“If the French social model is so great, why is the country in flames?”
– Peter Mendelson in an off the cuff remark before talks with Philippe Douste-Blazy, French foreign minister.
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November 17th, 2005 | 23 comments - (Comments are closed)
 Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason. – Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter of MIT, getting down to the really important research. I wonder what they think of lampshades? (Link from Scott Wickstein). November 16th, 2005 | 24 comments - (Comments are closed)
“No man in the country is under the smallest obligation, moral or other, so to arrange his legal relations to his business or property as to enable the Inland Revenue to put the largest possible shovel in his stores. The Inland Revenue is not slow – and quite rightly – to take every advantage which is open to it under the taxing statutes for the purpose of depleting the taxpayer’s pocket. And the taxpayer is in like manner entitled to be astute to prevent, so far as he honestly can, the depletion of his means by the Inland Revenue.” – The Lord President Clyde, 1929 November 11th, 2005 | 48 comments - (Comments are closed)
Tony Blair, asking MPs to support police detention without charge for up to 90 days. Never believe anything until it has been officially denied. November 10th, 2005 | 41 comments - (Comments are closed)
“So promoting wealth creation – at home and abroad – means changing the climate of opinion so that politicians and bureaucrats who argue for measures that damage business and economic competitiveness are less likely to succeed. In short, we need to campaign for capitalism. To promote profit. To fight for free trade. To remind, indeed to educate our citizens about the facts of economic life. The message is simple – you cannot win the battle against red tape unless you win the intellectual and cultural battle for open markets.” November 10th, 2005 | 26 comments - (Comments are closed)
As masters of their estates, the rioters cock their legs and piss molotovs to provide the reek of burnt plastic that serves as their territorial marker. November 9th, 2005 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
With hindsight it can be stated that the outcome of the Industrial Revolution was that human beings no longer needed to go out and grab other people’s possessions by force, but merely to settle down, work hard and exchange the considerable surplus they produced for something they wanted from the surplus someone else produced. How simple it all seems! Yet how hard to put into practice. – Findlay Dunachie (1928-2005 – his funeral is today) in The Success of the Industrial Revolution and the Failure of Political Revolutions: How Britain Got Lucky, page 6, published in 1996 by the Libertarian Alliance. November 8th, 2005 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
2005 Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, displaying an interesting sense of historical perspective. November 5th, 2005 | 25 comments - (Comments are closed)
P.J. O’Rourke, All the Trouble in the World (page 199). I love the punchline. November 2nd, 2005 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
“We must have faith in the social and economic benefits of the free market. A real programme for prosperity will progressively remove the barriers to wealth creation in Britain today. We need to open ourselves to risk and treat adults like adults. The stock of regulations must be reduced: we should trust people to make their own mistakes and learn from them. And the flow of new regulation from the EU must also be reduced: our aim should be to take back control of employment and social regulation… “We must reduce and simplify taxes so we can take on with confidence the long term challenge of competing with China and India for jobs. This means not only proper control of public spending, but also a thoughtful and long-term strategy for tax reduction.” October 25th, 2005 | 42 comments - (Comments are closed)
October 21st, 2005 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
“On sighting an elephant Selous would instantly remove his trousers as he found it easier to pursue them in his underpants.” As one does. The quote is from Tom Quinn, Shooting’s Strangest Days. October 19th, 2005 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
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