http://www.samizdata.net/blog/ A blog for people with a critically rational individualist perspective. We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. en-us PdeH@samizdata.net Fri, 09 May 2008 12:41:23 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/gordon_ramsay_j.html Gordon Ramsay, the 'outspoken' celeb chief wants the state to outlaw out-of-season vegetables. I kid you not. That the man is an arrogant little shit has always been apparent from his TV shows but this sort of national socialist volkish crap really does mark him as truly authoritarian. The TV chef said it was "fundamentally important" for chefs to provide locally-sourced food. "Fruit and veg should be seasonal," he said. "Chefs should be fined if... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/discussion_poin_22.html Leaving aside the practical objections (such as decline in the quality of the UK legal system) is capital punishment justified for murder? Note, this is not a question on whether capital punishment is effective, but is it just?... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/the_blame_cultu.html The monster who locked up relatives in his Austrian home for many years - at god knows what cost to their psychological state or physical health - is trying to defend himself by blaming it on Adolf Hitler. Oh well, makes a change from blaming it all on video games, globalisation or George Bush, I suppose.... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/samizdata_quote_347.html To any non-Muslim reader of the Koran, Islamophobia - fear of Islam - seems a natural reaction, and, indeed, exactly what that text is intended to provoke. Judged purely on its scripture - to say nothing of what is preached in the mosques - it is the most viciously sectarian of all religions in its heartlessness towards unbelievers. As the killer of Theo Van Gogh told his victim's mother this week in a Dutch courtroom,... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/thoughts_on_fea.html One writer I rate pretty highly is Ross Clark. As well as being a regular newspaper and magazine columnist in places like The Times (of London) and The Spectator, he is also the author of several good books. He has written a fine piece, with deliberate echoes of George Orwell, about the current mania for surveillance in Britain. His liberal views seem to be pretty robust. He has also written a short satire on life... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/the_blog_that_d.html Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner and I love London town, but from where I sit by far the most newsworthy winner in the recent round of British local elections was the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. However, unless I am very much mistaken (which is entirely possible), the Boris Johnson blog, far from being at the centre of the Boris campaign, was put on ice for the duration, and looks like staying there.... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/when_gordon_ent.html Via Tim Worstall's blog, I came across this imagined encounter between Polly Toynbee, and her political Mr D'Arcy, Brown, by this guy: As for poor Pol, where to start? Imagine the despair, so raw you can almost taste it. Imagine the sense of crushing disappointment. For years now, she has waited for her prince to come - her dashing Norse warrior, who will sweep away all the effete detritus of the Blair years and unload... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/the_sun_is_shin.html As a child, I was indifferent at team sports - especially rugby union - and my preference was and is for individualistic games like golf, tennis, squash, martial arts (Bujinkan and fencing), or the odd game of poker (I guess some card games like Bridge count as a team game of sorts). One exception to the Pearce Crapness at Team Games was cricket. I loved playing it, unless some sadist of a captain put me... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/when_a_taxi_dri.html This is what I call gratitude. On the subject of rare musical instruments, and as a sign of how desperate some investors are to make money away from the standard stock and bond markets, you can even invest in violins. I can see the jokes coming: "So, what do you invest in?" "Violins". "Hmm, I've been on the fiddle myself". Groan.... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/more_culture_of.html Libby Purves writes in The Times about an astonishing piece of micromanagement in the British state education system (to which over 90% of children are subjected from 5 to 16). She rightly picks on the most horrific element. ... Michael Gove, the Shadow Education Secretary, instead of tossing his hat in the air and singing “Let my people go!”, proved that he is well in training to be a modern minister (aka an annoying, bossy... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/more_british_ju.html From The Times: Jansen Versfeld, the solicitor who conducted the fruitless search for a barrister, said: “Because of the very low rate of pay for these hearings, £175.25 per day, and the amount of work and complexity involved, with no payment for preparation, none could undertake to do it.” Mr Versfeld, who is with Morgan Rose solicitors, said that there were 6,586 pages of documents and a total of 4,548 transactions that would require arranging... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/nin_for_nada.html Just straying off the Samizdata reservation for a moment...a pointer for Nine Inch Nails fans: Trent Reznor is giving away his latest record The Slip, and it is 100% free... to download it, go here. Reznor has released it under Creative Commons, which is a very interesting development.... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/samizdata_quote_346.html "The Tories are free-marketeers – they have a mechanism to get rid of their leader on a wet weekend. Labour are central planners, so adopt protectionist policies." - Fraser Nelson, over the Spectator's Coffee House blog. His quote makes a fair bit of sense, even if you, like yours truly, wonder about the free market credentials of David Cameron's Conservative Party.... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/antonio_martino.html The following choice quote has perhaps already been recycled here. It has surely done the rounds elsewhere. But just to be sure, here it is for Samizdata readers, either again or for the first time: "After five years in government, I now have the same respect for politicians that the pigeons of Rome have for statues." Which, I think you will agree, nicely sums up the Samizdata attitude towards politicians, whether we have been "in... http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2008/05/pipe_bomb_attac.html Glenn Reynolds links to this article on not one, but two different pipe bombings in San Diego. I suspect the answer to the question "Why Haven't We Heard About This" is to be found in the lack of blood and bodies. No bleed, no lead....