For a couple of decades now I’ve been insisting that China is the most free market economy on the planet. In some senses of course this is laughably untrue. In others, or in at least one, remarkably close to the bone.
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December 18th, 2025 | 8 comments
 Amid the screams and pandemonium, one man stood tall: Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old Syrian-born Muslim Australian and father of two. Video footage, now viral across the globe, captures his instinctive charge, wrestling a firearm from one assailant, disarming him despite the peril. Injured but unyielding, al-Ahmed’s actions halted the rampage’s escalation, saving untold lives in that sun-kissed haven turned hellscape. Hailed as a hero by officials worldwide, his bravery bridges divides: Jewish donors have rallied to raise $1.3 million via GoFundMe for his recovery, praising his “selfless, instinctive, and undeniably heroic actions.” In a world fractured by suspicion, here is unity forged in fire. Award this man the George Cross, the Commonwealth’s pinnacle of civilian gallantry, let it gleam as a beacon for all who dare to protect the innocent. December 17th, 2025 | 32 comments
Britain is like an alcoholic who has spent a decade reassuring himself that, despite his binges and blackouts, he is “high functioning”. The reality is, however, that he is increasingly not actually functioning at all. We are headed for the rock bottom we so badly need. The moment of clarity is coming. It will be painful. But it’s the only thing that can save this country. – Konstantin Kisin (£) December 16th, 2025 | 38 comments
I left this comment on another place and thought I’d share it here. I was responding to an American pal – whom I normally agree with – who said the the UK’s vote for independence outside the EU was a disaster. I have jazzed it up a bit and added links. Well, it is Christmas! The EU has become an increasingly regulated, bureaucratic entity, and while the UK tried to pull it in a different direction, the sclerosis of the continent got worse. The Single Market and “freedom of movement” aspect had their positives – up to a point. The Customs Union (external tariff wall, in other words) was a clear negative, however. The structure of the EU is hostile to classical liberal economics in the medium term, not a plus. The bureaucratic mission creep of the European Commission, unhampered by a largely toothless E. Parliament (it cannot initiate or repeal directives), meant the EU economy decelerated, imperceptibly at first. Its share of global GDP has shrunk and not just because other, non-European countries such as China and India have grown over the past few decades. While some of the reasons for Brexit were grounded in nationalism, which I dislike, some reasons were more classically liberal. Those reasons should not be discounted. Another point: for far too many, the ideas of free enterprise and freedom of trade became entwined, in a poisonous way, with the creation of transnational, bureaucratic structures distant from ordinary people. To that extent, the EU is part of the problem for those making the case for capitalism and open markets. When you say those words, far too many think of men and women in suits in Brussels regulating this and that, not entrepreneurship, trade and human interaction. That’s a problem. For Americans reading this, remember that when the original 13 colonies broke free from the UK in the 1770s, they did so in part for reasons around representative government and the powers to tax with legitimate power. The EU increasingly came to the point where member states were reduced to regions of a centralising state. Ross Clark’s Far From EUtopia is a marvellous read about Brexit, what went wrong, and more. December 15th, 2025 | 14 comments
A Russian describes day to day ordinary mundane corruption, in a country where bribery is necessary to get things done.
It is not all good news though. The video has some more scary examples involving the education system, police and general government bureaucracy. December 14th, 2025 | 23 comments
There has been no accountability for the first round of mask mandates. No apologies. No acknowledgment that millions of people were coerced into wearing ineffective face coverings based on assumptions, hope, and political pressure rather than evidence. And now, emboldened by that lack of consequences, the same voices are back demanding we do it all again. December 14th, 2025 | 27 comments
“Childhood criminal records to be wiped by David Lammy”, reports the Telegraph.
My first thought was the same as that of David Fairey, the writer of the top comment to the Telegraph story:
Taking the breathtaking hypocrisy of the “liberal” establishment as a given, is this a good idea?
I would have to see what Mr Lammy’s exact words in 2017 were to see whether I was going to be as irritated by his “highlighting” the black and ethnic minority children in particular as the Telegraph writer wants me to be.
