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Date: Saturday, 20 Mar 2010 15:51
Hi All,
I just recently set up a small network group:
http://libertyuk.ning.com/
I invite you all to come and join.
The main point of this network is just to get Libertarians talking, discussing and interacting more. Hopefully we can get some students involved and look to get some more Libertarian Societies set up around the country...
Share details on upcoming events of interest, campaigns, news.. etc.
Plus, a live real time chat box!(Oh yes, no expenses spared)
Please come and join, it was only set up about 2 days ago... so numbers are small..
but hopefully we can change that :)
Kind Regards,
Max
Author: "Max Andronichuk (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Friday, 19 Mar 2010 13:19
Nic Coome's campaign Website should be up and running during the course of the day
www.niccoomelibertarian.com
Devizes Constituency
www.niccoomelibertarian.com
Devizes Constituency
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010 16:56
Erasing David trailer from Green Lions on Vimeo.
David Bond has nothing to hide… but does he really have nothing to fear?
David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear – a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and the loss of it.
Once the bastion of freedom and civil liberties, the UK is now one of the most advanced surveillance societies in the world - ranked third after Russia and China. The average UK adult is now registered on over 700 databases and is caught daily on one of the 4 million CCTV cameras located on nearly every street corner in the country. Increasingly monitored, citizens are being turned into suspects. But if you’ve got nothing to hide, surely there’s nothing to fear?
When David Bond receives a letter informing him that his daughter Ivy is among 25 million residents whose details have been lost by the government’s Child Benefit Office, he begins a journey that will see him hounded across Europe.
David soon discovers some alarming truths about what the government and private companies already know about ordinary citizens. He meets people who have been caught in the crossfire of the database state and have had their lives shattered.
As his concern grows, he makes a life-changing decision. He will leave his pregnant wife and child behind and put himself under surveillance for thirty days. The UK’s top Private Investigators are hired to discover everything they can about him and his family – and track David down as he attempts to vanish. Is it still possible to live a private, anonymous life in the UK? Or do the state and private companies already know too much about ordinary people?
Forced to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and the loss of it, David’s disturbing journey leaves him with no doubt that although he has nothing to hide, he certainly has something to fear…
We have become East Germany
H/T Old Holborn
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010 08:27
To Quote Saint Bob Send Us Your ******* Money!
We are looking to open a permanent office and employ a part time paid member of staff
We doubled our income in 2009, and I would like to see if we can do this again in 2010.
Two donors that have agreed to underwrite the costs, which will take the admin load off
the volunteer members of the NCC and ensure a friendly voice at the end of the
telephone for members, supporters and voters.
Please email donate@lpuk.org for a Standing Order Form or
pay direct to
Sort code 40-28-20 A/c 92635313 giving your membership number as a reference, as Donation- (number)
If you are are Supporter- just put Supporter.
Cheques can be sent to Libertarian Party, 33 Castle Road, Walton St Mary, Clevedon BS21 7DA .
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010 07:37
The Committee of the Libertarian Alliance is delighted to invite you to the third Annual Chris R. Tame Memorial Lecture and Drinks Reception to be held on Monday 10th May 2010 between 6.30pm and 9.00pm
at the National Liberal Club, One Whitehall Place,
London SW1 (nearest tube Embankment).
Public Goods and Private Action:
How Voluntary Action Can Provide Law, Welfare and Infrastructure – and Build a Good Society
Dr. Stephen Davies
Dr. Stephen Davies is Program Officer for the Institute of Humane Studies. He joined HIS from the UK where he was Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Economic History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has worked at IHS before, in 1991 and in 1992-93, as well as teaching at many Summer Seminars and events over the years. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green. A historian, he graduated from St. Andrews University in Scotland in 1976 and grained his PhD from the same institution in 1984. He was co-editor with Dr. Nigel Ashford of The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991) and wrote several entries for The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism edited by Ronald Hamowy (Sage, 2008), including the general introduction. He is also the author of Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and of several articles and essays on topics including the private provision of public goods and the history of crime and criminal justice. He has recently completed a book on the history of the world since 1250 and the origins of modernity. Among his other interests are science fication and the fortunes of Manchester City. Dr. Davies works on many of the Institute’s educational programs, teaches at summer seminars, liaises with the HIS faculty network, and provides academic career advice and support to graduate students.
