The Prime Minister today made a statement on last night’s appalling terrorist attack, setting out the action which will need to be taken. I have highlighted the key sections below. We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are. Things need to change, and they need […]
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I recall vividly the day when a police officer – not one serving in Wycombe – told me of his disgust at a superior’s easy resort to counter-terrorism powers against people not suspected of terrorism. Now the police have taken that resort against a Guardian journalist’s partner, we have a […]
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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 […]
Read MoreNB: this guest post is by Sophie Hirt, my Parliamentary Intern and the views expressed are her own. Security is the key issue at the heart of the Government’s energy outlook and will impact on all the decisions made by the Department of Energy and Climate Change for the foreseeable […]
Read MoreReflecting on the inadequacy of the debate over control orders, I found this snippet in draft, taken from Schneier on Security: Portrait of the Modern Terrorist as an Idiot: The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over […]
Read MoreIn preparation for an article to be published in the Autumn, I just reread The Open Society and Its Enemies – Volume 1: The Spell of Plato. The book traces mankind’s opposition to change and the consequent rise of the myth of destiny, technically, historicism: the belief that history unfolds […]
Read MoreThis post originally appeared on cobdencentre.org. Razeen Sally’s Trade Policy, New Century (PDF) succeeds magnificently in explaining the 21st-century case for free trade and, specifically, unilateral trade liberalisation to the interested, non-specialist reader. From the IEA home page of the book: The World Trade Organization (WTO) is failing to deliver […]
Read MoreVia Suboptimal Planet, a commentary on Karl Hess’ 1969 Playboy article “The Death of Politics”, reproduced by mises.org: At its limits, the libertarian ideal will no doubt face practical problems of its own. But it will be a long time before we need to worry that our government is too […]
Read MoreINTELLIGENCE chiefs have warned that China may have gained the capability to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities. They have told ministers of their fears that equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT’s new communications network could be used to halt critical services such […]
Read MoreThe Telegraph reports: The details of up to 50,000 serving and ex-service personnel are at risk after three USB portable hard disc drives were stolen from an RAF station, the Ministry of Defence has admitted. Also in The Times. So that’s personal details of me, my wife and many of […]
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