Cheerio, not goodbye

As some readers will already know, I am moving on from the Adam Smith Institute. Friday was my final day as Executive Director here, and in June I will be moving to the United States. I'm heading for Washington, DC, where I am going to be Managing Editor at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank which also publishes Reason Magazine and produces Reason TV.

I'm very excited about this new opportunity, but, needless to say, I am also very sad to be leaving the Adam Smith Institute. It has been a great five years, and I have so many wonderful memories to look back on. I will miss all the people I have worked with enormously.

We have done so much since I started in 2007, that it is hard to pick favourites. But here are few personal highlights: unveiling the Adam Smith statue back in 2008; running Freedom Week in 2011; filling the LSE with libertarians for last year's Hayek v Keynes debate. I have also hugely enjoyed establishing a top-notch ASI lecture series over the last few years. Tour de force talks by Tara Smith and Kevin Dowd stand out as particularly memorable moments.

More broadly, there are a handful of overarching themes that have characterized my time here: the resurgence of Austrian school economics in response to the financial crisis; the emergence of unabashed libertarianism as a distinct voice in the political debate; and the creation of a fast-growing libertarian youth movement in the form of the UK Liberty League and European Students for Liberty. I will always be very proud of the role we have played in these developments.

My final words, though, must go to Madsen and Eamonn – who gave me an opportunity few people fresh out of university could dream of – and to the Adam Smith Institute's friends, supporters, and donors, who make everything we do here possible. Thank you, and farewell.