Latest news with #NiallFerguson
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How conservatives are reacting to news that Harvard could start a conservative think tank
News that Harvard University is considering starting a conservative think tank is being met with skepticism and derision by conservatives who see the idea as a public relations ploy as the school seeks to retain federal funding threatened by the Trump administration. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Harvard leadership had been in touch with potential donors for a center that could be similar to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, home to conservative luminaries like Condoleezza Rice, Niall Ferguson, Thomas Sowell and Victor Davis Hanson. According to the Journal, a Harvard spokesman said the center would be nonpartisan and 'promote and support viewpoint diversity.' The cost of creating the center was estimated at between $500 million and $1 billion. The report comes as Harvard President Alan Garber seeks to stand up to the Trump administration while acknowledging that the nation's oldest university has lacked ideological diversity in the past and is weighing how to best correct that. A Harvard task force said in a report issued in 2018 that the school needed to make changes to be more inclusive with regard to religious and political beliefs. Danielle Allen, co-chair of that task force, later wrote for The Washington Post that those aspects of the report had been largely overlooked, and that 'We have been focused so much on academic freedom and free speech that we have neglected to set standards for a culture of mutual respect.' The Trump administration wants Harvard to have more conservatives on its campus, both faculty and students. It has frozen funding, threatened the school's tax-exempt status and accreditation, and wants to stop international students from enrolling. Harvard sued the administration in April, claiming its constitutional rights were being violated. 'No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," Garber has said. In recent weeks, Trump has said that a deal with Harvard was imminent, but nothing has emerged, and someone 'familiar with the administration's views' told the Journal that the creation of a conservative thinktank would be seen as 'window-dressing' and not satisfy Trump's concerns. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Tuesday that a deal is 'getting close' — as is the court hearing, which is scheduled for July 21. But the Journal, citing unnamed sources, said that negotiations were hindered by 'repeated snags.' 'Decision-making around admissions and faculty have been points of tension, with Harvard resistant to ceding authority on which types of students it admits, the faculty it hires and what professors teach, according to people briefed on the discussions.' University of Pennsylvania professor Jennifer M. Morton, writing for The New York Times, argued that seeking out professors and students with conservative views would backfire, saying they would be less likely to engage in open-minded intellectual pursuit. 'Students admitted to help restore ideological balance would likely feel a responsibility to defend certain views, regardless of the force of opposing arguments they might encounter,' Morton wrote. For professors, she added, 'the pressure to maintain those views would be even greater' because 'your salary, health insurance and career prospects would all depend upon the inflexibility of your ideology.' Responding to Morton's essay on social media, Princeton professor Robert P. George said that a course correction wouldn't require hiring professors because they are conservatives, but simply acknowledging and ending bias against conservatives in the hiring process. 'I don't see how any contemporary academic can, with a straight face, deny that these two species of bias are largely responsible for the stunning — nearly unbelievable — ideological imbalances on college and university campuses," George wrote. An oft-cited poll by the student-run Harvard Crimson found that only about 3% of faculty considered themselves conservative or very conservative while about 77% said they were liberal or very liberal. On 'The Big Money Show on Fox,' Brian Brenberg, a Harvard alumnus, called the idea of a conservative think tank a bone thrown to conservatives. 'When you need something like this, what it tells you is the problem people have accused you of is true. You should never need a center like this, because the definition of scholarship is looking at issues from every single side.' On X, Matthew E. Kahn, an economics professor at the University of California and a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution, called the idea 'promising' but said the Harvard Kennedy School should have done this decades ago. And Hoover's Niall Ferguson said that such a venture 'would have no credibility whatsoever' because of the circumstances under which it was created.
