The Greens had quite a few in the Southside, especially on the road through the Meadows. I also spotted one Jury Team billboard on the way back from Fort Kinnaird and that was it. Nothing at all from Labour, Conservative or SNP.
Bill Jamieson asks:
...1970s throwback whose time has gone – we just don't need it any moreNone at all. Scotland suffers from too much socialism, including that of the corporatist variety. Abolish SE and use the money to cut business taxes.NOW that Scottish Enterprise has been buttoned up, clipped, shorn, shaken and slimmed down, quite what is the point of keeping it at all?
Mr Ramsay is complaining about cuts in language teaching at Strathclyde and Edinburgh.
He writes:
For 30 years, we have sheltered under the umbrella of speaking the same language as the world's only super power. We have based our economy on an American model of deregulation. We depended on the idea that everyone else would speak English.What's that about deregulation? How many of Mr Ramsay's fellow students know that a certain George W Bush increased regulation?
Under Bush, the regulators have added more pages of rules than any administration ever. The cost of regulation has gone up more under Bush than any president before. And yet, because of the bad media coverage and assumptions about Republicans, people think it was laissez-faire.So let's get it straight: we in the Anglosphere have been getting more regulations on business, not less.
Then Mr Ramsay suggests that China will become the next dominant economic power. He may well be correct - if, that is, China continues with its recent policies of deregulation. If future Scots have to learn Chinese it will because we over here will have abandoned economic freedom, not because we have embraced it.
Then Mr Ramsay tells us not to "cut spending" or else we wont be able to "kick-start our economy". "Our" economy, Mr Ramsay? Speak for yourself Comrade Keynes. My economy is being devastated by having to pay for an out-of-control public sector, including education. This public sector largesse has bankrupted the country. We either stop it now with massive cutbacks or our creditors will impose even larger cuts on us. It is deeply depressing to think that today's student leaders are utterly unconnected with economic reality. When insolvency strikes, it won't matter what languages we speak.
It looks like my fellow constituents will deal with the Chancellor when the time comes:
ALISTAIR Darling will be voted out by his constituents at the next general election over the expenses scandal if he is not deselected first, a senior Labour source has claimed.In these enlightened times shouldn't we have a few examples of humankind in our zoos? I can think of quite a few candidates.The warning came as the Chancellor's expenses claims came under scrutiny for a second time yesterday with the revelation he claimed back £1,400 of public money for an accountant to complete his tax returns.
Mr Darling has previously been revealed to have "flipped" his second home four times in four years.
Serves them right. A year ago I would have reinvested in another index-linked government security. Now I don't trust them. Murray Rothbard used to say that libertarians shouldn't lend to the government. His wishes are coming true.
The long-term psychological impact of the recent financial crisis will mean people will continue to rely on tangible notes and coins, according to the study which was carried out for ATM operator Bank MachineNotes and coins may be "tangible", but what's really required is a regime of monetary choice. Not the current quaint Scottish system of three note issuers that merely give us differently designed sterling notes. We need to go back to free banking, in which each bank has its notes valued by the market.
Now, which would you prefer? A Royal Bank note that perhaps shows a picture of the chief executive's wallpaper. A Bank of Scotland note depicting one of their branches as designed by a five-year-old. A Clydesdale note that has a drawing of Robert the Bruce. Or a Freedom and Whisky note that's 100% backed by gold.
Actually, a Bank of England note depicting the Queen chopping off Michael Martin's head would be worth its weight in gold...
The candidate in Wisbech South is Andrew Hunt.
I note that some of Guido's friends were imprisoned in Wisbech...
The current brouhaha over MPs' expenses is wonderful. If only Chris Tame (a founder of the Libertarian Alliance) had been around to see these events.
But surely the British public, while being rightly angry about MPs' outrageous expense claims, still believes in the big state, does it not?.
For the first time that I can remember the answer may be no.
YouGov asked what people would like to see done about the government’s record borrowing and soaring debt. There was strong backing for the strategy adopted by the Canadian government in the 1990s, when it cut public spending by a fifth over four years; 54% said they would back such a policy and only 22% were opposed. A majority of Labour supporters backed this policy.Most Labour voters want a twenty per-cent cut in government spending! So what are we waiting for? When will "Call me Dave" acknowledge that Labour voters are correct? What about the Liberals (sic) and the SNP?Overall, respondents said the burden of reducing government debt should come mainly through cuts in public spending rather than tax rises. Only 7% favoured a policy of solely raising taxes to close the black hole in the public finances.
What do we want?
Cuts.
When do we want them?
Now!
Here is what I once wrote about the story of the Hayek poster shown below:
The Government is demanding a radical overhaul of English football finances to break the domination of the “big four” clubs.I actually think that sharing the wealth among the different teams is a good idea. Something like that happens in American professional sports. I believe that the lower teams get the pick of the best new players next season thus enhancing the likelihood of each team's winning. If only four of the top twenty clubs ever win anything, the whole sports "product" becomes devalued. And it's even worse here in Scotland.Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, is calling for Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to share their winnings in Europe with other Premier League teams.
