RANDOM SHAKEDOWN

Some people still foolishly insist that the UK isn't a police state. They should pop along to Samizdata and watch this video (I tried putting the video on my blog, but the code didn't work for some reason). A peaceful citizen going about his lawful business is stopped and searched by two coppers, even though they admit that they don't have any reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing.

I respect the cool way in which Citizen Eden handled the situation. Lucky he had one of those fancy newfangled mobile phones that can put video onto the internet. In his position, I probably would have been turning the air blue to no effect. By what right do these scumbags think they can pick on peaceful travelers at random?

 

 
21.8.08 07:41


COUNCILLOR CATCHES FLACK FOR TALKING SENSE ON KNIVES

For the last few months on and off, I've been reading the blog of the recently elected Councillor for Pontefract Northt, Philip Thomas.  Philip's a pretty sound guy, a libertarian in all but name, but for some reason he's a member of the Conservative Party (we all make mistakes).

Not long ago, Philip wrote a very sensible post on the subject of knives and knife crime (to summarise: knives aren't the problem, violent scumbags are, so let's find ways to deal with the scumbags).  Anyone of good sense will agree with this - naturally the statist borderline illiterates at the Daily Mirror don't, and they have printed a typical tabloid smear piece slagging off Philip for his common sense post.  The whole thing seems to have escalated, with the local press and radio getting involved and calls for Philip's resignation/sacking coming from Labourites and "Lib" Dems.  On the other hand, quite a few real people seem to be supporting him, including Yours Truly.  I hope Philip doesn't end up being pressurised into issuing some kind of apology - my impression of his character based on his writing is that he probably won't, although I'm sure he'll get some grief from some in his own party.

Personally I think we need more politicians like Philip - politicians who don't mind thinking outside the statist box and talking sense, and who regard the voters as responsible adults, not sheep to be herded about.  If you feel the same way, why don't you pop along to Philip's blog and leave a message of support?

Hat tip to the Lib Dem Lib "geo-mutualist" blogger Jock Coats for bringing this one to my attention, by the way.

 
9.8.08 16:41


FOLLOWING A GAP OF SEVERAL WEEKS, FRIDAY NIGHT IS AGAIN MUSIC NIGHT!

This first song is in honour of our American cousins, who today celebrate the anniversary of the day they applied to the mother country for independence:

 

This next one goes out to the branch of LibLabCon that currently rules this country:

 

 

This is for anyone deluded enough to think that switching to another branch of LibLabCon will actually make things any better:

 

 

And finally this one is for myself, for all kinds of reasons:

 

 

I actually heard that one being sung at a folk group in Stockport last Saturday, and thought it would make a good anthem for the Libertarian Party.  Must remember to suggest it next time I'm on the forum.

Have a good weekend.

 
4.7.08 17:56


THE CARDBOARD BIKE - A CAPITALIST SOLUTION TO TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND BICYCLE THEFT!

 
The commuter vehicle of tomorrow?
 
Rush hour traffic congestion is a problem in major cities.  Statists try to solve this problem through coercive means such as bus lanes and congestion charges.

Bicycle theft is also a problem.  A bike is stolen every 71 seconds in the UK, the main reason probably being that they're expensive enough to be worth stealing to sell on.  Statist "solutions" to theft and crime generally include such things as CCTV cameras, ASBOs and ID cards, all of which are of questionable value at best.

What statists fail to realise is that - if left to themselves - individuals are quite able to come up with their own solutions to problems, utilising their native intelligence and the free market.  Good old capitalism, in other words.

A degree student by the name of Phil Bridge, studying at Sheffield Hallam University, has come up with what could turn out to be the neatest invention of the year - the cardboard bicycle!  The frame is made of Hexacomb board, which is form of industrial-strength cardboard with a honeycomb structure - strong enough to be used in partitions, housing and advertising hoardings.  Apparently, it's inherently waterproof too, so it won't go soggy in the rain.  Things like the tires and the chain are regular components, of course, but the bike as a whole is expected to sell for about £15.  The average commuter would save that in petrol within a week.  So it's too cheap to be worth nicking, costs nothing to run and takes up a hell of a lot less space on the road than a bus or a car.  Brilliant!  Of course, not being made of metal, the frame wouldn't last forever.  Mr Bridge reckons it would take about six months using the bike to commute before the frame gets worn out - but then the idea is that you would take it back to the shop, they take the frame, tyres, handles and whatnot off and put them on a new cardboard frame - so you recycle your cycle!

This guy's a genius!  For £15 I'd give one of these things a go, and I never learned how to ride a bike!  I always thought in the 21st Century we'd be using personal jet back packs to commute to work, but until they come onto the market (at a price I can afford) this'll do the job - cheap to buy and cheap to run.

If you want to read more, there's a transcript of a BBC Radio Sheffield interview with him here.
 
I wish him well, it's the best new business idea I've heard for ages - and it beats taxing people off the roads.
 
 
Genius!
 
