<?xml  version='1.0'   encoding='UTF-8'  ?><rss  version='2.0'   xmlns:content='http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/'   xmlns:wfw='http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/'   xmlns:dc='http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/'   xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'   xmlns:sy='http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/'   xmlns:itunes='http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd'   xmlns:slash='http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/'  ><channel><title>The Unz Review: James Thompson's Articles</title><atom:link href='https://www.unz.com/xfeed/rss/jthompson/'  rel='self'  type='application/rss+xml' /><link>https://www.unz.com</link><description>A Collection of Interesting, Important, and Controversial Perspectives Largely Excluded from the American Mainstream Media</description><lastBuildDate>Sat, 09 Apr 2022 14:56:50 +0000</lastBuildDate><language>en-US</language><sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod><sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency><generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9</generator>
<item><title>X-Raying Race, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/x-raying-race/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/x-raying-race/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2022 13:47:06 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=509582</guid><description><![CDATA[One conception of race is that it is skin deep, and is no more than a matter of skin pigmentation. By implication, such a categorisation is superficial, trivial, and unlikely to be an explanation of any presumed racial differences in behaviour. There may be effects due to people making unwarranted assumptions based on skin colour,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>150</slash:comments></item><item><title>Medical Equipment May be Racist, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/medical-equipment-may-be-racist/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/medical-equipment-may-be-racist/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2021 18:01:55 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=507535</guid><description><![CDATA[Headlines have to grab attention, and the two headlines in the Sunday Times certainly did that. Usually considered a mildly conservative Sunday paper, with a circulation of 648,000 it is twice as popular as the next rival, the Sunday Telegraph. A Sunday paper is often the one that families are most likely to read and...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>101</slash:comments></item><item><title>Media Bias, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/media-bias/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/media-bias/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 08 Oct 2021 11:08:11 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=505632</guid><description><![CDATA[Is it ever possible to work out whether media are biased? Bias may be in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps we are all too prone to seeing bias whenever our preferences are challenged. One way is to study the stated political preferences of journalists, and to compare them with national political preferences as...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>53</slash:comments></item><item><title>Genetics: Blueprint (Plomin) or Lottery (Harden)?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/genetics-blueprint-plomin-or-lottery-harden/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/genetics-blueprint-plomin-or-lottery-harden/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:29:33 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=505473</guid><description><![CDATA[Books have titles so that readers are tempted to buy them. Such titles are a general indication, and the text will give the further explanations. Neither Plomin nor Harden need be taken literally, but their choice of analogy reveals a general attitude: Plomin sees genetics as being more causal than does Harden. His reference to...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>90</slash:comments></item><item><title>Adopt a Child, Drop an Illusion, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/adopt-a-child-drop-an-illusion/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/adopt-a-child-drop-an-illusion/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:46:50 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=504716</guid><description><![CDATA[I don’t do policy, but how about this one? In addition to all public policies aimed at getting rid of the achievement gaps between different groups, why not take an intensive approach? Continue with every program which is already under way, but add this one. Get every child who is under-performing to live permanently from...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>95</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Ability to Win Wars, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-ability-to-win-wars/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-ability-to-win-wars/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2021 11:09:54 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=503948</guid><description><![CDATA[The Rand Corporation had a look at the factors which led to effect war fighting, and found that ability was a key factor. Thanks to commentator Mac Tonight for the link. Determinants of Productivity for Military Personnel: A Review of Findings on the Contribution of Experience, Training, and Aptitude to Military Performance Jennifer Kavanagh Prepared...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>53</slash:comments></item><item><title>Afghan Intelligence, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/afghan-intelligence/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/afghan-intelligence/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2021 20:27:29 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=503855</guid><description><![CDATA[Estimates vary, and fall short of basic data quality. The highest estimate I can find for Afghanistan is IQ 83, and it is just that: an estimate. Say IQ 86 for Iran and Iraq, IQ 83 for Pakistan and IQ 86 for Turkey and we need not quibble about individual points, but the general range...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>112</slash:comments></item><item><title>Game On: Pathfinder, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/game-on-pathfinder/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/game-on-pathfinder/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 14 Aug 2021 09:40:00 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=503779</guid><description><![CDATA[Does the world need another IQ test? There are many well-validated tests, and also a number of short tests suitable for large scale surveys, many of which take less than 10 minutes, and several useful ones which take less than 5 minutes. However, if you are searching for a good measure of the manifold panoply...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>14</slash:comments></item><item><title>Cry, the Beloved Country, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/cry-the-beloved-country/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/cry-the-beloved-country/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 23 Jul 2021 11:53:33 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=502977</guid><description><![CDATA[“Facing Reality” is Murray’s lament for America. He dissects the two key problems of race, and prescribes a reaffirmation of the American Creed of equality under the law, but is hoping against hope that those noble aims are achievable, and doubts his suggestions will be heeded. His short book might be briefly summarized as: “It’s...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>165</slash:comments></item><item><title>Social Justice or Malicious Envy?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/social-justice-or-malicious-envy/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/social-justice-or-malicious-envy/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 13 Jul 2021 13:40:36 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=502594</guid><description><![CDATA[Death and taxes may be inevitable, but it is only the latter which gather vocal apologists. Tax, these enthusiasts aver, is a good thing because it makes good things happen: hospitals, schools, roads, clean water and government inspectors maintaining standards. Certainly, taxes may provide services at better standards and lower costs than could be obtained...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>30</slash:comments></item><item><title>England Expects, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/england-expects/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/england-expects/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:13:08 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=502540</guid><description><![CDATA[Performance anxiety is a hazard in all skilled behaviour. Whatever the level of motor skills, and however much repeated practice is put in, it is an essential part of human nature to worry about what may happen, and to contemplate the possibility of failure. This is not all bad, since anxiety can be the spur...