Times
07-07-2025
- Times
Times letters: Tech-free ‘cloisters' can help young minds
Write to letters@ Sir, I share Niall Ferguson's concern about the catastrophic effect of AI upon cognitive development ('AI's great brain robbery — and how universities can fight back', weekend essay, Jul 5). Founding, in 2007, the UK's only screen-free school, we have established precisely what he calls for: an oasis (or, as he calls it, a 'cloister') from which devices are excluded, where learning is centred around books, handwriting, discussion and real-world activities and relationships. Our academic outcomes prove that it works (74 per cent of GCSEs at grades 9 to 7), and we see very low incidence of mental health issues. My question is: where is Ferguson going to find university students 'capable of coping with the discipline of the cloister' if schools are habituating them to screen-dependence? If we are to avoid the new Dark Age of which Ferguson warns, we urgently need a 'screen-free schools' movement to complement the 'smartphone-free childhood' one. Jason Fletcher Headmaster, Heritage School Cambridge Sir, I fundamentally disagree with Niall Ferguson's response to the growing influence of AI in education. If more and more students are using ChatGPT to write their essays at the cost of eroding their own individual thinking and reasoning skills, then creating tech-free 'cloisters' in universities is not the answer. There is no uninventing AI, so education, like every other walk of life, is simply going to have to learn to adapt to it. The answer is to remove the essay as the primary measure of academic achievement and replace it with other means that are AI-immune, such as the old-fashioned interview panel, or viva voce. Bob Maddams Louth, Lincs Sir, Niall Ferguson rightly draws attention to the intellectual hollowing-out of student learning at universities due to generative AI. The urgency is even greater for learning at schools. The British government is significantly behind other nations in understanding what the best are doing internationally and developing a dynamic national strategy. In the face of this torpor, I set up the charity AI in Education two years ago with Alex Russell, chair of the Bourne Education Trust. We provide schools with guidance to ensure the interests of student welfare are put first. We cannot stop AI. We can only shape it. At best, AI has much to offer schooling. Yet the British education establishment is asleep to the risks and continues to focus almost exclusively on developing cognitive skills on which AI will always outperform humans, rather than on human skills, human intelligence, human identity and human empathy, which employers want, and on which AI will never outperform us. Sir Anthony Seldon Founding director, Wellington College Education Sir, I did many seven-hour stints in 'the cloisters' at Queen Mary College, London, in the 1970s. After each one the routine was: three hours of snooker and Southern Comfort in the union; one hour commute to Leytonstone; one hour to make and eat corned beef hash; a two-hour movie on VHS; a slow bath; and then bed (to process the cloister work). If I'd had AI to help I might have got a first, not a 2:1 (in astrophysics), but I doubt it. Stephen Hogg Sheffield Sir, When Sir Keir Starmer receives President Macron tomorrow, they will reaffirm their welcome determination to support Ukraine. British-French cohesion to defend the rules-based order over Ukraine is essential and exemplary. We need that same unity of purpose over Israel and Palestine, to uphold international law. In Gaza and the West Bank those same rules are broken daily. We have two requests. Macron and Starmer should press again for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza with all that that entails — and with consequences if devastation and starvation continue in Gaza. They should decide now to recognise the state of Palestine unconditionally, endorsing the Palestinian right to self-determination alongside Israel, and giving renewed impetus to the French-Saudi international conference on a just peace. Britain and France together will bring Commonwealth and European partners with them. It is vital to show the world, particularly President Trump, that there is an alternative based in law to Binyamin Netanyahu's declared policy: living by the sword. Sir Vincent Fean, former consul-general, JerusalemLord Hannay of Chiswick, former ambassador to the UNSir Jeremy Greenstock, former ambassador to the UNLord Green of Deddington, former ambassador to Saudi ArabiaFrances Guy, former ambassador to Lebanon Sir Tony Brenton, former ambassador to RussiaAnthony Cary, former high commissioner to CanadaSir Dominick Chilcott, former ambassador to TurkeySir William Patey, former ambassador to Afghanistan James Watt, former ambassador to EgyptSir Edward Clay, former high commissioner to KenyaPeter Jenkins, former