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Scottish Sun
38 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Ditch the Caribbean for UK islands with white sand beaches that are just a 20-minute ‘Skybus' from the mainland
Plus, some of the most exotic islands near the UK ISLE GO Ditch the Caribbean for UK islands with white sand beaches that are just a 20-minute 'Skybus' from the mainland Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE UK is home to picturesque islands with Caribbean-style beaches and you can visit them by catching a 20-minute 'Skybus' from the mainland. The Isles of Scilly off of the coast of Cornwall are often referred to as beautifully untouched, boasting several islands with white sand beaches and Atlantic grey seals. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 The Isles of Scilly are located 28 miles off of the coast of Cornwall Credit: Alamy 8 To get there, you can get the ferry or hop on a 20-minute flight Credit: Alamy There are more than 140 isles that make up the islands and they are only 28miles from the coast of Cornwall. Of the islands, only five are actually inhabited - St. Mary's, Tresco, St. Martin's, Bryher, and St. Agnes. And many people who head to the isles, choose to hop between them via a 30-minute boat ride connecting them all. But the biggest benefit of the islands making them a great alternative to the Caribbean, is that they have their own microclimate. Caused by the North Atlantic Drift, the islands have flourishing palm trees. This climate also means the islands rarely see cold weather, consistently staying several degrees hotter than the UK mainland - adding to the overall Caribbean feel. The easiest way to get to the islands is via the 'Skybus', which you can do from Land's End Airport, Newquay Airport or Exeter Airport. From Land's End Airport it takes just 20 minutes to reach St. Mary's and if you don't want to leave your furry friend out, the flight even allows dogs. Return flights cost £65 per person, or £52 for children under 11-years-old. Alternatively, for a cheaper option hop on the ferry from £35 per adult and from £17.50 per child. The Spanish region undiscovered by Brits despite seaside views and ancient Roman cities St Martin's St Martin's measures just two miles long and a quarter of a mile wide but is home to scenic footpaths, clear waters and white beaches. On the island, is one of two vineyards in the Scilly Isles. At the vineyard, visitors can wander through the woodland trail before joining one of the tours. The tours are self-guided and guests will learn about the 'viticulture' and wine making that happens at the site. There is no need to book and a combined tasting and tour costs just £10 per person. St Martin's is also home to some of the "finest beaches in the British Isles", Visit Isles of Scilly states. And just moments away from the vineyard, is Par Beach. The beach boasts crystal clear waters and sandy dunes. 8 The islands are home to a wealth of things to do including seal spotting Credit: Getty When the tide goes out some small rockpools emerge, as does the long stretch of golden sands. Also noticeable from the beach is the island's red and white day mark that stands 40 feet tall. Only around 120 people live on the island, so it makes the ideal quiet spot to visit with beaches just like you are in the Caribbean. St Agnes Over on St Agnes, there is the second vineyard - Holy Vale Winery & Vineyard on St Mary's. Whilst not much else to do on the island, you should make sure to head to Troytown Farm Ice Cream - the only dairy farm in Scilly. One recent visitor said: "The taste and texture of this homemade ice cream is so good that it stays with me all year around and I miss it." You can camp here too, just steps away from the water's edge. 8 Across the islands, there are many flourishing palm trees Credit: Alamy St Mary's Over on St Mary's - the largest of the inhabited islands - you will find the Scillonian capital called Hugh Town. This is a great spot for exploring independent shops, with art galleries and restaurants. There are even some pubs such as The Mermaid Inn - which used to be a spot popular with smugglers. If you fancy seeing the island in a slightly different way, head to St Mary's Horse Riding School to enjoy a day trotting and galloping along the sandy beaches. St Mary's is also where you will find the airport and ferry dock, so if exploring all the islands it makes a great starting point or final stop. 8 And on the largest island, St Mary's there are many independent shops to explore Credit: Alamy 8 On Tresco, you can visit Abbey Garden which is home to 20,000 plants Credit: Alamy Tresco Tresco is then the second largest island out of the five and is known for its dramatic, rocky landscape. For history buffs, this might be the best island to visit as it has a whole host of castle ruins, coves, Bronze Age burial sites and Tresco Abbey Garden. Here, visitors can wander around 17acres of gardens that were first opened in the 1830s. The location is home to over 20,000 exotic plants from across the globe and hand-craved figurines made from the wood of shipwrecked boats. Tresco, like St Mary's, also has a number of independent shops and spots to eat. And if you really want to indulge, you can head to Tresco Island Spa, complete with an indoor swimming pool, gym, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. 