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Continue reading →: Barackading the Manning
Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison – live updates | World news | theguardian.com. The Guardian suddenly seems to be my newspaper. Soon I will have to take back all those Guardian reader and Guardianista jibes over the years. Or perhaps not. At the moment it's doing a…
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Continue reading →: In which I praise a Guardian journalist
So the innocent have nothing to fear? After David Miranda we now know where this leads | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian. The Guardianisti are the very people most likely to say that the innocent have nothing to fear. They are the very people most likely…
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Continue reading →: My enemy’s enemy is my friend – at least for now
BBC News – David Miranda 'feels invaded' after password disclosure. For once, civil libertarians in Britain have had a spot of luck. Can you imagine what the coverage of this incident would be like if News International journalists were involved? Or if data had been seized in this outrageous manner…
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Continue reading →: Emerging from behind the skirting boards…
Greenwald: If you choose to make enemies, what do you expect? | Trending Central. Get your thinking gear around this horrific tosh (emphasis added); As the elected representatives of the people, a government has far more moral legitimacy and indeed necessity than a newspaper like the Guardian, its hacks, or…
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Continue reading →: In which I praise the editor of The Guardian
David Miranda, schedule 7 and the danger that all reporters now face | Alan Rusbridger | Comment is free | The Guardian. Well said, Mr Rusbridger. I hope that your article will be seen as final proof that civil liberties are not a Right vs Left issue. I would love…
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Continue reading →: An answer to my question
On Politics « Samizdata. Perry Metzger over at the inestimable Samizdata seems to have answered the question I posed recently about whether I should join the Conservative Party as a libertarian entryist; The underlying problem is that people do not yet widely understand that the higher the political office, the…
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Continue reading →: Live free or die
New Hampshire BearCat Opposed; Marine Colonel Peter Martino Claims ‘We’re Building A Domestic Army’ (VIDEO) (UPDATED). It’s been a while since I had the energy to post more than once in a day, but I can’t resist commenting on this gem. Please compare and contrast this gentleman’s cheerfully robust approach with…
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Continue reading →: How the British state wastes your money
BBC News – Domestic abuse victim admits harassment charge. His “ex” tries to contact him on his release from prison. The women he abused so violently as to land him there. Does she call him repeatedly? Does she camp out on his doorstep and refuse to go away? No, she…
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Continue reading →: Reader poll
I am toying with the idea of re-joining the Conservative Party; an organisation for which I have very little current sympathy. It is a violent, statist party; interested far more in power than justice, honour or integrity. I have no doubt that I would feel rather soiled to be in…
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Continue reading →: A sad anniversary
It is two years today since Mrs Paine died. I visited her memorial this morning and reflected a little on that sad time. I don't think I fully appreciated then, in my grief, just how blessed I was to be so well supported by family, friends and even by my…
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.