The French are beating themselves up this summer with the question, what does it mean to be French? Niall Ferguson took on the question of the flatlined French economy a few days ago, echoing the same theme and calling it the "atheist sloth ethic." Good stuff as always.

And how about the stir created by Austrialian historian Keith Windschuttle in down under academic circles, attacking the academic establishment for fabricating Austrialian genocide of Aboriginal tribes in the 19th century. Says the Austrialian article:

With the passage of time, the academic history profession is far from over the history wars. An extraordinary number in its ranks believe they have been been damaged by populist history propounded by Windschuttle. They are searching for a way out. Only a few seem brave enough to speak up, arguing that freedom of expression is the primary issue.

Um, no it is not. Freedom to express falsehoods? How about accuracy? How about the slipshod denigration of Windschuttle's work by airly calling it "populist history," meaning it is read by the "great unwashed" not just profs?

It continues:

"There is an understandable public concern about the accuracy of historians' work," he says. At the same time, Macintyre maintains, Windschuttle fits with a conservative agenda to lift a burden of national shame from Australian shoulders over the Aboriginal issue.

Macintyre told the conference the history wars fitted in with broader "political dimensions" of the Howard Government's "abandonment of reconciliation, denial of the stolen generations, its retreat from multiculturalism and creation of a refugee crisis".

"Windschuttle was the first conservative intellectual to base his case on substantial historical research," he says.

Windschuttle says this is precisely why the academic community is still so scared of him. "There is a whole generation who have invested not just their academic capital but also their political capital in the Henry Reynolds view," he says. And, says Windschuttle, he has made Australian history interesting again for high school students who are more likely to go on to study it in universities.

While not referring to the Windschuttle debate, NSW Premier Bob Carr, a longstanding history buff, said much the same thing at the conference.

"History is an argument and the more argument there is in it the more young people will read it," he said.

Heaven forbid.

Here's a good one: Vermont man stops cop and asks to be arrested for drunk driving.