ambassador to the UN (Vienna)Peter Collecott, former ambassador to BrazilJohn Buck, former ambassador to PortugalMichael Hone, former ambassador to IcelandPeter Millett, former ambassador to LibyaRobin Kealy, former ambassador to TunisiaSir Harold Walker, former ambassador to IraqAnthony Layden, former ambassador to LibyaRobin Lamb, former ambassador to BahrainRupert Joy, former EU ambassador to MoroccoRichard Lyne, former high commissioner to the Solomon IslandsRichard Northern, former ambassador to LibyaAdrian Sindall, former ambassador to SyriaSir Derek Plumbly, former ambassador to EgyptSir John Shepherd, former ambassador to Italy Sir, In your article on the selection of the next Archbishop of Canterbury (news, Jul 5), Lord Evans of Weardale says he seeks somebody 'who can speak authoritatively and graciously with a Christian voice unto the affairs of the nation. And clearly somebody who can take the appropriate lead on safeguarding.' All well and good, and perhaps a bit of motherhood and apple pie. In my diocese we are told we must increase our parish share and get more worshippers in the pews — a laudable ambition. But my benefice of nine parishes spread over many miles of Somerset has one incumbent. What we need in an archbishop, regardless of gender or ethnicity, is someone who realises that to spread the Christian word we need to invest in vicars on the ground. No war was won without soldiers and no company succeeds without salesmen. By all means speak to the affairs of the nation, but better results will come from speaking to the people of the nation in the parishes. Mike Hodson Bishops' Council and Diocesan Synod member; Spaxton, Somerset Sir, The government's ten-year NHS plan includes a 'seismic shift' in care, away from hospitals and towards a 'neighbourhood health service' (news and letters, Jul 5). The advantage of hospital-based clinics is that there is immediate access to full diagnostic facilities and near-immediate access to fellow specialists who can offer a second opinion. Enforcing a specialist diaspora into 'the community' results in professional isolation and, in terms of throughput, is inefficient. It disrupts the 'one-stop shop' approach to secondary care. Providing a proper multidisciplinary service requires far more staff when they are thinly spread over multiple sites, so is not cost-effective. I tried running outreach clinics for several years before concluding all of this, and abandoning them. These proposals demonstrate failure to learn from the mistakes of the past, and are doomed to repeat them. Dr Andrew Bamji Ret'd consultant rheumatologist; Rye, E Sussex Sir, Your leading article (Jul 4) praises a proposed shift to prevention within the NHS's Fit for the Future strategy, but then, in the same paragraph, describes banning alcohol advertising as 'draconian'. The public accounts committee found, in 2023, that alcohol costs the NHS in England alone a likely underestimate of £25 billion per year, with alcohol linked to more than 100 illnesses, mental disorder, self-harm and suicide. It is a major cause of preventable death. We know that action by government (because the alcohol industry isn't going to do it) on price, availability, marketing and advertising would be an effective preventive measure. What is the justification for opposing it? Elizabeth Robinson Consultant in public health; Levenwick, Shetland Sir, I would encourage John Orton to use the NHS app (letter, Jul 5). I'm well into my seventies but find it easy to use both on my phone and iPad. The government has a responsibility to improve the NHS but we, the users, have our responsibilities too. I also find my phone useful when waiting for a bus — I do the Times sudoku. Cate Rowntree London SE10 Sir, Fraser Nelson (comment, Jul 5) rightly highlights the predicament, created by successive governments for short-term expediency, Britain now finds itself in. Poorly organised debt interest is soaring. The complacency in the Treasury is breathtaking. While Rachel Reeves seems isolated in defence of her fiscal rules, the back benches have shown they do not care so long as the state's reach continues to grow and they can 'virtue signal' to their constituents. Their raw power is filling the vacuum at the top. Most people I know have concluded this government will be a one-term wonder. Where will we find a statesman with clarity of purpose, vision and the honesty to tell us we cannot sustain a freeloading population for much longer? I see no evidence but if one were to emerge, of any party, he or she would have my vote. David R Smith Southport, Merseyside Sir, The expertise of British security printers has long drawn central banks to these shores for the production of their paper money ('Story of banknotes is full of funny money', comment, Jul 5). The 50 rupee note issued in 1968 by the Central Bank of Seychelles was printed in London by Bradbury Wilkinson. It featured a seascape and portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth by Pietro Annigoni. Behind the Queen's head there are two coconut palms. At first sight it is a pleasant, innocuous scene. But turn the note upright and the fronds of the trees are clearly arranged to spell 'sex'. A printing anomaly perhaps — until the 10 rupee note, which featured a handsome turtle and was printed by the same company, was found to have the word 'scum' worked into the coral underneath the turtle. No one owned up to the prank and the notes were left in circulation until the islands gained their independence. Robin Laurance Oxford Sir, Wimbledon is, for me, a highlight of the summer but this year the delight has been dimmed by the absence of line judges. I am deaf and struggle to hear the new electronically generated line calls. Without a judge's clear gestures, I find I am one step behind, having to wait for the score to change or the subtitles to catch up with the commentary. On top of this, the courts look weirdly empty, the ball girls and boys lonely and the chance of those little asides, amusing moments or even eruptions from tense players is gone. Some of the character of Wimbledon has been lost. As for the line judges themselves, how depressing must these Championships be. How hurtful to be chucked out for an electronic gimmick. Octavia Pollock Petersfield, W Sussex Sir, To add to Diana Barrington Holt's 'irritations of tennis' (letter, Jul 5), may I suggest: the camera shot from behind the server that is so low it is impossible to see where the ball is going — and American commentators who talk so much they speak over the play. Lynne C Potter Hexham, Northumberland Sir, You report that three village cricket clubs have been banned from using their grounds after a member of the public said he was hit by a stray ball in a car park (news, Jul 5). At my school in the 1960s there was a walled bull field near the cricket flats, usually with a bull in it. If you were to hit a ball into the field you were awarded 12 runs, but six whacks with a ferula and ruled 'out' — and you had to collect the ball yourself. I don't remember many 12s being awarded. Kevin Lawton Wadebridge, Cornwall Sir, Sophia Bennett asks whether two letters from the same village in one day is a record (letter, Jul 5). I regret to disappoint her. On September 13, 1999, The Times published letters from myself and a close neighbour in the village of Longworth — so close that our houses share the same full postcode of seven characters. Professor Adam Ogilvie-Smith Longworth, Oxon Write to letters@
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First Post
02-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Civilisations: Decline of the West, rise of the Rest
Even Niall Ferguson, an apologist for the West's colonial depredations, is forced to concede that the 'decline of the West is a near certainty' read more In his 2011 book Civilisation: The West and the Rest, British historian Niall Ferguson wrote: 'In the year 1411, if you had been able to circumnavigate the globe, you would probably have been most impressed by the quality of life in Oriental civilisations. The Forbidden City was under construction in Ming Beijing, while work had begun on reopening and improving the Grand Canal; in the Near East, the Ottomans were closing in on Constantinople, which they would finally capture in 1453. The Byzantine Empire was breathing its last.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'By contrast, Western Europe in 1411 would have struck you as a miserable backwater, recuperating from the ravages of the Black Death — which had reduced population by as much as half as it swept eastwards between 1347 and 1351 — and still plagued by bad sanitation and seemingly incessant war. In England the leper king Henry IV was on the throne, having successfully overthrown and murdered the ill-starred Richard II.' So how did the West rise from this morass? 'The facile, if not tautological, answer to the question,' Ferguson says, 'is that the West dominated the Rest because of imperialism. There are still many people today who can work themselves up into a state of high moral indignation over the misdeeds of the European empires. Misdeeds there certainly were, and they are not absent from these pages.' Unfolding events have exposed Ferguson's shallow thesis. He claimed that colonialism cannot fully explain why the West rose from penury of the 1600s to the prosperity of the 1900s. Instead, Ferguson and other apologists of colonialism and transatlantic slavery, blindsided by the rise of China and India and the sclerotic decline of Europe, cling to the six factors that led to Western global domination. Ferguson's six 'killer applications' that he says contributed to the West's success are simplistic: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism and the work ethic. The West grew rich not because of these six killer applications but because colonial invasions, extortionate taxation from the colonies, and slave labour shipped from Africa to North America gave the West a multi-generational bounty: free land and free labour for over 200 years. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The work ethic killer application did not apply to African slaves. The democracy killer application did not apply to European colonies. The consumerism killer application was extractive – raw materials from the colonies fed the Industrial Revolution. The competition killer application applied only to Western powers carving out Africa among themselves following the infamous Berlin Conference in 1884-85. Medicine and science, Ferguson's fifth and sixth killer applications, were byproducts of the first four. Ferguson is not unaware of the cruelties of colonialism and slavery. He concedes: 'The word 'imperialism' is a term of abuse that caught on with nationalists, liberals and socialists alike. These critics rained coruscating ridicule of the claim that the empires were exporting civilisation. Asked what he thought of Western civilisation, the Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi is said to have replied wittily that he thought it would be a good idea. In Hind Swaraj ('Indian Home Rule'), published in 1908, Gandhi went so far as to call Western civilisation 'a disease' and 'a bane'.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Livid with Gandhi, Ferguson showered venom on him: 'The ascetic holy man Gandhi was scornful of Western civilisation's 'army of doctors'. In an interview in London in 1931 he cited the 'conquest of disease' as one of the purely 'material' yardsticks by which Western civilisation measured progress. To the countless millions of people whose lives have been lengthened by Western medicine, however, the choice between spiritual purity and staying alive was not difficult to make.' Ferguson ignores the horrific discovery that British colonial doctors used Indian political prisoners in the Andaman Islands' Cellular Jail as guinea pigs to test experimental medical drugs, leading to several deaths. The crime was exposed in a seminal investigation report published by The Guardian in 2001. Six key factors The West rose from poverty to wealth not primarily due to Ferguson's six killer applications but six other key factors. The first key factor was Europe's mastery of the seas and the weapons of war. That enabled even small West European nations like Portugal to colonise Brazil and parts of India. The bigger nations of Europe, Britain and France, built bigger colonies and made bigger fortunes for their nations' treasuries. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The second key factor was the transatlantic slave trade. Millions of Africans were captured by British slave shippers, shackled in chains and sold to the highest bidder in North America from the 1600s to the 1800s. America's wealth was built with slave labour on its cotton plantations. The third key factor was European invasions of the Americas and Australasia, driving indigenous people who had lived there for millennia into impoverished reservations and settling invading Europeans on their land. The fourth key factor was imposing taxes of over 50 per cent on farmers and traders in colonial India, reducing it from a cotton and textile exporting global powerhouse into a land wracked by poverty. The fifth key factor was creating conditions for famine in British-ruled India. Before colonialism, major famines were rare in India. During Britain's 190-year colonial rule, India suffered from 31 major famines – roughly one big famine every six years. After 1947, there hasn't been a famine in India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The sixth key factor was propagating a distorted history of the West and the 'Rest'. As befits an apologist for the West's colonial depredations and slave ownership, Ferguson ignores British economics historian Angus Maddison's conclusions except to say: 'Even the late Angus Maddison may have been over-optimistic when he argued that in 1700 the average inhabitant of China was slightly better off than the average inhabitant of the future United States. Maddison was closer to the mark when he estimated in 1600 British per-capita GDP was already 60 per cent higher than Chinese.' That is a misreading of Maddison's conclusions, who said India and China accounted for nearly 50 per cent of global economic output in 1700. Ferguson is forced to concede in the end in the interest of academic integrity: 'The decline of the West is a near certainty.' The writer is an editor, author and publisher. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Times
22-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Oil ‘will surge above $100 a barrel' if Iran blocks Strait of Hormuz
