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]

Samizdata quote of the day

Of course I have sensitivity, you know… I just refuse to use it with my friends
– Adriana Cronin-Lukas

Samizdata slogan of the day

If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?
– Frédéric Bastiat

Samizdata slogan of the day

Genua had once controlled the river mouth and taxed its traffic in a way that couldn’t be called piracy because it was done by the city government.
– Local-body politics explained (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

Samizdata slogan of the day

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts
– Will Rogers

Samizdata slogan of the day

State funding of abortions is, however, a completely different matter. The pro-choicers say it’s a matter of choice. Let it stay that way, then, without forcing people who oppose infanticide to fund it.
Tomas Kohl

Samizdata quote of the day

There are two possible political morals to this. One is, don’t have schools. Children in large groups behave like troops of baboons. The other is, if you are going to have schools, have discipline.
Natalie Solent

Samizdata quote of the day

“France is the best country in the world.”

— Claire Sepchat (who is French).

Samizdata slogan of the day

Many of people who loathe Rupert Murdoch and who hate the fact he has been able to buy up the TV rights to so many sporting events, are the same people who have supported the regulation of British media companies which has ensured Murdoch never has to face any effective competition.
– Michael Jennings

Samizdata slogan of the day

The dumbest idea is to suppose that an inanimate object can turn a noncriminal into a criminal. To believe that guns cause crime is as stupid as believing that hammers and saws cause houses. It is the grossest kind of mindless superstition to suppose that some magical qualities of an inanimate object can overpower the human will.
Charley Reese

Samizdata slogan of the day

Over the years it has become apparent to me that to discount the position of others on the basis of their number is democratically sound but morally wrong. It’s this feeling that has brought me, and others like me, to samizdata and to a consideration of libertarianism.
– JohnJo

Sad loss

Ruth Lea, the head of policy at Britain’s Institute of Directors (IoD), has been fired. What a pity. Lea put forward views that truly took account of the needs of business, even though the government did not like them.

On an unrelated point, I wonder if George Cox, the IoD’s Director General, is now in line for a knighthood?

Samizdata slogan of the day

Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who constantly record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, in order that widows may be their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans.
– Isaiah 10: 1-2