Sounding Board

<p>This episode Andrew wants to talk about something close to his heart: Gaming. More specifically, he wants to talk about gamers, as they have been in and out of the media for the past few years. We start by talking about games themselves and what they entail, to give you an idea of the type...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/gamers-will-they-save-us/">Gamers – will they save us?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>This week, we’re back talking about the only game in town: the ‘rona. We discuss the ridiculous behaviour of a new phenomenon: “leapers” and relay information about how well the new vaccine centre around the corner from Sounding Board HQ is doing. Spoiler: not very. We also discuss covid centrism, as well as applying it...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/im-forever-blowing-covids/">I’m Forever Blowing Covids</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Andrew is calling for a General Election, but do we really want Keith in charge? Is there a better model of healthcare for the Covid age? Are neo-liberals just itching to tame but not eliminate state intervention? And have people outsourced their morals to a higher power – the state. Please visit our website to...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/have-no-morals-but-your-own/">Have No Morals But Your Own</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Speak to anyone on the evangelical left, and they’ll tell you that cancel culture doesn’t exist. They’ll maintain that cancel culture is merely just consequences. That people are simply being held to account for things that they are saying or doing. And by holding them to account, they’re only using free speech. But the question...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/cancel-culture/">Cancel Culture</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>This episode, we discuss Elliott’s Law, which Andrew has just created: a) In politics, respect only flows one way: in the direction of statism. People more statist than you are always “misguided”, people less statist are always “dangerous”. There’s this idea that a little (or a lot) more state than what you prefer, is always...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/elliotts-law/">Elliott’s Law</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this season of festivity and joy, it’s time for the Sounding Board Christmas message. Will it be a message of hope for the future? Will we be encouraging others to “stay safe” and keep away from Granny? Don’t be silly. In this special Christmas edition of Sounding Board Nic keeps it very simple, and...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-sounding-board-christmas-message/">The Sounding Board Christmas Message</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>The government found just the excuse it needed – a new strain of the coronavirus – to lockdown in all but name and cancel Christmas for a huge swathe of rhe country. We talk about the rules of Tier 4 and how it was announced, and whether there needs to be a new scientific discipline...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-covid-christmas-cancellation/">The Covid Christmas Cancellation</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>As England heads toward a return to the Lockdown tiering system and out of the 4 week November national Lockdown, we discuss how meaningless the numbers are that have driven us this far. How exactly to do you count false positives with the now ubiquitous PCR test for SARS-CoV-2? Does the recent Chinese study really...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-covid-casedemic/">The Covid Casedemic</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>After a brief hiatus (circuit break?) due to work commitments, we’re back, and we’re raring to go. This time, we talk about the recent US Election. We discuss the results and whether they appear, on the face of it, to be slightly dodgy. We then discuss the corporate press (legacy media), fact checkers and the...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/us-elections-social-media-and-the-desperate-corporate-press/">US Elections, Social Media And The Desperate Corporate Press</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>After receiving our first ever gift from a listener of a bottle of scotch, Andrew explains how whisky is made and what makes a good one. We then talk about free speech and whether it’s ever right to have any restrictions on it. The Darren Grimes incident of the last week shows just how far...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/whisky-free-speech-and-discrimination-law/">Whisky, Free Speech and Discrimination Law</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>This week, Nic notices that there has been a noticeable change in the political landscape, with the two main parties finally diverging over lockdown policy. But is this a good thing or not? Certainly when all political parties agree then alarm bells should ring, but if one goes even further, even more authoritarian, will that...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/circuit-breaker-or-will-breaker/">Circuit Breaker Or Will Breaker?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Is fear the latest virtue that must be signalled? As we discuss Trump’s recovery and Andrew’s wife experience with the NHS, we ask whether it’s now trendy to show just how fearful you are. We also talk about social media censorship, and whether you’d end up with even more liars, as all the proof they...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/fear-as-a-virtue/">Fear As A Virtue</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Some actual infections have finally occurred in Nic’s office, and of course, everyone is fine, but wouldn’t it have been better for this to happen in the summer months rather than trying to suppress until the changing of the seasons when all the other bugs appear again? Trump also tests positive, along with his wife...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/office-outbreak-trump-tests-positive-and-what-about-the-roads/">Office outbreak, Trump tests positive and what about the roads?