The dress code for this event is lounge suit or smart casual.
To confirm your attendance please RSVP Dr. Helen Evans at hsevans@btinternet.com
at the National Liberal Club, One Whitehall Place,
London SW1 (nearest tube Embankment).
Public Goods and Private Action:
How Voluntary Action Can Provide Law, Welfare and Infrastructure – and Build a Good Society
Dr. Stephen Davies
Dr. Stephen Davies is Program Officer for the Institute of Humane Studies. He joined HIS from the UK where he was Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Economic History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has worked at IHS before, in 1991 and in 1992-93, as well as teaching at many Summer Seminars and events over the years. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green. A historian, he graduated from St. Andrews University in Scotland in 1976 and grained his PhD from the same institution in 1984. He was co-editor with Dr. Nigel Ashford of The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991) and wrote several entries for The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism edited by Ronald Hamowy (Sage, 2008), including the general introduction. He is also the author of Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and of several articles and essays on topics including the private provision of public goods and the history of crime and criminal justice. He has recently completed a book on the history of the world since 1250 and the origins of modernity. Among his other interests are science fication and the fortunes of Manchester City. Dr. Davies works on many of the Institute’s educational programs, teaches at summer seminars, liaises with the HIS faculty network, and provides academic career advice and support to graduate students.
The dress code for this event is lounge suit or smart casual.
To confirm your attendance please RSVP Dr. Helen Evans at hsevans@btinternet.com
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010 10:28
There is now a big focus on MCAT in the Tabloids following a couple of recent deaths, with calls to ban it before any or the scale of any causal link has been established. It has all the hallmarks of opportunistic bootstrapping.
The case referenced above, a tragedy, involves two lads who took contaminated MCAT along with alcohol and other substances. Let me just say that again. Two lads took contaminated MCAT. Not MCAT. Contaminated MCAT. Does one ban all milk because people in China died drinking contaminated milk? No.
Do you reduce or increase the chances of contaminated products by making it illegal to make, sell or consume? Answer: Increase.
Do you reduce the availability of a drug by making it illegal? Answer: No.
Do you raise the price of a drug by making it illegal? Answer: Yes
Do drug dealers stand to gain ever greater profits from making a drug illegal? Answer: Yes
Is there a greater incentive to push a drug when the profit margins grow significanty? Answer: Yes.
Does it criminalise people both due to their actions and by dint of forcing them to consort with other criminals? Answer: Yes
MCAT could have been a good opportunity to properly legalise a drug*.
We could use existing laws e.g. fraud to ensure that MCAT is sold in consistent known strengths, that it is correctly described in terms of effects and that it is illegal to sell to the underaged.
Just like tobacco and alcohol.
All that will happen now is that it will get "banned". Please do not confuse this with actually making one jot of difference to "availability". If anything it could increase its usage.
Banning will just end up criminalising people, removing any chance of quality control and dosage consistency, raising prices and ultimately enriching drug dealers.
Well done. Well done indeed, Mandelson, Grayling &Co. You imbeciles.
* of course, if it is actually poisonous, then label it so.
The case referenced above, a tragedy, involves two lads who took contaminated MCAT along with alcohol and other substances. Let me just say that again. Two lads took contaminated MCAT. Not MCAT. Contaminated MCAT. Does one ban all milk because people in China died drinking contaminated milk? No.
Do you reduce or increase the chances of contaminated products by making it illegal to make, sell or consume? Answer: Increase.
Do you reduce the availability of a drug by making it illegal? Answer: No.
Do you raise the price of a drug by making it illegal? Answer: Yes
Do drug dealers stand to gain ever greater profits from making a drug illegal? Answer: Yes
Is there a greater incentive to push a drug when the profit margins grow significanty? Answer: Yes.
