Sean Gabb has written a fine piece called Defending the right to deny the Holocaust, stating why censorship undermines our ability to decide what is and is not true. With regard to the holocaust, I have - broadly speaking - two options. I can believe that it did happen roughly as claimed. Or I can believe that it is a gigantic conspiracy of lies maintained since the 1940s in the face of all evidence. Since…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Groups like 'Alcohol Concern' like to use the force of the state to make people act the way they want. They do not care about making an argument and convincing people to act a certain way, they want prison and truncheons to make people tow their particular highly debatable line. Parents who give alcohol to children under the age of 15 - even with a meal at home - should face prosecution, a charity says…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I just heard David Cameron on the news tonight saying that under Gordon Brown, Britain will just be getting "more of the same" of what it got from Blair. In other words, Gordon Brown is a Blairite. Just like David Cameron then I suppose. If you are going to vote, and you want a conservative alternative to Blair's populist creeping regulatory authoritarianism, vote UKIP. Otherwise just expect "more of the same" from both Brown and…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

As some people involved in Samizdata know, I have promised not to write posts attacking the local election campaign of a certain political party - at least until the election is over. As I have promised this I feel uncomfortable in writing anything that could be seen as an attack on any other political party. So in the following both the name of the candidate and the party that candidate represents will not be stated….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

A few months ago, Arizona passed a statewide comprehensive smoking ban in all work places and public gathering spaces excepting those that earn 51% or more of their revenue from tobacco.
Essentially, as of May first, it will be illegal to smoke in public in Arizona, except on the sidewalk (away from bus stops), in […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

A robust (as many others have been) reponse to the idea of criminalising the serving of alcohol to children. Imagine if it did pass…what would happen to gripe water?

Mrs. Gates seems to think that everyone should go to college. Err:

You would think that her husband’s modest success without a college degree would allow her to see that college is not necessary for success, let alone sufficient or practical for everyone.

Not heard of the Garbage Gestapo yet?

There might just be a way, a cheap way, of sucking that CO2 out of the atmosphere. Worth spending a little money to find out perhaps?

More Milton Friedman on drugs, plus a discussion of whether support for legalising drugs makes you a libertarian or you do so because you’re a libertarian?

The Independent seems to have forgotten where all UK environmental law comes from….no, it’s not Westminster.

And finally, a reminder that foreign countries are, well, foreign.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Q: How do you make holy water?
A: Boil the hell out of it.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

SNP finance spokesman John Swinney enthusiastically welcomed our new briefing paper, Independent Scotland: The Road to Riches, saying it demolished Labour’s “scaremongering about independence”:

After eight years in which we have not even had an economic growth target, these figures show what we can achieve with more ambition. Scotland has so much potential, yet we have of the lowest long-term growth rates in Europe. An aspirational Scotland should seek to match the success of our near neighbours and similar sized nations who have dramatically out performed Scotland and the UK.

Meanwhile Jack Mcconnell, Scotland’s Labour first minister, was predictably dismissive of our finding that the average Scot could be several thousand pounds a year better off after ten years of Scottish independence. He told the Scotsman:

The Adam Smith Institute was the institution behind the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher that destroyed the Scottish economy in the 1980s and if anyone listens to their opinion on the Scottish economy they are so wrong, so wrong.

Well, he would say that wouldn’t he? And notice the typical Labour tactic: ignore the ball and play the man. Of course Mrs Thatcher’s policies didn’t destroy the Scottish economy - it was years of Labour socialism that did that. Indeed, it’s because of backward-looking politicians like Mr McConnell that Scotland’s economy still lags behind the rest of the UK.

By promising to “reduce taxes, cut spending and create a business friendly environment” the SNP is finally offering Scotland a different, more prosperous future.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Rod Liddle, writing in the Spectator, regales readers with a recent trip to Wiltshire that he undertook on First Great Western; and whilst doing so takes a side swipe at privatization (or at least his version of it).

Both his journeys were delayed and he claims that this is a reflection of all trips by rail. Yet punctuality figures for the whole of the rail network exceed 85 percent, so it’s difficult to believe that every journey is delayed. And of those that are delayed a large percentage of them can be attributed to Network Rail - the renationalized version of Railtrack. On First Great Western Link in 2006, 60 percent of delays were caused by Network Rail.

Despite the cries of overcrowding and poor service, more people are traveling by rail and yet Mr Liddle still wonders why the prices rise. Of course they do: when demand outstrips supply the prices rise. It doesn’t matter how much the government subsidizes the infrastructure - the operating companies can only run so many trains. Perhaps if they were free to expand then maybe prices would fall.

What we need is a genuinely privatized rail industry, like the one laid out in a recent ASI publication, No Way to Run a Railway. One where companies own the rails, the rolling stock and most importantly make the ultimate decisions on what services to run and how much to charge. The constraints put in place by the privatization of the Major years and the constant interference (and part re-nationalization) in the railways under Blair has led us to the situation we are in now. What Rod Liddle should realize is that this isn’t privatization in any known shape or form.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The Adam Smith Institute looks east with a conference on China: The Challenges of Relocation this June. Since so many firms are opening offices in China, or moving more staff to established China offices, our one-day conference looks at the human resources and global mobility problems that arise in the process.

Plenary sessions include experts from tax, remunerations, cross-cultural communication and relocation fields who have knowledge and expertise in helping businesses succeed in China. Case study presentations from Standard Chartered, Honeywell and Crown Relocations will deliver practical advice for employers.

The conference takes place on 21 June, at the CBI conference centre at Centre Point on New Oxford Street in Central London. For more information or to book online, please go to http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/EM011/overview.htm or call 020 7403 3990.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom