-
Continue reading →: The fine art of ignoring elephants
Home alone: the house where binge mother left children | UK news | guardian.co.uk. Oh, the drama. The Guardian is so much more subtle than the Sun or the Mail, but the journalistic craft is just the same. Look how deftly placed the word "binge" is in that headline. Look…
-
Continue reading →: Patrick McGoohan explains “The Prisoner”
YouTube – Patrick McGoohan "The Prisoner Puzzle". I am grateful to reader Peter Gardner for drawing my attention (in a comment to my recent post) to these YouTube videos of McGoohan being interviewed about The Prisoner. The past really is another country. Two grown men having an intelligent conversation (over…
-
Continue reading →: A 93-page guide to riding a bike
Police criticised for 93-page cycle guide – Telegraph. I am sure this criticism is misplaced. Judging by the excerpts quoted in the linked article it must, surely, be a masterful satire? Admittedly, at 93 pages, it's a pretty sustained joke. But perhaps that sustained joke is itself a satirical metaphor?
-
Continue reading →: I am not a number
This remake of classic series, The Prisoner looks unpromising to a fan of the original. Yet perhaps there was never a great show that more needed to be remade. Its themes are certainly as relevant as in 1967. In those far-off days, despite the horrors of Soviet Russia, Red China…
-
Continue reading →: The Prime Minister and the grieving mother
FT.com / UK – Brown looks at £1bn helicopter order. I wonder if the linked story has anything to do with this? If so, Mrs Janes' shameful conduct in secretly recording and publishing a private call has at least had some good result. That still doesn't make it right. The…
-
Continue reading →: Whatever happened to men?
Sean Linnane: STEVE McQUEEN. Sean's affectionate piece on Steve McQueen reminded me (bear with me here) of my grandfather. He was also passionate and full of life. He drove like there was no tomorrow and was a ladies man. He was a fiercely competitive (is there any other kind?) sportsman…
-
Continue reading →: Again, Wat posts the graph that matters
Burning our money: Pathetic Autistic Castrates. As everyone and his dog prattles on about the politics of the Conservatives and the EU, Wat Tyler (link above) keeps his head and posts this graph (click for the full misery); He observes, drily; UK withdrawal would hurt them a lot more than…
-
Continue reading →: We have our answer
please-go – epetition response | Number10.gov.uk. The Prime Minister has, finally, responded to the most popular petition ever on the Number 10 website; requesting him to resign. His response to the request of 72,234 signatories? He strung together the clichés he has been uttering for months, while Britain daily slides…
-
Continue reading →: Me is mine, you is yours
Here's the antidote to the propaganda your children get in school. h/t Dick Puddlecote
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.”
Socials
Subscribe
Receive content by email
Latest comments
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…
[…] – Tom Paine […]
ARCHIVES
Blogspot Archive Mar 2005 – Sep 2006
TypePad/WordPress Archives Sep 2006 – date
The Great American Road Trip of 2013
The Great American Road Trip Posts
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.