In May, a new book on Edmund Burke appeared, Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician, Prophet. Its author is Jesse Norman who, according to an interview on the Kirk Center website, is ‘a Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire in the UK…a senior fellow at the UK think tank Policy Exchange and has taught philosophy at University College London and Birkbeck College.’

With the combination of academic and practising politician, Norman has a suitable background for authoring a book on Edmund Burke.

The book received a favourable pre-publication review in the UK’s Telegraph from well-known UK newspaper editor Charles Moore under the heading, ‘The first important conservative thinker.’ Continue reading →

The fourth meeting of EBC took place again at the Melbourne Savage Club, Bank Place, Melbourne. The title of the President’s talk was ‘The Australian Conservative, Abortion, Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Exercise of Prudence’. The talk was an exploration of Edmund Burke’s ideas on the nature and the exercise of prudence in politics. It was an examination of Burke’s political reasoning and its application in a particular case. Although Tony Abbott’s alleged change of mind on the issues of abortion and IVF served as an introduction, the focus was on how any conservative politician in the Burkean mould would deal with such fundamental political issues as abortion and same-sex ‘marriage’. The talk brought to the fore an important distinction Burke made between ‘inveterate evil’ in the body politic and new policy under consideration. Continue reading →

The third meeting was again at the very congenial Savage Club, Bank Pl, Melbourne City, of which Sir Robert Menzies was President 1947-1962. As there was not any business to conduct during this meeting, we proceeded directly to the presentations. Continue reading →

The second meeting of EBC took place at the Melbourne Savage Club, Bank Place, Melbourne. It turned out to be a marvellous venue with just the right atmosphere and historical background. Established in 1894 ‘the Club was based upon an appreciation of music, art, drama, science and literature.’ It has had a distinguished membership, including Sir Robert Menzies who was its president 1947-1962. We had a private meeting room with a young Robert Menzies looking down on us from a prominently placed portrait. Continue reading →

The foundational meeting for the Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc took place on the 24th of August 2012. There were nine people present on this momentous occasion, a pleasing number given that we had done very little promotion of the Club beforehand. Quite a few emailed their apologies, saying they will be sure to attend the next meeting in November 2012. The interest and eagerness of those present was keen. Continue reading →