Does it criminalise people both due to their actions and by dint of forcing them to consort with other criminals? Answer: Yes
MCAT could have been a good opportunity to properly legalise a drug*.
We could use existing laws e.g. fraud to ensure that MCAT is sold in consistent known strengths, that it is correctly described in terms of effects and that it is illegal to sell to the underaged.
Just like tobacco and alcohol.
All that will happen now is that it will get "banned". Please do not confuse this with actually making one jot of difference to "availability". If anything it could increase its usage.
Banning will just end up criminalising people, removing any chance of quality control and dosage consistency, raising prices and ultimately enriching drug dealers.
Well done. Well done indeed, Mandelson, Grayling &Co. You imbeciles.
* of course, if it is actually poisonous, then label it so.
Author: "Tim Carpenter (noreply@blogger.com)" Tags: "drug prohibition"
Date: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010 09:27
At £70 (£66.50 from Amazon) Autonomy and Liberalism is not a cheap read, but it does articulate the gut feeling 'that something has gone very wrong and that the political classes have effectively enslaved us all.
Autonomy and Liberalism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy) Dr Ben Colburn
This book concerns the foundations and implications of a particular form of liberal political theory. Colburn argues that one should see liberalism as a political theory committed to the value of autonomy, understood as consisting in an agent deciding
for oneself what is valuable and living life in accordance with that decision. Understanding liberalism this way offers solutions to various problems that beset liberal political theory, on various levels. On the theoretical level,Colburn claims that this position is the only defensible theory of liberalism in current circulation, arguing that other more dominant theories are either self-contradictory or unattractive on closer inspection. And on the practical level,Colburn draws out the substantive commitments of this position in educational,economic, and social policy. Hence, the study provides a blueprint for a radical liberal political agenda which will be of interest to philosophers and to politicians alike.
Ben Colburn is a Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and
Affiliated Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. From
September 2010 he will be a lecturer in philosophy at the University of
Glasgow.
Dr Colburn stresses that in a properly liberal society equal access to autonomy is vastly preferable to equal outcomes because of 'the proper recognition of the importance of personal responsibility as part of the ideal of an autonomous life'. Inadvertently the philosopher has put his finger on
theral problem with This Government's attitude, and therefore the real
problem with so much it tries to do: it doesn't believe in personalresponsibility and it doesn't like autonomy.
Simon Heffer The Telegraph March 17th
A Libertarian viewpoint
Libertarianism is constantly being attacked as extremist or 'radical'. The charge of
extremism should be laid at the door of this Government in creating 4300 new offences in thirteen short years, and of the opposition's supine acceptance.
The Social Democrats once promised a 'bonfire of legislation' , I don't hear much of this from Cleggy in the two months to go until May 6th.
The Labour Party has clearly broken into two, the manipulative corrupt gerry mandering rump of Nu-Labour under 'Lord' Mandelson, and Unite-Labour guided by Mandelson's enemy Charlie Whelan with its hard left agenda and deep pockets. I would say that the soul of the Labour Party is in play, (if it actually has one). No wonder the deranged Brown sees himself as the only person who can hold these two factions together, and Balls sees himself as the heir apparent.
The true argument is Authoritarianism v Liberty, that is the Authoritarianism of whatever shade of Government against the Autonomy to live your life as an individual.
'Parliamentary' Democracy has been dealt a crushing blow under this 'Rotten Parliament' and should now be replaced by a Referenda based local democracy, where all shades of political opinion can be heard.
When Libertarians, Hannan supporting Tories, Classical Liberals can merge in this country with the intellectual rigour of the likes of the Libertarian Alliance and Ben
Colburn and produce something like this. We are on our way to taking back our country.
