The German hate speech saga

A federal court in Berlin decided that it was a legitimate expression of an opinion to call a politician a “slut”, “piece of shit”, and “brainless” on Facebook. The politician (who had indeed sued the user) and her supporters are outraged that the court would allow this “hate speech” to exist online. After having been […]

Why electric cars really aren’t that great and petrol cars really aren’t that bad

What rings true intuitively isn’t always backed up by the numbers. Joe Biden, the current front-runner of the Democratic 2020 field, promises the return of electric vehicle (EV) tax credits. The presidential candidate says that “a key barrier to further deployment of these greenhouse-gas reducing vehicles is the lack of charging stations and coordination across all levels […]

Greta Thunberg deserves mockery

At this point, there’s hardly any need to repost the video of Greta Thunberg speaking at a UN press conference earlier this week, so widely has the footage been spread on social media. Fighting back tears and with a trembling voice, the 16-year-old issued an emotional call to fight climate change that has captured people’s […]

City AM debate: is fast fashion ethical?

London Fashion Week is drawing to a close, but does fast fashion stand up to ethical scrutiny? Bill Wirtz, senior policy analyst at the Consumer Choice Center, says YES. Every few weeks, there is a new environmentalist quest to ban something that consumers like. While activists in the UK are protesting “fast fashion”, their German […]

“European Way of Life” causes EU outrage

The newly appointed head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, is former German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen. She has now presented her cabinet, and every EU member state has suggested one commissioner, dividing up the 27 portfolios to each country. Von der Leyen had insisted on gender balance […]

A European “no-fly list” violates civil rights

Imitating the United States’ surveillance state methods will not make Europeans safer. The European Union is going through the process of creating a counter-terorrism database that will compile information from EU countries regarding ongoing investigations, prosecutions and convictions of militants, including returning foreign fighters who joined terrorist groups abroad. The measure, called EUROJUST, was supported […]

Bashing big bosses, the favourite discipline of the French press

It is an antiphon, declared over and over again in public opinion. From high-level intellectuals like Noam Chomsky to the average citizen, everyone agrees: control by the big bosses over the media protects the former from being targeted by the latter. Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber was already warning of the danger of journalists losing control of their […]