8 Many of the beaches feature sprawling white sands and clear waters Credit: Alamy Bryher Bryher is the smallest island of the Isles of Scilly, but there are still things worth exploring there. For many, watersports are the top attraction here. Visitors can head to the beaches like Portcressa for swimming or enjoy a boat trip off of the island. For those who prefer to stay on dry land, the island offers some great hiking options with many of the walks including views of rugged cliffs and dramatic landscapes. At low tide, you can even stroll across the channel to the uninhabited island of Samson. Wanting a real taste of local life? Then head to the Crab Shack for a crab dish, located near Hell Bay. Or head to the quirky Fraggle Rock Bar, just moments from the beach. Some of the most exotic islands near the UK THE UK is home to a number of exotic-looking holiday islands. The Isles of Scilly The Islands have been compared to several amazing holiday destinations, with some even giving it the moniker "the Maldives of the UK". Its blue waters, warm weather and secluded beaches all play a part in it drawing the comparison from visitors. And the Royal Family are known to be fans too, with William and Kate regular visitors. The Isle of Harris, Scotland Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris in Scotland has been compared to the Caribbean by visitors and locals due to its secluded sandy beaches and pristine turquoise waters. The beach was named the seventh best in Europe at the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards last year. Jersey The island off the south coast of the UK has been described as having a "Caribbean-like coastline" as well as a number of amazing beaches, perfect for family holidays. St Ouen's Bay is particularly popular, with the white-sand beach spanning almost the whole of Jersey's west coast and well-loved by surfers. The world's ten best holiday islands have been revealed – here's how to find the two in Europe. Plus, 20 of Europe's most beautiful islands that have direct flights from the UK.
The Sun
39 minutes ago
- The Sun
Ditch the Caribbean for UK islands with white sand beaches that are just a 20-minute ‘Skybus' from the mainland
THE UK is home to picturesque islands with Caribbean-style beaches and you can visit them by catching a 20-minute 'Skybus' from the mainland. The Isles of Scilly off of the coast of Cornwall are often referred to as beautifully untouched, boasting several islands with white sand beaches and Atlantic grey seals. 8 There are more than 140 isles that make up the islands and they are only 28miles from the coast of Cornwall. Of the islands, only five are actually inhabited - St. Mary's, Tresco, St. Martin's, Bryher, and St. Agnes. And many people who head to the isles, choose to hop between them via a 30-minute boat ride connecting them all. But the biggest benefit of the islands making them a great alternative to the Caribbean, is that they have their own microclimate. Caused by the North Atlantic Drift, the islands have flourishing palm trees. This climate also means the islands rarely see cold weather, consistently staying several degrees hotter than the UK mainland - adding to the overall Caribbean feel. The easiest way to get to the islands is via the 'Skybus', which you can do from Land's End Airport, Newquay Airport or Exeter Airport. From Land's End Airport it takes just 20 minutes to reach St. Mary's and if you don't want to leave your furry friend out, the flight even allows dogs. Return flights cost £65 per person, or £52 for children under 11-years-old. Alternatively, for a cheaper option hop on the ferry from £35 per adult and from £17.50 per child. The Spanish region undiscovered by Brits despite seaside views and ancient Roman cities St Martin's St Martin's measures just two miles long and a quarter of a mile wide but is home to scenic footpaths, clear waters and white beaches. On the island, is one of two vineyards in the Scilly Isles. At the vineyard, visitors can wander through the w oodland trail before joining one of the tours. The tours are self-guided and guests will learn about the 'viticulture' and wine making that happens at the site. There is no need to book and a combined tasting and tour costs just £10 per person. St Martin's is also home to some of the "finest beaches in the British Isles", Visit Isles of Scilly states. And just moments away from the vineyard, is Par Beach. The beach boasts crystal clear waters and sandy dunes. 8 When the tide goes out some small rockpools emerge, as does the long stretch of golden sands. Also noticeable from the beach is the island's red and white day mark that stands 40 feet tall. Only around 120 people live on the island, so it makes the ideal quiet spot to visit with beaches just like you are in the Caribbean. St Agnes Over on St Agnes, there is the second vineyard - Holy Vale Winery & Vineyard on St Mary's. Whilst not much else to do on the island, you should make sure to head to Troytown Farm Ice Cream - the only dairy farm in Scilly. One recent visitor said: "The taste and texture of this homemade ice cream is so good that it stays with me all year around and I miss it." You can camp here too, just steps away from the water's edge. 8 St Mary's Over on St Mary's - the largest of the inhabited islands - you will find the Scillonian capital called Hugh Town. This is a great spot for exploring independent shops, with art galleries and restaurants. There are even some pubs such as The Mermaid Inn - which used to be a spot popular with smugglers. If you