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>The biggest encroachment on civil liberties has taken place in 2020, and under a Conservative government. How did this happen without any scrutiny? Democracy was one of the first things to be suspended, so how can it be used to check the power of those at the top? Do opposition parties ever oppose when it...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/is-democracy-a-check-on-power/">Is Democracy A Check On Power?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Nic is back from Cornwall after cancelling his trip to Corfu, but how much of a holiday was it, being herded through one way systems, with mask nazis everywhere? He also shares his recent experiences with masks and how its stopped him attending medical appointments. We cover the exam grading debacle, where yet another computer...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/exam-grades-the-rule-of-six-and-our-growing-police-state/">Exam Grades, the Rule of Six and Our Growing Police State</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Further to Andrew’s recent blog post about Virtue Broadcasting, we take the topic further. We discuss virtue signalling in general, before moving on to the louder, shoutier form that is broadcasting. We talk about different forms of signals, from Twitter bios to mask wearing to clapping like a trained chimpanzee every Thursday evening. We talk...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/virtue-broadcasting/">Virtue Broadcasting</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this edition we review some of the latest polling and see just how crazy the numbers are for people supporting the unprecedented government interventions of 2020. Does it very much if you are a Labour or Tory voter or are they all happy to be authoritarian in an pandemic. Andrew tells the story of...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-chocolate-episode/">The Chocolate Episode</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Is a common language enough any more or do you need to somehow signal your political or woke intentions? How does that work when the Overton Window shifts so frequently? We talk about the evolution of terms such as “Coloured People” and “People of Colour” to define groups of people, and whether its a feature...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/left-leaning-language-and-grievance-signalling/">Left Leaning Language and Grievance Signalling</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>With the recent hacking attacks at Twitter and Garmin, Nic explains the detail behind another attack on a company called Blackbaud. They claim to have stopped a cyberattack, but they are explicit that they paid the ransom demand. Can companies really guarantee their data is not going to be released or sold after paying the...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/hackonomics-market-forces-and-unethical-behaviour/">Hackonomics: Market Forces and Unethical Behaviour</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>The US has a different political structure as well as a culture with more emphasis on liberty – at least superficially. It also has a Libertarian Party that fields candidates for President. But what about the UK? Who is the closest we have to a Ron Paul and can they succeed anywhere in the current...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/can-libertarianism-ever-take-the-uk/">Can Libertarianism Ever Take the UK?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>When did locking down a population, or closing schools become the agreed way of dealing with an epidemic? Andrew explains where the lockdown model was pioneered (you won’t believe it if you don’t already know), and we discuss why it became popular as a methodology despite being so flawed. Why were policy makers so ready...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/agent-based-behaviour-modelling/">Agent Based Behaviour Modelling</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Over four months since the peak of Covid19 infections in Britain and the government thinks that now is the right time to mandate mask wearing in shops. Aside from the morality of the state telling you how to dress, do these loose pieces of cloth actually do anything? This edition, we talk about the utter...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/real-maskism-has-never-been-tried/">Real Maskism Has Never Been Tried</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>For weeks, Andrew has been pestering Nic to talk about books. To keep him happy, in this edition Nic interviews Andrew about a handful of his favourite reads. Starting out with Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, Andrew moves on to discussing four of his favourite novels; George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/libertarian-good-reads/">Libertarian Good Reads</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this edition we have our second special guest, our good friend Mr Dan Cure, Libertarian Drinks and Third Wednesday legend. We talk to Dan about his political journey, the state of the conservative party and Third Wednesdays, the monthly Libertarian Drinks meet up for freedom lovers in the Midlands before moving on to a...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/dan-cure-on-libertarian-drinks-useless-politicians-and-political-journeys/">Dan Cure on Libertarian Drinks, Useless Politicians and Political Journeys</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>After more than a week of Black Lives Matter protests, and statues being torn down, we discuss whether destruction of public property is as bad as private property, and how the Autonomous Zone in Seattle has already formed at least one government since ditching the last one. The Minneapolis Police force is being officially dismantled,...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-great-derangement/">The Great Derangement</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>As the 3rd amendment to the Coronavirus Restrictions regulations are dumped unceremoniously on the statute books with no scrutiny whatsoever, we look at just how absurd they are, and whether they are an easing of the lockdown or not. With regulations now moving from public to private spaces, and definitions emerging of just what “a...