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Contemporary crony capitalism – Living with Leviathan


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For a contemporary and historical account of the scale of the state and its relations with nominally private business, I recommend David B. Smith’s excellent Living with Leviathan: Public Spending, Taxes and Economic Performance: In the last 90 years the proportion of national income spent by the UK government has increased from around 10 per cent to nearly 50 per cent. This general trend has been followed in most other developed countries, although levels of government spending are much higher in […]

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Briefly at least, the Great British people joyfully shrugged off the burdens of a pessimistic and despairing elite


Zadok the Priest, I Vow to Thee My Country and Land of Hope and Glory played together on the BBC? A public and press rounding on the Beeb for their lamentable coverage of the Diamond Jubilee? A joy. Occasionally, someone – too often someone frothing at the mouth – will speak or write of New Labour’s attempt to eradicate traditional British institutions in the name of progress. There’s sometimes talk of “cultural Marxism”, which most of us know as “political correctness”, and […]

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Localism Bill becomes law


Last week, the Localism Bill was passed into law. I was glad to support its passage.  Through 13 years of New Labour, we witnessed continual moves towards centralised planning and micro-managing of our everyday lives. This new law will see central government interference cut and give power back to citizens, community groups and local councils. To accompany the Act, the Government have helpfully updated the ‘plain English guide’ that was produced to accompany the Bill. You can read it here. […]

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Tony 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 forward to the eventual report of the Iraq Inquiry. In the meantime, you may wish to read the brief treaty which is the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. It provided for […]

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This Sceptred Isle – pupils will now learn the history of the United Kingdom


N.B. The author is Tim Hewish – my Parliamentary Researcher. As a Historian, I welcome the Education Secretary’s announcement at conference today that History, as a discipline, will be at the core of the curriculum. For too long, Labour had been allowed to reduce the significance of our history, preferring to re-write it or worse simply ignoring it. That is why I fear for the current crop of young people who have been taught under New Labour. To have a world without […]

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“We are a whole generation clearly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, direly dependent on the State”


NB: The author is Tim Hewish, who I am glad to welcome as a local contributor. — Steve One of my local Wycombe friends asked me: Why, as a young person, should I vote Conservative? I initially came out with the usual blurb about the positives of Conservatism, but she stopped me mid-way and she repeated ‘no, as a young person’. This made me think about the question further and I was fortunate enough to find two articles that stated […]

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A critical error of the Left


As Labour pours another £11bn of poison into the wells, I find myself reflecting on the economics of the Left, people who seem to be lamenting coming “Tory cuts” after so much “Labour investment”. In the first place, Labour plan their own substantial cuts. More to the point, Labour’s spending was funded not by sustainable prosperity, but by one long credit expansion unbacked by real savings, which has now, inevitably, come to an end. Left-wingers’ admirable intentions seem to be […]

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They can’t go on like this


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Via ConservativeHome:

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Sir Ken Macdonald on Tony Blair


Via The Scotsman, we learn of Sir Ken Macdonald’s view of Tony Blair in respect of the war in Iraq: TONY Blair deployed “alarming subterfuge” to mislead the British people over the war in Iraq, one of his top law officers has said. Sir Ken Macdonald, who was director of public prosecutions at the time of the invasion, launched a devastating attack on the former prime minister, accusing him of acting like a “narcissist” as he tried to justify his […]

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Cranmer: Conservatives launch Debt Clock


Via Cranmer: Conservatives launch Debt Clock: What you could buy with the interest on Labour’s debt: If Britain was not going to spend £63.7 billion a year on debt interest, we could: Abolish fuel duty, inheritance tax, and stamp duty or Abolish council tax or Pay for 1.5 million extra police officers or Pay for 1.6 million extra teachers or Pay for 1.9 million extra nurses or Cut the basic rate of income tax by over 13p. Britain will spend more […]

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