Roger Scruton's Blog, page 19

Statement from Professor Sir Roger Scruton

Statement from Professor Sir Roger Scruton:

“Following my appointment as the unpaid chairman of the Government’s advisory committee on Building Better, Building Beautiful, I have been offended and hurt by suggestions I am anti-Semitic or in any way ‘Islamophobic’.  

“Nothing could be further from the truth, and I wish to rebut these incorrect assertions.

“If people actually read my comments regarding the interplay between George Soros and Hungary they will realise they are not in an...

YouTube launch

You can now watch and listen to Sir Roger on the Roger Scruton Official YouTube channel. 

This new platform will be home to discussions, interviews and talks and a welcome message can be viewed HERE. 

 

The Law of the Land - The Temple Church Sermon. 3 Oct 18

The Law of the Land.

 I joined the Inner Temple as a student forty-four years ago. Although called to the Bar I never pursued a legal career. But I look back on my legal studies with profound gratitude. For they implanted in me a vision of the English law that I have never ceased to cherish, and which has profoundly influenced my philosophical outlook. I would like to take this opportunity to share that vision with you, since it touches on matters that are vital to the condition of our c...

Professor David Watkin Eulogy - 24th September 2018, Kings Lynn Norfolk.

David Watkin

  Roger Scruton

When I first met David Watkin I was beginning my second year as a Research Fellow at Peterhouse, and David had just been elected to the Fellowship. There was much muttering in the Senior Combination Room concerning this scandalous appointment. Dr Watkin, it was rumoured, dressed in a manner too stiff and punctilious ever to be tolerated in a liberal institution. He believed in God, possibly in Hell and damnation. He was an outspoken opponent of modern art, mod...

Summer School Testimonials

Please watch this space for the new dates for the 2019 Summer School. If you would like to know what our previous students had to say, here are a few snippets to tempt you! 

"Just to reiterate what so many have said - I had such a wonderful time - stimulating and fun. What could possibly be better?"

"This event was a marvel to me and eye-opening. You are all amazing and it was absolutely lovely to meet all of you."

"I feel extremely energized and inspired after this week. I have to say i...

'The Pompidou Centre, Paris's great blemish' Spectator Life - Sept 18

From no angle does this ostentatious building fit in with its surroundings, nor did it occur to its architects that it should

I have the good fortune to be able to borrow a flat on the Île de la Cité in Paris from which I see from one side the towers of Notre Dame above the roof of a 19th-century seminary, and from the other side, across from the Seine, the ornate reconstruction of the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville, which burned down in 1871. To the right of the Hôtel de Ville the classical faç...

'Classical music is a unifying tonic in a world awash with trivial noise and identity politics' The Telegraph - Aug 18

Do concert halls offer something people used to get out of church?

All over the British Isles, during the summer months, there are festivals devoted to classical music. Some have become integral parts of the national culture, like the Cheltenham Festival. Others remain small and experimental, like the festivals of Presteigne and Chipping Camden. If I had time and energy I would explore them all, since nothing delights me more than a provincial town dressed up for music. But there are books to...

"The art of taking offence" The Spectator - Aug 18

The emerging witch-hunt culture would be an object of half-amused contempt, were we still protected, as we were until recently, by the robust law of libel. It is still possible to laugh at the absurdity of it all, if you sit at home, avoiding contact with ignorant and malicious people, and getting on with real life – the life beyond social media. Unfortunately, however, ignorant and malicious people have discovered a new weapon in their unremitting assault on the rest of us, which is the art...

National Review Interview - What it means to be a Conservative. July 18

Sir Roger Scruton speaks to Madeleine Kearns for The National Review. The full interview can be found online HERE.

The celebrated philosopher talks to National Review about what conservatism is, isn’t, and ought to be.

Madeleine Kearns: In your most recent book, Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition, you provide a distilled synthesis of modern conservative thought. First, I’d like to begin with your book’s last chapter, “Conservatism Now,” in which you reference William...

'What Trump Doesn't Get About Conservatism' The New York Times, July 18

I have devoted a substantial part of my intellectual life to defining and defending conservatism, as a social philosophy and a political program. Each time I think I have hit the nail on the head, the nail slips to one side and the hammer blow falls on my fingers.

Like many others, both conservative and liberal, I did not foresee the political career of Donald Trump, nor did I imagine that such a man could occupy the highest office of state, in the name of a party that specifically makes appe...