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>35</slash:comments></item><item><title>Poor White Kids Left Behind, Parliament Says, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/poor-white-kids-left-behind-parliament-says/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/poor-white-kids-left-behind-parliament-says/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:36:25 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=501894</guid><description><![CDATA[The UK Parliament Education committee has produced a report on left-behind white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds entitled: The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it (This provides the page from which you can download the report). It’s about time, you may say, that as everyone parades their genetics...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>140</slash:comments></item><item><title>Costly Immigration, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/costly-immigration/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/costly-immigration/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 12 Jun 2021 14:25:25 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=501237</guid><description><![CDATA[Many Western countries began immigration policies without feeling any need to monitor the long-term results. Indeed, many considered that immigration was an expedient response to labour shortages, and that the labourers, such as Turkish guest-workers in Germany, would probably eventually want to return home with their earnings at retirement. The United Kingdom seems to have...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>249</slash:comments></item><item><title>Scandal: More Black Than White Children in Special Schools., by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/scandal-more-black-than-white-children-in-special-schools/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/scandal-more-black-than-white-children-in-special-schools/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 21 May 2021 12:57:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=500390</guid><description><![CDATA[The British Broadcasting Corporation is one of the world’s largest (35,000 employees including part-timers) and best funded news organisations, against which few can compete. Not only does it have a budget which in 2018-19 amounted to £4.0 billion ($5.6 billion), but it is virtually guaranteed the continuation of that level of income by a government...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>143</slash:comments></item><item><title>Does Wealth Protect Kids from Psychological Disorders?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/does-wealth-protect-kids-from-psychological-disorders/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/does-wealth-protect-kids-from-psychological-disorders/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 18 May 2021 12:39:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=500251</guid><description><![CDATA[If you select for some characteristic, and find that groups differ on other characteristics, it is natural to assume that the variable you selected might be causal. For example, if you select on the basis of genetics, and find differences, it would be understandable if you thought that genetics accounted for the other differences. Equally,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>42</slash:comments></item><item><title>Institutional Correction, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/institutional-correction/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/institutional-correction/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2021 12:53:17 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=499922</guid><description><![CDATA[One hypothesis about the Anglo-Saxon world is that Britain 1.0 has been superseded by Britain 2.0, such that the latter gets updated first, and the former always lags behind, under threat of being discontinued. As a consequence, the US fashions in race relations have late echoes in the UK. Here are two little stories about...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>80</slash:comments></item><item><title>Fake CVs, Fake Results?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/fake-cvs-fake-results/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/fake-cvs-fake-results/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 24 Apr 2021 15:13:10 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=499118</guid><description><![CDATA[I recently commented on the UK report “Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities”, which dared to suggest that systemic racism was not the major cause of race differences in Britain. The wave of criticism continues. One line of attack is that the Commission did not give sufficient weight to studies which show that racial minorities...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>98</slash:comments></item><item><title>Is the UK a Model on Race?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/is-the-uk-a-model-on-race/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/is-the-uk-a-model-on-race/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2021 22:51:21 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=498471</guid><description><![CDATA[An official UK report “Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities” has got into trouble by coming to the wrong conclusions. It has stated that the UK is not a racist state, and although there are instances of racism, in most ways the UK is a model of non-racism. The report says that the main source...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>195</slash:comments></item><item><title>Our World in Blank Slate Data?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/our-world-in-blank-slate-data/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/our-world-in-blank-slate-data/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:17:37 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=497978</guid><description><![CDATA[Max Roser does great work at “Our World in Data”, virtually all of which I read and retweet approvingly. He has just written a paper calculating the amount of economic growth which will be required to lift people out of poverty. Lots and lots of growth, he argues. I think it likely that lots of...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>185</slash:comments></item><item><title>Reckoning with Vaccination Risk: the Fog of Blood-Clotting Wars, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/reckoning-with-vaccination-risk-the-fog-of-blood-clotting-wars/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/reckoning-with-vaccination-risk-the-fog-of-blood-clotting-wars/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2021 22:44:56 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=497808</guid><description><![CDATA[I do not like the sound of “blood clots”. Many European leaders don’t like the sound of them either. Not nice, as my Granny used to say. It seems that some people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccination appear to have developed blood clots, 37 among 17 million people Europeans given the vaccine, so many...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>81</slash:comments></item><item><title>God for Harry, England and St George, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/god-for-harry-england-and-st-george/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/god-for-harry-england-and-st-george/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 13 Mar 2021 14:25:32 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=497499</guid><description><![CDATA[A Royal Family is a projective test: it is designed to be an emblem of a nation with which all citizens can identify. They need to see enough in that family to be able to imagine themselves being part of it. This family, by dint of some historical achievement, is chosen as the prime example...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>60</slash:comments></item><item><title>Vaccination Procrastination, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-procrastination/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-procrastination/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2021 10:08:19 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=496807</guid><description><![CDATA[On Monday England was given an indication as to how it will eventually get out of lockdown. Gradually, and in very careful stages, seems to be the answer. We are in our third lockdown, and have staggered through two false dawns. What is different now is that vaccinations have been completed on 17.7 million citizens...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>308</slash:comments></item><item><title>Satanic Rituals, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/satanic-rituals/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/satanic-rituals/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 13 Feb 2021 14:06:00 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=496411</guid><description><![CDATA[At a time when there are concerns that Covid is being over-diagnosed, and its impact exaggerated, it is useful to look at another claim: that traumatic events in childhood have a major effect for the rest of a person’s life. On 18 November 1987 a fire at King’s Cross Underground station in London killed 31...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>159</slash:comments></item><item><title>Vaccination Side Effects, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-side-effects/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-side-effects/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2021 12:39:44 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=496082</guid><description><![CDATA[In this part of the world, the first side effect of vaccines has been political. Europe’s nations are now competing to get vaccinated, and the ructions have been considerable. From the start, the UK took a vaccine friendly stance. Early on it decided that vaccination was the long-term solution, and all else was merely a...