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Continue reading →: Parisian anecdote
One January, more than a decade ago, I was attending an industry conference in Paris. The organisers for some reason had scheduled a debate about the EU. A well-known Eurosceptic whose blushes I shall spare was scheduled to speak but failed to show. The chairman (not the most impartial I…
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Continue reading →: The most dangerous man alive
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 – June 8, 1809) is my political hero. I didn’t adopt his name as a nom de guerre because I agreed with all he wrote. I hubristically purloined it because I admired the force of his writing. “Common Sense” was the most influential pamphlet in the history…
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Continue reading →: On not over Stating our case
My Sunday Times today has an article about the booze culture of Westminster. It’s an interesting enough piece but what struck me most was the title; "Drunk in charge of the nation". Are our political leaders — drunk or sober — really in charge? Does the government "run the economy?"…
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Continue reading →: EU 2 #VoteLeave
Time and again journalists interviewing members of the Leave campaign ask “what will Britain look like after Brexit?” If not satisfied with the answer (and as a matter of principle they are never satisfied) they say “How can you ask people to vote for something when they don’t know what…
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Continue reading →: Let’s talk about EU baby
I'm saddened by the standard of the EU referendum debate. I have never revered Godwin's Law but would happily agree that the next side to mention Herr Hitler loses. I wish we could talk to each other as adults about this serious issue. Politicians may think it safer to underestimate…
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Continue reading →: Don’t blame the millennials, blame their teachers
Trigger warning: This post is full of generational generalisations. I don't share the general pessimism of my age group about the millennial generation. The Misses Paine are millenials. They are serious intellectuals, hard-working women who want to make a contribution to the world they live in and generally fine human beings. So…
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Continue reading →: Political geometry
I know from the blogs I have been following during my purdah that the liberty-minded continue to despair and with good cause. Our government still knows no boundaries to its power and has no hesitation about interfering in the minutiae of our private lives. But there are some good omens, in my view. Bill Clinton,…
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Continue reading →: Second thoughts
I gave up political blogging for selfish reasons. I felt I had said my piece, that's true. I was afraid of repeating myself, that's also true. But I found it stressful, was dispirited and was seeking to avoid personal conflict with those around me (i.e. most people in my circle) who…
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Continue reading →: The abbey road home
The Navigator is a Roman Catholic. The "famous on TripAdvisor" breakfast at our B&B this morning was therefore not for him as he doesn't eat before Mass. I ate alone before we took to the road to head for the Abbaye St. Paul, Wisques. We had an open-topped motorised saunter in…
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Continue reading →: From Frankfurt to Poperinge via Ghent and “Wipers”
We skipped breakfast at our mediocre hotel on Saturday morning; reasoning that €18 each would buy a better frühstück en route. I drove Speranza out of Frankfurt onto the autobahn and we found a suitable place within 20km. We breakfasted Teutonically on rösti, eggs, sausage, bacon and coffee. Then the…
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…