Danger!

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danger

As I write, Great Smith Street – home of the Adam Smith Institute – is closed off by police. There is red and white 'do not cross tape' everywhere, two police cars and a police van are parked at one end of the road, and another two police cars at the other. Policemen and Community Support Officers are swarming all over the place, doing what they do best (being officious and irritating) and they have just been joined by a collection of yellow-vested fire marshals from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

What has happened? Is it a bomb scare? A terrorist attack? Or is there a sniper on the roof, as I just heard one passer-by saying? Actually, no. It's none of those things. The reason for all this fuss is... wait for it... a piece of lead-cladding that has come loose from a building across the road.

Now, OK. Falling pieces of lead are, I suppose, a genuine health and safety risk. But do we really need the efforts of a small army of officialdom to protect us from it? Do we really need the disruption of closing a road to traffic, as well as pedestrians? Couldn't they just block off the bit of the pavement underneath the hanging lead, put up a few 'danger' signs and be done with it?  And if they're really that concerned, couldn't they just station a polite bobbie on the street-corner to warn people and direct them to the other side of the road?

Well, apparently not. Not in the crypto-facsist, risk-averse, bureaucracy-obsessed Britain of the twenty-first century anyway.

The law is an ass

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Man arrested for making coffee naked in his kitchen.

OBA MAO

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oba-mao

Hippies, tyrants and T-shirts.

More philosophy in politics

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more-philosophy-in-politics

Matthew Parris spoke at the London launch party for Dr Madsen Pirie's new book, 101 Great Philosophers. He spoke of the importance of philosophy and wished that more politicians would study it and learn a little about it. He pointed out that if they did, they would be less likely to fall into some of the obvious errors which they do commit. 

Dr John Campbell, the historian and biographer, spoke of how a coherent philosophy had enabled the Adam Smith Institute to help mould a new reality out of the ruins of the consensus which had prevailed before it arrived on the scene.

Dr Madsen Pirie, the author, expressed his conviction that philosophy enabled people to make sense of their physical world and its moral convictions. His aim in writing the book, he said, was to encapsulate the main ideas of all of philosophy's leading thinkers into a single volume which could introduce people to its world of ideas.
 

Fatism

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fatism

Campaigners from the Size Acceptance Movement have approached BoJo in an attempt to make discrimination against fat people a hate crime. Such campaigners believe that pointing out a particularly fine pair of thunder-thighs is the equivalent of racism, and feel the UK should follow the route of ‘fat-friendly’ San Francisco, where doctors cannot press patients to loose weight.

Apparently fatism is widespread, as surveys show 93% of employers would rather employ a thinner person than a fatter one even if they are equally qualified. This could be for sound economic reasons; employers obviously believe that there are benefits to employing a thinner person. Perhaps they believe an overweight worker sends out a negative, sloth-like image of a company. Maybe they believe that a fat person may have heavier breathing, which could be off-putting in an office environment. Whatever the reason, the fact is that employers frequently make choices about applicants based on appearance and personal judgement; it helps them pick the best workers for their organisation.

Being fat is not even like being of a certain age, gender or race - such things are unavoidable. Much more often than not, a person is overweight because of their own lifestyle choices and habits. If ‘fatism’ is to be miraculously eliminated by the imposition of more legislation, then obviously all body shapes must be protected from criticism and ‘discrimination’ by law. Complaints about emaciated models must also be banned in case their feelings are hurt.

The overweight should not be forced by the government or by doctors to lose weight; what they do to their bodies is their own choice. Fat people are just like any other person, and as such should learn to live in a society where not everyone may like what they do or how they look. Private lifestyle choices should be neither prohibited nor protected by the law. People should of course be able to eat as many cream cakes as they like, but it shouldn’t be illegal for others to laugh when they walk in a funny way because of it.

Realizing Freedom

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realizing-freedom

Yesterday, the Institute of Economic Affairs hosted a lunch in honor of Dr. Tom G. Palmer, the Vice President of International Programs for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and General Director of the Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity.  Dr. Palmer has worked for many years promoting peace and individual rights through the use and implementation of classical liberal ideas such as free trade and open markets.

As part of the event Dr. Palmer spoke on “Realizing Freedom" and the more practical means of increasing freedom among struggling countries. Many of Dr. Palmer’s points are outlined in his book “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice". Dr. Palmer cites the lack of property rights, and personal liberties, as the primary causes for nations being unable to develop economically. He also stated that in order to establish basic freedoms and private property rights, countries must create political institutions designed to protect those rights and convince governments that a richer people equates to a richer government.

These institutions must be founded upon their own cultural and historical understandings so as to create a sense of belonging and allegiance among the people. By rooting these institutions within culture Dr. Palmer argues that private property rights will be more abundant and rational expectations among actors will result in increased freedoms and economic stimulation.

You can purchase Dr. Palmer's book here.

The free radical

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the-free-radical

To anyone who holds freedom as sacred, the most urgent problem facing this country is the vile anti-individual philosophies of collectivism and statism that have given rise to this relentless onslaught of the government's violation of individual rights, which includes the proliferation of intrusive, politically correct, government agencies charged with the 'responsibility' of fixing all our problems.

Chris Lewis in The Free Radical

What is government debt?

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what-is-government-debt

A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property – an unpaid tax bill.

– Hans F. Sennholz, Debts & Deficits

ISOS - The Economic and Political Landscape for The Next Generation

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On Thursday, students from across the UK travelled to Westminster for the ASI’s Independent Seminar on the Open Society. Sir Malcolm Rifkind opened the seminar, discussing the UK’s relationship with the EU and convincingly arguing that the UK’s approach to European integration should be flexible and based upon our national interest. Following this was Brendan O’Neill, who certainly surprised quite a few in the room with his condemnation of moralising environmentalists. Rejecting of their policies of wearing thermals and limiting water use, he argued that climate change is best tackled through the use of large-scale geo-engineering projects.

After the break, the ASI’s own Madsen Pirie forecast a view of Britain after the next election. Drawing on inspiration from public services in Sweden, he considered the likely education and welfare policies that will be pursued in the next parliament. Our final speaker was the ever-exuberant Lembit Opik, who gave a well-received speech about the need for politicians to act with humility, courage and inspiration.

Following lunch, ISOS hosted its first ever debate, considering the motion “This house would prefer to be led by the invisible hand” On the proposition were Rushabh Ravanat, a debater from LSE and James Drey, president of the Oxford Union. Chris Harman, editor of International Socialism and David Ransom, previous co-editor of the New Internationalist opposed the motion. The proceedings were chaired by Peter Barton from Debate Mate. Each side was lively, impassioned and strongly argued their case, while the questions and statements from the floor were excellent and provoked further retaliation between the two sides. However, (and luckily for the ASI!) at the end of the day the motion was carried with an increased majority.

With positive feedback flowing in, the seminar was a great success. However, this would have not been possible without the involvement of the students and the high quality of questions asked, as well the sterling performances given by our speakers and debaters. We would also like to warmly thank The Spectator, Prospect, Private Eye and Total Politics, who very kindly provided magazines for the students.

It wasn't me

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it-wasnt-me

Why are 1 in 8 girls pregnant At Robeson High?