John Robson: Recent Episodes
John Robson
What you think of Maxime Bernier's People's Party and its likely effects in the next federal election?
"some of our comrades behave like swines while others behave like saints. Man has both potentials within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions not on conditions." - Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning"
Was Ludwig von Mises right that "the state, the government, the laws must not in any way concern themselves with schooling or education. Public funds must not be used for such purposes. The rearing and instruction of youth must be left entirely to parents and to private associations and institutions."
How can people call the Notwithstanding Clause "unconstitutional" when it's in our Constitution, and was included in the Charter of Rights specifically to protect Parliament's lawmaking authority given the newly increased importance of the judiciary?
What five questions would you use to add a Lawful-Lawless axis to the World's Smallest Political Quiz?
Given Americans’ far greater pride in their heritage of freedom do you ever get discouraged about Canada and think of moving south?
If the #metoo movement goes to far, does it risk ruining the lives of the innocent by denying due process yet leading people upset at its excesses to ignore actual victims?
How can a decentralized, publicly funded but privately run education system ensure that your child and mine can communicate?
Aren't our laws and institutions based on Judeo-Christian values? Aren't they in the Magna Carta?
When does the authority of regulations under an Act exceed the authority of the Act itself?
How can the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal be making decisions in sexual assault cases given that it's a Criminal Code offence and the standard of proof is lower at the tribunal than in a criminal court?
Are public school salaries too high, especially given that they're paid for by compulsory taxes not voluntary arrangements?
Given how much governments spend on programs and operations, how can they ever hope to pay back the enormous sums they have borrowed on our behalf? And what happens if they don't try?
How should citizens, energy industry workers and energy industry companies react to David Suzuki getting an honorary degree from the University of Alberta?
What should Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have said about Kinder Morgan's proposed Trans Mountain Expansion? In fact what matters is what he should have done: Make it happen.
Will the #MeToo movement help people rediscover traditional sexual morals given that men and women feel sufficiently differently about sex that even formal explicit consent can leave a woman feeling used afterwards?
Why do people assume if you question man-made climate change orthodoxy that you don't care about pollution, and how should we answer that charge?
John Robson discusses how a Scottish man can be tried for teaching his girlfriend's dog a Nazi salute if the UK has free speech going back to Magna Carta
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow April 6, 2018, discussing suggestions for greater government regulation of Facebook
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow April 6, 2018, discussing the increasingly out-of-control arrogance of the federal Liberals
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow April 6, 2018, discussing why politicians are so closed-mindedly belligerent on man-made climate change despite the lack of evidence
What is the best place to start reading G.K. Chesterton? His fiction? His essays? His longer non-fiction?
Is Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland right that a century ago almost all women were beaten by their husbands?
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow March 23, 2018, discussing whether social media are addictive and harmful
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow March 23, 2018, discussing the worrying pace at which AI is developing creative and intuitive abilities
John Robson discusses whether it is appropriate to talk of terrorist attacks on "innocent civilians" when all citizens are in some sense complicit in the conduct of their government?
John Robson discussing whether, if we can consent to be killed through euthanasia, can we again engage in duels?
Is the restriction of CSJ grants to those who vocally favour abortion an attack on religious freedom. If so, since there is no absolute Charter right to abortion on demand, might a court challenge overturn the policy?
Was parliamentary supremacy the key to our constitutional order and if so isn't the Notwithstanding Clause a pale substitute?
How, if at all, should we deal differently with foreign governments whose values we abhor or that repress their citizens?
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow February 16, 2018, arguing that the federal government should not subsidize newspapers
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow February 16, 2018, discussing politicians' divisive response to the not guilty verdict for Gerald Stanley in the shooting of Colten Boushie
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa with Rob Snow February 16, 2018, discussing the federal government's decision to put nearly $1 billion into "superclusters" on the apparent conviction that government drives private sector innovation
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa February 9, 2018, live from the 2018 Manning Networking Conference, taking issue with the Prime Minister insisting on "peoplekind" not "mankind" while happily accepting the superior virtues of "maternal" love
Clip of John Robson on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa February 9, 2018, live from the 2018 Manning Networking Conference, discussing the platforms of Ontario PC leadership candidates
Clip of John Robson on CIWW 1310 in Ottawa February 14, 2018 discussing the Colten Boushie/Gerald Stanley verdict and irresponsible political rhetoric about racism and our justice system
How does the modern legal view of rape, and consent, differ from the traditional common law definition?
What are we to do about the fact that people of good will and intelligence disagree strongly on public policy?
Why do even people who accept medically assisted dying in principle find it distressing in practice?