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>399</slash:comments></item><item><title>Vaccination, English Style, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-english-style/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccination-english-style/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2021 15:00:55 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495830</guid><description><![CDATA[A General Practitioner is the English term for what in other countries is called a Family Doctor. She rang us up last week to offer us vaccinations, asking three questions: are you fit and well; have you had a flu vaccination in the last week; have you had allergic reactions to anything? Then we were...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>63</slash:comments></item><item><title>Vaccines and Trust: Shortages, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccines-and-trust-shortages/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/vaccines-and-trust-shortages/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:46:48 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495713</guid><description><![CDATA[In the continuing story of coronavirus, this week brings two stories about limitations. The first is that production of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines in Europe is faltering, and from Monday supplies will be reduced for the next few weeks. There have been production problems, of the sort which happen in all manufacturing. It should...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>222</slash:comments></item><item><title>Death, Probably; Life Even More Likely, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/death-probably-life-even-more-likely/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/death-probably-life-even-more-likely/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:58:09 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495547</guid><description><![CDATA[I had always imagined that death had a certainty to it. Taxes are a close second, but death is easier to diagnose. The problem comes when the cause must be written on the certificate. A heavy drinker who falls downstairs has an accidental death, but it was brought on by his habitual drinking. Someone who...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>49</slash:comments></item><item><title>Waiting for the Jab, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/waiting-for-the-jab/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/waiting-for-the-jab/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2021 12:12:15 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495331</guid><description><![CDATA[Science and politics make awkward bedfellows. Science is more concerned with the truth, or ought to be; politics more concerned with expediency, survival and the avoidance of blame. For that reason, politics is closer to human nature. It is natural to simply hope for the best, to take precautions a little too late, and relax...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>55</slash:comments></item><item><title>Sex Differences, Again, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/sex-differences-again/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/sex-differences-again/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2021 14:12:18 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495235</guid><description><![CDATA[You know the story, but here we go again. The standard account of sex differences in intelligence is that there aren’t any. Or not significant ones, or perhaps some slight ones, but they counter-balance each other. The standard account usually goes on to concede that males are more variable than females, that is to say,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>73</slash:comments></item><item><title>Lockdown III, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/lockdown-iii/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/lockdown-iii/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 08 Jan 2021 13:44:53 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=495076</guid><description><![CDATA[The UK is under lockdown again. According to YouGov (4340 adults surveyed on 5th January) 85% of citizens approve. There may also be Tiers, of the four former sorts, and a possible fifth for very serious cases, but these have probably been superseded, and should be considered old news. Now it is just lockdown, and...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>89</slash:comments></item><item><title>Fourth Year at Unz, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/fourth-year-at-unz/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/fourth-year-at-unz/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 03 Jan 2021 22:42:50 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=494883</guid><description><![CDATA[Despite providing a lot of unsolicited spare time, 2020 was not the best of years. Enough said. Each post got an average of 6000 pageviews, and generated 19,600 comment words, resulting in a total of 530,000 comment words for the year. Since starting in 2013 I have posted 976 items, containing a total of 876,000...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>11</slash:comments></item><item><title>Christmas 2020, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/christmas-2020/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/christmas-2020/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 24 Dec 2020 12:34:10 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=494491</guid><description><![CDATA[I do not know how many times since 1210 there have been interruptions in the village celebration of Christmas. Few, I would imagine. The present church was built on or near a previous one, and not completed till 1230. There are records a former Lord of the Manor collected and placed in a filing cabinet,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>9</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Bitter Tiers of Mutant England, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-bitter-tiers-of-mutant-england/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-bitter-tiers-of-mutant-england/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2020 13:24:29 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=494411</guid><description><![CDATA[This has been the year of counting the days. On Saturday morning people in England were preparing for a family Christmas. By 5 pm that afternoon they were phoning their regrets, in sadness and sometimes rage. All this may be good news. Opinions differ. The story so far is that the United Kingdom has not...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>356</slash:comments></item><item><title>James Flynn, RIP, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/james-flynn-rip/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/james-flynn-rip/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2020 19:43:12 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=494025</guid><description><![CDATA[James Flynn came to psychology from political science, and was a quick learner. He attacked Arthur Jensen’s 1969 paper, and Art wrote back quickly disposing of his objections, and then suggesting new lines of attack. James Flynn followed those up, and they began working together. I had met Arthur Jensen in 1970, when I gave...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>69</slash:comments></item><item><title>Is Brussels Broken?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/is-brussels-broken/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/is-brussels-broken/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2020 11:46:29 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=493850</guid><description><![CDATA[I have excellent memories of Brussels, Belgium, and in particular of the Grande Place, a gem of European architecture, dating back to the 13th century, but in its surviving form mostly the creation of 17th Guilds flaunting their wealth in finely decorated grand trading houses. To stand in it is to savour the refinements of...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>24</slash:comments></item><item><title>Reckoning with Risk 2020, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/reckoning-with-risk-2020/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/reckoning-with-risk-2020/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2020 10:55:52 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=493693</guid><description><![CDATA[With a few weeks to go till the end of 2020 it seems clear that, despite all the other things that have happened, the year will be remembered for the pandemic. Never have so many lives been interrupted for so long. Very roughly, 55 million people across the world die every year. Assume that the...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>42</slash:comments></item><item><title>35 Myths Debunked, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/35-myths-debunked/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/35-myths-debunked/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2020 11:06:42 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=491597</guid><description><![CDATA[Many people have very strong beliefs about intelligence testing. All too often those beliefs are negative and unrepresentative of intelligence research. For intelligence researchers, it is a bemusing, irritating, and depressing state of affairs. Steven Pinker, being interviewed at the International Society for Intelligence Research conference in Montreal in 2017, when asked why public understanding...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>259</slash:comments></item><item><title>Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends.   Covid 19, Part II., by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/once-more-unto-the-breach-dear-friends-covid-19-part-ii/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/once-more-unto-the-breach-dear-friends-covid-19-part-ii/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:45:16 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=491125</guid><description><![CDATA[After a brief summer, in which we dared to hope that we could eventually go to the pub without booking a table, and without choosing our food in advance, the darling buds of May have given way to the surly scowls of September, and we are down in the dumps again. This pandemic is testing...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>375</slash:comments></item><item><title>Diana Rigg, RIP, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/diana-rigg-rip/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/diana-rigg-rip/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2020 14:41:13 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=490539</guid><description><![CDATA[Without knowing it, I first met Dame Diana Rigg on the afternoon of 23 June 2016, United Kingdom European Union membership referendum day. The day after, I described our meeting thus: In fact, my next meeting with her was also unplanned, in the crockery section of Peter Jones department store, where we talked about the...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>39</slash:comments></item><item><title>British Justice, British Version, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/british-justice-british-version/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/british-justice-british-version/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2020 07:53:12 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=490492</guid><description><![CDATA[The US is unusual in providing racial breakdowns of crime data, including the race of the perpetrators of violent crimes. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics are an excellent source of real data. They do surveys of victimization in the community (National Crime Victimization Survey) which are un-affected by any presumed Police biases, and include...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>70</slash:comments></item><item><title>American Justice, BBC Version, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/american-justice-bbc-version/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/american-justice-bbc-version/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2020 09:39:29 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=490212</guid><description><![CDATA[I don’t usually comment on crime figures, because so many others have done that in full detail before, but my eye was drawn to the BBC News, the major source for most UK citizens, and so well funded by a government levy that it the resources sufficient t have a dominant effect on how British...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>26</slash:comments></item><item><title>9 Snappy Questions on Intelligence, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/9-snappy-questions-on-intelligence/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/9-snappy-questions-on-intelligence/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2020 11:47:52 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=489852</guid><description><![CDATA[You may remember that in 2011 Heiner Rindermann and I worked on the concept of cognitive capitalism, developed that over the next few years, and in 2018 Rindermann published a major book on the topic. Here is a brief interview in which he answers a few questions which generally come up regarding intelligence. Usually, media...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>87</slash:comments></item><item><title>No Skin in the Game, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/no-skin-in-the-game/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/no-skin-in-the-game/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2020 10:13:32 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=489030</guid><description><![CDATA[It is perfectly reasonable for critics to ask, every so often, if there is any work showing that genes make a contribution to intellectual differences between genetic groups. I assume it can be accepted that genes make a difference within a genetic group, and the animus arises only when genetic groups are being compared. One...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>399</slash:comments></item><item><title>Tony Elliott RIP, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/tony-elliott-rip/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/tony-elliott-rip/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2020 15:09:22 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=488662</guid><description><![CDATA[Tony Elliott was at Keele University, from which I graduated in 1968, the same year he dropped out and founded Time Out, thus becoming by far the most famous and influential graduate of that radical institution, which pioneered a 4 year degree course (not the usual 3) , the entire first year dedicated to a...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>9</slash:comments></item><item><title>Does the Heritability of Intelligence Vary by Race?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/does-the-heritability-of-intelligence-vary-by-race/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/does-the-heritability-of-intelligence-vary-by-race/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2020 12:32:51 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=488491</guid><description><![CDATA[No one paper can determine a debate, but each contributes to a pattern, and eventually to a shifting of opinion as to where the probable truth lies. Until 2011 the studies of the genetics of intelligence were based on twin studies, which are fine; and adoption studies, which give some indications if the samples are...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>48</slash:comments></item><item><title>Rising Sons, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/rising-sons/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/rising-sons/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:06:36 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=488084</guid><description><![CDATA[It is a commonplace of school reunions that ex-pupils make a furtive reckoning as to which of them has Done Well. Comparisons are odious, but all too human. How has it gone for you? Naturally, the actuarial odds are against personal success, since success, by definition, must be that which stands out from the crowd,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>39</slash:comments></item><item><title>Forbidden Fruit, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/forbidden-fruit-2/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/forbidden-fruit-2/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2020 10:36:09 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=487753</guid><description><![CDATA[If someone tells me I must not read something, I am tempted to give it a look. If you are reading this, you probably have the same curiosity, and the same wish to rebel against other people telling you what you may not read, and what you must not think. In that light, here is...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>111</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Enchanted Loom, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-enchanted-loom-2/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-enchanted-loom-2/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:05:27 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=487442</guid><description><![CDATA[Few scientists write like that anymore. Science is the poorer for it. Sherrington was able to dash that off when the most complicated device to provide an analogy was a 1801 Jacquard loom capable of weaving complicated patterns on the basis of punched cards. So, Sherrington thought of a loom, Freud of a hydraulic system...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>43</slash:comments></item><item><title>Weaponizing Race, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/weaponizing-race/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/weaponizing-race/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2020 14:06:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=486988</guid><description><![CDATA[This book, shortly to be published in the US, is written by a geneticist. Racism is a topic of contemporary interest, and there are certainly different conceptions of reality. The book is diminished by its title, which proclaims it an aggressive polemic, looking for a fight. “How to argue about race” would advertise a better...