Autonomy and Liberalism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy) Dr Ben Colburn
This book concerns the foundations and implications of a particular form of liberal political theory. Colburn argues that one should see liberalism as a political theory committed to the value of autonomy, understood as consisting in an agent deciding
for oneself what is valuable and living life in accordance with that decision. Understanding liberalism this way offers solutions to various problems that beset liberal political theory, on various levels. On the theoretical level,Colburn claims that this position is the only defensible theory of liberalism in current circulation, arguing that other more dominant theories are either self-contradictory or unattractive on closer inspection. And on the practical level,Colburn draws out the substantive commitments of this position in educational,economic, and social policy. Hence, the study provides a blueprint for a radical liberal political agenda which will be of interest to philosophers and to politicians alike.
Ben Colburn is a Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and
Affiliated Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. From
September 2010 he will be a lecturer in philosophy at the University of
Glasgow.
Dr Colburn stresses that in a properly liberal society equal access to autonomy is vastly preferable to equal outcomes because of 'the proper recognition of the importance of personal responsibility as part of the ideal of an autonomous life'. Inadvertently the philosopher has put his finger on
theral problem with This Government's attitude, and therefore the real
problem with so much it tries to do: it doesn't believe in personalresponsibility and it doesn't like autonomy.
Simon Heffer The Telegraph March 17th
A Libertarian viewpoint
Libertarianism is constantly being attacked as extremist or 'radical'. The charge of
extremism should be laid at the door of this Government in creating 4300 new offences in thirteen short years, and of the opposition's supine acceptance.
The Social Democrats once promised a 'bonfire of legislation' , I don't hear much of this from Cleggy in the two months to go until May 6th.
The Labour Party has clearly broken into two, the manipulative corrupt gerry mandering rump of Nu-Labour under 'Lord' Mandelson, and Unite-Labour guided by Mandelson's enemy Charlie Whelan with its hard left agenda and deep pockets. I would say that the soul of the Labour Party is in play, (if it actually has one). No wonder the deranged Brown sees himself as the only person who can hold these two factions together, and Balls sees himself as the heir apparent.
The true argument is Authoritarianism v Liberty, that is the Authoritarianism of whatever shade of Government against the Autonomy to live your life as an individual.
'Parliamentary' Democracy has been dealt a crushing blow under this 'Rotten Parliament' and should now be replaced by a Referenda based local democracy, where all shades of political opinion can be heard.
When Libertarians, Hannan supporting Tories, Classical Liberals can merge in this country with the intellectual rigour of the likes of the Libertarian Alliance and Ben
Colburn and produce something like this. We are on our way to taking back our country.
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Monday, 15 Mar 2010 21:24
SIR – Why cast Mitt Romney as a potential front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 (“Fired up, ready to go”, February 27th)? I don’t see how his millions of dollars, a failed bid for the presidency in 2008, a series of dismal performances in that year’s debates and second place in this year’s poll of conservative activists make him worthy for consideration.
Moreover, your use of the term “radical libertarianism” was disturbing. While I would not join the mobs at a tea party, I do know there is nothing inherently “radical” about libertarianism. Why cast the philosophy in such a bad light? Free trade, limited government, personal responsibility, the rule of law and free markets are fantastic aspects of Western civilisation. Pity the American libertarian.
Dennis Colasurdo
San Diego
Author: "Simon Fawthrop (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Monday, 15 Mar 2010 09:21
I see three problems, but there is a solution to each. The first is politicians. They are not good at telling the truth. They know it’s a vote loser to suggest anything that could threaten the concept of universal free health care. But we have a problem. Purely tax-based systems are doomed, simply because the old, who consume the majority of care, pay far less tax than those working. Sure, they paid it in the past but not at rates for tomorrow’s technology. This means that the young need to be taxed until the system collapses.
So we need to define a core package from tax and look at insurance and savings plans linked to pensions for the rest. Many spend large amounts of money on holidays and cars but regard health care as a free good handed down by the state. Politicians start squirming here so the solution is simply to take them out of the equation. Supermarkets seem to manage without them, so why not hospitals and GPs? Sure, we need regulators, arbitrators and patient rights but not a political football match every time a bedpan falls to the ground.
