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Continue reading →: Of Collective Punishment
The key battle of ideas is (and in modern times has always been) between collectivism and individualism. Gentle reader, you know which side I favour. We have a problem though. Humans are pack animals, hard-wired to approve of those who sacrifice for the greater good of family, friends or nation.…
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Continue reading →: Season’s Greetings
Our state tormentors are taking a break, which makes the holidays even more special for decent folk. However you celebrate – please enjoy. Life is for living, as best as we each can, Whatever our problems and regrets, there is joy to be found in the company of family and…
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Continue reading →: Of a particular Crown Court jury
I was picked for a jury in the end. Our verdict was delivered last Thursday. I can now discuss the case and the proceedings in court but it remains illegal to discuss our deliberations. I will say nothing here about what went on in the jury room. All opinions are my…
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Continue reading →: Why are we a soft touch for Albanian “asylum seekers”
As a libertarian, I’d be happy to abolish immigration controls as soon as we have dismantled the welfare state. The only immigrants then would have job offers and/or a viable business plan. Any asylum seekers would be genuine. We would have a list of persona non grata to avoid international…
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Continue reading →: Of juries #2
If, gentle reader, you had hopes of more posts this week I must disappoint you. With great haste, to spare the taxpayer the cost of today’s lunch and half the minimal loss of earnings allowance for today, the clerks just discharged everyone not currently serving on a jury. Those of us…
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Continue reading →: Of juries and justice
This week and next I am on jury service. The jury is the last of Britain’s institutions in which I have any faith. I learned about “criminal equity” (known in the US as "jury nullification") during the legal history part of my long-ago law degree. For example, the hated “game laws”…
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Continue reading →: Nurse Ratchet
Yes, I know the movie character was Ratched. Bear with me. According to Wikipedia, she is also; a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in bureaucracies She's a symbol of what I want to write about today and her name echoes the essential problem. Sir Keith…
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Continue reading →: Why I have nothing to say about the new PM
If you're in a minority in cabinet (and, if you're thinking at all, you probably are quite often) you must let your colleagues know about your concerns. However you mustn't say anything to undermine the agreed policy in public. You stand behind the decision. This isn't dishonesty in a broad…
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Continue reading →: Reflections on “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean.
© William Morris Agency (management) I am listening to this song today and remembering how I used to make my daughters (and any other children who found themselves in the back of my car) sing along to it on road trips. I probably first heard it – played to me…
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Continue reading →: Of family, friendship and being alone
You can't choose your family but if I had chosen mine I could not have done better. Post-modernists insist I am "privileged." I am, but not as they imagine. It has nothing to do with race, class, wealth or sexual orientation. Anyone brought up in a loving family under the guidance…
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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One can only hope his neighbours, fellow lodge members (?) etc give him the cold shoulder.
The problem is that they already know about the blog and some read it. Why is that an issue? If…
Conversationally, I already operate on NATO “no first strike” principles. I am not going to start a political discussion with…
Why don’t you stick with what you are doing on the blogs but simply withdraw from discussion on politics with…
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First post (in case you want to read it from the beginning)
The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
They are servants. Just not of the public. He gets a full pension because he did his job for his…