Week looks at the ideas and innovations that permanently changed the way we see the world. 

Letters: Stephen Locke, Lawson’s former private secretary, on how rewarding it was to work for him, and Margaret Beckett on his divisive legacy. Plus letters from Mark Hebert, Valerie Gidlow and Greg Quiery

Shunning or shutting down Keating without discussion only highlights our limitations as a society willing to acknowledge different opinions.

Some influential studies show that the decision to have kids leads to greater suffering — at least for parents. A famous study by Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman and collaborators showed that working women experienced more negative, and less positive, emotions while caring for kids than while engaged in almost…

These measures are born of culture wars rather than the need to balance the freedom to disrupt with maintenance of order, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins