Calum Nicholson

Director of Research, Danube Institute. ‘Vaguely piratical’ - The Observer

[Calum Nicholson @ctmnicholson]

I was pleased with this paper. Iraq was interesting. The conclusions - from two weeks fieldwork down on the Nineveh plain - were counter intuitive. I hope worth a read.

[Danube Institute @InstituteDanube]

✝️Learn all about the many challenges that Iraqui Christians are facing from our recent research paper by the one & only @ctmnicholson #DanubeResearch #DanubePapers

[HotSotin 🇫🇮🇺🇦🇪🇺△ @HotSotin]

This wouldn't have happened in the EU

[MCC Brussels @MCC_Brussels]

https://t.co/HFbS99vdXa

[Németh Zsolt @NmethZs53429059]

@InstituteDanube Great text! Thx John and Melissa for the past decade long( plus )amazing years and successes!!

[Anne-Elisabeth Moutet 🇫🇷🇺🇦🇮🇷 @moutet]

I have been invited to take part in conferences and debates by the Danube Institute. At no moment was there any attempt to influence my presentations or positions, especially since Russia's criminal invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. On the contrary, the Institute suggested me for international conservative conferences where I developed ways to support Ukraine, in sharp contradiction with the then Hungarian government.

[Mark Krikorian @MarkSKrikorian]

"Whatever the future may hold, everyone associated with the Danube Institute can take pride in what has been built: a genuine intellectual community that has connected Hungary to important debates across Europe, North America, and the wider world."

[Liz Truss @trussliz]

The Danube Institute is a vital bulwark against the leftist establishment that dominates Europe

[Eric Hendriks @HendrKim]

My institute is facing difficulties, but, as John says...
“Whatever the future may hold, the Danube Institute can take pride in what has been built: a genuine intellectual community that has connected Hungary to important debates across Europe, North America and the wider world.”

[Rod Dreher @roddreher]

This is an important statement from one of the most noble men in public and private life I've ever known. I hope and pray the new Hungarian government understands what an asset the @InstituteDanube is, and keeps it around.

[Eduard Habsburg @EduardHabsburg]

A beautiful text on the work of the @InstituteDanube by the great John O'Sullivan - what we stand for, and what we do!
Exactly as I experienced it in the last months

[Guy Dampier @dampierguy]

This is a lovely tribute to the work the DI do. I've always enjoyed their lively events and the range of people they brought together, often with different views but willing to engage in dialogue. I hope the new government will see the promise in that.

[David Lloyd Dusenbury @DusenburyDavid]

The Danube Institute has been hosting high-level conversations about complex issues for more than a decade. My own connection to the Institute goes back to its early days. Since its inception, the Danube Institute has exemplified what it calls a “respectful conservatism”. Throughout its history, the Danube Institute has stayed true to its stated commitments to authentic thought and free speech. Because of this, it has become an indispensable venue for real, intelligent debate and original policy analysis. I hope its work can continue.

@JohnOSullivanNR @InstituteDanube

[Peter Boghossian @peterboghossian]

In my time as a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute, I've challenged and been challenged, and openly debated a wide range of ideas with researchers, scholars, and the public. Because of these experiences, I have become a sharper thinker and better communicator.

John O'Sullivan is an extraordinary public intellectual, remarkable colleague, and model leader. His message here is one that should be read by those who value open inquiry and the mechanisms to achieve more vibrant public discourses.

[Tom Gallagher NEW book Portugal & Western Turmoil @cultfree54]

@InstituteDanube A powerful statement of transparency from the Danube Institute. It is a resilient engine of open debate in all political seasons in Hungary, and has been a model NGO, promoting openness in the service of conservative values, in the capable hands of the evergreen John O'Sullivan.

[Anthony o'hear @Anthonyohepcmm]

@InstituteDanube Impressive and, from my own experience with Danube, true.

[Danube Institute @InstituteDanube]

https://t.co/XNhsO7QSsM

[Danube Institute @InstituteDanube]

🌳"The way we think about climate change today may be an analysis of the state of the planet, but it is just as much an artifact of our current culture" - emphasized @ctmnicholson in his lecture yesterday
We had a great night ✨

[Calum Nicholson @ctmnicholson]

The interesting thing about this book, as I read it, is that he tables a theory of falsifiability for human affairs. Which is exactly what he did for scientific ones. Same method, different context.

[aoattes @andyoattes]

Karl Popper’s, ‘Open Society and Its Enemies’ remains one of the most compelling defences of open discourse as a civilisational mechanism of error correction.

For Popper, Truth is never possessed in its entirety. It can only be understood through a logical process of criticism, disagreement, and the continual testing of ideas. A society that is capable of correcting its mistakes entirely depends upon the freedom to question prevailing assumptions and to expose falsehood through reasoned debate.

It is therefore entirely regrettable that one of the more insidious realities of our age is that certain individuals and institutions invoke the language of the open society while inverting its essential principles. Under the banner of tolerance, safety, equity or consensus, group-think, they have deliberately narrowed the range of permissible inquiry and badly damaged the very processes through which truth is discovered.

Popper understood that certainty is the enemy of progress. Indeed, a civilisation that loses its capacity for honest discourse loses its principal means of self-correction.

Once criticism is treated as heresy and dissent as a threat rather than a necessity, the foundations of the open society begin to crumble from within.

beg you to read Popper. To read @DavidDeutschOxf. To listen to and absorb the work of @ToKTeacher @naval @ConjectureInst and the many other great critical rationalists.

We ought to understand the great peril we face.

[Football Away Days @FBAwayDays]

A spine tingling rendition of Flower of Scotland being belted out by The Tartan Army, before their first World Cup Finals game in 28 years.

A moment that many have waited a lifetime for. 🥹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️

[Andrew Isker 🌳🪓 @BonifaceOption]

“You knew the first trillionaire?”

“I didn’t say I knew him. I said he replied ‘Wow!’ on my post once.”