fancy seeing the island in a slightly different way, head to St Mary's Horse Riding School to enjoy a day trotting and galloping along the sandy beaches. St Mary's is also where you will find the airport and ferry dock, so if exploring all the islands it makes a great starting point or final stop. 8 8 Tresco Tresco is then the second largest island out of the five and is known for its dramatic, rocky landscape. For history buffs, this might be the best island to visit as it has a whole host of castle ruins, coves, Bronze Age burial sites and Tresco Abbey Garden. Here, visitors can wander around 17acres of gardens that were first opened in the 1830s. The location is home to over 20,000 exotic plants from across the globe and hand-craved figurines made from the wood of shipwrecked boats. Tresco, like St Mary's, also has a number of independent shops and spots to eat. And if you really want to indulge, you can head to Tresco Island Spa, complete with an indoor swimming pool, gym, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. 8 Bryher Bryher is the smallest island of the Isles of Scilly, but there are still things worth exploring there. For many, watersports are the top attraction here. Visitors can head to the beaches like Portcressa for swimming or enjoy a boat trip off of the island. For those who prefer to stay on dry land, the island offers some great hiking options with many of the walks including views of rugged cliffs and dramatic landscapes. At low tide, you can even stroll across the channel to the uninhabited island of Samson. Wanting a real taste of local life? Then head to the Crab Shack for a crab dish, located near Hell Bay. Or head to the quirky Fraggle Rock Bar, just moments from the beach. Some of the most exotic islands near the UK THE UK is home to a number of exotic-looking holiday islands. The Isles of Scilly The Islands have been compared to several amazing holiday destinations, with some even giving it the moniker "the Maldives of the UK". Its blue waters, warm weather and secluded beaches all play a part in it drawing the comparison from visitors. And the Royal Family are known to be fans too, with William and Kate regular visitors. The Isle of Harris, Scotland Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris in Scotland has been compared to the Caribbean by visitors and locals due to its secluded sandy beaches and pristine turquoise waters. The beach was named the seventh best in Europe at the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards last year. Jersey The island off the south coast of the UK has been described as having a "Caribbean-like coastline" as well as a number of amazing beaches, perfect for family holidays. St Ouen's Bay is particularly popular, with the white-sand beach spanning almost the whole of Jersey's west coast and well-loved by surfers. The world's ten best holiday islands have been revealed – here's how to find the two in Europe. Plus, 20 of Europe's most beautiful islands that have direct flights from the UK. 8
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Gwyneth: The Biography review - Gwyneth Paltrow's world is notoriously hard to break into. This book takes a shot
Gwyneth: The Biography Author : Amy Odell ISBN-13 : 9781805465713 Publisher : Atlantic Guideline Price : €15.99 Gwyneth: The Biography opens, where else, with the vaginal egg, an episode that has come to stand for Paltrow's general ability to sell dumb ideas to credulous rich women using widespread mockery as her marketing rocket fuel. (In case you need a reminder: this was the $66 jade egg Paltrow sold via her lifestyle brand Goop that promised various health benefits upon insertion.) Amy Odell's book, billed as delivering 'insight and behind-the-scenes details of Paltrow's relationships, family, friendships, iconic films', as well as her creation of Goop, takes no particular stand on this, nor on many of Paltrow's more divisive episodes, instead offering us what feels like an earnest jog back through the actor and wellness guru's years of fame. The author writes in the acknowledgments that she spoke to 220 people for the book, in which case we have to assume that a great many of them had little to say. To be fair to Odell, whose previous biography was of Anna Wintour , another difficult and controlling subject – although Wintour did give Odell some access – Paltrow's world is notoriously hard to break into if she's not on board with a project; the author quotes numerous hacks tasked with profiling Paltrow for magazines who found themselves iced out of her networks, and the same happens to Odell in the early stages of research. Odell's task only gets harder in the second half of the book, which tackles the Goop years. Since, she claims, many of its staff signed NDAs, those sections lack even the modest stream of gossip that enlivens the first half. [ I'm pulling the Goop plug – no jade eggs are going in my yoni Opens in new window ] Which, by the way, is perfectly enjoyable. I ripped through Odell's account of Paltrow's youth as the simultaneously indulged and benignly neglected daughter of two show business big guns, the actor Blythe Danner and the producer and director Bruce Paltrow. Danner is prim and unemotional; Bruce Paltrow is more demonstrative but still emotionally evasive, and Odell reheats some well-documented episodes between father and daughter, such as the trip they made to Paris when Paltrow was about 10, during which Bruce told her: 'I wanted