Rest of the article
Professor Karol Sikora
'Getting Politicians off our backs' is as right for Health Service providers as it is for all other spheres of our civic life.
The NHS is safe with us is a religious mantra from the Conservatives, the Unite-Labour Party and the Social Democrats. The problem is that the NHS is not a safe institution to use. I challenge anybody not to come up with a horror story of neglect and infection about the NHS. It is not the skill and dedication of the nurses and doctors that is in doubt, after all they are the only ones making the whole edifice work. It is the way we are running a nineteenth century system, with nineteen fifties tractor stats culture in the twentieth first century.
This is a real issue that the two and a half party state will not address, they want you to engage in the Sarah/Samantha/Miriam debate instead.
They are treating the voter with utter contempt and pretending that the 'Rotten Parliament' has not happened.
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Sunday, 14 Mar 2010 23:10
Whilst the Conservatives have 'Time for a change' (yawn- I can see no radical change a coming, just more of the same, Labour want a fairer Britain ( what as opposed to a vast interfering state run and financed by UNITE) and the Social Democrats want a change to a fairer Britain (puh-lease !)
The Libertarian Party has one simple message, GET OFF OUR BACKS this applies to all members of the two and a half party State.
Stop taxing us to death, stop passing laws every ten minutes creating more criminal offences, replace 'Parliamentary Democracy' with a Referenda based local democracy. Let us decide the best way to spend our money,live our lives Not you
Inspired by Raedwald
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Friday, 12 Mar 2010 13:40
After that last post on how the State shouldn't enforce public morality, something a little different -- US Libertarian Vidcast reason.tv on how Libertarians can encourage polite public behaviour.
We're rude [..] because we live around strangers all the time, and we treat strangers differently than friends. So I encourage people to treat strangers like neighbours; then maybe life won't feel like one big wrestling smackdown.
Author: "sconzey (noreply@blogger.com)" Tags: "polite, society, reason.tv, public moral..."
Date: Thursday, 11 Mar 2010 11:21
It took the blogosphere just four days to raise
the near £10 000 to secure the release of Nick Hogan, imprisoned for
six months for flouting the smoking ban in his own premises and failing
to act as the States unofficial Policeman.
It took a further five days to convince Paypal
that the money collected was not part of some International Money
Laundering, Drugs and Sex trafficking Ring, and for the cash to be
released by a High Street Bank under the Money Laundering
'Regulations', during which time Nick continued to languish in Jail.
This in an age when Billions can be rocketed from London to Tokyo in
seconds by our trusted and well beloved Banking industry.
This was always a Libertarian issue, a civil rights issue rather than a
Public Health issue. The hypocrisy of taxing tobacco and punishing its
users beggars belief. If I choose to inhale noxious substances on my
own property, that is my own decision. If members of the public do not
like it do not come onto my private property, go somewhere else to
drink your own brand of poison (until it is banned next of course)
In an age of political parties queuing up to 'do something' which usually means banning something the Libertarian Party was pleased to support Old Holborn and Anna Raccoon with cash and what publicity and support it could muster. However we were more pleased that this attracted support and money from across the political spectrum and across the world.
We do not have to put up with this, we are the people not this Stasi inclined State
Manchester Evening News
Bolton News
Chorley Guardian
Lancashire Telegraph
Daily Mail
Even the BBC used the word Libertarian
Telegraph
The Register
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Wednesday, 10 Mar 2010 23:27
So it seems that you can get Libertarian ideas on the BBC. But only if you're a Muslim.
Who knew?
Allah Ackar!
Who knew?
Allah Ackar!
Author: "sconzey (noreply@blogger.com)" Tags: "islam, Libertarianism, BBC"
Date: Monday, 08 Mar 2010 18:06
I received this rather interesting email today from the International Policy Network.
It would seem that you, I and your grandma are helping to fund the Green Lobby...
All I can say is, Wonderful...
It would seem that you, I and your grandma are helping to fund the Green Lobby...
The European Union is funding some of the most powerful environmental NGOs in Brussels – while in turn, they lobby the EU for more money and influence.