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>254</slash:comments></item><item><title>Virtuous Reality, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/virtuous-reality/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/virtuous-reality/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:23:15 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=486235</guid><description><![CDATA[America is in turmoil because of a video in which a Policeman seems very highly likely to have caused the death of an arrested man. He must face trial. Also, the techniques used in making arrests must be put on trial. Kneeling down on the back of the neck of a hand-cuffed man is not...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>68</slash:comments></item><item><title>Little Uruguay, Not Many Dead, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/little-uruguay-not-many-dead/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/little-uruguay-not-many-dead/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2020 13:30:08 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=485537</guid><description><![CDATA[Uruguay is a small country on the eastern coast of South America between Argentina and Brazil. Mostly European in demographics, it was long considered the Switzerland of South America because, fearful of the usual local tendency towards dictatorship, it shared power in a plural executive, was early in separating Church and State, in giving votes...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>220</slash:comments></item><item><title>Sneeze and Fly, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/sneeze-and-fly/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/sneeze-and-fly/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2020 13:14:18 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=485210</guid><description><![CDATA[Last night the UK Prime Minister said that those who could not work from home, like those in construction and manufacturing should go to work today, maintaining social distancing, and avoiding public transport if possible. Primary schools may begin reopening in June, as may some shops, and some of the hospitality industry may reopen in...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>201</slash:comments></item><item><title>Europe Sickens, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/europe-sickens/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/europe-sickens/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2020 07:29:22 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=484582</guid><description><![CDATA[Europe is an ageing continent, with a total fertility rate of 1.6, well below the required 2.1 replacement level. The decline might be reversed, but the trend is downwards. These 747 million Europeans have a life expectancy of 79 years, and three-quarters of them live in urban settings. Of even more relevance in the time...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>114</slash:comments></item><item><title>Energetic Exhalations and the Miasma of Complications, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/energetic-exhalations-and-the-miasma-of-complications/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/energetic-exhalations-and-the-miasma-of-complications/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:43:02 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=483771</guid><description><![CDATA[There are many ways of making the coronavirus epidemic complicated. It is true that the Chinese account of what happened may be deficient, and that the numbers of deaths are probably underestimated. It is true that as each country received cases from China at somewhat different times and in different numbers it then went through...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>28</slash:comments></item><item><title>Critical Care of Fatness?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/critical-care-of-fatness/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/critical-care-of-fatness/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2020 04:38:56 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=482796</guid><description><![CDATA[A few days ago, there was an updated report on critical care for coronavirus patients in hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ICNARC report on COVID-19in critical care 17 April 2020. Sometimes a single table can be illustrative, and this one gives the characteristics of those who end up in critical care. Covid-19 patients...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>171</slash:comments></item><item><title>Models: the Logic of Failure, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/models-the-logic-of-failure/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/models-the-logic-of-failure/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2020 04:28:18 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=481727</guid><description><![CDATA[The predictions which come out of models of epidemics are often highly sensitive to minor changes in assumptions, so can rightly be accused of being wildly wrong when measured against the eventual outcome. “Improve the model” is a common plea. Of course, the most recent model any team publishes is already a presumed improvement on...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>301</slash:comments></item><item><title>Close Protection, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/close-protection/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/close-protection/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2020 06:48:51 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=480880</guid><description><![CDATA[It is disturbing that our Prime Minister is in intensive care. The leader of a nation has symbolic as well as instrumental value. It is reasonable for the public to assume that any Prime Minister has good security, good health care, good advice and plenty of material comforts. 10 Downing Street is not that comfortable,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>35</slash:comments></item><item><title>Testing, Testing, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/testing-testing/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/testing-testing/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2020 02:45:08 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=480616</guid><description><![CDATA[It seems an age ago that I was singing the praises of Singapore, who had handled the coronavirus in a highly pragmatic way. In brief, citizens were asked to take their own temperatures and if they were above normal, isolate themselves and be tested for coronavirus. Frequent hand washing and the use of masks helped...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>47</slash:comments></item><item><title>Excess Deaths, Excessive Predictions, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/excess-deaths-excessive-predictions/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/excess-deaths-excessive-predictions/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2020 06:05:03 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=468535</guid><description><![CDATA[It is a bright new day, so here are some thoughts on various subjects, most of which have the same theme: deciding how bad things are depends on your frame of reference. I had said that excess deaths was the key variable in understanding the coronavirus epidemic, and the policies being deployed against it. Once...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>37</slash:comments></item><item><title>Imperial Measures, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/imperial-measures/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/imperial-measures/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2020 04:25:13 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=468237</guid><description><![CDATA[While most countries of the world battle against coronavirus, there is a more conceptual battle raging between different predictive models. Imperial College has predictions for the US and the UK, and has the ear of the Government, but there are other models competing for attention. The Imperial model is now being cast as having been...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>32</slash:comments></item><item><title>Doubling Time, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/doubling-time/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/doubling-time/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:25:58 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=467392</guid><description><![CDATA[Arnold Weinstock, a British industrialist, once said “I’ve forgotten what the 7 wonders of the world are, but the 8th must be compound interest”. Under his cautious guidance General Electric became a great UK company. Under his successors it went bust. Some problems compound and need to be nipped in the bud. A respect for...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>51</slash:comments></item><item><title>Don't be a Stepping Stone, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/dont-be-a-stepping-stone/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/dont-be-a-stepping-stone/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2020 08:17:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=466839</guid><description><![CDATA[Peering through the window of my study because of an unusual noise in the street last night, I saw three loud men walk by, one of whom saw me at the window, and gave a sardonic half-acknowledgement. Then, shortly afterward three women walked after them. It may not be relevant, but they were all young,...