“Anyone who has witnessed the steady rise of Trump, with the thumbs-up, thumbs-down swagger of an omnipotent Roman emperor,” knew this day was coming. Attorney General William Barr has just announced the end of the Justice Department’s unofficial, 16-year-long moratorium on executing federal prisoners. The department plans to put five inmates to death in December …
My life closed twice before its close; It yet remains to see If immortality unveils A third event to me. So huge, so hopeless to conceive As these that twice befell, Parting is all we know of heaven And all we know of hell.
The Queen, who by tradition does not comment on politics, is quoted as saying that the political class is incapable of governing. Amen to that. Robert Unger, a philosopher at Harvard, says that European politicians don’t know how to do anything apart from splitting the difference, and are incapable of facing up to fundamental problems. This …
Continue reading ‘The British political system is bankrupt (and in good company)’ »
Well-intentioned policies can have unintended consequences. For example, while the rate of new opioid prescriptions has fallen in recent years, a large number of physicians have stopped initiating opioids altogether. While that may sound like a good thing, it’s not clear whether this does more good or harm to patients in severe pain. This isn’t …
Continue reading ‘Drug deaths in the US and some unintended consequences. No. 2’ »
For the first time since 1990, the number of annual drug overdose deaths in the US has declined. The 5 per cent fall reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is almost entirely due to a drop in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers. Does this mean the opioid crisis has peaked? The …
