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Continue reading →: Overheard in West London pub at lunch time
Enter stage left. A well-spoken, expensively-dressed white guy — let's call him Rupert — with an unconvincing dash of Estuary diction to disguise his public school plumminess. I'd guess an academic of some kind from his chit-chat to the bored but polite barman about a conference he's addressing tomorrow. A similarly…
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Continue reading →: Is Trump’s win a cause for celebration?
Donald Trump's win in the US presidential election tells us something. It's hard to be certain what that something is — apart from the fact that opinion polls, even now exit polls, have an inherent left wing bias. Perhaps because conservative voters now seem to delight in lying to them…
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Continue reading →: Brexit: it’s just not about the law
A lot of time is being wasted on discussion of the decision this week in the Queens Bench division of the High Court. I have reviewed some of my learned friends' arguments as to why the decision was wrong and they may have a point. I remain supremely indifferent. I…
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Continue reading →: Of Judges, Politicians, Crown Prerogative and Article 50
My RSS feed makes interesting — and amusing — reading this morning. Both in the mainstream media and the blogosphere, there are many interesting and strident opinions on yesterday's judgement in the Queens Bench Division of the High Court. Most of them are wrong. Britain's Constitution is famously "unwritten" but can be…
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Continue reading →: We all need to watch “Stranger Things” on Netflix
I have not yet watched the show myself. I base my advice entirely upon this one sentence from James Delingpole's review in the Spectator: "… At no stage do you feel as though the plot or characterisation has been skewed to serve up some empowering message about race or gender…
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Continue reading →: Comrade Kirk and Commissar Picard
I don't believe I have mentioned it here before, but I have always been a fan of Star Trek. In the course of this year I have been watching the programmes again in sequence. I have discovered something in them that I had never noticed before. Gene Roddenberry, the producers…
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Continue reading →: Democracy in crisis
Following the current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic is discouraging for those who like to believe (or perhaps delude ourselves) that our opinions are guided by reason. The unpleasant tactics of the US Presidential campaign provide much fuel for cynicism. As someone opposed to the big state…
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Continue reading →: The modern woman
I like women. I have always had more female than male friends. This, despite the fact that while (pace my late wife's trenchant view to the contrary) men and women can undoubtedly be friends, sex quite often does get in the way*. This also despite my not buying into —…
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Continue reading →: Is normality now unelectable?
I have never favoured the view that elected officials need be just like us. Ideally, given the scope of the responsibilities of those leading what is regrettably the most powerful and dangerous force in our society, it is desirable that they be unusual. Most importantly they would (unlike most of…
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Continue reading →: Home again to the post-trip blues
I embarked on the Pont Aven in Santander on Monday afternoon after an uneventful, delightful run from San Sebastian. We sailed at 1515 CET. I have wised up to the idea that there is internet on board. There is, as advertised, but it's OAP broadband; capable of handling the odd email…
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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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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They are servants. Just not of the public. He gets a full pension because he did his job for his…
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The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
There are many reasons they’re not passed down, Tom. The Triune code, laid out in scripture in all reputable versions…