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/house-arrest-ends-more-liberties-infringed/">House Arrest Ends, More Liberties Infringed</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>As the Prime Minister announces the changes to guidance and regulations effective from 1June 2020, we look at the stupidity of the first set of regulations, and how adding a 6 person limit could make it worse for people, not better. Gardens become legal places to congregate, but don’t think about going indoors for a...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/boris-decriminalises-gardens/">Boris Decriminalises Gardens</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>It’s been a while coming, but this week sees the return of an old favourite: The Left Right game. After a brief chat about Dominic Cummings and the latest, supposed lockdown breaking by an official, Nic launches into the latest Left Right game, this time with a Covid19 twist. If you’re new to the podcast,...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-left-right-game-covid19-edition/">The Left Right Game: Covid19 Edition</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this outdoor, socially intimate edition, Andrew asks whether the Left have lost their traditional hard working ethos in favour of the politics of envy, Nic finally finds something he thinks Boris is doing right – Brexit, and can we come up with a better term for lockdown scepticism? From our local country park, and...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-lefts-lost-love-brexit-and-the-covid-flat-curvers/">The Left’s Lost Love, Brexit and the Covid Flat Curvers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In another Sounding Board Short, we talk about Andrew’s meme on teaching unions that went started some hilarious twitter encounters, and the latest nonsense from local authorities advising schools not to open. Why don’t those on the left actually get memes? Did this one in particular hit a nerve with teachers? When will schools actually...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/why-dont-the-left-get-memes/">Why don’t the left get memes?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In our first Sounding Board Short, we travel to a nearby park and chat about Nic’s article on hectordrummond.com about the difficult decisions ahead in deciding when it’s time to send the children back to school. We learn about the over zealous teaching unions and the local authority taking crazy steps to essentially stop schools...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/are-teaching-unions-keeping-schools-closed/">Are Teaching Unions Keeping Schools Closed?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this edition, we talk about the new, revised regulations that have just come into force during the current covid-19 lockdown. We talk about the effects of the lockdown so far, and indeed the social distancing guidance that occurred beforehand. What are the chances of you succumbing to sars-cov-19 right now? Are you more at...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/revised-regulations-shameful-schools-and-manipulating-models/">Revised Regulations, Shameful Schools and Manipulating Models</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>As Neil Ferguson is revealed to have broken the lockdown that his infamous computer model insisted we must institute, we talk about poetic justice, elitism and whether Professor Ferguson should ever have been trusted based on his catastrophic track record. We also take a look at the computer code behind the Imperial College model and...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/fergusons-fall-imperfect-polling-and-messy-modelling/">Ferguson’s Fall, Imperfect Polling and Messy Modelling</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Even though we’re still in lockdown, we’ve started talking about some of our favourite subjects again. This time it’s our observations of the political left and right. Are their criticisms of each other similar? Or are there differences in the way they try and take each other down. And what about the centrists again –...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/left-vs-right-and-ideological-centrism/">Left Vs Right And Ideological Centrism</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this episode, Andrew asks whether today’s socialists, who try very hard to distance themselves from the socialists of the past, are really any different? What are today’s socialists promising that yesterday’s didn’t promise in the past? And are their methods any different? If not, why should we expect any different outcomes? Nic then asks...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/are-todays-socialists-any-different/">Are Today’s Socialists Any Different?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>As the CDC accidentally infect those they are testing for SARS-CoV-2, the UK Government amends its initial regulations governing the lockdown, but as well as closing some loopholes, opens some new ones. We discuss whether this kind of law making can ever work, and whether centralised health provision by the state produces anything other than...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/cdc-infectious-tests-rushed-uk-law-and-stagnant-nhs/">CDC Infectious Tests, Rushed UK Law and Stagnant NHS</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In another Lockdown edition, we talk about Boris’s message to the public on leaving the hospital, and how he’s positioning himself as not just the ultimate centrist, but the ultimate NHS Tory. Just how much of GDP will be taken up by the NHS in the future? Will the government’s handling of the pandemic mean...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/our-nhs-operation-human-shield/">Our NHS – Operation Human Shield</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In the second of our locked down podcasts, we discuss (as expected) the latest news around COVID-19. We start by differentiating between SARS-COV-2 (The latest coronavirus from China) and COVID-19 (the respiratoty disease caused by the virus) before moving on to the economy and the effects it has had, and will have on our lives...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/covid-19-the-economy-the-new-laws-and-the-libertarian-option/">COVID-19: The Economy, The New Laws and The Libertarian Option</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In the first of our lockdown editions, we focus on regulation. Are we seeing a change in attitudes towards regulation? As swathes of regulations and licences are suspended or temporarily rescinded due to Covid-19, are people finally realising that regulation can be a bad thing? Even though draconian restrictions on movement and business have been...