Strange business model

Later in the year I have to fly one-way from Amsterdam to Edinburgh. EasyJet flies once a day and their website is offering a ticket at a reasonable 53.99 Euros (including tax).

But once a day is a bit restrictive timewise, so I thought I'd check with KLM. The Dutch carrier operates five services to Edinburgh every day and I entered the details onto their site. A one-way ticket is quoted at 459 Euros (including tax). That was for the lowest available fare. On a travel agent's website I was quoted the same fare for KLM but they didn't mention EasyJet. They did however suggest several much cheaper alternatives to KLM - via London, Dublin, Frankfurt or even Prague. It transpired that the KLM quote is for business class and that's the only option on the website. But I knew that most of the seats on the KLM flights between Amsterdam and Edinburgh flights are economy - last year my wife flew from Edinburgh to the US and back via Amsterdam for not much more than 459 Euros. Then I decided to ask KLM to quote for a return flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam and back. That's 214.30 Euros - less than half the cheapest one-way fare. Going both ways allows you to go economy, but not if you go one-way - according to KLM's website.

Isn't this somewhat ludicrous? The unwary passenger could end up flying via Prague - or, more worryingly, Heathrow - if they went by what options seem to be available. What's the logic here? Other than perhaps that KLM is now part of Air France?

The Auld Alliance

But what about Scotland?

In a 22-country survey published in January, France was the only nation disagreeing with the premise that the best system is "the free-market economy."

I'm sure we can beat the Frogs on that one.

(Hat tip: Marginal Revolution)

Don't trust these liars

The Scottish Executive attempted to play up its civil liberties credentials by being somewhat cooler on ID cards than its English political allies:

However, earlier this year MSPs voted against them and the Scottish Executive said they would not be used in devolved areas like health and education. (May 2005)

It now turns out that we were conned:

Campaign group NO2ID claimed the project went far beyond Westminster plans for an identity register and cards. Spokesman Phil Booth said: “This appears to go much further than the UK National Identity Register. There would be far more detailed information collected in one place and available to the state at the touch of a button.

“It appears that Scots are first in the firing line for lifelong surveillance and an end to life as a private citizen.” (April 2006)

A Green MSP asks:

“Who can predict what purposes ministers may think of for it in the future?"

Good question. But why should we believe any answers?

Exhibit A:

Last night, the Executive at first denied there was any project as outlined in the Segis document. A spokesman said: “There are no plans to use citizen entitlement cards in this way.”

Exhibit B:

Later, however, a spokeswoman admitted: “The Scottish Executive officials developing the Geographic Information strategy are in discussion with the Customer First programme. The development and discussions are at an early stage and there is a lot of work to be done, but we are fully committed to delivering a joined-up solution.”

Big Brother will make you small

OK, that's smoking fixed. Now let's deal with fatism.

Having created crowds of smokers outside every pub in Scotland it's on with the next crusade:

EVERY schoolchild will have to undergo an obesity test in their first year at primary school, in the latest controversial attempt by ministers to force Scots to improve their health.

Five-year-olds will be weighed and measured by health workers to assess whether or not they are clinically overweight.

"Controversial". You can say that again. Apart from the sheer disgust I feel about this latest push towards the fascist state, a couple of questions occur to me.

First: can the government possibly insist that private schools "weigh and measure" children?

Second: how long will it be before one of the state measuring operatives is charged with paedophilia?

April Fool's Day

seems to be running a little late at Scotland on Sunday:

UP TO 25,000 bureaucrats in Scotland face the axe under a plan being prepared by ministers to slash the nation's public sector wage bill.

Ha!

(That one's worthy of an entry here.)

Hallelujah

Well, here's some good news:

Staff at (Inland Revenue) processing centres in Grayfield House and Saughton House, west Edinburgh, and Pentland House, Livingston, are in dispute over the introduction of a method of working.

Before, of course, there was no method.

Unenlightened

Our First Minister has lost the plot:

JACK McConnell will today compare the post-devolution era to the Scottish Enlightenment in his Tartan Day address to mark the 686th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath

Surely he can't really believe this. The current Labour regime here in Edinburgh - like its masters in London - is as far removed from the values and ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment as could be possible.

