Sartre said “Hell is other people”, and as usually he got it wrong. Hell is a foreign keyboard.
– Perry de Havilland
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August 19th, 2006 | 24 comments - (Comments are closed)
August 17th, 2006 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
I’m sorry to say that the latest on carrying hand-baggage on flights to/from Britain is that violins appear to be a no-no. – Jessica Duchen writing today about the difficulties now being faced by itinerant classical musicians August 15th, 2006 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
August 14th, 2006 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
When poor countries catch up with rich countries, the actual absolute level of inequality between them can increase. Now that’s just wierd. My head hurts. – Tony Stephenson responding to Brian Micklethwait August 14th, 2006 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
There have already been a couple of Samizdata quotes of the day, the first officially labelled thus, and the second an SQOTD in all but title. Had there been no such copying and pasting postings so far today, then I would have put up a quote from this (“MSM sacrifices itself for Hezbollah”), such as, for instance, this:
My thanks to Nigel Sedgwick (who urls himself as something to do with this) who flagged up this piece in a comment on this posting here yesterday. → Continue reading: Puppets and liars and the myth of the non-existent camera August 11th, 2006 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
“I have run into a certain amount of conflict with bodies like Oxfam and Christian Aid, who are very effective at presenting what looks like extremely professional, well-researched data which seems to prove that trade is bad for poor countries and bad for poor people in these countries. I do not know a great deal about the subjects that they deal with, but I know enough about trade policy to have doubts in my mind when I read this stuff. But my colleagues come to me with it and say that they have had a deputation, including the local vicar and all the party members and have been given this report from Oxfam’s public affairs department and it must be right! They ask ‘why are you being awkward and asking questions? Surely we should just sign’.” – Vincent Cable, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor (via The GI) August 11th, 2006 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
August 9th, 2006 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
The report basically says no one gets fired for screwing up in the civil service and that there is no price for failure. It recommends some reforms that will not work because inherently governments have a coercive monopoly. Whereas in the private sector the profit motive works as an incentive because customers will stop buying crap services from businesses, hurting their profits. In the public sector if you stop paying your taxes the government will try and jail you. A mandarin hits it on the head in the report when he admits “Why is Whitehall poor at delivery? Because they’re aren’t any rewards or sanctions in place for civil service delivery.” Where is the incentive for better government? August 8th, 2006 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
August 3rd, 2006 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
My favorite conspiracy theory is the one that says the world is being run by a handful of ultra-rich capitalists, and that our elected governments are mere puppets. I sure hope it’s true… The only way I can get to sleep at night is by imagining a secret cabal of highly competent puppetmasters who are handling the important decisions… I know some of you will say that it’s obvious that corporate money influences the government. But that’s not enough to make me feel comfortable. I want to know there’s an actual meeting of the puppetmasters every Thursday at 3 pm… – Scott Adams via Frank McGahon who got to it via Hit and Run August 3rd, 2006 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)
Most people believe that poor people should be free to trade with each other, and they should be free to buy and sell from us in the West. If people want to buy cheaper goods from abroad, and spend the money they save on food or medicines, they should be free to do so. Saving a few cents when buying a bag of rice makes little difference to you or me, or to the rich elite in poor countries. But to a poor family it could make the difference between eating at night, or going without. – Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, speaking Monday at the Globalisation Institute. July 26th, 2006 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
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