Adriana is known for her cutting style of blogging
Perry and his chums bag another tasty socialist swine
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As well as being eminent bloggers, Brian Micklethwait and Steve Chapman are founder members of the Mauve Shirt Appreciation Society July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
 July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
It is difficult to get one’s mind around the vast sums of taxpayers’ money that British finance minister Gordon Brown has planned to hurl at our public sector. The sums are mind-numbing. The spending plans are predicated on some pretty rosy forecasts for the British economy over the next few years, not to mention some fairly dubious accounting methods which reduce the potential bill to the taxpayer from infrastructure projects. Those rosy forecasts could easily fail to materialise, particularly as mounting red tape, higher taxes and growing interference from the EU clogs the arteries of the UK economy. What is beyond doubt in my mind is that “New Labour”, that strange political entity supposedly different from old tax-and-spend Labour, is dead. Central control of finance, big spending, handouts for the public sector unions – the whole unlovely mix is back. And of course Brown’s announcement on Monday of this spending mania was accompanied by a sharp fall in British equities to the lowest levels in six years. Of course much of the damage to stocks stems from events in the U.S., mired as it is in accounting scandals. But one cannot help but conclude that Brown’s charmed existence for the first five years of his time in the job is about to get a lot rougher. There may be some upside to all this. Brown’s attempt to improve our creaking health and education system may prove the futility of state monopoly as the ideal way to deliver good service and give the opposition Conservatives ammunition for the case for root and branch reform. But I would not bet the farm on it just yet. July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Just went awandering, via Natalie Solent and a mention of an open letter, which I never got to) about Algeria. (Natalie says that it would have been better for the Algerian fundamentalists to have kept their election win and taken Algeria down the Iran trail, which eventually, if Iran itself is anything to go by, gets better. I think I agree.) Anyway, what I actually found was this fascinating report about the recent huge forest fires in the USA. It turns out that the enviros may have severely contributed, by legally contesting every second scheme the foresters proposed for cutting back trees to make firebreaks, and such like. What’s more, local politicians are actually starting to say this. It would seem that the “noble ends justify any means” philosophy of the average green is backfiring. So to speak. Changing the subject completely, when Perry was over here yesterday we invented, or probably re-invented, the word “blogule”, which is of course rehash of globule. Usually you already have the meaning and then devise the word. In this case we have the word, but what exactly does it mean? I think it may be a single blogged idea. A meme of the blogosphere, which only achieves blogular status if it gets circulated. If so, then this posting contains two definite blogules, and an attempt at a third. My spellchecker is getting very excited. July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
NASA Glenn has selected General Electric Aircraft Engines (Evendale, Ohio) for a Revolutionary Turbine accelerator (RTA) demonstrator as part of the Revolutionary Aerospace Engine Research contract given to GE in 2001. Propulsion is perhaps the major driver in the world of aerospace. If the demonstrator project succeeds in pushing turbine propulsion based systems up to Mach 4, it will be a major step toward airline style access to space. While I’d rather see NASA get out of the way, I must in all honesty commend this type of work. If they are going to spend our money at all, they should at least be applying it to the commercially high value high-risk research which was their original remit as NACA. July 17th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Exactly a year before the assasination attempt on President Chirac the day before yesterday, I stood in a downpour at the corner of the avenue de Friedland on the place de l’Etoile at the top of the Champs Elysees. The exact spot of yesterday’s gunman in fact. I picked the spot because it was at the top of the Champs Elysees where the parade vehicles sort themselves out. Because of the wet conditions and the roundabout of l’Etoile, the vehicles have to drive slowly, giving me a better view. As the military parade began President Chirac was driven slowly, in an open topped vehicle which dropped speed even more to negotiate the bend before entering the Champs Elysees. M. Chirac is tall (well over six foot), towering over his bodyguard, he doesn’t wear a hat or cap, and as his convoy meandered past I remarked to myself that with a heavy calibre pistol any shooter would have fancied their chances of hitting M. Chirac several times at a distance of of about ten metres. I myself, never having fired any weapon, would probably have managed to miss. Over the next couple of days I mentioned this to several French libertarians. Unfortunately, Chirac is such a dreadfully corrupt character (financially, morally, intellectually) that I can’t think of anyone from his circles who wouldn’t be an improvement. I wouldn’t be able to put them off by saying “So and so could get in and he’d be worse…” So maybe it could have been one of ours. However, to quote the Jackal: “You see, gentlemen, your own efforts have not only failed but have queered the pitch for everyone else.” Oh well, with any luck he’ll catch pneumonia next time there’s a downpour. July 16th, 2002 | Comments are closed
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