I have just posted a bit on Samizdata about the failure of “Khubilai” Khan to conquer Japan. His entire invasion fleet sank in a typhoon, in what was apparently the greatest naval disaster ever.
This posting was originally submitted for publication at the Globalization Institute Blog, but it was rejected for being off message. It would, said GI boss Alex Singleton, stick out like a sore thumb. So what’s not global about a Mongolian battle fleet sinking, on the other side of the world, and being on the telly in one of those documentaries with actors who don’t say anything so the voice over can be in any language? As we used to say in a Restoration comedy I once acted in at Essex University: Pshaw.
This posting is not me trying to start a campaign, or anything foolish like that. Alex is paying me for GI Blog postings and as far as I am concerned he is entitled to reject what I send, no matter how irrational and wrong-headed his explanation or with no explanation at all. I believe in blogger sovereignty. So instead, I quickly did another piece about child labour.
I am now being paid to contribute, once a week, to four blogs. There’s the GI blog, and the ASI blog, and two of the CNE blogs. (See also the list on your left.) Last Sunday some people said to me: What do you do? By which I took them to mean: What do you get paid to do? And for the first time in my life I said: I’m a writer.