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Continue reading →: The decline of the pub
A pub is an easygoing place; a microcosm of English society. Bores and eccentrics are (more or less) cheerfully tolerated. The cut and thrust of repartee results in an occasional failed witticism, but no consequence need be feared but derision. The combination of testosterone and alchohol might occasionally lead to…
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Continue reading →: Blogs in Virtual Worlds
I first became seriously involved in Second Life for blogging purposes. Hence my SL avatar’s name; "LastDitch Writer". But while our Blogpower Awards Ceremony was a qualified success in bringing in bloggers, there has been little scope to bring blogs themselves into the Metaverse. The latest SL software, however, has…
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Continue reading →: A pitiful substitute for thought
Link: Zoe Williams: Bulletproof but loaded | Comment is free | The Guardian. We laughed at the obsessives on our University campus who could explain everything in terms of race, class or sexual orientation. University was such an exhilarating experience after the squalid anti-intellectualism of our comprehensive schools that we…
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Continue reading →: Il est interdit d’interdire
Link: Olympic torch extinguished amid Paris protests – Telegraph. It seems the spirit of 1968 lives on and that French protesters remain both more stylish and more effective than their British counterparts. Despite the protective and (disgracefully) protected presence of hireling thugs of foreign powers in both London and Paris,…
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Continue reading →: Olympic torch relay nearly abandoned
Link: Olympic torch relay nearly abandoned – Telegraph. Listening to the Today programme this morning I was struck forcibly by how far the debate on civil liberties has moved on. The presenter noted that those welcoming the Olympic torch needed no permission to be there while those protesting against China’s…
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Continue reading →: Andrew Allison – A Conservative View: I’m back
Link: Andrew Allison – A Conservative View: I’m back. Andrew Allison is back – and with a purpose. He gave up on blogging for a while but is now back as a political candidate. Watch this space.
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Continue reading →: Some days restore your faith
Yesterday was my last night in China – for a while. I have learned a lot about business prospects here and not all of it was good. Still, I hope to come again. Shanghai is a great city. I visited professional colleagues to discuss business. Then I went shopping for…
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Continue reading →: Second impressions of China
I am enjoying my visit to China. Unfortunately my ignorance of the language makes it difficult to escape the protective bubble in which I am living. The organisers of the conference I am attending bussed us to a way-too-cool for me night club last night. It will probably never recover…
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Continue reading →: Dr Crippen is unwell
Link: NHS Blog Doctor: Dr Crippen is unwell. How strange. At least one blogspot blog can be accessed from Shanghai. Is the Great Firewall breached, or do the censors favour NHS blogs? The NHS Blog Doctor – Doctor Crippen – is feeling a little peeky today. Having lambasted the Taxpayers’…
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Continue reading →: Rachel speaks sooth
From China I can’t get to her blog but Rachel from North London has both told it like it is and fed enough of it to RSS for me to read it. I want to send you there and I want you, if you please, to do exactly as she…
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.