you to see Paris for the first time with a man who will always love you, no matter what.' (Paltrow, in interviews, has always offered up this story as a moving tribute to her dad's love for her.) Odell also tells us the (I think) new detail that, when Paltrow was older, 'her dad once gave her lace underwear as a gift'. It's a small addition but it stands out against what feels like the book's trove of reconstituted material. In 1984, when Paltrow was 12, the family moved from LA to New York . We learn that she felt outclassed at Spence, the Upper East Side private school where the money is older and the blood bluer than in the Danner-Paltrow household. We also learn that, in spite of this, Paltrow – whose biggest nightmare is listed in the senior school yearbook as 'obesity' – manages to form a clique around herself that may or may not have been involved in the drawing of a penis on the library wall. It's small potatoes but we'll take it. READ MORE Odell goes into great depth about the Williamstown theatre festival – presumably because the old theatre lags actually agreed to talk to her – a storied annual event in rural Massachusetts where Danner takes her daughter every summer, first to watch her mother on stage, and later, to act herself. I liked these passages, in which you get a real sense of a summer stock scene that has always attracted top actors and their nepo babies. At one point, a barely teenage Paltrow takes the assistant director's seat and the head of the festival fails to ask her to move. Paltrow is entitled, wan, sometimes foul-mouthed, intensely focused and in these scenes, really comes alive. By studying her mother on stage, she learns how to be an actor. And so on to the Hollywood years, where everything becomes less fresh and more familiar. We slog through the background to productions of Emma, Shallow Hal and Shakespeare in Love and then we get to Harvey Weinstein , who during the first flush of #MeToo, Paltrow accused of making a pass at her. Odell quotes from Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's book, She Said, but there's not much more to be harvested on a story broken and pursued by such good reporters. What's left is a trawl through a lot of things we already know – although there is one very funny motif from those years, which involves Paltrow miming throwing up behind the backs of people she dislikes, one of whom is Minnie Driver . (Team Driver all the way, here, obviously.) Also an old friend of Paltrow's claims 'she invented ghosting', which sounds about right. Finally, Goop: this was a story I hadn't been paying much attention to lately, and so a genuine surprise of the book is to learn that the company founded by Paltrow in 2008 has been a much shakier business than advertised. We know that Goop paid to settle a lawsuit brought by the California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force over false claims about the health benefits of the vaginal eggs. And we also know it accepted judgments by the US National Advertising Division about other false claims. But, as Odell puts it, Paltrow's 'middling run as the CEO of Goop' has ensured that the company 'hasn't experienced sustained profitability … and has lacked a clear business strategy as it pingpongs from one of Gwyneth's ideas to the next'. Here's a reveal: that Paltrow is such a massive cheapskate she used Goop's food editors to cook for her. 'In the office,' writes Odell, 'it was common knowledge that the food editors would go to Gwyneth's house after work and make her dinner under the guise of 'recipe testing'. When she and Brad Falchuk were living apart, the food editor would bring dinner to his house, too, which wasn't a light lift in LA traffic.' She also asked vendors to donate their services to her and Falchuk's wedding in return for advertising. Gwyneth Paltrow at a special screening of The Goop Lab in Los Angeles, California, on January 21st, 2020. Photograph:The difficulty with all this is that Paltrow is a charmless subject who never rises to the level of monstrous. She's an actor, a so-so businesswoman – Kim Kardashian , as Odell points out, has had much greater success with her company, Skims. The story, then, is less about how Paltrow became this figure in the culture than why on earth she was elevated in the first place. Odell doesn't have the time or the inclination to get into this, instead offering pat lines such as, 'love her or hate her, for over 30 years, we haven't been able to look away'. At the very end, Odell draws a line between Paltrow's peddling of pseudoscience on Goop and Robert F Kennedy Jr, 'a fellow raw milk drinker' and Trump's vaccine-sceptical health secretary, which feels like a sudden turn towards a more interesting and confident authorial voice. If only it had piloted the whole book. – Guardian Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell is published by Atlantic
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Another sweltering South Florida day, chance of inland afternoon showers
Another sizzling day across South Florida with highs soaring to the low 90s and "feels-like" temperatures in the triple-digits. Wednesday got off to a warm and steamy start with temperatures in the low 80s and "feels-like" temps in the low 90s. While the morning will be mainly dry, around midday and in the afternoon a few showers and storms will be possible. Florida's lobster mini-season is underway and Mother Nature is cooperating as there are no alerts or advisories for boaters. Boaters over the Atlantic waters can expect light winds out of the south at 5 knots with seas of 2 feet or less and smooth conditions on the bays. Boaters in the Keys can expect light winds out of the southeast at 5 knots with seas around 1 feet and smooth conditions nearshore. For beachgoers, there is a low risk of rip currents and the UV index is extreme. Thursday stays hot and humid with afternoon highs in the low 90s and "feels-like" temperatures in the low 100s. Heat advisories may be issued by the National Weather Service if the heat indices reach 105 degrees for two hours or longer. The chance of rain will remain at 20% with spotty showers possible. The sweltering heat sticks around through the weekend as highs remain in the low 90s and "feels-like" temperatures continue in the triple-digits. The chance of rain will stay low as high pressure remains in control. Some showers and a few storms will be possible on Saturday and Sunday. The chance of rain increases early next week.
Vox
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Vox
What a Black fascist can teach us about liberalism
is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. His book on democracy,, was published 0n July 16. You can purchase it here. American diplomat, consultant and author Lawrence Dennis (1893-1977) walks to court during his sedition trial on May 9, 1944 in Washington, DC. Getty Images It was 1935, and Lawrence Dennis was sure that fascism was coming to America. He couldn't wait. Dennis, a diplomat turned public intellectual, had just published an article in a leading political science journal titled 'Fascism for America.' In his mind, the Great Depression was proof that liberalism had run its course — its emphasis on free markets and individual liberty unable to cope with the complexities of a modern economy. With liberal democracy doomed, the only question was whether communism or fascism would win the future. And Dennis was rooting for the latter. 'I should like to see our two major political parties accept the major fascist premises,' he wrote. 'Whether our coming fascism is more or less humane and decent will depend largely on the contributions our humane elite can make to it in time.' His case for fascism, made at book length in 1936's The Coming American Fascism, felt persuasive to many at the time. A contemporary review of the book in the Atlantic wrote that 'its arraignment of liberal leadership is unanswerable'; he was well-regarded enough to advise leading isolationist Charles Lindbergh and meet with elites on both sides of the Atlantic, ranging from sitting senators to Adolf Hitler himself. On the Right The ideas and trends driving the conservative movement, from senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. I first encountered Dennis researching my feature on liberalism and its critics (which has just emerged from the Highlight's paywall). In the piece, I use him to show that liberalism's enemies have long predicted its inevitable doom. But the more I've thought about Dennis, the more I've realized how much we have to learn from him today. There are striking parallels between Dennis's fascist attack on liberalism and the arguments made by its current right-wing critics. And given that Dennis's arguments proved so badly wrong, his fate should be a warning against accepting similar predictions of inevitable liberal doom from his modern heirs. There are, I think, two central errors in Dennis's work that have direct parallels in the arguments made by contemporary illiberal radicals. I've termed them 'anti-liberal traps,' and I think many are falling into them today. What Lawrence Dennis believed Dennis came to fascism through a peculiar route. A Black man who passed for white for nearly his entire life, he was openly critical of Jim Crow and American racism — almost, his biographer Gerald Horne theorizes, as if he wanted people to know who he truly was. Horne further suggests that Dennis's embrace of fascism was motivated in part by disgust with the racism of the median American voter. Dennis, Horne intimates, may have been so disgusted with racist rule of 'the people' that he embraced rule-by-elite as an alternative. But while he did discuss race, Dennis's arguments in The Coming American Fascism were primarily economic. In his view, the Great Depression was not an isolated crisis but rather a sign of the current political order's structural failures. Dennis believed that capitalism depended on several key factors to deliver economic growth — including continued acquisition of new territory, a growing population, and debt-financed business expansion. By the 1930s, he believed that these factors had reached a dead end: that the US could not feasibly acquire new territory, that its population would level off thanks to immigration restrictionism and birth control, and that private debt had reached wholly unsustainable levels. The Depression, he argued, was a symptom of these structural failings coming to a head. In Dennis's view, American liberal democracy did not have the tools to repair the flaws in the capitalist system. Liberalism was, he believed, joined inevitably to laissez-faire economics. Its deference to private property was so total, its institutions so dominated by the interests of the wealthy, that it would be impossible for even a leader as ambitious as then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt to make serious internal adjustments. 