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Continue reading →: Investment advice
I have just enjoyed a lunch with some of my profession's "good eggs" in the City. After an hour of gloomily exchanging notes on our (and our clients') businesses and the government's approach to the crisis, I asked what investment recommendations they could give my readers. After a pause, one…
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Continue reading →: Patriotism vs Nationalism – Part 1: A complicated subject
Following a recent downbeat presentation by an economist from IMEMO, I told my Russian colleagues I thought their “Slavic soul” (a romantic euphemism for pessimism/excuse for boozy inaction, in my experience) was blinding them to reality. No Russians had ever enjoyed such possibilities as they. I added, scathingly, that I…
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Continue reading →: Nominations please…
Channel 4 – News – Your nominations please…. Channel 4 is calling for nominations for its Political Impact Award 2009. I suggest we all nominate Damian Green MP. We must all at least hope that the scandalous abuse of executive power to humiliate a political opponent (and intimidate public servants…
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Continue reading →: Thank you
A reader sent me this photo, taken last week in New York, together with some kind words of praise and encouragement. They were particularly well-timed, as Mrs Paine has serious health problems at present. I am blogging this from her hospital room right now, as it happens, while waiting for…
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Continue reading →: The Convention for Modern Liberty
Why? :: Modern Liberty. Across Britain, on 28th February 2009, a convention organised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, openDemocracy, No2ID, Liberty and (implausibly, I know) the Guardian, will bring as many people together to see what common ground can be reached in defence of our freedoms. Finding common ground on…
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Continue reading →: Jean Charles de Menezes: our national disgrace continues
Jean Charles de Menezes inquest: Jury reaches open verdict – Telegraph. It was too much to hope for a lay jury to ignore the coroner's inexplicably strong direction that they had only two choices of verdict. This, even after the defence team walked out in protest and the bereaved family…
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Continue reading →: A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, Lie-la-Lie
BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown hails EU recovery package. "Gordon Brown has said European leaders have agreed to back an "ambitious and co-ordinated" recovery plan to help their economies through the downturn. The package, negotiated at an EU summit in Brussels, will see 200bn euros of funding – equivalent…
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Continue reading →: Many a true word…
UK TO BOYCOTT ALL GERMAN GOODS, EXCEPT CARS, BEER, KITCHEN APPLIANCES, ADIDAS AND KINDER SURPRISE – The Daily Mash. "As the economic war of words between London and Berlin escalated, millions of Britons said they would be happy to boycott German goods as long as it did not involve Volkswagen,…
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Continue reading →: The Home Office strikes again
"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both": The Family of Colour Sergeant Dura. Congratulations to "The Real Machiavelli" for bringing us this story of how our great nation rewards the families of its heroes. If you have a blog, please link to him. As…
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Continue reading →: You can find truth in statistics (if you dig deeply enough)
Regular readers know what a fan I am of TED talks. The site is one of the best educational resources on the internet. This talk from 2006 is a perfect example. Hans Rosling, after working for years as a doctor in Africa, now lectures on "global health" at one of…
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.