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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Yesterday I bought the paper version of the Daily Telegraph, to read about how England defeated South Africa at cricket (basically by winning the toss – never mind), and in the City Diary I read this.
Madsen Pirie, the president of the Adam Smith Institute, is feeling pretty smug. Three years ago he wagered £100 at 25-1 on Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming the next governor of California.
The best price you can get now is even money and Pirie is already dreaming of spending his winnings. “I’m going to have an absolutely great party,” he says, before adding, “and I’m going to ask Sir Clive Sinclair to host it.”
Pirie and Sinclair have been mates since they ran Mensa together and our gambler is particularly impressed by his friend’s pad in Trafalgar Square. “Nelson’s his nearest neighbour,” he gushes. “Clive has lots of gadgets so we will be able to show clips of The Terminator.”
So will Arnie make a good governor? “Maybe California needs someone with an economics degree,” Pirie replies. Arnie has one, by the way.
And then, I actually managed to track this story down in its electronic manifestation.
I think Madsen Pirie’s foresight deserves to get around and be celebrated.
I love this story. Not just because it sounds the like perfect scenario on which to base 1930’s-style Ealing comedy but because it has given me a glimpse into a world the very existance of which I had, hitherto, not even begun to suspect.
I don’t think many people realise it, but there is a contraband war going on in this country. It is a war which has spawned a clandestine ring of illicit and secretive dealers and buyers operating their own black economy and doing their best to steer clear of the agents of the state.
And just what are these shadowy merchants trading in? Is it narcotics? Is it guns? Is it prostitution? Gambling dens? No, it’s tomato seeds:
The dealer wishes to remain anonymous. Not that he’s ashamed of his seeds: on the contrary, he’s doubts you’ll find better in England. Once you’ve tried their crop, he believes, you’ll be hooked. But if he told you how to buy them, he could be prosecuted – and a small businessman like him can ill-afford a £5,000 fine.
The crop in question goes by the exotic name of ‘White Princess’. But it is not, as you might suspect, a variety of cannabis. Rather, it is a tomato – a “meltingly, sumptuously tasty” variety, according to the pusher, but a mere tomato none the less. And if that strikes you as surprising, you’ll be even more surprised to discover that ‘White Princess’ are just the tip of the iceberg.
This is a story of the bizarre, seldom-seen subculture of unlicensed vegetable-growing. Its wares include rogue tomatoes, “bad” apples and “hot” potatoes; tomatoes are as good an illustration as any of how the market works.
‘Seldom-seen’ is surely an understatement. Who knew such a thing was even going on? Though, reading on, it becomes clear why it is going on:
The Plant Varieties and Seeds Act (1964) makes these tomatoes forbidden fruit – well, at least the seeds from which they are grown.
NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!!
According to the act, anyone wanting to sell the seeds of a fruit or vegetable must first register the variety on a National List. Before registration, it must be tested to ensure it is “distinct, uniform and stable”, and a fee must be paid. Sadly for amateur growers, these fees add up to nearly £1,000, in the case of tomatoes, plus an annual renewal fee of £185. There are no exceptions, no grants for amateur growers, and it is illegal for anyone to sell the seeds of unregistered fruit or, by implication, the fruit itself.
Choice-killing legislation at its finest. Still, what the state denies the market provides so no wonder it gives rise to such a lively, profitable and enthusiastic ‘guerilla’ trade.
It’s fair to say Defra doesn’t police the law with much conviction, but the multinationals are always watching. In 1998 a company that illegally marketed grass seed was successfully prosecuted under the Plant Varieties and Seeds Act 1964. It was fined a total of £7,500 and ordered to pay costs of £7,964.
An instructive tale. For non-UK readers, ‘Defra’ is the Department of Farming and Rural Affairs and it is clealy not above moving to protect the interest of the market-hogging corporations. We should never overlook that fact that some large business concerns are not interested in the market they are interested in controlling the market and they use the apparatus of state to do so. Regulatory regimes often result from the connivance between big business and the state.
