Musings of a Libertarian

First May, now Starmer. Whenever a Remainer strikes a "deal" with the EU, history shows the only winner is Brussels. As Boris was quick to tweet today, ‘T𝘸𝘰-𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘴.’ In just one afternoon, Keir Starmer has handed over our sovereignty in exchange for... well, it’s hard to say what exactly. Let’s break it down with some insights from the NCC: Regulatory Alignment The deal sees the UK aligning with EU regulations in areas like food standards and emissions trading. This so-called "dynamic alignment" effectively reduces Britain to a rule-taker—bound by EU laws with no say in their creation. London and SE co-ordinator Marco Bocci points out that while UK exporters into the EU may now avoid the Brussels' carbon border tax, he doubts "𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘶...

  What a penguin taught me about freedom: Libertarian themes in "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴" As Trump announces new tariffs on foreign films, time for a review of a new British blockbuster: In the film adaptation of Tom Michell’s gentle memoir, The Penguin Lessons, a man rescues a dying penguin from an oil spill and smuggles it across South America during the prelude to Argentina's military dictatorship. His desire for a quiet life as an English teacher at a British school in Buenos Aires is challenged when a left-leaning colleague is abducted by the security services. Decades later, Argentina would elect Javier Milei—a libertarian economist who stormed to power on a promise to “chainsaw” the very bureaucracies that suffocated the country back then. In its quiet way, Michell’s story is a perfect metaphor for the values Milei now shouts from the rooftops: personal responsibility, moral clarity, and resistance to a State that too often rewards indifference and pun...

  For fun and cheer as we return to the work following the Easter weekend, a brief run-down of the UK's recent descent towards techno-authoritarianism: 2016: Investigatory Powers Act- The "Snooper's Charter" authorises interception of communications (e.g., phone calls, emails, texts) by agencies like MI5, MI6, GCHQ and police. Allows "bulk interception" of communications data and legalises State hacking of individuals' data. 2018: First use of facial recognition cameras by the Metropolitan police - Digital police line-ups for the crime of walking down the high street. 2023: Online "Safety" Act - Requires social media companies to monitor and censor content, effectively makes online anonymity a criminal offence. Main provisions come into force this summer. 2024: Data Use and Access Bill- Removes the requirement for police forces to justify the seizure of personal data, allows for outsourcing of decision-making to artificial intelligence sys...

  Last week former PM Johnson took to X to say: "I firmly believe Covid was caused by a lab leak. The Chinese owe us proper answers and our Government should start demanding them." Interesting timing, given the fact that only the day before it was revealed that a classified dossier compiled by Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, was passed to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the start of the outbreak in March 2020 which stated: ‘It is now beyond reasonable doubt that Covid-19 was engineered in the WIV’.” (Wuhan Institute of Virology) It appears then that Johnson is trying to cover his back, and have us conveniently forget how his CCP-inspired lockdown butchered our liberties and livelihoods. Go away Boris.

  In an interview on the weekend with Tucker Carlson (the "journalist" who provided a platform for Putin's ahistorical rant on the eve of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine), Trump's de facto envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, shared that he doesn't regard Putin as a "bad guy" and that he is "super smart." Witkoff has scored some notable successes through pandering to the ego of the dictator in The Kremlin - such as negotiating a prisoner exchange with The Kremlin last week. Arguably forgiveable then. What was more concerning was his direct alignment with virtually all of the Kremlin's demands in negotiations, including over the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, which, unlike Crimea, are home to an overwhelming pro-Kyiv population and which are only partially occupied by Russian forces. Witkoff suggested that "the majority of people in these regions voted to be under Russian rule."  The "referendum" in which the occupied portion...

 

Depending on who you ask, drugs kill anywhere between 150,000 - 600,000 people globally a year.  Traffic accidents kill at least 1.2 million, and alcohol 2.6 million. Interesting then that the least dangerous of these activities is the most vilified by States and social conservatives worldwide. While it is possible that decriminalisation may lead to an uptick in usage, the evidence suggests otherwise. In 2019, almost a decade after decriminalisation, Portugal logged a grand total of 74 drug deaths, working out to approximately 6 per million of population, compared to 284 per million in Scotland. For Libertarians however, such morbid statistical discussion is largely an irrelevance - the individual is sovereign, and that should be the basis of all policy. As long as the taxpayer is not forced to fund drug treatment, it is quite frankly nobody else's business what people choose to put into their own bodies. Mention the word "drugs" and many on the right seize up and abandon...