A new report published today by International Policy Network finds that between 1998 and 2009, the European Commission’s environment unit has handed out over €66 million in core funding to green NGOs.
The report - “Friends of the EU” – analyses one coalition of green NGOs called the “Green 10” and finds that its members receive hundreds of thousands of Euros each year from the EU.
• Nine out of the Green 10 receive funds from the Commission.
• Eight members receive one-third or more of their income from the Commission.
• Five of those – which include the European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe and the Health and Environment Alliance – rely on the Commission for more than half of their funding.
The Green 10 has consistently lobbied the EU for yet more money and power.
• The Green 10 lobbied to “green” the EU’s Cohesion Fund, which distributes about €50 billion to projects in the EU every year.
• The Green 10 demanded a seat for an environmental NGO on every single project committee, the reimbursement of expenses, as well as training and capacity building.
• Having failed to obtain these self-serving demands, the Green 10 is already lobbying in anticipation of the 2014-2020 budget.
Caroline Boin, co-author of “Friends of the EU,” said: “The EU is buying itself the illusion of democracy by funding large green lobby groups – all at the expense of European citizens. This self-serving scheme will do little to calm public anger at the EU’s democratic deficit.”
Read "Friends of the EU": http://www.policynetwork.net/accountability/publication/friends-eu
All I can say is, Wonderful...
Author: "RobW (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Friday, 05 Mar 2010 18:14
From the Taxpayers Alliance
Total local government pension deficits exceed £53 billion
15 councils have a deficit of more than £500m
A new report from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) exposes the full extent of the black hole in council pensions. Against a background of dire problems in the public finances, the overly generous Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers and on council budgets. The full report features specific data for each local authority in England, Wales and Scotland, and warns of the severe costs which will be incurred if the Scheme continues unreformed.
In February 2009, the TPA revealed that LGPS employer pension contributions alone were costing the equivalent of £1 in every £5 of council tax. One year on, this new report demonstrates that on top of that huge cost now, the Scheme is storing up large costs for the future, too.
On the Money Markets,Long term Gilts prices are plunging and the cost of sovereign default insurance is increasing.
For the first time since records were kept the consistant surplus in January turned into a deficit
Sterling has taken a hammering six days in a row
The U.K. government is planning to sell $349 billion in debt this year, and there are few takers.
We are in the same state as Greece in terms of debt, the Germans did not come riding to Lamont's aid on Black Friday, and therefore are not likely to do so again for Osborne/Darling
The prospect of a hung parliament thanks to the Conservatives pallid prospectus is going to cause even more turbulence.
No sign of decisive leadership from Cameron and Osborne is widely regarded as a joke in financial circles.
Cameron has relied on buggins turn and wafer thin policies that change like the wind. The Country and the Markets have very little faith in Cameron and it shows.
The UK Political class is looking like a bunch of rabbits staring at the headlights of an oncoming juggernaught.
No wonder the LPUK has been contacted by a number of utterly disillusioned Tories in the last three weeks.
No leadership,No Policies, No Hope.
Total local government pension deficits exceed £53 billion
15 councils have a deficit of more than £500m
A new report from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) exposes the full extent of the black hole in council pensions. Against a background of dire problems in the public finances, the overly generous Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers and on council budgets. The full report features specific data for each local authority in England, Wales and Scotland, and warns of the severe costs which will be incurred if the Scheme continues unreformed.
In February 2009, the TPA revealed that LGPS employer pension contributions alone were costing the equivalent of £1 in every £5 of council tax. One year on, this new report demonstrates that on top of that huge cost now, the Scheme is storing up large costs for the future, too.
On the Money Markets,Long term Gilts prices are plunging and the cost of sovereign default insurance is increasing.
For the first time since records were kept the consistant surplus in January turned into a deficit
Sterling has taken a hammering six days in a row
The U.K. government is planning to sell $349 billion in debt this year, and there are few takers.