The linked article is lengthy but well worth reading in my view. It is not just enjoyable for its delightfully, eccentrically British flavour but also because it proves, yet again, that all legislation has precisely the opposite of its intended effect. The aim of the state was to prop up a cartel but instead they have breathed life into a thriving, committed and obviously very well-informed ‘black’ market.
May their tomatoes continue to grow and prosper.
There appear to be no good days in the Middle East, just varying degrees of bad day. How does today rate on the scale, I wonder?
In Baghdad, a bomber in a truck blows up the UN Headquarters: death toll 16 and rising.
In Jerusalem, a bomber blows up another bus: death toll 20 and rising.
It is conceivable (though by no means inevitable) that the attacks were co-ordinated in some way.
I often wonder about the future of that region and, every time I do, the vista just grows darker and darker. Some might say that that prognosis is simply a product of my pessimistic tendencies.
Is it?
The tabloid newspaper, The Sun is both the best-selling daily newspaper in Britain and (perhaps because of this fact) the most despised among that class of people commonly referred to as the ‘liberal elite’.
The Sun’s peculiar brand of kitchen-table, down-to-earth, working-class, mercifully unnuanced tub-thumping has earned it the nickname of the ‘Daily Red Neck’. To be fair, it is an image that the proprietors of The Sun have never sought to discourage.
But, while its more cerebral counterparts devote acres of print to torturous hand-wringing about the effects of globalisation on the native tribal peoples of the Amazon basin (or something) The Sun is prepared to get its boots dirty and go out and actually perform a public service:
LYING crook Brendon Fearon has been seen by The Sun effortlessly riding a mountain bike — even though he claims he was crippled by freed farmer Tony Martin.
The superfit burglar, who insists he cannot work because of leg injuries caused when Martin shot him, pedalled through streets at high speed.
And that’s not all.
STRIDING along the street with no sign of a limp; DARTING up the three stone steps to his home; STEPPING off pavements with confidence and WALKING his dog without a hint of difficulty.
Yes they actually sent in a surveillance team to follow this urchin around and record the results. I wonder how Mr.Fearon intends to explain this to the Judge (assuming he gets that far).
Once again, The Sun tells it like it is.
Thanks to Elegance Against Ignorance for the tip off about this, which is truly beautiful:
The burglar shot by Tony Martin has been filmed cycling and climbing steps with little apparent difficulty.
Brendon Fearon, who was shot in the legs at Martin’s Norfolk farmhouse, was filmed walking briskly and cycling near his home.
The footage, taken over the past week by The Sun newspaper, shows that the 33-year-old cannot be trusted and is a conman, Martin’s friend and supporter Malcolm Starr said.
And there was me thinking he was an upright citizen.
News of a new ID card scheme, in China:
BEIJING, Aug. 18 – For almost two decades, Chinese citizens have been defined, judged and, in some cases, constrained by their all-purpose national identification card, a laminated document the size of a driver’s license.
But starting next year, they will face something new and breathtaking in scale: an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access.
Surprise, surprise.
Tax greed is running rampant in California these days. The Statists have managed to, if not quite kill, make the golden goose quite ill. Revenues are falling and they have no way to fund more welfare for politicians and bureaucrats. They need a new victim – one that has not yet been bled to within an inch of its’ life.
The American Indians are in their sights once again. Over the last decade or so many tribes have gone from rags to riches. They’ve done it the old fashioned American way: capitalism. Some of this may be due to the leadership of people like American Indian Movement leader Russell Means, although I cannot state that as proven fact.
Russell’s imposing warrior’s frame is well known in the Libertarian community: he ran against Ron Paul for the 1988 LP Presidential slot. He lost the nomination but gave a memorable concession speech, spiced with his signature line, “Individual liberty; Individual Responsibility”. His after-the-vote party was also much more fun than Ron’s… almost as much fun as a Kansas Caucus.
Reservations are far from libertarian. They’ve been inundated by socialist activists for many decades. Even so, Marxism has not displaced the traditional culture. As Russell wrote in a paper long ago in his more radical youth, socialism is just another alien European philosophy. It has nothing to say to Indians.
It’s time again for the American Indian’s to string their lawyers and sharpen their lobbyists. The Great White Liars in State Houses across the continent are once again on the march to expropriate Indian wealth.
