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Continue reading →: Lady Bracknell meets the Blogfather
Iain Dale for Bracknell. That Iain wants to be an MP is clear. Why he wants it is less clear, at least to me. As a leading blogger and in-demand mainstream media pundit, he is reasonably influential. As a backbench MP, he will be a cipher. 70% of legislation comes…
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Continue reading →: The Yorkshire Ranter’s brilliant idea
The Yorkshire Ranter. He suggests setting up a website, tentatively named Whosekidareyou.com to monitor "…nepotism and backscratching influence peddling…" It would provide an invaluable service to all of us trying to understand the networks of influence that underpin the British Establishment. How wonderful if hovertext over an author's or politician's…
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Continue reading →: Germany cheats tourists
Wherever you go in the EU, shops advertise the VAT-free export scheme for tourists. I live in Russia, so I sometimes take advantage. I have never had a problem getting my form stamped by a customs officer when leaving the UK, France or other EU countries. Germany, however, is a…
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Continue reading →: Sinister quote of the day
Mandelson attacks 'extreme rightwing figures' for Gordon Brown pill 'smears' | Politics | guardian.co.uk. I don't like or trust Andrew Marr, Labour's proctologist-in-chief, but when Grand Pooh-Bah Mandelson utters the words… "I'm sure Andrew would agree that everyone has certain areas of their life that they'd prefer not to be…
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Continue reading →: Britblog Roundup No 241
nourishing obscurity: Britblog Roundup N241 – Best of Britain. It's up, over at Nourishing Obscurity. My thanks to James for my first Britblog mention ever.
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Continue reading →: Scenes from Berlin
I like Berlin. Architecturally it's wonderfully mixed. It has the best traffic management and junction design in Europe (so you can actually drive there) and it has great museums and galleries. It's well worth a city break. Here are some of my photographs from the past couple of days.
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Continue reading →: Good for her age?
The entertainment at our gala dinner in Berlin last night was provided by "Marlene Dietrich". She seems to be in remarkably good condition for a woman who died, aged 90, 17 years ago. Any views on this lady's resemblance to the famous original?
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Continue reading →: Fear of the future
About Magnus Lindkvist – Pattern Recognition. I have just attended a fascinating presentation in Berlin by a young futurologist from Sweden, Magnus Lindkvist. The YouTube below is of him speaking (less well, in my view) at a TED event. His blog "Pattern Recognizing" is here. Today, he was addressing a…
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Continue reading →: What does this say about Labour supporters?
Voters believe Labour is not telling truth about public finances – poll | Politics | The Guardian. To me, the most telling words in this Guardian piece are these; Even Labour supporters do not trust their party: only 36% of current Labour supporters, and just 26% of its 2005 voters,…
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Continue reading →: The House of Lords 1 is innocent!
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Lady Scotland risks migrant fine. Lady Scotland is innocent. I believe she didn't know her servant from Tonga had no right to work in the UK. However, it's hard to feel sorry for a member of a government that created the situation…
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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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.