'The features of the liberal system we are now discussing are fundamental. It is constantly forgotten that the quintessence of liberalism and liberal liberties under a constitution is the maintenance of a regime of special or exceptionally favorable considerations for private property,' Dennis writes. 'A series of majority votes arrived at by the parliamentary or Congressional methods of majority group pressures, lobbying, and the individual pursuit of reelection by hundreds of office holders, do not constitute a guiding hand. And a political system of checks and balances is not coordinated control.' This last line hints at Dennis's fascist vision: a system in which liberal democracy is replaced by the rule of a handful of enlightened elites, who develop a comprehensive plan for the economy rather than leaving things up to the whims of private owners. Only state control over economic affairs, including nationalization of the banking system, could repair the malfunctioning economy and put the United States on the pathway to prosperity. Dennis was no communist: he did not believe in the complete abolition of private property. Rather, he believed that the state should be far more aggressive in dictating to private owners — forcing them to make corporate decisions based not on the profit motive but rather on the good of the collective, as defined by the fascist governing class. This was the model emerging in Italy and Germany at the time he was writing, and one he believed would prove vastly more efficient and productive in the modern world than American-style liberal democratic capitalism. 'America cannot forever remain 17th and 18th century in its law, and political and social theory and practice, while moving in the vanguard of 20th century technological progress. The defenders of 18th century Americanism are doomed to become the laughing stock of their own countrymen,' he writes. Dennis believed that liberalism's practical failings stemmed from its philosophical essence: that 'the features of the liberal system we are now discussing are fundamental.' The liberal obsession with individual rights, be it private property or free speech, made liberal democracies ideologically incapable of taking the economic steps necessary to fix capitalism's errors. 'The fascist State entirely repudiates the liberal idea of conflict of interests and rights as between the State and the individual,' he writes. 'Liberalism assumes that individual welfare and protection is largely a matter of having active and powerful judicial restraints on governmental interference with the individual; Fascism assumes that individual welfare and protection is mainly secured by the strength, efficiency, and success of the State in the realization of the national plan.' The obvious objection is that this fascist vision would lead to terrifying mistreatment of citizens. Dennis did allow that Germany had gone too far in this direction by repressing the media and the church, but argued that 'a desirable form of fascism for Americans' could avoid such 'drastic measures.' Even Germany, Dennis believed, would not become 'a State and government…whose every act would be an abuse,' as 'such an eventuality seems most improbable in any modern State.' Though fascist ideology might define the national plan in a way that directed violence against ethnic minorities, Dennis — ever the closeted Black man — believed that such racism could be excised from the fascist project. 'If, in this discussion, it be assumed that one of our values should be a type of racism which excludes certain races from citizenship, then the plan of execution should provide for the annihilation, deportation, or sterilization of the excluded races,' he worried. 'If, on the contrary, as I devoutly hope will be the case, the scheme of values will include that of a national citizenship in which race will be no qualifying or disqualifying condition, then the plan of realization must, in so far as race relations are concerned, provide for assimilation or accommodation of race differences within the scheme of smoothly running society.' The anti-liberal traps, from 1936 to 2025 We now know that every single one of Dennis's arguments was terribly wrong. The New Deal worked; both the US and European democracy developed social models that reformed capitalism without abandoning its essence. This political-economic system proved far more effective economically than either fascist or communist central planning. And fascism in practice committed every horrible abuse that its liberal critics warned of — and some so awful that almost no one imagined their possibility in advance. Now, '1930s-era fascist was wrong' is not exactly breaking news. But what I found notable about Dennis is how closely his argument follows a general pattern of anti-liberal argument — one which many far-right intellectuals deploy today in their critiques. It is one centered on what I described earlier as the twin 'anti-liberal traps.' The first anti-liberal trap is a claim that a recent crisis is a product of unchangeable and unreformable liberal philosophical commitments. It is a belief that while liberal states still stand, the author has seen their coming doom — and its causes align, just perfectly, with the author's preferred view of the world. Such claims not only demand extraordinary evidence, but risk being embarrassed when events in the world begin to shift. Patrick Deneen, a political theorist at Notre Dame, has put this mode of argument at the center of his worldview. In two recent books, Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change, Deneen argues that the current rise of populist figures like Donald Trump augurs liberalism's collapse — a collapse that is, he believes, a necessary product of liberalism's philosophical commitments to meritocracy and individualism. 