For those of you who’ve been shipwrecked in the South Seas, or sitting in a hospital queue in London, or are just coming round from a spectacular drunk, there’s a bizarre election going on in California. The two issues are: should Governor Gray Davis be forced to resign because enough voters managed to put a petition together, and if so, who should replace him.
The front runner is exciting not least for fans of the scene in ‘Demolition Man’ where Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) says to a de-frosted John Champion (Sylvester Stallone) that they should research in the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. His response: “NO WAY!”
Well Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once polled one vote in a (British) Conservative Students’ poll “Who should be the next Prime Minister” (after Margaret Thatcher), is the favourite in terms of money, polls and name recognition to become Governor of California. Should he win, a mere amendment to the US Constitution (or an outrageous ‘re-interpretation’ by Supreme Court judges having a giggle) seperates the Terminator from the nuclear button. (Is this the plot for T4? The Machine runs for President!)
The election itself is fairly extraordinary. 135 candidates (3 of them libertarians). A straight first past the post which means that a candidate could win – in theory at least – with less than 0.75 per cent of any turnout. That is to say 3 actual votes out of every 400 votes cast. And we know that turnouts can be low.
I must confess that the Libertarian candidate who strikes me as worthy of support is Ned Fenton Roscoe, of Napa County, occupation “Cigarette retailer” and whose website is www.smokersparty.com. I almost suspect the hand of Paul Staines… The other two libertarians are described as a “Healthcare District Director” and a “State tax officer” from Sacramento. See here for a full list of candidates.
N.B. Non-US citizens are not allowed to give money to any candidate.
The most absurd intellectual property rights claim ever?
With their earthy tones and lizard motifs, Prince Harry’s paintings won admiration at home and last week earned him a grade B at A-level. But his work has stirred anger in Western Australia, where he is accused of stealing Aboriginal themes.
The moral pygmies claiming ‘ownership’ of the images drawn by artists who died hundreds of years ago must be the world’s biggest losers. Inacapable of artistic expression themselves, they demand the unearned greatness of their remote ancestors.
How sad that genuine aboriginal achievements are drowned out by the moochers!
The first foreign cricket team to visit England (in 1868) was comprised entirely of aboriginal players. Subsequently, Australian cricket authorities tried to forget about this as more than a century passed without a non-white player. Are they excluded from clubs, does the welfare system turn an entire race into a dependent underclass?
I don’t suppose that the professional racial-awareness poverty pimps are demanding that aborigines stop getting welfare and solve their problems by economic means.
For the record, one of my French ancestors wore the Crusaders’ red cross on white background in Palestine. Does this mean I should sue England soccer supporters for ‘violating’ my heritage, after all their king only went on the Third Crusade?
Reuters reports that Saddam Hussein’s former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, has been captured by U.S. Kurdish allies in northern Iraq, U.S. and Kurdish officials. Ramadan was No. 20 and the 10 of diamonds in a deck of cards issued to U.S. troops hunting the 55 most wanted members of Saddam’s administration.
Ramadan, who is in his 60s and originally from the Mosul region, was one of the most hawkish members of Saddam’s inner circle and one of the only surviving plotters of the 1968 coup that brought the Ba’ath Party to power. His capture will fuel speculation that U.S. forces may be closing in on Saddam himself.
Ramadan is alleged to have been involved in crimes against humanity for his role in suppressing Kurdish rebellion in the north in the 1980s and against the Shi’ite revolt in southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. A man of blunt words, he told Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister to “go to hell” during the U.S. invasion when the minister suggested that Saddam should step down.
Reuters
A new letter from Basra, this time adding a bit of colour (or new shades of grey) to the black and white picture of Iraqi society.
I promised you a description of Basra society. The most important division is not religious or tribal but between the top 20% and the bottom 80%. The top 20% is the educated class that run the country. It was a totally technocratic country, with the highest percentage of PhDs per capita in the world, and it shows. The educated 20% are scared stiff of Islamic fundamentalism, Iranians and extremists.