We are in the same state as Greece in terms of debt, the Germans did not come riding to Lamont's aid on Black Friday, and therefore are not likely to do so again for Osborne/Darling
The prospect of a hung parliament thanks to the Conservatives pallid prospectus is going to cause even more turbulence.
No sign of decisive leadership from Cameron and Osborne is widely regarded as a joke in financial circles.
Cameron has relied on buggins turn and wafer thin policies that change like the wind. The Country and the Markets have very little faith in Cameron and it shows.
The UK Political class is looking like a bunch of rabbits staring at the headlights of an oncoming juggernaught.
No wonder the LPUK has been contacted by a number of utterly disillusioned Tories in the last three weeks.
No leadership,No Policies, No Hope.
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Thursday, 04 Mar 2010 16:20
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Thursday, 04 Mar 2010 10:18
I never met Michael Foot, I do not know his family and I am sure that he was loved by all and was kind to dogs.
I was not proposing to comment on his passing but after reading the obituries this morning and the political classes warm embrace of his memory, including Thatcher calling him a great Parliamentarian, I feel compelled to make some comment on his political legacy.
Foot fancied himself as a man of letters, the nearest thing to what the British will accept as an intellectual. This morning I was confronted over my cornflakes the nausea inducing photo of the younger Gordon sitting at the masters feet (table)
Foot was not an Edwardian man of letters (BBC) he along with others provided a legitimacy to the abandonment of Liberalism to the despotism of Socialism in the interwar period. He came from the same class that betrayed the Spanish Republicans to the Stalinists, and allowed Franco's Authoritarians to maintain their grip on the Iberian peninsula for nearly forty years.
Let me quote from a contemporary of Foot's, writing in 1944.
How sharp a break not only with the recent past but with the whole evolution of Western civilisation the modern trend towards socialism means, becomes clear if we consider it not merely against the background of nineteenth century, but in a longer historical perspective. We are rapidly abandoning not merely the views of Cobden and Bright, of Adam Smith and Hume, or even of Locke and Milton, but one of the salient characteristics of Western Civilisation as it has grown from the foundations laid by Christianity and the Greeks and Romans.
Not merely nineteenth- and eighteenth century liberalism, but the basic individualism inherited by us from Erasmus and Montaigne, from Cicero and Tacitus, Pericles and Thucydides is progressively relinquished.
As to Foot's dreaming Utopianism
The extraorodinary thing is that the same socialism that was not only early recognised as the gravest threat to freedom, but quite openly began as a reaction against the liberalism of the French Revolution, gained acceptance under the flag of liberty, It is rarely remembered now that socialism in its beginnings was frankly authoritarian.
Mourn the man if you will, but do not mourn his brand of socialism that has created CCTV cameras on every street corner, endemic continuing poverty amongst the underclass, a client state utterly dependent on Nu-Labour's client State. Foot was one of the architects of this failed British State.
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Wednesday, 03 Mar 2010 08:47
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Tuesday, 02 Mar 2010 18:42
This is a Libertarian issue if there ever was one, for the sake of £1, you can get a man released from prison. Old Holborn is running a campaign to raise £10 000 to get his fine paid.
As of 18.00 Hrs Tuesday 2nd March the amount raised was £5693
Over Five Thousand Pounds Raised in Thirty Six Hours
There has been a fair amount of comment in the blogosphere regarding the six month jail sentence given to Nick Hogan for flouting the 'no-smoking ban'.
Outrage has been duly expressed, here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps we can do better than just express outrage?
Nick was actually jailed for non-payment of the fine originally imposed for a 'mass smoke-in' on the day the ban came into force in 2007 in his pub, the 'Swan and Barristers' in Bolton. He no longer has that pub. He was fined again when council inspectors walked into his present pub and discovered a group of customers smoking - Nick wasn't even on the premises.
His wife, Denise, is now managing their present pub in Chorley herself. Their trade is so low that they don't even bother to open the downstairs bar. Nick is bankrupt, and had gone to court intending to argue that he could not afford the £500 a month payments demanded by the council towards their £11,600 bill for prosecuting him. He has already paid off £1,600. The court gave him a six month sentence instead, and he is currently in Forest Bank prison in Pendlebury, unable to help to earn the money which would ensure his release.
