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Continue reading →: The fastest mission creep in history?
Libya: Col Gaddafi told to leave now or face the bombers – Telegraph. Hang on. I thought the idea (already ill-advised in my view) was that we were authorised by the UN to enforce a no-fly zone to protect civilians from military attacks. Now it’s regime change already! Perhaps he…
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Continue reading →: Nuclear scaredy cats
underdogs bite upwards: Waking nightmares. Leg-iron comments on, amongst other things, the panic buying of radiation protection gear in California; How many nuclear bombs have gone off on this planet? By 1998, the figure stood at 2053. Not reactor leaks. Actual nuclear bombs. Not one of them was Japanese. Nobody…
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Continue reading →: Joy’s enemies
I had the pleasure of making new friends this week. I dined with a wonderful couple introduced by an old friend and client. Their home was beautiful. Their hospitality was spectacular. I was nervous about meeting complete strangers, but within an hour felt right at home. It so happens they…
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Continue reading →: What I meant to say was…
http://www.youtube.com/e/PgTnjTm3YhQ Tomorrow, bright and early, I set off to drive solo from the North of England to the South of France. While I am communing with Vittoria on the French motorways (on my way to a business fair where I hope to come up with interesting ideas for my…
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Continue reading →: New home, new banner, new battles
I already mentioned here that I left China at the end of last year. On February 1st, I rented a new home in Sofia, Bulgaria. Last week, the contents of my Moscow apartment and office, which never made it to China, arrived here instead and I was able to move…
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Continue reading →: Lost wisdom
Libertarians, no matter how they may conduct themselves in private, are subjected to the blanket accusation of selfishness by their political opponents. Now-conventional thinking contrasts them unfavourably with left-liberals who "care" so very noisily when there is anyone about to take note. On this subject, in De Profundis, Oscar Wilde…
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Continue reading →: On the glory of state supplied services
Tim Worstall comments pithily on this subject today, but the "damning report" on state provision for the elderly cannot really have been a surprise to anyone likely to rely on such services. As someone who has visited family in state-run care homes and knows people who work in them, how…
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Continue reading →: Betrayal?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-09/obama-administration-trade-british-nuclear-secrets-with-russia/ I have been unfashionably fond of America since my days reading DC Comics and watching "Rawhide" on TV as a small boy. At university, I coined the word "yankophile" during a debate, noting how odd it was that we have the words "francophile", "russophile" and "sinophile", but no word…
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Continue reading →: The Devine Comedy
Except it isn't really funny, is it? This trade unionist and stalwart of the workers' party chose (partly) to defend himself by blaming an innocent employee. He may claim he did not understand he was doing wrong in filing forged expense claims, but what kind of a man cannot see…
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Continue reading →: Out of purdah soon?
I took a step towards resolving my work situation today. I have a new home, of which more soon. I am out of the clutches of my lawyers (but still dealing with my accountants). With luck, Mrs P's recently scary medical situation should be sorted out in the next week…
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…
[…] – Tom Paine […]
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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.