Hayek’s ingenious arguments against a centrally run economy are equally devastating to the idea of a centrally run bio-security state.

If de Beauvoir’s elders can be accused of mistaking repression for virtue, then she and her intellectual peers were blind to the fact that over-indulgence is not freedom, but, instead, ranks among the most irresponsible forms of neglect.

Roberts does not refrain from criticising George, both for his political missteps and for his tendency to be slow in acknowledging them. But overall, Roberts has painted a masterful portrait of a patriotic, diligent and cultivated monarch who was periodically struck down by mental illness, worst of all during the tragic last decade of his life.

Never has libertarianism, a notoriously loud creed, been so hushed in its concern for liberty.

The New Puritans feign an aversion to pride and idols only insofar as it serves their political ends. They should be rejected as menacing imposters. But we should also reject a more sincere application of Puritan principles.

If conservatism is about love for the society that is ours, what are conservatives to do when they look around and find their society increasingly unlovable?

Our institutions of higher learning nevertheless reveal how, even within a formal meritocracy, entrenched privilege can co-exist with an appearance of fairness. When the lower rungs of the ladder are kicked away by those already on top, social mobility grinds to a halt and the meritocratic promise loses its capacity to inspire.