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/regulation-changing-attitudes-and-unintended-consequences/">Regulation: Changing attitudes and Unintended Consequences</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Our last recording before the lockdown, we explore Commander Sunak’s budget-busting spending pledges in reaction to the Coronavirus, and whether no one is a Libertarian in a pandemic, or conversely everyone is. With the lockdown rules about to be announced, we explain how the government’s response is an entirely right wing one, and why the...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/covid-19-state-expansion-everyones-a-right-winger-and-panic-buying-baileys/">Covid-19 State Expansion, Everyone’s a Right Winger and Panic Buying Baileys</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In this edition, Nic asks whether human beings inherently want to collectivise. We ask the further questions: If this is indeed the case, is it built in? Or is it the result of indoctrination? We mull over what collectivism really means, and if it’s compatible with a libertarian society. We then talk about collectivisation in...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/are-humans-instinctively-collectivist/">Are Humans Instinctively Collectivist?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Libertarianism isn’t an endpoint for how society should operate. It’s a beginning. How a libertarian society should operate isn’t known. Indeed, because of its inherent freedom, many competing ways would probably exist. Because of this, libertarianism has some tough questions to tackle. Whilst we don’t claim to have all the answers, we never shy away...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/difficult-questions-for-libertarianism/">Difficult Questions for Libertarianism</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>What would it be? Not abolish the state entirely, but make one change to it and the way it works. Would it be simple and maybe cliché and just privatise the NHS, or would you want to abolish state education? How about the way we pay tax? Or how we deal with private property? These...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/changing-one-thing-about-the-state-the-dominance-of-the-left/">Changing One Thing About the State & The Dominance of the Left</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>This week we start by discussing the current crop of Labour Leadership contenders. We take apart their views on transgender sex offenders and whether having Labour members influence military policy might not be such a great idea. We then move on to political influence in general. What is and is not ok? How insulated should...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/labour-leadership-lunacy-unelected-political-influences-and-project-fear-failed-predictions/">Labour Leadership Lunacy, Unelected Political Influences and Project Fear Failed Predictions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>On this our 50th edition, Andrew puts to Nic a thought experiment where a general election is rigged in order to get freedom lovers in power. Would that be a good thing? What are the moral implications? Should outcomes matter more than methods? This leads us onto whether the political right are a threat any...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/rigged-elections-and-whether-the-right-is-a-threat/">Rigged Elections and Whether the Right is a Threat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Do you hate being labelled? Nic certainly does, and in this edition he explains why he rejects being put into categories, and his squeamishness over membership of tribes. Whether its atheist, liberal or even libertarian – we discuss whether there is any label that fits our outlook on the world, and lament that all the...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/labels-tribalism-and-rejecting-definitions/">Labels, Tribalism and Rejecting Definitions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>There are some fairly fundamental characteristics of being left wing and right wing. But do people actually know the differences, or would they mis-categorise a lot of the traits of both? ​ We discuss whether Andrew’s succinct definitions of the left and the right hold water and then go on to attempt to describe the...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-differences-between-the-left-and-the-right/">The Differences Between The Left and The Right</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>Even though the Conservative Party won a comfortable majority in the December 2019 UK General Election, it’s still worth talking about what life would have been like under Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist Labour Party. What would happen when the economic policies of nationalisation, massive spending and capital controls started yielding truly negative results? Would the Labour...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/socialism-what-if-the-labour-party-had-won/">Socialism: What If The Labour Party Had Won?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>“Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.” ~ Geralt of Rivia The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski In this first edition of 2020, Nic talks about his Christmas break of watching...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/the-witcher-wokeness-and-bad-tv/">The Witcher, Wokeness and Bad TV</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>

<p>In 2011 the residents of a small municipality in Mexico rose up against politicians, the police and illegal loggers associated with the drug cartel La Familia Michoacana. Expelling the corruption and driving those responsible from the town, the crime rate in Cherán has dropped off a cliff. What can we learn from their unique example?...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://soundingboard.com/cheran-mexico-how-one-town-expelled-the-state/">Cherán, Mexico – How One Town Expelled The State</a> appeared first on <a href="https://soundingboard.com">sounding board</a>.</p>