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Continue reading →: Literacy on the streets of Vancouver
The message is correct and polite. There are no childish symbols, because you are assumed to be literate. In this case, there is an easy expectation that you know what an "expansion joint" is. I get simple pleasure from North American signage. I do wonder why the sign is so…
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Continue reading →: You know how to whistle, don’t you?
Whistle | Whistle. I don't know who these people are or anything about their motivations, but they seem to have the germ of a good idea, which they describe as; a website that offers a 'one stop shop' for political information, advocacy and debate My only worry is that, in…
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Continue reading →: Of reproduction and incentives
What do I think about higher rate taxpayers losing child benefits? I think it's a start. Having or not having children is a personal choice. The government has no legitimate role in the matter, whether brandishing sticks or carrots. Successive governments have encouraged us to breed, however, merely in an…
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Continue reading →: Vancouver
I have been wearing a groove between certain exotic places for some time and it's been a while since I visited a new city. This one has that eerie instant familiarity of all cities founded or influenced by our energetic ancestors, but the fun is always in finding what differentiates…
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Continue reading →: My authoritarianism is better than your authoritarianism?
Ken Clarke refuses to rule out retention of control orders | Alan Travis | Politics | guardian.co.uk. The founding principle of Western civilisation – and England's greatest contribution to it – is "the rule of law." I hate it when journalists describe political contests in terms of deciding who "rules"…
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Continue reading →: Navigator no more
As I drove to the Cotswolds on Friday night, I feared the weekend would be a disaster. The weather was disgusting, the roads congested and the journey took twice as long as it should. However, I had a great time. Cutesy though the Cotswolds can be (and oppressive though I…
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Continue reading →: Sick green fantasies
Old Holborn: 10:10 Kill the HERETICS It is hard to believe that anyone could have thought (a) that this would be persuasive and (b) that it would be funny. It is incredibly revealing as to the mentality of eco-fascists. As, for that matter, is the tone of the apology when…
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Continue reading →: Time to move on?
When it comes to race, the move-on brigade can't dismiss the problems | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian. Not according to Aditya Chakrabortty, who is keen to hold onto the race card. Let's try not to suspect it's because he has few others in his hand.…
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Continue reading →: Quote of the day
OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? That’s what happens if you read PPE at Oxford, but never learn to think Gildas the Monk, chez Anna Raccoon Do please read the rest and enjoy.
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Continue reading →: Mrs P and Social Justice
We took a walk in Manchester city centre yesterday and found it amusing to see the party of the people surrounded by scruffy barricades and police protection. One plum-voiced young Jonty hanging around the perimeter of the Labour shanty-town was ill-advised enough to offer Mrs P. "a leaflet about social…
THE LAST DITCH
Your blogger
Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.
Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.
He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that
“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”
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There are many reasons they’re not passed down, Tom. The Triune code, laid out in scripture in all reputable versions…
I’ve always tried to live my life doing no wrong but life isn’t like that so you make compromised but…
Hate to tell you this, but it’s not going to end until you end it. You think people to whom…
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First post (in case you want to read it from the beginning)
The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
A little bird tweeted in my ear that it was time to come over and see how things are.