About The Gadfly

A gadfly is an irritant by design: small, persistent, and inconvenient to people who would rather not be disturbed. That’s roughly what I’m trying to do here.

Socrates – “the gadfly of Athens” – got there first, of course; I’m just doing the budget version, with no expectation of reshaping Western civilisation any time soon.

Something has gone wrong in our public life. Institutions speak the language of reason, tolerance, and open inquiry while behaving in ways that quietly undermine all three. Words have lost their meanings, and moral claims have become moves in a status game. Above all, disagreement is now often treated as harm.

The Gadfly exists to examine the warping of liberal principles and to understand how a civilisation built on clarity and argument drifted into confusion and obfuscation.

You’ll find essays here about civilisational decline, moral confusion, runaway technology, and the corruption of language. Sometimes philosophical, often polemical, and fairly caustic throughout – but always aiming for honesty over comfort. I’m not trying to write literature; I’m trying to make complicated things legible to non-specialists (that includes me) without dumbing them down.

I’ll get things wrong from time to time, and I occasionally go back and correct pieces when necessary. I welcome suggestions and good-faith criticism; abuse and trolling will be blocked.

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