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Continue reading →: Guest Post by Mark on “Citizen’s Basic Income: Productivity”
A common criticism levelled against the Citizen's Basic Income (guaranteeing each person an income as a right of citizenship (as far as I'm concerned this should be irrespective of the work they do)) is that it would interfere with the process of "creative destruction" and therefore reduce long term productivity…
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Continue reading →: How Britain was lost
BBC News – Racist Tube rant woman Jacqueline Woodhouse jailed. The freedoms of people you like; the rights to free expression of those who share your views, those are the easy ones to accept. And the least important. For freedom to mean anything, we need – like Voltaire – to…
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Continue reading →: What is marriage?
I am reluctant to join in the current brouhaha about the definition of marriage. Firstly, I regard it all as statist agitprop to trap us into conflicting positions that can only be 'resolved' by the very last thing we need; more state interference. Secondly, I suspect it is a ploy…
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Continue reading →: The Austerity Fairy
The Austerity Fairy. I have to draw your attention to the linked post over at Cafe Hayek, if only because I love the idea of the Austerity Fairy. Much as the BBC, The Guardian and the public sector unions are screwing up their eyes and believing her into life, this…
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Continue reading →: Change and decay
I attended my nephew's confirmation last Sunday in the bit of provincial Britain where I grew up. In a congregation of oddly-familiar strangers, it was hard to believe the right-on Britain of the BBC and Guardian exists. Yes, they now sing badly-written modern verses to the music of the old…
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Continue reading →: “Can our fiscal austerity be economically justified?” Yes, rather.
Economy: Can our fiscal austerity be economically justified? | Speaker's Chair. I recently signed up to the new politics site, "the Speaker's Chair" but I can't see myself sticking with it for long. Do I even need to fisk the following unutterable tosh by young "independent voter," advocate of "social…
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Continue reading →: Blogging will be light, emotion will be high
Blogging will be even lighter than is usual here at The Last Ditch for a while. I am going on a driving course at the Ferrari test track in Italy, where I shall learn to be worthier of Speranza. I had planned to make an expedition of it, driving solo…
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Continue reading →: It’s our own fault, damn it.
Ambush Predator: London Olympics; Outdoing Beijing In Every Sense Of The Word…. Arguably Britain's greatest contribution to human civilisation is the "Great Writ" of habeas corpus. In our time, it has been shamefully abrogated. Yet only a few "cranks," "swivel-eyed loons" and "libertarians" care. The free press doesn't give a…
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Continue reading →: A new political party for libertarians?
Are you interested in getting involved? | A new political party for libertarians. After the unhappy outcome of the last attempt, many of you will be as nervous as I am about trying again. Still, until we organise ourselves to get the message out, libertarianism in Britain will remain forever…
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Continue reading →: A Mirror to our times
Anders Breivik trial: Killer makes fascist salute as he arrives to face charges over Norway massacre – Mirror Online. Just a tiny point of information for the Daily Mirror. Breivik may, or may not, be a fascist but that's not a fascist salute. Perhaps the error is understandable though. It…
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.