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>19</slash:comments></item><item><title>Draconian, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/draconian/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/draconian/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2020 07:12:58 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=466379</guid><description><![CDATA[Draco was a democratic legislator in 622 B.C. who moved Athenian law from an oral tradition known only to the elite, to a written code of law, which could be called upon by any citizen. A reformer. However, his laws were very harsh, applying the death penalty for minor offences, and his code was repealed...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>70</slash:comments></item><item><title>Herd Immunity, and the Wisdom of Crowds, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/herd-immunity-and-the-wisdom-of-crowds/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/herd-immunity-and-the-wisdom-of-crowds/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2020 02:04:37 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=466076</guid><description><![CDATA[The best intelligence items are usually those at the very end of the test, where only one or two percent of test takers will reach them. Of course, for the very bright these will be too easy, but standard tests are designed for us common folk, not the genius fringe. Facing the coronavirus, it is...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>31</slash:comments></item><item><title>Coronavirus Dilemmas, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/coronavirus-dilemmas/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/coronavirus-dilemmas/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2020 06:54:12 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=465617</guid><description><![CDATA[It is hard to be grateful that the coronavirus is now working its way through us, but it is certainly a vivid illustration of evolution at work. With no motivation beyond the joy of reproducing itself, it hops from one host to another, an equal-opportunity free rider. If it becomes too greedy in taking over...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>31</slash:comments></item><item><title>Coronavirus Counter-Measures, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/coronavirus-counter-measures/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/coronavirus-counter-measures/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 26 Feb 2020 06:17:12 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=463460</guid><description><![CDATA[If life is an IQ test, then dealing with pandemics is a high-priority item. Getting the right answer may save your life, so test-taking motivation ought to be high. At first glance, the answer is obvious: avoid ill people, and if in doubt, avoid people. That ought to do it. Stay quietly in a room...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>32</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Sabisky Defence, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-sabisky-defence/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-sabisky-defence/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 20 Feb 2020 10:29:51 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=462742</guid><description><![CDATA[Seen from a historical perspective, the Andrew Sabisky affair is a litmus test of contemporary sensibilities. A recently appointed advisor to the new UK government, which is recruiting candidates outside the usual profile of special advisors, has been criticized for previous comments about racial differences in intelligence, about possible benefits of eugenics and even about...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>24</slash:comments></item><item><title>Human Diversity: the Interpretable Mosaic, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/human-diversity-the-interpretable-mosaic/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/human-diversity-the-interpretable-mosaic/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:08:03 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=461053</guid><description><![CDATA[Charles Murray, a sociologist by background and a datanaut by inclination, has carved out a prominent place in American intellectual debate by the simple expedient of writing clearly about difficult subjects. He is an Enlightenment Regular Guy, who does not want Americans to lose ground, or be split apart or be cast asunder by imperious...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>142</slash:comments></item><item><title>Daddy, Don't Speed, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/daddy-dont-speed/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/daddy-dont-speed/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:59:14 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=459858</guid><description><![CDATA[I barely noticed the first crash. Driving the new hire car from the airport, the rain was pouring down on the highway, spray everywhere, a high risk of aquaplaning, and we were still on the outskirts of town, with traffic lights, cross-roads, bus stops, shops and lots of local motorbikes and pedestrians moving along and...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>41</slash:comments></item><item><title>Predicting 2030, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/predicting-2030/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/predicting-2030/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 07 Jan 2020 07:04:40 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=456835</guid><description><![CDATA[The start of a decade is traditionally ushered in with a flurry of predictions. Those usually turn out to be wrong, but are illustrative of the expectations of the current age. Errors are informative, and show our limitations, our fads and misunderstandings. Looking back at predictions can be fun. Hindsight allows us to feel superior....]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>60</slash:comments></item><item><title>Third Year at Unz, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/third-year-at-unz/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/third-year-at-unz/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:32:50 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=456025</guid><description><![CDATA[This has been my best ever year, with 448,525 pageviews, an average of almost 9000 pageviews per post. These posts provoked 1.25 million words of comments, another all-time record, not bad for a mere 50 posts. The range of comment was very broad, the positions adopted often diametrically opposed, and quality of the best commentators...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>62</slash:comments></item><item><title>Carols, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/carols/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/carols/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:55:22 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=455257</guid><description><![CDATA[To the Church of the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, as is my wont, to celebrate the habits of my tribe, as parishioners have done since 1211. They must have done so before that, but not in this building. The service of Nine Carols was just after dark, with the rain lashing down in the bleak...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>9</slash:comments></item><item><title>UK Elections 2019, and US 2020, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/uk-elections-2019-and-us-2020/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/uk-elections-2019-and-us-2020/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 19 Dec 2019 08:42:16 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=454876</guid><description><![CDATA[Usually, British politicians take inspiration from US election campaigns. Very occasionally, the traffic goes the other way. Poorer cousins can sometimes make a contribution. Perhaps this election repays attention, since it is about a party winning an absolute majority against apparent odds. The 2019 UK election has brought about the biggest political opportunity for a...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>14</slash:comments></item><item><title>Boris Johnson Shores Up His Vote a Little, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/boris-johnson-shores-up-his-vote-a-little/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/boris-johnson-shores-up-his-vote-a-little/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:06:15 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=454245</guid><description><![CDATA[A few days ago, I was worried we would have a Hung Parliament, as a resurgent youth-led voting public scooped up the free offers showered on it by the Labour Party Manifesto. Discussing this some days ago with people in a position to know better, the younger of the two contacts feared that the Conservatives...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>51</slash:comments></item><item><title>UK Elections: Final Predictions, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/uk-elections-final-predictions/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/uk-elections-final-predictions/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 11 Dec 2019 05:50:14 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=453774</guid><description><![CDATA[Sceptics say the best way of predicting tomorrow’s weather is to say it will be the same as today. Predictive models struggle to beat that pedestrian approach, which one could label a rolling null hypothesis. Today, Wednesday, pollsters are predicting how voters will behave tomorrow, Thursday 12th December, election day. That ought to be fairly...