Free Kiwis!

Nigel Biggar is an emeritus professor at Oxford University, where he was Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology. He is also an Anglican priest. His most recent book is Colonialism. A Moral Reckoning (2023). We talked to Prof. Biggar about the how to assess the British Empire and about the roots of our universities' ongoing travails. 

Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colonialism-Moral-Reckoning-Nigel-Biggar/dp/0008511632

Only a few days after its Senate voted down the University of Auckland's 'academic freedom' policy, Victoria University of Wellington has come out with a similar policy of its own. Here to discuss VUW's policy with us is Steph Martin from the Free Speech Union. We also discuss Steph's work to help protect New Zealanders' speech rights on a variety of fronts. 

Toby Young is the founder of the Free Speech Union and The Daily Sceptic, an associate editor of The Spectator, and a former associate editor at Quillette. We talked to him about the prospects for free speech and academic freedom in the Anglosphere, why he left Quillette and founded The Daily Sceptic, and what his experience of free (or charter) schools has been.

https://freespeechunion.org/
https://dailysceptic.org/

Peter Ridd was formerly head of the Physics Programme and the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Queensland. We asked him how and why he was forced out of JCU, as well as about the Great Barrier Reef and climate change in the Pacific. An article by Peter calling for greater quality assurance in 'policy-science': https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

The morning after Victoria University of WELLINGTON's free speech event, Michael and James met to discuss the event, including both its set-up and points made by the speakers.

Jonathan Rauch is a US writer whose books include The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 (2018); Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (2004); Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000); and Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought  (1993).

We talked to him about his latest book, The Constitution of Knowledge, and how to get our institutional settings right for a society which is free and, at the same time, oriented towards truth. 

A conversation about Victoria University of Wellington Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith's decision to postpone his original panel on free speech and about the two new panels he's now announced. Topics we discuss include: Is the new panel more balanced or representative? Is Michael right-wing? And is Nic Smith going to be able to force his institution to respect people's basic expressive rights - or is reform from the outside required?

Wilkinson and Jeram's NZI report on inequality:
https://nzinitiative.org.nz/assets/Up...

Our recent column on VUW"s new free speech guidelines in The Post:
https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/repor...

Our X account:   / freekiwis 
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=118142...

The topic of our third Free Kiwis! book club was Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay's book  Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity - And Why this Harms Everybody.

We talked about its account of post-modernism and 'grievance studies,' and considered how much this has affected academia and the free speech crisis in New Zealand.

Panellists:
Dr James Kierstead, NZ Initiative
Dr Michael Johnston, NZ Initiative
Dr Matthew Birchall, NZ Initiative
Dr Bryce WIlkinson, NZ Initiative
Prof. Kendall Clements, University of Auckland


The book: https://www.thenile.co.nz/books/helen...

Graham Linehan is the co-creator of Father Ted and other popular UK comedy series. We talked to him about Ted's origins, comedy in a time of censorship, and trans issues.

Graham's time in NZ was hosted by the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/

Mia Hughes' report on 'the WPATH files': https://environmentalprogress.org/big...

Graham's X:   / glinner 
Free Kiwis!' X:   / freekiwis  

Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham. He talked to Michael about whether the Amish will inherit the earth, whether wokeness is a religion-substitute, and how we can protect liberal science and civilization.

Eric's book on religious groups and population growth: https://www.amazon.com/Shall-Religiou...
Eric's course on wokeness: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/courses/...