We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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I have ‘acquired’ a British army ‘source’ currently stationed in Basra. I decided to share some of the information on the blog as it comes from a rather different perspective than media reporting. It may not be as topical or ‘political’ as the headline news but I hope you will find it interesting:
This is my first letter from lovely Basra, city of a thousand exotic smells. I’m actually really enjoying myself so far. This country is seriously bizarre. Take the kids. Up to the age of five they are so cute it’s unreal. Every one of them could star
…continue Dispatches from Basra I
I believe it was the Victorians that set the tone. It was during the age of the ‘Great Philanthropist’ that charities first established their status in the public mind as selfless doers of great good in the world. Understandable really that, in an era before welfare benefits, they were the pious prickers of the public conscience; the saviours of last resort for the needy and woebegone, the kindly benefactors of the benighted poor.
Over the years they have glacially established their reputations as the standard-bearers of humanity and decency to the point where, today, membership of or subscription to charitable
…continue Not great and not very good
Alex Singleton has got the Liberty Log cranked up and running again, after a spell of very thin posting. (It’s not as if they had nothing to blog about up there, what with the Germaine Greer for University Vice Minister, or whatever it is, row.) Something to do with student lodgings, he said in a phone call to me just now – no internet connection, blah blah.
Anyway Alex has been thinking about coffee, and in particular “fair trade” coffee.
Several hours of research later, I found what I suspected: fair trade isn’t as fair as it seems. Most of
…continue Liberty Log now looking good
In this report the New-York based organization Human Rights Watch unequivocally describes suicide bombers, and those who send them, as war criminals.
UPDATE: There are some comments below disagreeing with the term “suicide bomber” and suggesting various alternatives that better get across the idea that these are evil people. While I certainly do think they are evil I prefer to stick with the term “suicide bomber”, as it accurately describes the factor that makes them striking and newsworthy. Any terrorist bombers – the Basque separatists ETA, for instance – can be described as homicide bombers. In our present world, when
…continue Breaking the silence
World trade could be a powerful motor to reduce poverty, and support economic growth, but that potential is being lost. The problem is not that international trade is inherently opposed to the needs and interests of the poor, but that the rules that govern it are rigged in favour of the rich.
-Oxfam, from the Introduction to their Report Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation, and the Fight Against Poverty. See their Make Trade Fair campaign website (but don’t expect the rules to be any less rigged by the time they’ve finished with them).
One of the things that the blogosphere provides is stories, for the mainstream media. And I’m starting to believe that the multinational pharmaceuticals corporation Pfizer – best-known in the UK, if known of at all, for producing the world-renowned wrinkly recreational drug Viagra – is a story.
The thing is, Pfizer supports the free market, with arguments and with money. The magazine Prospect, for example, now contains, on the inside of each front cover, not mere adverts for Pfizer, but essays under the heading “Pfizer forum”, frequently of a decidedly pro-free-market persuasion. In September of last year, for example, they
…continue Pfizer – capitalists who support capitalism
Tony Millard seems to agree with the old saying that two is a party and three is a crowd.
I am always baffled by those (presumably the same heavily bearded Oxfam worker types) who seek to promote more immigration on the grounds that any decline in the UK population would lead to massive infrastructure and social problems – New Zealand seems to manage all right with less than 4 million for a similar area.
I can’t think of anything better than sharing our small crowded island with 40 million less people…
Tony Millard (Tuscany, Italy)
Breathtaking, mind boggling, abject stupidity as well.
In today’s London Evening Standard, Labour Members of Parliament Glenda Jackson, Tony Colman, Jeremy Corbyn, LibDem Members of Parliament Jenny Tonge and Vince Cable and Oxfam Campaigns Officer Rajinder Dadry write in to say.
Together with Oxfam, we are concerned that the Government has given permission for the export of an air-traffic control system with military capabilities at the cost of $40 million. […] We are disturbed that one part of the Government has, rightly, played a full part in the cancellation of debt for Tanzania, but that another part of the Government
…continue Not just ‘well meaning’ racism and arrogance but also…
Today I have read of outrage amongst the chattering classes in Britain over the UK government allowing Tanzania to purchase a £28 million (about $40 million US) air traffic radar system with some fascination. Now I must confess I have no opinion whatsoever on whether or not Tanzania actually needs such a system and the last time I was there was 20 years ago so I am rather out of touch with the realities on the ground. But what is astonishing to me is that statist British pundits and their NGO cheerleaders with Christian Aid, Oxfam etc. have directed their
…continue More ‘well meaning’ racism and arrogance regarding Africa
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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