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>28</slash:comments></item><item><title>Choose, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/choose/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/choose/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 10 Dec 2019 15:07:43 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=453687</guid><description><![CDATA[Tomorrow, Wednesday, is the last campaigning day of the UK 2019 election. The vote takes place on Thursday, and the result should be known by the end of Friday. If the result is very close and re-counts are required, it could take longer, and not be settled until next week. As already discussed, political polls...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>9</slash:comments></item><item><title>Electoral Behaviour: Lurking Factors and Visible Causes, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/electoral-behaviour-lurking-factors-and-visible-causes/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/electoral-behaviour-lurking-factors-and-visible-causes/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 04 Dec 2019 08:09:42 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=452867</guid><description><![CDATA[I have no idea what you will be thinking or doing on 12th December, but efforts are being made to determine how UK citizens will vote on that day. Why the fuss? A rational approach to elections is to read the party manifestos, judge the personal and societal impact of the proposals, calculate the probability...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>24</slash:comments></item><item><title>Experts, Intelligence, Race, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/experts-intelligence-race/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/experts-intelligence-race/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 13 Nov 2019 08:48:55 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=449890</guid><description><![CDATA[For some years now I have made occasional mention of a survey conducted in May 2013 to March 2014 to find out what intelligence researchers thought about racial differences in intelligence. Now the paper has been published, so in academic terms the work actually exists, and can be quoted and commented upon. I can remember...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>305</slash:comments></item><item><title>Artificial Intelligence: Solve Intelligence, Then Solve Everything, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/artificial-intelligence-solve-intelligence-then-solve-everything/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/artificial-intelligence-solve-intelligence-then-solve-everything/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 07 Nov 2019 06:12:48 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=448319</guid><description><![CDATA[The concept of general intelligence does not always gain general acceptance. It seems too general, and thus unable to explain the myriad sparkles of individual minds. Multiple intelligence, some people aver, is a better thing to have: a disparate tool set, not merely a single tool which has to be deployed whatever the circumstances. Not...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>28</slash:comments></item><item><title>Explaining Race and Genetics: No Need to Despair, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/explaining-race-and-genetics-no-need-to-despair/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/explaining-race-and-genetics-no-need-to-despair/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sat, 26 Oct 2019 07:56:52 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=446634</guid><description><![CDATA[It is good to have an essay which sets out a point of view clearly, so Ewan Birney’s 24th October blogpost (Ewan Birney, Jennifer Raff, Adam Rutherford, Aylwyn Scally) is welcome. A summary of this sort gives discussions of racial differences a focal point. Race, genetics and pseudoscience: an explainer It is not up to...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>870</slash:comments></item><item><title>Was Winston Churchill a Dunce at School?, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/was-winston-churchill-a-dunce-at-school/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/was-winston-churchill-a-dunce-at-school/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2019 06:35:33 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=445309</guid><description><![CDATA[Last Friday I asked this question of Andrew Roberts, whose one volume biography “Churchill: Walking with Destiny” has been described as the best single-volume life of Churchill ever written. It is marvellous to be able to question someone who had actually read all Churchill’s school reports. On a broader front, Roberts had the benefit of...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>43</slash:comments></item><item><title>South Africa and the Gold Standard, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/south-africa-and-the-gold-standard/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/south-africa-and-the-gold-standard/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 11 Oct 2019 04:43:55 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=444630</guid><description><![CDATA[It is generally agreed that the Wechsler tests are one of the best measures of intelligence, and can be considered the gold standard. That is hardly surprising, because they cover 10 subtests and take over an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, for a clinical psychologist to administer. This gives the examiner plenty of...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>28</slash:comments></item><item><title>Intelligence, Objectively, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/intelligence-objectively/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/intelligence-objectively/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 25 Sep 2019 06:06:56 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=442376</guid><description><![CDATA[It takes a certain courage to title a paper: Genetic “General Intelligence,” Objectively Determined and Measured. Javier de la Fuente, Gail Davies, Andrew D. Grotzinger, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob, Ian J. Deary doi: Objectively? Is such language permissible in contemporary science? Should we not instead be cautiously shuffling towards seven types of ambiguity, hedged in with...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>239</slash:comments></item><item><title>Truth to Power, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/truth-to-power/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/truth-to-power/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 19 Sep 2019 10:20:16 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=441722</guid><description><![CDATA[It cannot have been easy to be the first reporter on the tragic scene at Aberfan. A vast slagheap of colliery spoil above a small Welsh mining village gave way in 1966, roaring down the valley and flattening the school and killing 116 children, and also destroying houses, killing 28 adults in all. When John...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>9</slash:comments></item><item><title>Family Misfortunes, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/family-misfortunes/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/family-misfortunes/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:36:02 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=441467</guid><description><![CDATA[There is a popular genre of commentary which wishes to show that bright people make as many errors as less bright people, perhaps as a consequence of divine retribution. “Einstein made an error in maths which was spotted by a bus conductor” lifts the hearts of some readers. Of course, bright people make errors. Do...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>36</slash:comments></item><item><title>Family Fortunes, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/family-fortunes/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/family-fortunes/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 09 Sep 2019 05:56:03 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=440474</guid><description><![CDATA[“All happy families are alike” declaimed Tolstoy, so as to then add the equally unsubstantiated coda: “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. Readers may say: “So true, so very true”, but that would be in the literary sense, in that if it sounds profound it is judged to be so. Like all...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>101</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Wages of Intellect (Part 2), by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-wages-of-intellect-part-2/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-wages-of-intellect-part-2/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2019 06:40:34 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=439822</guid><description><![CDATA[Do bright people earn more than others? If not, it would strengthen the view that intelligence tests are no more than meaningless scores on paper and pencil tests composed of arbitrary items which have no relevance to real life. So, it is with trepidation that I responded to a suggestion by a reader that I...