A real modern embodiment of the Enlightenment is Glasgow entrepreneur Ivor Tiefenbrun. The full article that he has written is behind the subscription wall, but the first paragraph says this:

SCOTLAND had the world's first literate and numerate population. Our educational system was once unrivalled. This is hard to reconcile with the failure of our current educational system. At Linn, we recruit from around the world as fewer and fewer Scottish applicants have the necessary skills and qualifications.

I think that a successful self-made businessman personifies enlightenment values; politicians like McConnell don't even begin to understand them.

Sociology notes

Question:

If you’re on a train at around 8.30 on a Saturday evening, how do you know that the next station is Newcastle?

Answer:

Because, not only are all the girls furiously applying their make-up, but they also have their portable hair styling devices plugged into the on-board power sockets that GNER provides for laptop users.

Chris would have enjoyed that.

Apologies ...

... for no recent postings. Among other things that have precluded blogging, I went down to Sussex at the end of last week for the funeral of Chris Tame.

Since returning home, I have received this e-mail from Sean Gabb:

Dear David,

I am writing to thank all who attended the funeral yesterday of Chris Tame. We all managed in our various ways to make the service dignified and memorable. I am sure that Chris would have been moved and honoured to see so many of those who meant so much to him come to pay tribute to him.

A full DVD recording of the service will be made available in due course for those who could not attend and for those who did attend and wish to have some permanent record of the occasion. For those who did attend, there will be no charge. For anyone else, there will be a small charge to cover burning and posting of the disk.

There will also be a full audio file of the service on the Libertarian Alliance website.

Best wishes to all,
Sean Gabb
Director, the Libertarian Alliance

sean@libertarian.co.uk

Power struggle

A few months ago the City Council sent me details of a property development that's planned about half a mile from here. Under the planning laws those who may be affected have the right to have their say. I couldn't see any way in which the development in question could possibly impact on my property. But last Wednesday this thing appeared opposite my kitchen window:

Windmill
Originally uploaded by David Farrer.

I've got quite used to the windmill now - it makes no noise and it's facscinating to see just how often the wind direction changes. But I wonder why the neighbours weren't consulted considering that we were asked about new homes being constructed half a mile away. I presume that it's all to do with the green cult - we can't go questioning that, can we? Anyway, I'm just informing anyone who's in the neighbourhood that I'm performing a limited test of my own home-built nuclear generator some time next week. It's only fair to let you know.

Only following orders

About twice a year I get a nasty cold. It always starts with a sore throat, then there's a lot of sneezing and next the chest gets bunged up. After a few days it gets better. The latest cold started on Thursday. When I went to see the doctor a few years ago he prescribed no pills but gave two instructions:

(1) Take a lot of rest, and
(2) Avoid smoky pubs.

I finished work early on Friday and went straight home without enjoying an end of-week pint. This morning I "rested" by lying on the sofa and reading some more of William Hague's biography of William Pitt. But what about the second instruction?

It suddenly dawned on me that the Scottish parliament's latest attack on property rights that came into force today must have been timed to coincide with my cold. So I went to the (non-smoky) pub and had a couple of pints.

Only following the doctor's orders.

The Holyrood fiasco

Peter Wilson of Napier University has an interesting article in today's Scotsman:

The root problem, however - and this is true of many so-called "iconic" buildings today - is the presumption by some architects that if a form can be drawn and modelled on computer it is capable, with technology, of being constructed.

It struck me that there is a parallel with politicians. They too come up with all kinds of madcap schemes that may look OK on paper but which fail the test of working in real life.

Chris Tame

It is my sad duty to announce the death of my dear friend, Dr Chris Tame. As my own modem broke down yesterday I was unable to post anything to this site until arriving at work this morning. I am taking the liberty of posting this message from Dr Sean Gabb who now takes over as director of the Libertarian Alliance. I travelled down to London last Tuesday and met Chris for the last time and can confirm Sean's description of Chris's bravery as he faced the end. Without Chris, I would never have discovered the libertarian movement and, like so many others, can say that Chris changed my life.

It is with the deepest regret that I must announce the death of Dr Chris R. Tame, Founder and President of the Libertarian Alliance.

Chris founded the Libertarian Alliance in the early 1970s. During the next 30 years, he worked tirelessly to recover the British libertarian tradition as a seamless heritage of freedom. He took issue with those Conservatives who saw freedom in terms purely of pounds and pence - and often not even as that. He took issue also with those who demanded freedom in all matters but those involving the getting and spending of money. He believed that freedom should be defined in the traditional English sense, as the rights to life, liberty and justly acquired property.

