Daniel Hannan and Enoch Powell

To see what exactly Daniel Hannan said about Powell, take ten minutes and watch this. It is a ten minute clip worth watching. As for Powell himself, Hannan did specifically refer to his views on national independence (not surprising for a Eurosceptic) and advocacy of small government, not his views on immigration.Anyway, it is nice to see some room for dissent in a major party.

R.I.P. Ralf Dahrendorf

“If revolutionaries exist outside a revolutionary situation, they easily become comical figures.” Ralf Dahrendorf, who died yesterday, addressing Rudi Dutschke.

Tasers in Britain

When Tasers were introduced in Britain they were only for self defence. The vice chairman of the police federation said at the time “It’s not fair to compare us with US-style policing. … Officers will use it responsibly.” (source) Judge this claim for yourself.

Freedom is slavery: brown is looking for compulsory volunteers

Brown looks set to adopt a bad idea from Obama. He is also doing his worst to underperform Cameron in matters of individual liberty:

“Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to ensure every young person has done 50 hours of voluntary work by the time they are 19-years-old.” (source)

Brown, Cameron and Ricardian Equivalence

Are Brown’s German critics and Cameron misguided in criticising the current borrowing binge? Edmund Conway seems to think so. He recently wrote in the telegraph that this is the right time for a fiscal expansion and that the problem of Ricardian equivalence [1] can be counteracted by carefully planned spending cuts in the near future.
This sounds reasonable in general and the present crisis creates exactly the kind of situation where a fiscal stimulus would normally be advocated.

Loose Change: a promising form of civil disobedience

The telegraph reports that a 63 year old woman from Kent was issued with a parking fine because her pay and display ticket did not stick to the windscreen. That apparently was due to the quality of the pay and display ticket rather than her willingness to pay. Being understandably annoyed over the fine and the council’s failure to see reason, our bureaucracy victim then decided to pay the fine (£80) using pennies only.

Nice idea. Things will really get interesting if Richard Branson decides to pay his taxes that way…

Barroso: UK may join Euro soon

The BBC featured an article on its front page this morning -although it didn’t stay there for long- in which Barroso was quoted as saying that senior UK politicians were warming towards Euro membership. The article contained the following priceless quote:
“I know that the majority in Britain are still opposed, but there is a period of consideration under way and the people who matter in Britain are currently thinking about it,” (Source)

That is one way of saying that the majority are no longer the people who matter in Britain. Barroso also

Euro-Feminism: an initiative for centralised social engineering

Der Spiegel, a German weekly, reports that French feminist Gisèle Halimi proposes a rule for centralised feminist legislation in the European Union. A team of researchers has worked under her direction to identify the most pro-feminist examples of legislation in a number of EU countries. Her proposal: all EU countries should be forced to adopt those laws flagged up on her feminist wish list.

Thus all countries would have to adopt

Torture by Taser – Coming to Britain? Part 2

More than a year ago, the first tasers were introduced in the UK. I anticipated then, that their use would gradually become more widespread. Unfortunately this seems to be so.

Back in 2007, a number of specialist units were equipped with tasers. Now “their use will be extended from small units of dedicated firearms officers to up to 30,000 police response officers across the country. “ (source) In other words, we are gradually approaching the practice of the US in this respect. For an update of what that looks like see here or here.

Hazel Blairs and the BNP

Hazel Blairs almost seems to appreciate the threat the BNP could pose for the Labour Party. The BBC quotes her today as saying that all parties must work hard to win back disaffected voters:

“She says other parties had to work to win back voters on “ignored” estates.” (source)
She is probably right when she fears that the BNP could become more of a problem for the Labour Party, although I think she got it wrong when she thinks the issue is just a handful of ‘forgotten estates’. The core