If the Bank of England today decides on more Quantitative Easing, I’ll produce an article explaining why they are wrong, why QE is a grave source of injustice and how it will fail to revive the economy. In the meantime, here’s a flavour from James Tyler at The Cobden Centre: […]
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The riots in England
Over the past few days, many constituents have written to me expressing anger and dismay about the riots, policing and justice. I share this anger and dismay. As I said in my article on Wednesday, we must establish that the state’s duty is to protect the law-abiding and their property first […]
Read MorePublic life – how low can we go?
I came into politics out of fury with a political elite which was positively trampling the principles of democracy and an open society. By 2007, what Labour were doing to our country was awful enough, but then the handling of the Lisbon Treaty was the final straw: what a witches’ […]
Read MoreOn the Coalition and the media
I’ve had a varied couple of days working for my constituents in Parliament – see theyworkforyou.com – but most interesting is what I have confirmed about the media. On this blog, I described various aspects of the political situation as a “pantomime” we should move past. That was picked up […]
Read MoreThe Rise and Decline of the State
Brought forward. I just had cause to share this with a constituent in relation to the Kafkaesque nightmare they face. David Cameron has said that the era of big government has run its course. The foreword to our manifesto sets out the rotten state of Britain (see also Butler) and […]
Read MoreGovernment should be banned from borrowing
For a very long time, it has seemed perfectly natural that governments could and should borrow – to finance expensive wars or infrastructure projects, for example. Keynesian economists saw the occasional deficit as an important way of managing the economy. But once you give politicians the power to borrow, a […]
Read MoreThe original and the contemporary Leviathan and the Third Way
This morning, I was delighted to attend the opening of Biblefresh in High Wycombe. The programme for the day looked superb and I was sorry I could not stay for it. Wycliffe Bible Translators set out a tremendous display which was a powerful reminder both of how many languages humanity has invented […]
Read MoreTony Blair and the Kellogg-Briand Pact
Via The Telegraph: Tony Blair sidelined the Cabinet over the decision to invade Iraq because he feared ministers would leak sensitive material to the press, the head of the civil service has said. For the moment, this speaks for itself and to the nature of the Blair government, but I’m looking […]
Read MoreIs there any reason to believe taxes can usefully be raised further?
The following chart is taken from How Should Britain’s Government Spending and Tax Burdens be Measured? by David B Smith, IEA, Jun 2009: It seems to show an upper limit to the tax which can be extracted from the economy: about 40% of GDP. Further, there has been little change in taxation […]
Read MoreLiberating civil servants
I heard this evening from Francis Maude on the work of the Cabinet Office and in particular on the support that has been received from civil servants frustrated after years of sclerotic Labour misgovernment. It appears that asking civil servants for suggestions has released a tidal wave of innovative ideas […]
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