Oil prices will surge above $100 a barrel if Iran blocks the world's most important crude shipping route in retaliation for America bombing its nuclear sites, analysts believe. Iran's parliament voted on Sunday to close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint through which tankers carry about a fifth of global oil supplies. All eyes are on whether Iran's Supreme National Security Council decides to approve the often-threatened but never-implemented step, which analysts described as a 'worst-case scenario'. Kallum Pickering, chief economist at Peel Hunt, said an attempt by Iran to attack or mine the strait would cause 'a significant global supply and price shock, depressing global GDP and pushing up inflation'. Brent crude, the global benchmark oil price, has already risen by about $10 a barrel to more than $77 since Israel began its strikes on Iran on June 13, amid fears that Iran could block the strait. Weekend betting markets forecast that Brent would jump by another $4 to $5 a barrel when markets resumed trading late on Sunday night, taking prices above $80 a barrel for the first time since January. Sir Niall Ferguson, the historian, has warned that markets have been 'complacent' about the risk of Iran blocking the strait, as Tehran could strike out in its 'death throes'. That would send oil 'way above' $100 a barrel and cause a huge economic shock on a scale not seen since the 1970s, he told The Times CEO Summit. • 'Iranian regime in death throes risks a major economic shock' David Fyfe, chief economist at Argus Media, has said that closure of the strait could send prices to between $100 and $150 a barrel. The Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 led to prices roughly quadrupling, from about $3 to almost $12 a barrel, while the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war, which reduced output from both countries, resulted in oil prices more than doubling from $14 in 1978 to $35 in 1981. More recently oil prices spiked as high as $139 a barrel at one point in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Many analysts still do not expect Tehran to follow through on its threats to block the strait, in part because it would be likely to harm Iranian allies and customers more than it would hurt America. Pickering said it was 'worth noting that China is heavily dependent on the Strait of Hormuz for its trade'. • Iain Macwhirter: Leaving oil and gas in the ground was always a pipe dream 'If Iran tries to block that stretch of water, it risks an all-out war with the most powerful country in the world [the US] and badly antagonising the second most powerful [China],' he said. 'Headlines predicting oil prices above $100 a barrel should be viewed as forecasts for worst-case scenarios at this stage.' As well as a crucial shipping route for oil tankers, the strait between Iran and Oman, which is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, is also the route taken by about a fifth of global exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said he had 'long held the view that strategic considerations, particularly toward Iran-friendly Qatar and its vital LNG exports, and Iran's dependence on China — its largest oil customer — would act as a restraining force', as long as Iran's own oil export facilities were not targeted. However, he added that 'even without a full-scale disruption, the mere threat of interference in the strait could delay shipments and trigger a sharper-than-expected short-term spike in prices'. He said that the US and China could release strategic oil reserves to ease prices, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could redirect some of their exports via pipelines to facilities outside the strait. James Bambino, senior oil analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said the world had sufficient oil supply to meet demand even if Iranian exports were affected — 'so long as the Strait of Hormuz remains open — and we expect that it will'.
Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Times
War bunker or CEO summit? Iran looms over The Times's annual gathering
For a moment, this year's Times CEO summit felt more like a command bunker on war alert than a conventional meeting of business leaders. It began with Sir Niall Ferguson, the historian and geopolitics expert, estimating there was a 70 per cent chance of American B2s taking off from Missouri to bomb Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility within hours, or days at most. It ended with Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, calling for de-escalation while admitting that 'assets' including British Typhoon jets had been moved to the region. With the oil price rising fast and speculation rampant about possible disruption to trade through the Strait of Hormuz, chief executives were alive to the way politics more than ever impedes on their decision-making.
