My latest for The Rebel: [podcast title="State of the Un-ion (audio)"]http://www.thejohnrobson.com/podcast/John2016/March/160324Rebel-audio.mp3[/podcast]
My latest for The Rebel: More than 300 years after the Act of Union received Royal Assent on March 24, 1707, combining England and Scotland into Great Britain, there is surprising dissatisfaction and indifference on both sides of the border even though for most of the next three centuries both parties benefited enormously as Britain became indeed great in just about every conceivable way. https://youtu.be/unbUy1gRFnk
In my latest National Post column I say that Britons' choice between the EU and self-government shouldn't be hard.
In this clip from our upcoming Magna Carta documentary, we tell the story of one of John's heroes, Sir Edward Coke, a great defender of liberty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA3vLM1cQ_c
The final episode of Reality University Podcast is up. It deals with one of the great heroes in the struggle for liberty, Sir Edward Coke.
This coming Monday the organizers are releasing an online version of the speech on Magna Carta I gave at the Essentials of Freedom Conference in Calgary and selling tickets for those who want to watch it and join me for an online Q&A session afterward. Go here for details.
The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta is just 12 days away now. June 15 2015 is Magna Carta Day. Well, not in Ontario. A private members’ bill from Julia Monro (MPP York Simcoe) to make June 15 officially Magna Carta Day in this province is bottled up in committee and will likely languish if not die there since the legislature will rise on June 4 and won’t sit again until Sept. 14. They must be tired or something. Technically committees can meet in between so the bill could get reported out. But Third Reading must wait until fall if it ever happens.
Now I realize that private members’ bills rarely pass and it’s generally a lengthy process for those that do. Arguably it could go faster as a rule. But certainly when you’re looking at the 800th anniversary of what is widely agreed to be one of the most important events in our entire history, MPPs across party lines could have moved this particular bill along faster given that it was first introduced on July 24 of last year. Assuming they intend to move it at all.
On the plus side, we can celebrate Magna Carta even without the politicians.
The appointed president of the European Commission, a certain Jean-Claude Juncker, has just warned that if Greece leaves the Euro zone "we would put ourselves at risk because some, notably in the Anglo Saxon world, would try everything to deconstruct the euro area piece by piece, little by little." A spokesperson later clarified that when he said "Anglo Saxon world" he probably didn't mean the British personally so much as the loathsome "markets and speculators" one naturally associates with the wretched English-speakers of this world. A lovely thought phrased with exquisite tact. But why is it a warning? It strikes me as high time someone did it.