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Continue reading →: Is this government stimulating the economy?
'Online snooping' scheme expected to cost at least £1.8bn | Technology | guardian.co.uk. The national debt continues to rise, yet the Tories have £2 billion to spare to snoop on our online activities. It will cost much more in the end no doubt, as government IT estimates usually bear very…
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Continue reading →: Plenty to Hide?
Plenty to Hide. "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is one of the most dangerous (and irritating) arguments advanced to justify state intrusion in our private lives. In the linked post at Lifehacker, Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union provides a handy set…
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Continue reading →: Can any Canadian reader please help?
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1 Another video by Ezra Levant did the round of the blogs a while back. You know it; the one in which he was filmed taking an Alberta Human Rights Commission functionary apart. Now there's a new one in which he takes the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to task…
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Continue reading →: It’s not charity if it’s compelled
Charities getting too much taxpayer cash, says think-tank – Telegraph. That government uses "charities" as a front for its activities may be news to the Institute of Economic Affairs, The Telegraph and the government, but it has been widely known for years. There is even a website – www.fakecharities.org –…
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Continue reading →: Free Asia Bibi
freeasiabibi.co.uk – What can I do?. I have made a donation today to the British Pakistani Christian Association to support its campaign to free Asia Bibi, a Christian in Pakistan who is to be hanged for "blasphemy." The alleged crime is described variously as having taken the form of…
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Continue reading →: Open season at The Last Ditch
Opinions have varied about my opening the blog to our statist contributor Mark. I am inclined to allow him a third post before recommending him to set up his own blog. However, I have enjoyed the debate his contributions have stimulated and am minded to repeat the experiment with others.…
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Continue reading →: Guest Post: Against Market Extremists
"What do you get for the man who has everything?" Market orientated Libertarians believe that this is the most important question facing our society. The more extreme believe that we should stake our lives on finding a satisfactory answer – if we can't produce something that someone else wants to…
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Continue reading →: This would spice up your Jubilee barbie…
Like the original and best Tom Paine, I am a devout republican but I hope my monarchist readers enjoy the parties. I shall be offline in rural Wales, so blogging is unlikely. Have an excellent extended weekend.
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Continue reading →: Quotation of the Day, courtesy of Cafe Hayek
Quotation of the Day…. This might be one for our current blog guest to ponder, so given is he to the fallacy that "x is good and therefore more x must be better". Is government, then, useful and necessary? So is a doctor. But suppose that the dear fellow claimed…
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.