Taming the Bankers

The current financial crisis predictably has socialists gloating about the demise of capitalism and the blessings of state regulation. They will probably be wrong about the demise of capitalism –a prolonged crisis not withstanding– but may have half a point about regulation. The question is how exactly a leash should be designed if investment bankers are to be kept on it.
Most free market economists would agree that financial markets need prudential

The Tories and Civil Liberties

Greg Hands addresses the issue of civil liberties in the current edition of Vorwärts Avanti Forward. He argues that the Conservatives should not become a civil liberties party because that issue doesn’t win elections. The sad thing is: he’s possibly right.
Elaborating on CCTV cameras

A Cunning Plan

Daniel Hannan has a cunning plan. There is a summary on the telegraph and those who really want to know can buy the whole thing here.

Eamonn Butler on the Nasty Party

“… Labour turned into the “nasty party” – with police-state restrictions on almost everything we do. How could it have happened?
(…)
There is really no mystery. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Alastair Campbell, Peter Mandelson and other leaders of the New Labour “Project” had a sense of mission.
(…)
Because they knew they were right, the Project’s leaders were completely unapologetic about scrapping ancient rights and institutions, re-writing the constitution, or suspending trial by jury and habeas corpus.“
(Source)

The Politics of the Irrelevant

Heather McDonald has looked at the way the US elections are becoming dominated by substantively unimportant issues. The Republicans pioneered the habit of parading their family members as electoral assets. The democrats duly copied them.
“But the family show-and-tell imperative remains silly nevertheless, demonstrating a misguided conflation of the personal with the political. You could search the Federalist Papers long and hard without finding any indication that having a loving family is a qualification for office. Few investors care whether the companies whose shares they hold are headed by CEOs who had supportive mothers; it’s hard to see why filial relations should be any more relevant to a president’s capacity to negotiate with Congress or to conclude a treaty.” (Source)
The democrats, on their part, made an issue

Freedom of Speech in Italy

The Italian comedienne Sabrina Guzzanti is threatened by up to five years imprisonment for insulting the Pope: “… after warning everyone that within 20 years Italian teachers would be vetted and chosen by the Vatican, she got to the punchline: ‘But then, within 20 years the Pope will be where he ought to be — in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils, and very active ones, not passive ones.’” (Source).
The prosecution

An Observation on Faith

“The bigger the hole in the head, the greater the view of heaven.“
(Karl Heinz Deschner)

A Dissident German Voice on the EU

Henry Nitzsche an independent German right wing MP offers some straight talking on the EU constitution: here on Youtube
HT: Better off out

Undercover Mosque: The Return

‘UnderCover Mosque: The Return’ is up on Youtube here.

New EU Censorship Initiative

The EU parliament voted to adopt a report by Eva-Britt Svenson calling on member states to take action against ‘gender stereotypes’ in advertising and to ‘regulate’ the portrayal of women in the media in general to “promote balanced and diverse portrayals of women by the media” (Source). This vote does not appear to be legally binding, but if it translates into implementation at the national level, the consequences could range from traditional censorship to outright contents prescription for the media.