If someone other than Lammy said it, would you agree? To my surprise, Rachel de Souza, holder of the quintessentially Blairite office of Children’s Commissioner for England, is quoted in the Telegraph article and elsewhere as saying that children involved in the Southport riots should have their criminal records wiped. December 13th, 2025 | 19 comments
The EU is anti-populist to its core. Despite all the posturing of EU leaders as the valiant defenders of Ukraine, it’s clear they are opposed to national sovereignty. Instead of viewing patriotism as the sign of a healthy and cohesive society, the EU sees it as a threat to be snuffed out. The consequences of the EU’s war on the nation state are plain for all to see. According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Germans ‘would probably not defend their country from invaders’. In Italy, a recent survey indicated that only 16 per cent of those of fighting age would take up arms if their country was under attack. Recently, the head of France’s armed forces, Fabien Mandon, said his country needs ‘the spirit that accepts that we will have to suffer to protect what we are’. But French public opinion is not having any of it. December 11th, 2025 | 41 comments
There is strategic competition with economic rivals, notably China, especially around advanced technology, supply-chain dominance, and industrial sovereignty. But tariffs raise costs for domestic firms that rely on imported components, in some cases hurting US manufacturers rather than helping them. Indeed, recent data show US manufacturing has contracted, with some firms citing tariffs as a reason for layoffs or relocation. Retaliation from trade partners can offset gains via higher tariffs abroad, disrupted supply chains, and increased uncertainty. The welfare benefits of rising domestic output are modest under many models because gains might be outweighed by efficiency losses, higher consumer prices, and reduced variety. And the government risks politicizing trade decisions, which may lead to cronyism or poorly targeted protection by helping politically connected sectors rather than broadly boosting national economic health December 10th, 2025 | 52 comments
I support the jury system as I support democracy: it is the worst system of justice around, except for all the others. My own experience of serving on a jury was inspiring in some ways, frustrating in others. The current Labour government wants to abolish them for all but the most serious cases. Assuming Sir Keir Starmer and Mr David Lammy MP are sincere in their claim that all they want to do is speed up justice, are there any better ways to do that than denying the accused their ancient right to a jury of their peers? David Friedman was recently summoned to present himself for jury service in the US. He seems to have been sent home without ever reaching the jury-box. I have the impression that the the American courts turn away a higher percentage of those called to jury service than the UK courts do, and also that they make much more of a fuss about excluding jurors who might be biased, which over there often seems to mean in effect excluding jurors who might be intelligent. Despite this and many other differences between the two systems, not all of which favour the UK, I think that Professor Friedman’s observations on the careless way in which jurors’ time was wasted might be relevant to us here. The underlying reason Friedman and his fellow jurors (or whatever the word is for people who are called to be jurors but are not chosen) got to know every crack in the courthouse wall was that the people who have power to speed up or slow down cases pay next to nothing for the jurors’ time. Friedman writes:
December 8th, 2025 | 46 comments
The postponement of elections has always been an echo of contemporary catastrophe, as one the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rides roughshod over the land. War, Pestilence, these were the grim riders that justified such extraordinary measures, halting the democratic process only when the very survival of the nation hung in the balance. But now, in 2025, we witness the emergence of a fifth horseman, one more insidious and mundane: Tyranny, or perhaps better named, Bureaucracy. Cloaked in the guise of administrative reform and devolution, this ethereally dull and shadowy figure has been unleashed by the Labour government, in collusion with Conservative councils, to trample upon the democratic rights of millions. December 7th, 2025 | 8 comments
Which brings us to Nigel Farage. This week we received yet another reminder that the supposed “liberals” will stop at nothing – and I mean nothing – to prevent him from becoming Prime Minister, just as they previously did everything in their power to reverse the Brexit referendum. The coming battle will be both political and deeply personal. We have already witnessed attempts to manipulate the democratic process; that may prove mild compared with what will be unleashed on the Reform UK leader in the months ahead. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. The very same commentators who accused Kemi Badenoch of being too harsh on Rachel Reeves during her Budget response are now hurling grotesque slurs at the MP for Clacton, branding him a neo-Nazi. The BBC even joined in. A segment on Radio 4’s Today programme questioned Mr Farage’s “relationship when he was younger with Hitler”, a framing so ludicrous it was almost comical, were the implications not so serious. Suddenly, a chorus of self-appointed critics has emerged, eager to throw decades-old allegations at the wall in the hope that something, anything, might stick. – Camilla Tominey (£) December 6th, 2025 | 31 comments
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