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Continue reading →: Down in the dumps
James Higham observed recently that I am "down in the dumps," and he’s right. I am tired and in dire need of a break. I shall be spending a couple of weeks in the South of France from this weekend and I am counting on the Cote d’Azur to work…
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Continue reading →: Row over visa report
Link: Row over visa report | Politics | The Observer. Is anyone truly so naieve as to be shocked by this story? To emerge wet from the sea, complaining, seems more rational than to complain of incompetent government. Even if civil liberties arguments did not require an end to the…
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Continue reading →: ‘Scotland exempt from flag plan’
Link: ‘Scotland exempt from flag plan’. How, precisely, does Gordon Brown hope to perpetuate the Union by encouraging the flying of the Union Flag from English public buildings, while the Saltire flies from those in Scotland? Let us have some of the equality of which Gordon professes to be so…
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Continue reading →: Ceremony marks Menezes death
Link: ‘Ceremony marks Menezes death’. I realised the country I had loved was dead when this young man was shot. Not because a terrible mistake was made. That could happen anywhere. Because of the reaction of government, press and public. Jean Charles died in an atmosphere of hysterical incompetence following…
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Continue reading →: Cash for honours: No charges brought.
Link: Cash for honours: No charges brought – Telegraph. Last night The Daily Telegraph established that key figures involved in the inquiry are actively considering suing the police for wrongful arrest – and media organisations which have said they would be charged, for libel. I do hope that they sue.…
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Continue reading →: Killer boasted of stamping on woman’s neck
Link: Killer boasted of stamping on woman’s neck | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited. At the risk of encouraging more simpletons to trot out the all-purpose accusation of racism, I shall state the obvious. All cultures are not equally valid. All opinions are not of equal weight. Truth is hard…
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Continue reading →: Two-thirds think crime is rising
Link: Two-thirds think crime is rising | Top News | Reuters.co.uk. Only two-thirds of the population think that the British Government lies about crime figures. Think how much effort Nigeria’s conmen could save if they had the email addresses of the other third.
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Continue reading →: Man avoids jail for website ‘sick jokes’
Link: Man avoids jail for website ‘sick jokes’ | Uk News | News | Telegraph. What a happy and peaceful nation we must be, if the police and prosecutors have the time and energy to pursue a man for "sick jokes" on an obscure website which go "beyond the realms…
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Continue reading →: Hold terror suspects ‘as long as it takes’
Link: Hold terror suspects ‘as long as it takes’ | Uk News | News | Telegraph. If Gordon Brown believes a word he says about liberty, he will fire this man forthwith. What in the name of all that’s holy is a public servant doing expressing political opinions anyway? Anyone…
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Continue reading →: Quote of the Day
Link: Maybe owning a home is not for everyone. Mr Brown, who famously sold off the Bank of England’s gold at the bottom of that particular market, is now going into property development just as house prices peak. Nice timing, Gordon! Niall Ferguson, in the Sunday Telegraph.
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…
[…] – Tom Paine […]
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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.