Today is the last day of the committee stage of this year’s Finance Bill. Details of all stages may be found here. I confess I look forward to it being over. I have been on the Committee since 23 April, making a sincere attempt to scrutinise every clause and promote […]
Read MoreYesterday, I spoke against Clause 35 and schedules 15 to 17 of the Finance Bill 2013. They introduce tax relief for “high-end” television production (that is, posh drama and comedy) and video games development. They’re industries I’d like to see flourish but not by granting special privileges. It’s special privilege which is […]
Read MoreThe Telegraph reports Today is ‘tax freedom’ day: Employees start to see their earnings go into their own pockets rather than to the Government from Thursday, low-tax campaigners said. The Adam Smith Institute declared May 30 “Tax Freedom Day” – a day later than last year and the latest it […]
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You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence “democracy”, and the other “tyranny”. — Karl Popper Before the Lisbon Treaty, I had no interest in being an MP. That Treaty was introduced to sidestep […]
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Last week, I attended a dramatic and distressing exhibition in the House of Commons highlighting the hidden nature of contemporary slavery. The exhibition, built by students from the Central St Martin’s College of Art, depicted the four different kinds of slavery hidden away in our society. Curtains, doors, drawers and […]
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Another superb video from LearnLiberty, Does Government Create Jobs: Related reading: Kirzner, How Markets Work
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After this morning’s advice bureau, I had the pleasure of visiting Windsor Conservative Association Women’s Group, where I explained what I think are the long term causes of this crisis and what we should do about it. Here are the slides: I was delighted students from a local school joined […]
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Earlier today, I moved amendments tabled by Andrew Tyrie MP to make provision for an elected chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee which scrutinises MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. At present, the ISC is a Government committee of parliamentarians. The Bill makes it a Parliamentary committee whose members are appointed by the […]
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In just 96 pages, Dr Nigel Ashford’s Principles for a Free Society, commissioned by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, explains 12 of the founding ideas of free societies. These are civil society, democracy, equality, free enterprise, freedom, human rights, justice, peace, private property, the rule of law, spontaneous order and toleration. […]
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The Bank of England is considering negative interest rates to “stimulate” the economy, together with more QE. It’s one thing to pay a bank for safe-keeping and other services, another for the central bank to manipulate the credit markets as a whole. It is explicitly a policy of expropriating savers, […]
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