In July 2005, Chris was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of bone cancer. Though only 55 at the time, and though he had avoided all those vices commonly believed to be dangerous, he took this diagnosis with great calmness. During the next eight months, he faced his approaching end with a fortitude and good humour that was an inspiration to those around him.

To the very end, he retained a keen interest in public affairs and in the welfare of his friends and loved ones. On his last day, he made sure to check his e-mails.

Chris died peacefully in his sleep at 3:37pm GMT on Monday the 20th March 2006. He was never alone during his last six days. Mrs Helen Evans and Dr Sean Gabb were by his side at the end.

Chris was married and divorced twice. He left no children.

Dr Gabb will make a further announcement in the next few days of the funeral arrangments. In the meantime, all further correspondence should be directed to him.

Chris leaves the Libertarian Alliance in the hands of Dr Timothy Evans and Dr Sean Gabb, who as President and Director, hope to carry on its work through the first decades of the 21st century.

-- Sean Gabb Director, the Libertarian Alliance

The end of the peer show

What a useless response from the Conservatives (sic):

Tory leader David Cameron will propose a cap on fundraising and an element of state funding, the cost of which could be offset by having fewer MPs.

There's no reason at all why one penny of taxpayers' money should be used to fund political parties. And if we can get by with fewer MPs (and we can) why doesn't Daveboy call for that anyway? The real question is whether MPs should be paid at all. And the answer is "No". Instead of nonsensical proposals to allow sixteen-year-olds to become MPs, we should be restricting membership of Parliament to those who have worked for at least ten years in the real economy and have saved enough money to finance their period in the legislature.

Losing the head

It seems that the Scottish Parliament's roof malfunction has a simple explanation:

George Reid, the Presiding Officer, announced yesterday that the fiasco over the broken beam was caused by a £1.50 steel bolt and a workman earning £25 an hour who twisted the bolt so far the wrong way, the head almost came off.

I once suggested that the eventual cost would be £500 million. Who's to say it won't be?

Everyone seems to have focused on the additional expenditure caused by the roof problem. I want to raise another issue. The government seems to be determined that everyone goes to university, however bog-standard, but doesn't value people who actually make, maintain or clean the bogs. In the Scotland of the fifties and sixties, a few people attended very elitist universities and many, many others trained in industry through apprenticeships. I well recall an acquaintance who left school at fifteen to become an apprentice and who was doing the kind of maths in his evening classes that would have challenged those of us who stayed on at school till eighteen.

The question is this: would a society that valued apprenticeships as much as degrees produce "a workman earning £25 an hour" who didn't know how to tighten "a £1.50 steel bolt"?

You've got to laugh

I know we shouldn't, but I can't help smiling about this:

A bogus police officer ordered a woman who was smoking on a Glasgow train platform to pay a £20 on-the-spot fine.

The unintended results of political actions!

But didn't East Germany abolish unemployment by hiring half of the population to spy on the other half? Can't we achieve full employment in Scotland by getting the non-smoking half of the population to keep an eye on the rest? It's Keynesian economics for the 21st century!

There ought to be a law against it!

On second thoughts, perhaps not. But Gordon McLean, a fellow Rebus fan, certainly has a point.

I feel his pain:

I have my copies of every previous Rebus paperback arranged in order on a shelf in the living room. They are all the same A format paperback size (178mm by 111mm if you really want to know), have the same styling and are all neatly numbered on the back. They look neat and tidy sitting directly underneath a shelf that has quite a few Iain Banks novels, all with the same styled black and white covers (i.e. not his Sci-Fi stuff). Neat and tidy.

So imagine my disgust when, upon opening that clever Amazon packaging, I find a book that is a completely different size to, and has a completely different cover design from, all the other Rebus books I own.

Of course, if I weren't an anarcho-capitalist I would be demanding a law against these outrages. And it's not just Inspector Rebus: I mean YOU, the Policy Institute, and YOU, Outdoor Photography magazine, and even YOU the Scotsman. We liked you all the size you were. Thank goodness for the decades-long quiet conservatism of the Prestwick Airport Letter (no link, no colour, few photos - just like it was in the '60s!).

So, if there can't be "a law against it", what's to be done?

