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Continue reading →: Ricky Tomlinson fights to clear his name
TV star Ricky Tomlinson fights to clear his name – The Scotsman. Oh, the vanity of "celebrity." If he didn't keep bringing it up, I fear no-one would remember the viciousness of the picketing in that long-ago strike. As I understand it, Mr Tomlinson denies the violence occurred, rather than…
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Continue reading →: A clean slate
I was driving down to Cannes last Monday with a client and friend. He's a qualified lawyer but is no longer practising. En route, we played an interesting mind game. We asked ourselves, if every English statute were repealed, how many (or rather how few) Acts of Parliament we would…
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Continue reading →: Ski lift blogging
Just because it is technically possible doesn't make it necessary or even desirable!
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Continue reading →: Light blogging
I apologize for light blogging. I had hoped to have more access to wifi/3G this week. Normal service will resume shortly. Meanwhile, here's the view from my seat in a ski station bar.
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Continue reading →: Tolerance vs approval; education vs indoctrination
– Bishop Hill blog – Clause 28 revisited. What can one say about the proposal to prosecute parents who keep their children from school during LGBT History Month? Bishop Hill, in the linked article, wonders; …if Cameron's Cuddly Conservatives have actually got the balls to bring Clause 28 in again… The…
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Continue reading →: Gordon Brown is wrong
Bank of England gambles on printing extra money – Telegraph. There is not enough money in Britain for the state to do everything it has promised. Rather than admit it has promised too much, Labour is making some more money. Literally. Socialists have never really understood the concept of wealth…
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Continue reading →: Gordon Brown is right
Full text: Gordon Brown's speech to US Congress | World news | guardian.co.uk. His address to Congress was utterly cringe-worthy, but by far the worst moment for me was when the Democrats sat on their hands during his passage against protectionism. Though they politely gave him standing ovations for the…
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Continue reading →: False witness
Teachers' careers 'blighted' by false allegations – Telegraph. Consider these sinister words of a spokesman for for the Department of Children, Schools and Families quoted in the linked article; "We are also looking at whether guidance should be amended to make clear that accusations which have been demonstrated to be…
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Continue reading →: Lord Bingham on Liberty
The Convention on Modern Liberty: Lord Bingham: Why this debate on our rights and freedoms is so timely and important | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.The Guardian has the video of Lord Bingham's excellent speech at the Convention on Modern Liberty yesterday in London. I can't embed it here, so…
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.