Thomas Piketty gets the Theodore Dalrymple treatment
In Britain, as in other countries, more than a quarter of the income tax is paid by 1 per cent of the population. But this is not enough for the Professor, irrespective of whether increasing the rate...
View ArticleNissan, Brexit and the state of journalism
Guido Fawkes has a smart observation about the recent announcement by Japanese carmaker Nissan that it will not produce a new model from its plant in the UK’s Northeast. This has produced a storm, with...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
O Lord our God arise Scatter her enemies And make them fall Confound their politics Frustrate their knavish tricks On Thee our hopes we fix God save us all – the little-used second verse of the...
View ArticleThe enforced prosperity inflicted upon Jean Sibelius by the government of...
I continue to be obsessed by the Seventh Symphony of Sibelius, after hearing it performed at a live concert. (In a comment on that posting, Nick M expressed admiration for how Karajan and the Berlin...
View ArticleEnemies everywhere
Lovers of liberty are surrounded by enemies. Paul Marks posted a video by tech and social commentary YouTuber Computing Forever explaining possible consequences of yesterday’s votes on articles 11 and...
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Leaving the EU – a Jersey jaunt and a Guernsey gallivant
Rightly not trusting our leaders to deliver on their statements (there were, IFUC, no promises about leaving the EU from Mrs May), the Sage of Kettering and I have left the EU in that recently, we have...
View ArticleDiscussion point: have you kept the libertarian faith on freedom of movement?
The Independent reports, Let Us Vote: New campaign launched to give everyone living in UK the right to vote in elections The “Let Us Vote” campaign, which has the backing of more than a dozen MPs and...
View ArticleA distant mirror
“Turkey officials order re-run of Istanbul election, voiding win for Erdogan opposition”, reports the Independent: Turkish authorities on Monday ordered a redo of an election won by an opponent of...
View ArticleResisting ethnic prejudice by other means
Germany resists islamophobia. German law seeks to purge the public domain of such offensive views. Germany also resists anti-semitism. The German government’s anti-semitism commissioner has warned Jews...
View ArticleHave we vanished into the night?
The good folk at Lawyers for Britain have published a short paper by an eminent QC, recently retired, on whether or not the latest ‘extension’ of the ‘Article 50’ 2 year period for making arrangements...
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Stephen Davies on the Wealth Explosion (1): How Europe was and was not...
About two hundred and forty years ago, the human species began to experience a wealth explosion. Poor people, who had been living and dying on the edge of starvation for millennia, began to get less...
View ArticleArs longa, vita brevis
The Guardian reports, “Sculptor Antony Gormley plans Brexit giants off the French coast”: Now, on the eve of Britain’s potential departure from Europe, Gormley is planning a new and dramatic...
View ArticleLet us remember their sacrifice a century ago
Because if we don’t, who will? I consider myself quite well versed in history, and I am certainly disposed to honour those killed while fighting Communism, yet even I had barely heard of the...
View Article“Extinction Rebellion isn’t about the climate” says one of its founders
“I’ve been with Extinction Rebellion (XR) from the start”, Stuart Basden explains. And for the sake of transparency: that previous paragraph is all about me ‘pulling rank’ — I’m trying to convince you...
View ArticleIn France you now have to download a permit to go for a walk
At first I thought this was une blague pratique. Apparently not, unless Tim Worstall’s denial is merely evidence that he is in on the joke. He writes in today’s Times: Among the measures introduced in...
View ArticleGermany and Italian COVID-19 data – and why they’re so different
Is there something about being Germany which protects the body against coronavirus Covid-19? Probably not, I would guess. In which case why do the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute show...
View ArticleIs Italy heading for a (Terror-)Famine? Spanish press report
The ‘conservative’ Spanish newspaper/site abc.es. has a report about the food situation in Italy (in Spanish) which indicates the following, something our media seems to ignore, per my translation:...
View ArticleAnother reason why state funding of political parties is a bad idea
“Viktor Orban ruins his rivals with power grab”, the Times reports. Under a regime described by critics as the “omnipotence law”, Mr Orban’s government is able to take sweeping measures to tackle the...
View ArticleA change of tune
“Brussels moves to preserve access to London clearing houses”, reports the Financial Times. Brussels is to adopt emergency measures to preserve Europe’s access to crucial UK financial market...
View ArticleThis proves what I always said about Brexit!
Says absolutely everyone. UK faces Brexit limbo after talks deadline missed Britain risks weeks without trade transition plans from 1 January after missing EU parliament Sunday deadline – The Guardian...
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