Surely, the answer's obvious. One of us should write a crime thriller in which the offending publishers are mysteriously bumped off, one by one, in a manner so diabolical and fiendish that even Inspector Rebus can't work out whodunit, never mind the motive.

The attack on property rights

There are only a couple of weeks to go before it becomes illegal for publicans to allow smoking in their premises. I understand that several Scottish pubs are planning a big send off for yet another of our liberties. Apparently, quite a few are going to hold big smoking events on the final night with private "lock-ins" taking place up to the last minute.

Incidentally, I went into a very traditional working class pub on Leith Walk last week. It was filled with smokers. I discovered that there's a lot of anger in this solidly Labour-voting part of town. Let's hope that the Labour vote disappears - in a puff of smoke, so to speak.

Here we go again

It's our money he's talking about:

The first minister has promised to make resources available if the Commonwealth Games come to Scotland.

Why can't politicians be straightforward and say "I'm going to spend your money"?

"Resources." Bah.

The most important news of the week

Oor Wullie is seventy years old.

And if you click on the link (or watch it on TV tomorrow) you'll see that Wullie's creators were on the Nazi hit list. All because of a cartoon. Plus ca change...

David Beckham in Dumfriesshire?

My little company received a mailshot today from Hampden Park. I'm invited to purchase a number of the VIP Hospitality Packages for the forthcoming Scottish Cup semi-finals. The price is £199 (plus VAT) per person and for that you get quite a reasonable package of goodies: hot filled rolls, pastries, croissants, refreshments, champagne, 3 course lunch with wine, post match 2 hour bar, corporate gift, parking and, of course, match tickets. Most of the news has been about whether the Hearts v Hibs semi-final should be played at Hampden at all. But what about the other match: Gretna v Hamilton Accies or Dundee?

I was born a few miles from Gretna and find it amazing that such a tiny town has such a successful football club. Now, what if Gretna get to the final and beat Hearts or Hibs? Then, presumably, they qualify to play in Europe next year. I look forward to travelling down to Gretna to see them smash Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Victoria Beckham will find the pubs in nearby Annan to be rather different from Madrid's restaurants, but I am sure that she'll be made most welcome.

Do nations need capital cities?

In today's Scotsman there is an article by Ken Houston who is concerned about the implications of moving government jobs out of Edinburgh.

I have mixed feelings about this. Firstly of course, most of these jobs shouldn't exist at all, at least in the public sector. Once they've been privatised we'll see soon enough whether the remaining jobs should be in the capital or elsewhere. Let the market decide. Secondly, I can sympathise with taxpayers outside of Edinburgh who must be rather annoyed that so much of their money is being spent in one city, albeit one in which I live and undoubtedly benefit from its capital status. On balance though, I think that I favour the decentralisation of public sector employment.

Mr Houston makes another point:

The benefits of relocation notwithstanding, all should recognise that an economically buoyant Edinburgh is in everyone's interest: you cannot have a vibrant country without a vibrant capital city.

Is this correct? I don't think so - Edinburgh's (and London's) prosperity is to some considerable extent caused by governmental spending at the expense of the rest of the country.

Think about this: If Bern were to disappear off the face of the earth, would the rest of Switzerland continue more or less as before? I suspect that the answer is "Yes".

Empty and expensive.

Even when New Labour drives you to drink, there's a catch.

Cops and robbers politicians

I'll be watching the excellent Ken Stott playing Inspector Rebus on TV tonight. Stott is a great improvement on John Hannah as Rebus, although Hannah is a fine actor in other roles. Stott has the necessary dour grumpiness that is so much part of the Inspector's persona in Ian Rankin's wonderful novels.

Rebus' rival in the world of fictional Edinburgh detectives is Bob Skinner, created by Quintin Jardine. Unlike the distinctly anti-establishment Rebus, Skinner moves smoothly up through the ranks in the Jardine books and is now Deputy Chief Constable. I am currently reading the latest in the series and there is a fascinating sub-plot that is all too topical. The First Minister of Scotland is about to introduce a law that will politicise the police force and make senior officers toe his party's line. It's very obvious that the party in question is Labour. The Justice Minister is opposed to the new law and has sought Skinner's help and advice. I've no doubt that the good guys will win - they always do in these books. But I can't help wondering if Jardine is having a go at all-too-similar developments in real life. After all, Jardine used to be a PR man for the Scottish Tories...