Denise has not even been able to speak to him since he was sentenced. She has merely been told to phone the prison on Monday to enquire when she might see him. She is confused, frightened, and feeling very lonely.
If all the people who disagree with the no-smoking ban contributed a few coppers, then Nick would be released. If you can't afford £1, then at least drop Nick a line and let him know he is not forgotten - not surprisingly, he is feeling very depressed.
Denise has just said to me 'all the people who disagree with the ban - where are they now? - and my Nick is in prison'. Quite.
Denise has no idea how to use the Internet, she has no idea how many of us are against the no-smoking ban. Let's show her.
£1 each - just 10,000 of you - let's see if the blogosphere can do more than merely rant in unison. Once the amount received totals the outstanding fine, they have to release Nick.
Nick's address is:
HMP & YOI Forest Bank
Agecroft Road
Pendlebury
Manchester
M27 8FB
OH UPDATE: Under the health act of 2006, it is the responsibility of the owner or the controller of "smoke free" space to uphold the law. It is not illegal to smoke in a shop or on a train. It is illegal for the owner or controller of the space to allow you to smoke.
Reprinted from the OH site
THE DONATE BUTTON IS ON THE OH SITE TOP RIGHT
The Libertarian Party is utterly opposed to people going to jail for offences such as this.
As of 18.00 Hrs Tuesday 2nd March the amount raised was £5693
Over Five Thousand Pounds Raised in Thirty Six Hours
There has been a fair amount of comment in the blogosphere regarding the six month jail sentence given to Nick Hogan for flouting the 'no-smoking ban'.
Outrage has been duly expressed, here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps we can do better than just express outrage?
Nick was actually jailed for non-payment of the fine originally imposed for a 'mass smoke-in' on the day the ban came into force in 2007 in his pub, the 'Swan and Barristers' in Bolton. He no longer has that pub. He was fined again when council inspectors walked into his present pub and discovered a group of customers smoking - Nick wasn't even on the premises.
His wife, Denise, is now managing their present pub in Chorley herself. Their trade is so low that they don't even bother to open the downstairs bar. Nick is bankrupt, and had gone to court intending to argue that he could not afford the £500 a month payments demanded by the council towards their £11,600 bill for prosecuting him. He has already paid off £1,600. The court gave him a six month sentence instead, and he is currently in Forest Bank prison in Pendlebury, unable to help to earn the money which would ensure his release.
Denise has not even been able to speak to him since he was sentenced. She has merely been told to phone the prison on Monday to enquire when she might see him. She is confused, frightened, and feeling very lonely.
If all the people who disagree with the no-smoking ban contributed a few coppers, then Nick would be released. If you can't afford £1, then at least drop Nick a line and let him know he is not forgotten - not surprisingly, he is feeling very depressed.
Denise has just said to me 'all the people who disagree with the ban - where are they now? - and my Nick is in prison'. Quite.
Denise has no idea how to use the Internet, she has no idea how many of us are against the no-smoking ban. Let's show her.
£1 each - just 10,000 of you - let's see if the blogosphere can do more than merely rant in unison. Once the amount received totals the outstanding fine, they have to release Nick.
Nick's address is:
HMP & YOI Forest Bank
Agecroft Road
Pendlebury
Manchester
M27 8FB
OH UPDATE: Under the health act of 2006, it is the responsibility of the owner or the controller of "smoke free" space to uphold the law. It is not illegal to smoke in a shop or on a train. It is illegal for the owner or controller of the space to allow you to smoke.
Reprinted from the OH site
THE DONATE BUTTON IS ON THE OH SITE TOP RIGHT
The Libertarian Party is utterly opposed to people going to jail for offences such as this.
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
Date: Tuesday, 02 Mar 2010 14:13
Author: "Guthrum (noreply@blogger.com)"
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