'Liberalism has careened towards its inevitable failure,' he writes in Regime Change, because 'liberalism's conception of liberty created both a new ruling class and degraded the lives of the masses.' Specifically, he argues, liberalism's commitment to freeing individuals to live the lives of their choosing has led to weakening of the ties that bind humans together — without which most will suffer so badly that the system cannot long survive. 'The advance of liberal liberty has meant the gradual, and then accelerating, weakening, redefinition, or overthrowing of many formative institutions and practices of human life, whether family, the community, a vast array of associations, schools and universities, architecture, the arts, and even the churches,' he writes. Deneen's analysis is, in argumentative structure, extraordinarily similar to Dennis's. Both take recent events, be it the rise of Trump or the Depression, as proof that liberalism's doom is not merely likely but assured. Both argue that this inevitable collapse stems from liberalism's unchangeable and unreformable philosophical essence. And both, notably, locate the failures in areas that align with their political interests. Deneen is a Catholic conservative who believes the state ought to promote conservative religious values; Dennis was a fascist who believed in a state-structured economy. Not coincidentally, they blame liberalism's inevitable doom on (respectively) its social and economic failings. In describing these similarities, I am not attempting a comprehensive rebuttal of Deneen's arguments. The content of their arguments are different enough, as are the circumstances. Perhaps Dennis was wrong and Deneen is right. But there is a tendency, among observers of all stripes, to overextrapolate from recent developments — typically in ways that flatter their own worldviews and biases. The second anti-liberal trap represents a similar kind of wishful thinking. It is an idealization of liberalism's alternatives: a comparison of actually-existing liberalism either to theoretical models or whitewashed versions of its real-life competitors. To imagine, in essence, Dennis's anti-racist fascism or less-hateful Nazism. You can see this, most obviously, in the recent right-wing vogue for Catholic integralism: a political model in which the state would be tasked with using its power to further the spiritual mission of the church. Any such project would require truly extraordinary amounts of coercion to be implemented in a country that's 20 percent Catholic (and most American Catholics are not themselves far-right). More broadly, right-wing religious regimes have a poor track record when it comes to protecting the rights of non-believers. Yet integralists respond to these claims either by deflection — liberal states coerce too! — or an assertion that their confessional state would surely be better than the others. Recalling a conversation with a Jewish colleague about what would happen to this person under integralism, Harvard's Adrian Vermeule — a leading American integralist — described his answer in two glib words: 'nothing bad.' You also see parallels to Dennis in the way that modern anti-liberals talk about contemporary Hungary, which has become to the illiberal right what the Nordic states are to the American left. Hungary is undeniably authoritarian, but its modern right-wing defenders angrily deny that its regime is anything other than a well-functioning democracy. Hard evidence to the contrary, such as its repression of independent media or attacks on judicial independence, are dismissed as liberal propaganda or else no worse than what happens here in the United States. This false equivalence, incidentally, was a favorite move of Dennis's. In dismissing charges that fascism would trample on individual rights the liberal state protects, he replied that all states coerce, just in different ways. 'The popular type of denunciation of fascism on the ground that it stands for State absolutism, or a State of unlimited powers, as contrasted with the liberal State of limited powers, is based on misrepresentation of the true nature of the liberal State,' he wrote. 'The important differences between fascism and liberalism in this respect lie between those certain things which each State, respectively, does without limitation.' Again, the point is not to suggest complete equivalence: Viktor Orbán's Hungary is not Adolf Hitler's Germany. Rather, it is to point out how similar the arguments are structurally — how easy it is, when starting from a point of hostility to liberalism, to handwave away criticisms of its alternatives through idealizations and tu quoques. Lawrence Dennis was not a dumb man. After reading much of his writing, I'm confident of that. But his arguments, which seemed so persuasive to many at the time, proved to be mistaken in nearly every particular — a shortsighted extrapolation from recent evidence that misread both the politics of liberal democracies and liberalism's philosophical adaptability to new circumstances. It's a lesson that radical anti-liberals today ought to take to heart.