They want to see a modern, comparatively secular state, so they tend to be pro-CF [ed. Coalition Forces] as a bulwark against all of the above, and because they have the most to lose from a breakdown in law and order. They are also terrified of mob rule. They are appalled by the current crime, which is not simply old Basra without Saddam, but Basra with the worst scum from across Iraq deliberately released into it just before we arrived. They want security above all from CF and are frightened of not getting it. Talk of the Badr corps, Iranian trained Iraqis, is everywhere.
The top 20% are usually tainted ex-regime to some degree although they also include those most vehemently opposed to the old regime, as they tended to have suffer more personally – they were important enough for the regime to bother to deal with. Most have also quickly switched to CF as the resident power and will switch again just as easily. There are plenty of genuine patriots and some humanitarian idealists, but most look to see how the new regime works and how they can manipulate it. They now want to get on and get ahead with their fairly typical middle-class aspirations, but most are held back to some degree by Ba’ath Party connections. And some are involved in the crime in the sense of general managerial corruption.
Authority – many people, especially at the top defined themselves by their positions. This has all gone, creating a social vacuum and loss of identity. The top 20% provide the main support of the secular political parties, i.e. INC, CINU, etc. Influences on the top 20% in rough order of importance are the CF, the political parties, western aspirations, ex-regime connections, tribes, and religion.
Amongst the poorer 80% only 40% of the total population count, as only the men count politically. Women have a lot more sway within the homes than western stereotyping realises but not outside of it. (Women in the top 20% have professional status just as in the West.) Their sources of information are primarily their local Imams. They all go to the Mosque on Friday and listen to the sermon but they do not necessarily agree with what they are told (if they did, there would not be so much crime…) In addition, if they do not like the message they simply swap mosques.
The small educated part of the bottom 80% tend to be religious scholars, anyone else who is educated gets immense respect, i.e. any doctors, lawyers. Otherwise, people listen to radio in crowds in markets and barber shops. They are 80% illiterate, but those who can read pass on whatever they read in pamphlets, leaflets or papers, inevitably putting their own spin on it and increasing the power of rumour. There is a popular local saying Egyptians write, Lebanese print, Iraqis read…
Tribal connections are becoming more important in urban Basra than in the past, as they provide the only available means of security – the police are frightened of being attacked, but a tribe is big enough and violent enough to protect you. The police are not willing to kill your enemies, the tribe is. To a lesser extent religious political groups try to fulfil the same function. This part of the population is very localised and rely upon local community links. Their other options are to join or work for a crime gang.
The bottom part of the population is used to being told, not so much what to do, as what will happen. They are desperate for direction and basic security and basic infrastructure, i.e. immediate water and electricity and fuel to cook. By way of comparison Saddam Hussein got the infrastructure back up and running in a month in 1991 after Basra was far worse damaged. He did it largely by threatening to shoot looters. The influences at this level are the Imams, who also act in effect as local social workers, tribes, and crime gangs.
That’s enough for now. Things have actually improved on the security front because of the ops [ed. operations] we have done, mostly VCPs [ed. vehicle checkpoints]
A thought struck me last night while reading Mr Stephen Pinker’s excellent book, The Language Instinct, and its chapter, Language Organs and Grammar Genes. This discusses the direct effect of genes on the human cerebral cortex. Here’s an annotated quote from that chapter which kicked off my own cerebral cortical units into a bit of a grey-matter spin:
Could there really be a gene for sneezing in elevators? Presumably not, but there does not have to be…First, a single gene does not build a single brain module; the brain is a delicately layered soufflé in which each gene product is an ingredient with a complex effect on many properties of many circuits. Second, a single brain module does not produce a single behavioural trait. Most of the traits that capture our attention emerge out of unique combinations of kinks in many different modules…Perhaps the sneezing-in-elevators gene complex is the one that specifies just the right combination of thresholds and cross-connections among the modules governing humour, reactions to enclosed spaces, sensitivity to the mental states of others such as their anxiety and boredom, and the sneezing reflex.
Which begs the immediate question; is there a Liberty gene? Or a Liberty gene complex? Some researchers claim that up to thirty thousand genes are used to create the human brain. Could there be some regular patterning of this combinatorial soufflé process to create libertarians? → Continue reading: The Liberty gene
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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