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>176</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Intelligent Investor, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-intelligent-investor/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-intelligent-investor/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 12 Aug 2019 06:38:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=437250</guid><description><![CDATA[&nbsp; It is just a coincidence, but the initials NNT are best known to me as Numbers Needed to Treat. This is a measure of the numbers of patients you need to give a drug to in order to get one cure. For example, an NNT of 5 means that you have to treat five...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>138</slash:comments></item><item><title>Prisoners of Intelligence, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/prisoners-of-intelligence/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/prisoners-of-intelligence/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 06 Aug 2019 04:29:25 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=436467</guid><description><![CDATA[What happens when above average and below average ability people have to deal with each other? Specifically, how will they interact when potentially both are able to gain from the exchange? It seems obvious that they should cooperate, and extract the greatest amount of mutual gain, but does this really happen in situations where there...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>138</slash:comments></item><item><title>Genetic Engineering, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/genetic-engineering/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/genetic-engineering/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 21 Jul 2019 23:48:57 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=434206</guid><description><![CDATA[As every conference attendee knows, a few minutes with a researcher is worth many hours of reading their work. What researchers say in person will be up to date, generally unvarnished and to the point. Compared to writing, conversation is speedy, interactive, and tends towards confession: the spoken word accompanied by the revealed emotion, a...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>52</slash:comments></item><item><title>#Isir2019, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/isir2019/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/isir2019/#comments</comments><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jul 2019 05:23:48 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=432676</guid><description><![CDATA[The full conference began yesterday. In the midst of listening to all the papers I can't post anything much, but will keep live tweeting some of the presentations. As ever, the best thing is meeting participants and finding out first hand about their work, stuff which will be published a year from now. Great fun...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>4</slash:comments></item><item><title>Origins of IQ Tests, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/origins-of-iq-tests/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/origins-of-iq-tests/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jul 2019 08:09:13 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=432269</guid><description><![CDATA[When I started work in September 1968 one of the first things I was taught was that intelligence testing had a long history, and that many of the subtests in the Wechsler assessments I had been taken from previous research. Kohs’ blocks (1920), I used to mutter, when people talked about Block Design. I was...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>58</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Road from the Alamo to Minneapolis, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-road-from-the-alamo-to-minneapolis/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-road-from-the-alamo-to-minneapolis/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jul 2019 01:45:28 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=432144</guid><description><![CDATA[I have good memories of San Antonio, host city of the ISIR 2012 conference. We visited the Alamo, and where throngs of tourists looked respectfully at an ancient wall of the building which was being restored with lime mortar. It was regarded as a restoration of national importance, and the wall was cordoned off, with...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>7</slash:comments></item><item><title>Pity the Poor Teacher, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/pity-the-poor-teacher/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/pity-the-poor-teacher/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jul 2019 06:45:39 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=431441</guid><description><![CDATA[Teachers loom large in most children’s lives, and are long remembered. Class reunions often talk of the most charismatic teacher, the one whose words and helpfulness made a difference. Who could doubt that they can have an influence on children’s learning and future achievements? Doug Detterman is one such doubter: Education and Intelligence: Pity the...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>218</slash:comments></item><item><title>Burn the Witch, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/burn-the-witch/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/burn-the-witch/#comments</comments><pubDate>Thu, 27 Jun 2019 03:49:55 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=430965</guid><description><![CDATA[For some years I have been organizing the London Conference on Intelligence, which brings together about 25 invited researchers to present papers and debate issues in a critical but friendly setting. (“The London School” was the name give to those who argued that intelligence had a general component, and was heritable). Speakers are chosen for...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>22</slash:comments></item><item><title>The Magic Number 7, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-magic-number-7/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/the-magic-number-7/#comments</comments><pubDate>Sun, 23 Jun 2019 11:48:29 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=430446</guid><description><![CDATA[As an undergraduate, my psychology tutor dryly commented to me that the best way to get a paper widely read was to give it a memorable title, like “the magic number 7, plus or minus 2”. Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>35</slash:comments></item><item><title>Bias Bias: the Inclination to Accuse People of Bias, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/bias-bias-the-inclination-to-accuse-people-of-bias/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/bias-bias-the-inclination-to-accuse-people-of-bias/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2019 05:01:08 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=429600</guid><description><![CDATA[Early in any psychology course, students are taught to be very cautious about accepting people’s reports. A simple trick is to stage some sort of interruption to the lecture by confederates, and later ask the students to write down what they witnessed. Typically, they will misremember the events, sequences and even the number of people...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>49</slash:comments></item><item><title>Superior Ideology, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/superior-ideology/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/superior-ideology/#comments</comments><pubDate>Tue, 04 Jun 2019 02:41:17 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=427914</guid><description><![CDATA[Superior: the return of race science. Angela Saini. 4th Estate. London. 2019. Excitedly promoted in national newspapers, glowingly reviewed in Sunday magazines, the author interviewed on national radio, this book is part of a mainstream narrative which promotes the ascendant public stance, which is that race does not exist as a useful category, and that...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>390</slash:comments></item><item><title>Your Care Home in 120 Seconds, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/your-care-home-in-120-seconds/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/your-care-home-in-120-seconds/#comments</comments><pubDate>Mon, 27 May 2019 04:20:08 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=426810</guid><description><![CDATA[You can detect a lot about a person using simple tasks which take less than 2 minutes. Here is a test which did the job in 90 seconds, but then got lengthened to 120 seconds to make it even more reliable. Of this test, one of those Edinburgh researchers said to me in a conference...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>46</slash:comments></item><item><title>Your IQ in 90 Seconds, by James Thompson</title><link>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/your-iq-in-90-seconds/</link><comments>https://www.unz.com/jthompson/your-iq-in-90-seconds/#comments</comments><pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2019 01:31:17 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Thompson]]></dc:creator><guid  isPermaLink='false' >http://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&#038;p=425957</guid><description><![CDATA[Science marches on. A researcher writes in to chide me that I have forgotten the fastest intelligence test of all, which masquerades as a simple reading test, but which can reach back 50 years, and in 90 seconds deliver a precise verdict on the best level of ability you had in your prime. Indeed, I...]]></description><wfw:commentRss>https://www.unz.com/postmeta-holder/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments>113</slash:comments></item></channel></rss>