I was interviewed by David Aaronovitch for this BBC radio documentary on "declinism." Excellent stuff. Well worth your time. (Just skip the parts where I'm talking or this will look like self-promotion or something.)

How does the committed partisan handle compelling evidence of, at a minimum, incompetent administration, such as the AG report on the mishandling of the F-35 file? Not by modifying the core belief. That belief is the central organizing principle of his perceptions and thoughts. It must be right. Hence, the evidence is misleading or unpersuasive or ... something. Human ingenuity being as wonderfully dexterous as it is, there are always rationalizations and evasions. The following is an email sent to me, in response to this column, which demonstrates the point nicely:

My mother would be horrified but I have to brag. Brag, brag, brag. It seems Silicon Valley legend Vinod Khosla is a big fan of Future Babble!

His verdict: “If you read one book this year, Future Babble should be it – it’s a fresh conventional wisdom-busting book that will have you questioning all the so-called ‘expert advice’ you’ve followed over the years.”

Brag.

One of the few responses I got to this column about marijuana potency:

 

You must have been stoned when you wrote your article 'The myth of the potent pot'  Pllllllease!  I am from the 70's generation who did smoke the best ... B.C. Bud/Okanagan Gold.....  So do the math... I am in my 50's and no I don't smoke anything anymore but have tried a bit and have friends who still smoke occasionally and say that the pot now is EXTREMELY strong...even for some old pot heads.   You say you have personal experience ......what is your experience?  To advocate that pot is not harmful is just totally irresponsible and frankly laughable. Hey, have another joint and write something like....hmmmmm ...acid or mescaline was really  OK ..... oh you know those crazy 70's.