Why aren't government deficits and debts hurting prosperity? Did Greece have the right approach all along?
How can we use the law to force governments to revisit bad data that drives climate policy including carbon taxes?
Why does Canada have hate speech laws but the United States doesn't? Which arrangement is better?
Does the American constitutional system have a principle like ours that "The Crown can do no wrong"?
Can you recommend good books on the progression of government from warring chaos to ordered liberty?
Is the Canadian or American political system more vulnerable to centralization of power and loss of freedom?
What would government look like if the legislature took seriously its job of restraining the executive?
Should the Liberals have invoked the Notwithstanding Clause rather than settle Omar Khadr's lawsuit?
Doesn't playing the anthem and flying the flag politicize sports, rather than athletes who protest?
Can our economy grow indefinitely given the limits of the global ecosystem? And is there some way for progress to continue without endless growth?
On September 28, 1791, France became the first country to emancipate Jews fully in the modern world. What took so long? And why is Antisemitism so pervasive and persistent.
On September 21 of 1937, a small and whimsical children’s book by an apparently dry Oxford professor appeared. The Hobbit has its failings, to the point that the movies are actually better than the book, very much unlike the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. But it already contained the germ of the powerful moral vision that was to blossom into Tolkien’s unforgettable and transformative trilogy.
Why do buildings keep getting uglier, more ungainly and decadent? Why can’t we today match the artful simplicity of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern monumental architecture?
Making the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in a gas balloon in 1984 rather missed the golden age of ballooning, and it’s an achievement with a few asterisks attached. But it’s still a heck of an achievement by Joe Kittinger, and reminds us there are so many ways there are to excel in so many areas.
In The Origins of the Second World War, British historian A.J.P. Taylor argues that Hitler, far from having a grand strategic plan for world conquest, had a moderate foreign policy similar to most German politicians at the time and did not intend to start a major European war. Is that a reasonable view?
Two naval battles that began on August 30 remind us of the outsized geopolitical importance of the West.
What do Canadians need to know about the disasters socialism has caused around the world through history, and its deceptive appeal even today?
Why is abortion a conservative issue? It is certainly a Christian issue, and many Christians are conservative, but would a conservative atheist be anti-abortion?
Stepped down as chairman of the committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was something of a hapless performance. And in one sense, Gorbachev can and should be seen as a bumbler. But the most important thing about him was a fundamental decency that meant the end of communism was remarkably bloodless.
If the planet stopped using fossil fuels, right now...by how much would the planet cool?
A recent weather network article made outlandish claims about man-made climate change, including that average summer temperatures in Ottawa would rise from 20 to 27 degrees Centigrade by 2200 unless by giving up fossil fuels we limited it to 24 degrees. How does one counter such outlandish claims?
With the new website I seem to have a better view of the "studio" in which you record your replies to Ask the Professor. While watching the latest I noticed that on the bookshelf over your left shoulder is a copy of an anthology of Mickey Spillane novels. Mickey Spillane? Not what I expected to find on John Robson's bookshelf.
A sesquicentennial question: How did we progress from the Tory Family Compact to the Liberal Laurentian elite in 150 years, if that’s progress?
What makes a building beautiful? Is it the "golden ratio" in its proportions, its ornamentation, something else or a combination of these and other factors?
Liberals have been appointing more women than men to federal judge positions, despite women being a minority of available candidates. The government’s defenders say if every appointee is qualified, a pass-fail criterion, the Employment Equity Act’s requirements are met. But isn't this discriminatory? If so, how can the government legally sustain anti-discrimination policies?
Do you agree with Lawrence Solomon in the National Post that most politicians called “far right” in the media, like Marine Le Pen in France, are actually a new kind of nationalist with views scattered unpredictably all over the traditional left-right spectrum?
What do you think of the concept of “White Privilege” and the associated notion that white people should feel shame and guilt over their race and maybe make reparations for past injustices against non-whites?
What are the similarities and differences between classical liberals, libertarians and conservatives? What would they agree about over dinner and what would they fight about?
Would you say leaking former (briefly) Donald Trump National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn's conversation with the Russian ambassador was justifiable? Do you think Gen Flynn did anything illegal? I ask because Charles Krauthammer has argued that this was a cover-up in search of a crime.
I often see the term “social construct” in the news, usually with reference to gender or race. Is it something real or just a wacky term for a wacky idea?
We recently discovered that Canada’s foreign minister had a grandfather who collaborated with the Nazis in occupied Ukraine. Does it matter that she said he “worked hard to return freedom and democracy to Ukraine” without mentioning that he edited a pro-Nazi newspaper during the war?