On June 4 I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to testify on online hate, and urged them not to censor even loathsome opinions because truth will prevail in a contest of ideas. You can watch the beginning of the session and hear the rest including my testimony on ParlVu (my prepared remarks begin at 9:09).

See also my June 5 National Post column adapted from that testimony.

“Only God can fix prices”

“a hadith attributed to the Prophet” according to Bernard Lewis The Middle East: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day (although he notes that it was frequently disregarded in practice with bad results)

In my latest National Post column I challenge those prone to declaring policy debates “settled” to tell us on which subjects, if any, an intelligent, decent person might have a different view from theirs.

“Yes, he [Santayana] is urging us to remember our mistakes so that we do not repeat them. But he wants us to remember, as well, our glories. To forget our mistakes is bad. But to forget our successes may be worse.”

Neil Postman Building a Bridge to the 18th Century

“I do not think that we can hope to understand the problems and policies of our own day if we do not know the problems and policies out of which they grew.”

Lionel Robbins The Theory of Economic Policy in English Classical Political Economy

“In the heart of the remotest mountains rises the little Kirk…”

Thomas Carlyle The French Revolution

In my latest National Post column I say art galleries should not hide paintings after some Muslims call them blasphemous.