 
 
 
29.6.08 18:54


63 REASONS TO LOVE CAPITALISM

Last week, my washer dryer announced its retirement by spilling a load of water on my feet when I opened the door after it was supposed to have finished drying the shirt I was going to wear for a job interview the following morning.  I phoned a repairman up to look at the machine, and when he eventually came, he said the main circuit board had gone.  This was trouble, because it wasn't a standard part, but one you had to get from the manufacturer.  He said he might possibly have an old one in stock, and he'd let me know - otherwise it was likely to cost something like £100 to repair the machine, in which case it could well make better sense to buy a new one.  That was basically the last I heard of him for a few days (when I phoned him, I kept getting his voicemail).  In the meantime, I decided to have a look at prices for washer dryers.  This Thursday just gone, I spent a couple of hours wandering round all the places in the area that sell washer dryers, and the news wasn't encouraging - the cheapest ones were getting towards £300, and I'm not at a point in my life where I can throw that kind of money around.  But then I visited a place in Droylsden called Cut Price Appliances (they also advertise around the area under the name Hotpoint form some reason).  I talked to the manager there, and asked him what the cheapest washer dryer they had in was.  He said the cheapest one was £270.  He could probably tell from the look on my face that it was a bit too rich for my blood, so he went into his office for a few minutes, did some research on the internet and came back to me with a revised offer - £207, which meant a saving of £63!  That's for a new machine, with a one year manufacturer's warranty, delivery and installation, plus taking away the old machine, all in with the price.  Brilliant!  I told him I didn't have the money in my account yet, and could he hold the offer open till the next day, when the pay from the job I was doing last week should be in my account?  No problem.

The next day, I checked my bank account and worked out my finances.  I could cover it, although it would still be painful.  Round about mid-day, I phoned up and confirmed my order.  The guy came to deliver the machine about 3.30pm, the same day.  He was in and out in about a quarter of an hour, very efficient.  I don't think I could have got better customer service.  I now have a working washer dryer and I saved £63!

This is why the free enterprise system works best - businessmen know that they have competition, so the Invisible Hand guides them to provide decent service for their customers.  Can you imagine if all washer dryers were provided by some monolithic nationalised industry?  You'd probably have to wait months for an overpriced, sub-standard product - and there'd be no room for haggling.  Long live capitalism!

 
28.6.08 16:32


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GORDON!

A year after his glorious rise to supreme power in the land, Gordon Brown seems to be having a rough time of it, all of a sudden.  The Labour Party has just had a really good kicking in the Henley by-election.   Not only did they come fifth - behind the Green Slime and the BNP scum, they lost their deposit into the bargain!  Anyone feel sorry for Cyclops?  Me neither.

OK, that's the gloating finished with.  More generally, I'm wondering if this election result is a sign that people are starting to get fed up with the LibLabConsensus.  Although the Tories won outright, election turnout was only just over 50% - in 2005 it was 67.9%.  The relatively good showing of the Greens and the BNP might indicate that there's an increased willingness by people to switch their votes to minority parties, at least as a protest vote.  If this is the case, it's a pity that the protest vote is going to a couple of statist nut groups, instead of someone fairly sensible.  It'll be interesting to see what happens when the Libertarian Party starts fielding candidates.

 
27.6.08 14:27


NHS - THE NO HOPE SERVICE

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust covers the general area of Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and North Manchester.  Their contact centre for outpatients wanting to make appointments is located at Fairfield General Hospital, in Bury.  Like just about everything else these days, the contact centre depends for its smooth functioning on a computer system.  The computer system is stuffed.  It has been since last week.  They're not expecting it to be fixed until next week.  In the meantime, the poor staff in the call centre (many of whom have been drafted in from other departments) are having to advise people who phone up to call back at a later date.  If something actually needs dealing with, they write it down on a callback form - these are collected, sorted into time order, and then... hopefully in a day or two they'll be dealt with.  In the meantime, the system still seems to be generating new appointments.  Yesterday, something like a couple of dozen - maybe more - letters were sent out to people informing them of appointments today and tomorrow.  Posting them wouldn't have done any good, they never would have arrived on time, so the letters were delivered by taxi.  Because the letters were going to different areas, at least four or five different taxi drivers were employed to do this, sometimes carrying only three or four letters each.

How much is all this costing the taxpayer?  I can't imagine a privately-owned hospital, or even one run by a charity or health co-operative putting up with an IT glitch that puts a key system out of action for a fortnight.  They couldn't afford to take the loss.  Only the fact that the NHS is a nationalised industry allows the Trust (which covers 800,000 people) to put up with such a chaotic - not to mention expensive - situation.  Things like car manufacturing used to be nationalised industries until it was realised that nationalised industries were chronically inefficient and produced substandard products - so they privatised the car industry, not to mention gas, electricity etc.  Does it make any sense to you that they left healthcare in the hands of such a badly-discredited business model?  Yes, the Torys brought in a few moderate reforms, internal markets etc, but they either didn't have the guts or didn't have the imagination to go to the heart of the problem - the problem being that governments - and quangos - are no good at running things.

The NHS was set up with good intentions, but it's turned out to be a tragic mistake - it's expensive, bureaucratic and inefficient.  We need to start to move forward to a system based on private hospitals, insurance, charities and co-operatives, to get the expense down, cut waste and provide choice for the public.  It won't be easy, but it needs doing.
26.6.08 18:30


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