Welcome to our first guidette to what is being said out there on the other blogs.
Greg Mankiw alerts us to the activities of the American potato cartel. Very similar to some of the stupidities of our own dear Common Agricultural Policy.
Blogs have often been compared to the 17 th century coffee houses and the explosion of Grub Street around them. Michael at Two Blowhards gives a useful run down of the history and the comparisons.
Our heavyweight link today is to Mahalanobis with his extract from Nietzcshe on the subject of socialism:
Socialism in respect to its means. Socialism is the visionary younger brother of an almost decrepit despotism, whose heir it wants to be. Thus its efforts are reactionary in the deepest sense. For it desires a wealth of executive power, as only despotism had it; indeed, it outdoes everything in the past by striving for the downright destruction of the individual, which it sees as an unjustified luxury of nature, and which it intends to improve into an expedient organ of the community.
Mr Chalk, teacher, blogger and recently published author (he’s very interested in you knowing that last part) with the text of the letter he’s just sent to Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary. On the problems of teaching children without there being streaming by ability. Any answer received will be flagged up both here and there.
Wat Tyler at Burning Our Money on the problems the various Ministries are having in recruiting Financial Directors. It isn’t just the money, it simply isn’t seen as a good career move to go into the civil service.
England Expects with another tale from the school system. One problem with the school dinners programme is that some of the children are so ineptly socialized that they cannot in fact handle the knives and forks necessary to eat a ‘wet plate’.
Finally, for Friday afternoon, something that could have come straight out of George Mikes. A very British blog, all about queuing. Standinaqueue, as The Corner said, strangely compelling.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
