Musings of a Libertarian

Tomorrow will see the closing arguments in the sham trial of Hong Kong democracy activist and British citizen Jimmy Lai. The 77-year-old has been kept in solitary confinement since December 2020. His preferred foreign lawyer, Tim Owen KC, was barred from representing him under new requirements of Hong Kong’s “National Security” Law, and the Department of “Justice” has systematically denied him his choice of counsel. Until December 2024, Lai was not even permitted visits from his family; the communists now allow him thirty minutes a month, through a glass screen. Before the fist of the CCP fell on Hong Kong, Lai ran Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper and outspoken critic of Beijing. He joined the anti-extradition protests and funded opposition groups in his fight for freedom. His “crimes” under the Hong Kong “National Security” Law — which, in violation of international law to which the UK is a signatory, made toilet paper out of “One Country, Two Systems” and was imposed on Hong Ko...

  ONLINE "SAFETY" ACT PROTEST SATURDAY 23RD AUGUST Following unprecedented and worse-than-expected State overreach under the newly enforced provisions of the Online "Safety" Act last week, the Libertarian Party NCC has resolved to reframe our upcoming event as a protest directly opposing the State censorship enabled by this legislation. To quote Wessex Co-ordinator and newly elected Nominating Officer Ben Allsop in Friday’s article: the Act is “one of the most dangerous attacks on free speech and privacy in modern British history.” Writing just three days ago, Ben warned that the Act would be used to suppress disagreement, discourage protest, and shut down the very essence of a free and open society. Tragically, these predictions have already proven true: Within hours, content began disappearing from social media — including Katie Lam’s speech in The Commons on grooming gangs. 𝗔𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗣’𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 ...

Yesterday the Commons heard about the “collective failure” to address concerns about the ethnicity of grooming-gang members. Casey’s report states: “Child sexual exploitation is horrendous whoever commits it, but there have been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination. Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation.” For libertarians, a defendant’s ethnicity or cultural background is of no concern. Individuals are individuals; the circumstances of their birth need not dictate their own actions or how they should be treated by the state. The problem with the grooming-gang crisis—as the full inquiry will no doubt uncover—is that concerns over the ethnicity of perpetrators resulted in the shameful white-washing, victim-blaming and inaction we have seen on one of the most horrendous crimes in recent history. This is a direct result of the woke left’s dominance in our judiciary and police forces—those like L...

Earlier this month, a group of Labour MPs—backed by "Labour Together"—publicly endorsed the introduction of a smartphone-based “BritCard.” On Saturday, reports indicated that the government, influenced by Starmer and Yvette Cooper, is “exploring” adopting the BritCard plan to tackle illegal migration and welfare fraud. Frankly this should come as no surprise given Starmer's authoritarian leanings and the fact that plans for Digital ID have been sitting quietly on the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's website since the last election. Slightly more novel, most likely in response to Reform's positions in the polls, is Labour's illegal migration justification - though this too falls neatly into the Statist strategy of utilising crises to legitimise further control of citizens. Many people think a Digital ID is just your driving licence on a screen. It’s not. It’s your entire life—tax records, medical history, travel movements, social media, emplo...

As of Sunday, it is now illegal to purchase disposable vapes in the UK (though, somewhat perversely, it de facto remains perfectly legal to cross the Channel in a dinghy or publicly call for the murder of Conservative MPs). This latest instance of state overreach, arriving hot on the heels of Sunak’s progressive increases to the legal smoking age, prompts one to ask when legislation last – in this country – made people more free. There are, however, some strong arguments in favour of the ban: these small plastic sticks of joy (usually flavoured in revoltingly sweet “fruit” varieties) each contain a lithium battery — a finite resource that is costly and difficult to recycle. Virtually all disposable vapes end up in landfill (leaking toxins into the soil or catching fire during processing) or littering the streets like bright, tubular gutter flowers. Five million are thrown out every week. It is possible, of course, to manage them more effectively, but reality dictates that the average t...

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...