We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day – The Guardian’s worried Argentina is going to work

· Economics, Business & Globalization · Latin American Affairs · Slogans & Quotations

Our diagnosis is that what really worries The Guardian here [about Argentina] is that this will all work. For where would the progressives be if classical liberalism were shown – once again – to work?

– Tim Worstall

May 5th, 2025 | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)

Samizdata quote of the day – is there really a risk of too much “neo-liberalism”?

· Political Economy · Slogans & Quotations

“Yes, like any philosophy, neoliberalism has its limits, and as with any philosophy, some of its adherents get overexcited and take things a bit too far. But given where we currently are, and where we are likely to go in the near future, focussing on the risk of “too much neoliberalism” seems bizarre to me. It is as if you were lost in the desert, and your main worry was that if you find an oasis, you might end up drinking too much water, and get overhydrated. Maybe one day, neoliberalism will be so popular that there really will be a non-trivial risk of taking it too far. If so – that will be a good day.”

– Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director, Institute of Economic Affairs. (Part of his commentary is this recent apologia to libertarians from Noah Smith, a US centre-leftist who appears to have some intellectual honesty and grit, which is refreshing, and so it appears, rare.)

It might be helpful of critics of neoliberalism bothered to define it clearly.

(Tim Worstall has a related takedown of George Monbiot’s recent forays into this territory. Worstall is, as you might expect, unimpressed.)

May 4th, 2025 | 19 comments - (Comments are closed)

Women’s Rugby Safety

· Sports

In The Times, no less:

…evidence has emerged of letters from Dutch premier division women’s rugby teams and players expressing concerns about trans women players and specifically warning about injuries linked to one person…A rugby player knocked unconscious last year in a collision with the same athlete as King told The Sunday Times she had written to Rugby Nederland calling for clarity…

Safety is one thing. The article goes on to discuss consent and the risks to female athletes of speaking out on this topic.

May 3rd, 2025 | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)

Samizdata quote of the day – A reverse Chesterton’s Fence exercise

· Civil liberty, Law & Regulation · Economics, Business & Globalization · Slogans & Quotations · UK affairs

Before it’s possible to suggest a solution to a problem, it’s necessary to grasp the root cause of the problem itself. A sort of Reverse Chesterton’s Fence exercise.

So, what has gone wrong? As we never tire of repeating it’s the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and successors. That is, for the past 78 years we’ve had that coherent national plan. With a long term vision. Run by the Rolls Royce minds of the Men in Whitehall who know best. Which is how we’ve ended up with the output we’ve got, something that would disgrace a Trabant factory.

As it is national control of planning – the TCPA really does define who may build what where, is the nationalisation of land use – that is the problem then the solution is to get rid of what caused the problem. Blow up the TCPA, proper blow up – kablooie.

– Tim Worstall

May 3rd, 2025 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)

Respect to the vote-counters

· UK affairs

After a recount, the Reform Party were declared the winners of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes. The first time they counted, Reform’s margin of victory was four votes.

Assuming the second result is accurate, the first result was off by two. Not bad considering 32,740 votes were cast.

Not a bad result for Reform, either. Sarah Pochin is Runcorn’s first MP from any party other than Labour in 52 years. If that result had come from the bowels of a voting machine many Labour supporters would have distrusted it. Because the count and the recount took place under the eyes of multiple observers – courtesy of the Sun live-streaming it, you can watch all three hours and twenty one minutes of the process here if you want to – few now will.

May 2nd, 2025 | 22 comments - (Comments are closed)

Nice try, Essex Police, but no cigar

· Civil liberty, Law & Regulation · Media & Journalism · Totalitarianism · UK affairs

The Press Gazette reports:

Essex Police loses accuracy complaint versus Telegraph over Allison Pearson questioning

Essex Police has had a complaint against The Telegraph rejected by IPSO following a visit to columnist Allison Pearson by two uniformed officers on Remembrance Sunday.

Pearson was visited by police in November 2024, apparently to discuss a potentially inflammatory post on X by the comment writer.

(The tweet in question criticised two-tier policing of Pro-Palestine marches.)

Pearson said she was accused of a “non-crime hate incident” by police. The Telegraph also reported that she was questioned over an “alleged hate crime”.

Essex Police said Pearson was wrong to claim officers described the matter as a “non-crime hate incident” and provided a transcript of video taken filmed by officers at the time. IPSO rejected the complaints, saying the Telegraph had taken sufficient care to establish the facts ahead of publication.

Why does it matter whether it was or was not a “non-crime hate incident”? Because Essex Police tried to claim that because Pearson was – ludicrously – being investigated for an actual crime (someone had complained that the tweet had incited racial hatred), that meant that the Telegraph could not report on their own columnist having the rozzers turn up unannounced at her door on Remembrance Sunday.

Rejecting the complaint, IPSO said: “While the complainant had said that it had not been given sufficient time to respond to this email, it had responded within four hours, with both a for-publication comment and a not-for-publication note. Neither the comment nor the background note responded to the claim that the writer had been told that she had been ‘told she had been reported for a non crime hate incident’. While both pieces of correspondence made clear that the police were investigating the matter as a potential criminal offence, the position regarding what the writer had been told during the visit had not been disputed or corrected.”

IPSO added: ” The complainant had said that the articles should not have been published, as the publication was not aware of the full circumstances of the case, and had attempted to dissuade the newspaper from publishing the articles under complaint. The committee noted that, on occasion, the press will report on ongoing investigations, and the code does not forbid it from doing so. It further noted the role that the press plays in reporting on the criminal justice system, and that – provided that the code is not breached – there is no bar on the media reporting on ongoing and developing cases, and doing so can serve the public interest, for example by holding institutions to account, or by reporting on matters of ongoing public debate.”

May 1st, 2025 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
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