What's wrong with this news is that it's the government that's making the proposal. The only proper function of government is the protection of the population against aggressors and nothing else. If the various sporting governing bodies can't organise their product efficiently, so be it. Our taxes shouldn't be used to "help" out.
It can be revealed that a sizable number of the attendees think that the banks shouldn't have been bailed out.
I agree.
First I saw that the Wales Millennium Centre is "now seeking a new chair". Why is that in the jobs section? Should I direct them to IKEA?
And then there's this: Natural England needs a chair too. And the new "Director of the English Beef and Lamb Sector" will need to "support the Chair". Is it shoogly? Shouldn't he be milking the cows and shearing the sheep?
Then I could be working for Peter Mandelson as a "Non-Executive Member of the Council of the Competition Commission". Why not just scrap most government activities? That'll do wonders for competition.
If anyone's interested in drugs, perhaps the position of "Director for Wales of the Royal Pharmaceutical Council of Great Britain" may suit. Or if you don't fancy Wales (or the sheep) how about "Chief Executive of the Future of Pharmacy Professional Regulation"?
I like trains and am rather tempted by the job of "Managing Director of London Underground". Cleverly, they require someone with a "track record". No mention of a travel pass though ...
On balance I 'll settle for "Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge".The University "values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity".
Good, I'll be moving the Vice-Chancellor's office to the public bar of the Queen's Head.
Perhaps not. See here.
I walked past Bute House yesterday and wonder if they were thinking along these lines for Scotland:
The Irish economy rests on the precipice of devastation. Government interventionism has left Ireland with little room to maneuver in this difficult economic climate. The answer to Ireland's economic woes is not further government intervention in the economy, but a return to economic liberalism, small government, and sound monetary policy. Ireland needs to look closely at Austrian economic theory and take a step back from the dissolving, failed Keynesian model. Ireland needs to return to a firm base: it must eliminate, or at the very least curtail, its leviathan public sector; it must bring inflation under control through responsible monetary and fiscal policy; and it must cut down government economic controls in order to bring lasting stability to its economy.
Contact Royal Bank of Scotland London for your money Cheque Draft. The Branch manager of Royal Bank of Scotland London will transfer your money to you immediately. The amount is cash £ 2000,000.00 British Pounds and all the necessary arrangement of Transferring the £ 2000,000.00 Pound in cash was made .This is the compensation money that my boss kept for you for your pass effort in trying to help him in transferring his money abroad though it did not work with you but he has done it with another partner.
Contact them immediately and forward them your information to enable them sends you the money.
This is the information they need to deliver your fund to you.
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EMAIL: brightedmond.r.b.s.l@live.fr
Please, Send them your contacts information to able them Transfer your money immediately. This is what they need from you.
1. YOUR FULL NAME
2. YOUR HOME ADDRESS.
3. YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.
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Please make sure you send this needed information’s to the Remittance Director Royal Bank of Scotland London .
Thanks and Remain Blessed.
Desmond Dukor.
Nevertheless, it was time to add some more links to the Whisky section.
So what's the First Minister's crime?
Apparently Alex has:
only passed seven pieces of legislation since coming to power in May 2007.Of course, the Labour party thinks that passing new laws is what politicians are for.
Lots of laws.
Like this:
... 3,605 new criminal offences created by the Labour Government since it won power in 1997 - almost one for every day it has been in office.Let ZNL keep their expenses. Just don't pass any more laws.
Alex is on the right lines.
All those years when it seemed like no one was paying attention...
The best way is to make inflammatory attacks, preferably on other bloggers. This is the easiest and quickest way to get noticed and to generate traffic for your blog - as my silly stunt this week has confirmed. And apologies again to Iain Dale and Alex Massie for abusing them gratuitously.So we've all been victims of a stunt! OK, fair enough. Welcome to the blogosphere Iain.
But he hasn't quite got it yet though. Consider this:
There is a science to blogging which mitigates against its mission statement as a new and accessible democratic medium of comment and debate.Mission statement? The Herald may have one but the blogosphere collectively doesn't. I don't think that most bloggers see the medium as "democratic". We say what we want to say as individuals. Whether we allow others to interact with us is up to the blogger, not to a democratic majority.
In fact I'd go further. Large numbers of bloggers wish to reduce the proportion of human interactions that are subject to politics altogether, no matter how "democratic" those politics may be. In other words many of us are far keener on liberty than on democracy.
Glasgow is home to the most workless households in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, (ONS).From reading certain southern blogs I know that some will say: "Well, that's Scotland for you. Load of welfare bums, aren't they?"
Not quite:
However, Scotland as a whole had the highest employment rate of any UK nation, at 76%.And no we don't all work for the state, as I explained here.
There's a particular employment problem in parts of Scotland, especially in Glasgow. I don't normally support tax regimes being varied in different parts of the country but I can't help wondering what would happen if corporation tax and national insurance were to be abolished in the east end of Glasgow. I might even relocate my own company: I had to pay £0.38P corporation tax a couple of years ago...
And Glasgow's surrounded by the UK's best scenery:
