Dava Sobel

Sobel is the author of the excellent Longitude book that I had read some time ago. I hadn't realised that her new work on Copernicus was originally planned to be a play but the play is now contained in the book. We were treated to a short extract from the play performed by two Scottish actors. Sobel herself is American. I'd never seen anything like this before at the Book Festival but it went well and received a big round of applause. An interesting session.

Melvyn Bragg

This morning we went along to hear Melvyn Bragg on the King James Bible. Bragg spent a lot of time talking about the use of short Anglo-Saxon words, often from Tyndale:

Around 85 per cent of the Authorised Version comes from Tyndale, whose muscular poetry he describes as “bitten into our tongue”. Tyndale gave us so many enduring phrases: “let there be light”, “a man after his own heart”, “rise and shine”, “filthy lucre”. But even by the KJB’s time some of this language had what Bragg acknowledges to be “a halo of antiquity”. The verilys were already quaint.

Many Christians today use more modern translations: surely as democratising in their clarity as Tyndale was in his. I poll my friends and find that the practising Christians use modern translations – arguing that the King James Bible is “elitist and exclusive” – while defence of the KJB comes from my secular, literary friends.

Orwell too was a great fan of using short and simple words whenever possible. And as for elitism, I for one think that we have far too little of it!

This event was marred by a continuous noise of background music from somewhere in Charlotte Square behind the tent. Bragg himself mentioned it during his talk. Someone from the Festival should have gone outside and sorted it immediately. Perhaps such an action would be seen as elitist! Well, that's what we were paying for.

Elish Angiolini

At eight this evening I heard a talk by Elish Angiolini, formerly the Lord Advocate, the first woman and the first solicitor to hold this post.

Dull but worthy would sum up this event.

Angiolini probably isn't going to be a media star like Ferguson, but then again Ferguson isn't ever going to be Lord Advocate...

Niall Ferguson

Early evening found us once more in the big tent at the Book Festival, this time to hear Niall Ferguson. The event was chaired by Iain Macwhirter, a Herald journalist who is also Rector of Edinburgh University.

You may think that Mr Macwhirter is a traditional old-time socialist, but some of us have been working on him! A few months ago I attended a dinner that featured Macwhirter as guest speaker. After his speech I chatted about the banking crisis, insisting that it was caused by government, not the free market. I explained that (unlike conservatives) libertarians had fully expected such a crisis, understood its cause, and had opposed the bailouts. And so it was with great pleasure that I heard Macwhirter introduce Ferguson just as would a hardcore libertarian, including a reference to "communist banking". The invisible hand in action!

From a presentational point of view Ferguson was easily the best speaker I've heard so far at the Festival. More importantly, his talk was a direct attack on the soft collectivism that so threatens Britain and especially Scotland. Mention was made of the Austrian School and why people were turning to gold. We heard about the six "killer apps" that had enabled to West to beat the Rest:

1. Competition

2. Science

3. Property rights

4. Medicine

5. The consumer society

6. The work ethic.

These apps are all in the process of being "deleted" here while being "downloaded" elsewhere, particularly in Asia. I for one see no sign of this process being reversed.

Later on I had a nice chat with Macwhirter after getting Ferguson to sign a couple of books.

RBS misleads children

Mrs F&W picked up the Summer 2011 issue of Pocket Money, a Royal Bank publication that seems to be aimed at children. Nothing wrong with that of course, but then we spotted this:

When the price of goods goes up over a period of time it's known as inflation.

That's true. Increasing prices are now known as inflation. However, I prefer the original definition: inflation is an increase in the money supply, which (other things being equal) leads to price rises.

Perhaps RBS does employ at least one person who gets this simple point.

Perhaps.

More worrying were the next two sentences:

When goods go up in price, it also gets more expensive to borrow money. A good time to save!

Well, perhaps in the good old days that would have been a good time to save. Not now! The political class is bailing out its banker friends by keeping interest rates below the rate of inflation and savers are being ripped off. Royally ripped off perhaps...

Ian Kershaw

I enjoyed hearing about Kershaw's new book which was published today and is already on its third printing. There were certainly plenty of reviews last weekend.

This was a very professional presentation that was followed by lots of questions. Sadly, the hardcover version costs £30. I'll wait for the paperback.

Down Mexico Way

Tonight we heard Ed Vulliamy speak about his new book. We'd kind of expected it to be about the huge inflow of Mexicans into the US as described so vividly by Victor Davis Hanson.

But the talk (and the book) was mainly about the huge drug industry on the Mexican side of the border:

This absorbing odyssey along the Mexican-American border gives pause for thought to anyone who ignores the side-effects of cocaine. Not those on the users, but the calamitous impact on Mexico and its people.

At one point Vulliamy praised the work of the US police and said that was perhaps an unusual position for a Guardian writer to take. Back in standard Guardian mode he complained about widespread gun ownership in US Border states but then said the El Paso had one of the lowest murder rates in the country!

We had an interesting chat with Mr Vulliamy after his presentation. We discussed Ron Paul and the other Republican candidates. Vulliamy thought that Rick Perry would get the nomination and would win the presidency.

He said that a big problem in Mexico was what he described as the "privatisation" of previously communally owned land in the border villages. This was apparently a consequence of the introduction of NAFTA. I countered by saying that, on the contrary, such a transfer was the opposite of privatisation, and represented theft by the state of existing privately owned property to be given to the friends of the state. Land owned by the villagers since time immemorial is just as much private property as when it is owned by corporations. Vulliamy accepted my point and I extended this line of argument to cover the banking crisis in which we also saw the state bail out its friends - the exact opposite of the free market.

Vulliamy said that there is a body of opinion that holds that the financial crisis of 2008 would have happened earlier were the big banks not stuffed full with drug money.

I vividly recall my own one-day visit to Mexico that ended up with a scary drive through an unlit Tijuana trying to find the US border. After this talk that's not something I'd wish to risk again.

John Hegarty

I was really looking forward to hearing John Hegarty speak tonight. I worked in the advertising business from 1975 to 1995 and John was one of the big names in the eighties and nineties through the Bartle Bogle Hegarty agency.

I'd guess that most of the Book Festival regulars are more Guardian than Telegraph types, to put in English terms, and I wasn't too sure what folk would make of a Thatcher-era adman. Nae problem: John had them eating out of his hands. Looking every inch the creative director in his brown shoes, stripey socks and powder blue suit with a garish lining John won lots of laughs and applause, especially when he explained just why he personally was responsible for the introduction of boxer shorts into the UK. Buy the book if you want to know...

Sadly, I wasn't called in the questioning session - there were so many raised hands. I was going to ask about the relationship between the creatives and the finance folk in agencies. And if any of you ask about "creative accounting" I'd say that my former boss and I spent ten years of drinking time wondering where the 20p difference was in our ancient hand-written ledger!

Wrong suspect

Around twenty years ago when I was living in London I knew an Andrew O'Hagan. He was the son of one of our directors and he worked in our post room before going to university. If I recall correctly, he wanted to be a writer. His parents came from Glasgow and they also had Ayrshire connections. All of this fitted in perfectly with the biography of the novelist Andrew O'Hagan. Even the photos on the books looked right.

But when O'Hagan came onto the stage he seemed too short. And the accent was wrong. I spoke to this O'Hagan afterwards and he was rather amazed to discover that he had a doppelganger.

O'Hagan's hour-long talk was an impressive performance, even if I disagreed with quite a bit. He spoke widely about the Scottish condition and the full talk is here. I liked this recollection:

I tried to tell a story my auntie had told at the counter of a chip shop in Shettleston. It was about the war, about an old couple in the Gallowgate who suffered a bomb blast that blew both of them out of their living room into the street below. They survived. ‘It was awright,’ said the man to a reporter later, ‘it’s the first time we’ve been oot thegither for 40 year.’

Unfortunately there was far too much of that mawkish collectivism that so mars Scottish life. It really will have to go if we ever become independent.

Full House

We rounded off Saturday evening with Alexander McCall Smith at an event chaired by Al Senter. It is quite impossible to recall precisely what happens at these events. McCall Smith talks about this and that, the audience laughs, more anecdotes, louder laughter, and before you know it the hour is up and we're looking forward to the next time by which time he'll probably have written another dozen best sellers.

Map of a Nation

Rachel Hewitt's Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey talk was very enjoyable. She started by discussingg the extensive military mapping of the Highlands that was done after Culloden. Previous maps of the north were very much a matter of hit or miss. We were told of an Army commander who was somewhat perplexed when a promontory on his rudimentary map turned out to be an island!

The Ordnance Survey organisation was formally started in 1791 and a comprehensive programme of mapping the UK was undertaken. The south coast of England was a priority during the Napoleonic period.

Interestingly, Hewitt stated a preference for real, paper maps over GPS systems and the like. I agree. In fact I sometimes think it a bit wimpish of me if I have to consult any map when I'm in the car.

Homage to Catalonia and Caledonia

I've always enjoyed Quintin Jardine's Skinner books. They're so different from Rankin's Rebus insofar as Rebus remains at the same level in the Lothian and Borders Force whereas Skinner seems to zoom from Inspector (?) to Chief Constable in an instant. Both cops are good in their own way. Jardine's new book The Loner has a new protagonist, half Catalan and half Scottish. Guess where Jardine spends his time! I've read about 120 pages so far and am enjoying this book. Apparently Skinner will make an appearance...

Born in the USSR

Martin Sixsmith spoke on his new book about Russia. The basic message was that Russia is now back in its "natural" authoritarian state and that most people favour that over the alternative "anarchy". I expect that most Russians haven't read Hoppe.

Jerusalem

Later on Monday we went to hear Simon Sebag Montefiore talking about his new book. I didn't quite enjoy this performance as much when I'd heard him on his Stalin books in previous years. If I remember correctly last time he walked up and down the stage speaking directly to the audience. This time he was "interviewed" by Allan Little of the BBC. But then, I hate the BBC with a passion...

What a difference a day makes

Despite not feeling too well and having been a bit disappointed on Sunday evening we went to see Katharine Birbalsingh again on Monday morning.

And what a difference.

Bishop Hill puts it this way:

This was one very passionate lady - there was an intensity to her that at times verged on the frightening.

Well, I wasn't frightened: I was delighted with this performance.

Birbalsingh told us that the reason that the country is run by Old Etonians isn't so much to do with an old boys network but because they receive an excellent education. And how she wanted the same for "her kids". It was clear that Katharine didn't especially enjoy being a media star - it doesn't pay very much for a start! - but just wanted to get back into teaching.

Let's hope that her planned "free school" is one of those few that get the go ahead.

Needless-to-say, the real solution is to privatise all schools.

Apart from one useful idiot questioner the audience seemed to be entirely on Birbalsingh's side.

Golden Brown

After a very enjoyable garden party in Murrayfield this afternoon it was back to Charlotte Square for seven pm. I was really looking forward to hearing Katharine Birbalsingh present an anti-state case, but that's not what we got. She was certainly better that her opponent from the Independent, although to be fair he wasn't entirely an out-and-out statist himself. The (unidentified) "Chairman" was clearly on the pro-state side and was somewhat discomfited when the expected right-wing Tory teacher turned out to be nothing of the sort. Apart from Birbalsingh's support for "free schools" all three were singing from the same statist song sheet. An audience vote was overwhelmingly against the motion that "THE STATE MUST WITHDRAW AND LET CITIZENS SHAPE THEIR SOCIETY". "God help us all" cried Mr F&W. Of course, the vote would have gone the other way had the audience heard a real hard-core consistent libertarian argument from yours truly.

The highlight of the evening was seeing Sarah and Gordon Brown in the book signing tent. Keeping a wary eye on the at least one and possibly three bodyguards I approached the great man and told him that "My gold shares are doing very well." Without batting an eyelid Gordon smiled and replied "As they should be"! Does he own the odd sovereign?

It's that time again

I went to my first Book Festival event last night. While Mrs F&W was listening to McCall Smith (we both hear him next week) I went to hear crime writers Lin Anderson and Tony Black. This sell-out session was quite similar to previous crime writing events that I've attended. Before the talk I looked at books by both authors and had decided to buy some later on. However, Tony Black's extract was a bit too gory for my taste and I also decided to work out for sure which Anderson books I've already got and perhaps buy another one sometime. Having books signed by the author is not particularly important for me. Black's protagonist is an Edinburgh-based cop who thinks of himself as a Weegie, "despite coming from Ayr". In his opinion anyone who comes from west of Corstorphine is a Weegie...

The media shouldn't become the story

I'm a fan of Newsnet Scotland. Or do I mean of Newsnet Scotland?

It looks like there's been some kind of split and I'd like to offer some friendly advice.

I was a member of the Libertarian Alliance way back in 1982 when the great LA schism occurred. It took twenty years to get resolved and, even now, some of the participants can't remember what it was all about.

Get it sorted guys.

Armed Forces Day

DSC_3102 - 2011-06-25 at 11-42-08, a photo by David Farrer on Flickr.

DSC_3041 - 2011-06-25 at 10-50-34, a photo by David Farrer on Flickr.

DSC_3072 - 2011-06-25 at 11-36-11, a photo by David Farrer on Flickr.

DSC_3081 - 2011-06-25 at 11-37-19, a photo by David Farrer on Flickr.

DSC_3050 - 2011-06-25 at 10-56-48, a photo by David Farrer on Flickr.

More photos here.

They work for you!

I've been sorting out loads of old bills and correspondence.

Here are the final two paragraphs of a letter that I sent in 1990 to the Leader of the Council of the London Borough of Ealing:

Would you please ensure that this matter is immediately sorted out?

As far as I am concerned, the sooner local government functions are privatised, and your bureaucrats are put into productive employment, the better.

The problem got fixed...

Deflation in the Western Isles

So it turns out that those fake notes in Stornoway "weren't fake at all":

But now, business leaders in the Western Isles have criticised banks and the police after further investigation weren't fake at all there was nothing suspect about any of the notes at the centre of the forgery alert.

At the height of the scare, several retailers in Stornoway stopped accepting £10 and £20 notes, while the Bank of Scotland also refused notes which they believed to be counterfeit.

However, after specialists examined notes seized on the island, police have confirmed the money was real all along.

Well, I would argue that the banks and the police are wrong. The notes are part of the state-induced fraudulent monetary system that's designed to take money from the prudent and give it to the imprudent, especially to the political class itself. In that sense the notes are fake.

I must confess that I smiled when I read this sad footnote:

Another businessman, who asked not to be named, said: "I tore up the £20 notes returned by the bank as fakes and I put them down the toilet to stop them getting back into circulation. I thought that was my public duty.

How do I prove that and who will compensate me?"

But on second thoughts, I shouldn't have smiled. By reducing the money supply the gentleman has performed a heroic public duty. He should be compensated. And the form of the compensation is that he should be made Governor of the Bank of England (sic).

Why do people want independence?

I've met John Kay a couple of times and he's a good bloke with sound economic views. His latest article has caused a bit of a row:

Scotland would "gain little" by full independence, a key economic adviser to First Minister Alex Salmond has warned.

Professor John Kay said that while the move would "clearly be economically viable", increased financial power within the Union was more likely.

Given that Scotland's GDP per capita is close to both the UK and EU averages I've always accepted that an independent Scotland would be "economically viable", as does Professor Kay. He goes on to say:

"Scotland can get many of the advantages claimed for independence if it negotiates for more autonomy, while still staying part of the Union," said Prof Kay.

But that's only so if one is talking about economics. I have no doubt at all that most nationalists are motivated by questions of identity, not finance. Of course it helps their case if the economics look good but what they are working towards is for Scotland to be a normal country.

It really is rather unusual for somewhere to have its own national legal system, its own national Church, its own national sporting teams and representation, and almost all of the other attributes of nationality and yet not be independent. That's what motivates the SNP, not whether an independent Scotland would be richer or poorer.

If I could go back in a time machine to 1707 and change future history so that the words "England" and "Scotland" were never heard of again anywhere in the world and that both had been replaced by the word "Britain", Alex Salmond would not be First Minister. Indeed, there wouldn't be a Parliament in Edinburgh. Unless we'd sensibly decentralised Britain and moved its Parliament to the more civilised part of the country...

Gresham's Law and the footballer

Bad money drives out good, says Gresham’s Law supposedly. Except that it doesn’t. Bad money only drives out good if the state imposes legal tender laws that stop the market from operating properly.

In a free market coins have a purchasing power that’s related to the quantity and fineness of their metallic content. When the state starts to “clip” coins, by reducing their size or by reducing the fineness of the metal, the natural market response is to value such coins less than unclipped ones. Market forces will lead to a coin that’s been clipped by 5% having 5% less purchasing power. The state then attempts to get round this by enforcing legal tender laws that try to enforce equal value on coins that don’t have the same physical attributes.

Naturally there is a market response to this legal tender law too. Once the existence of the clipped coins becomes known people start to pay close attention to their money. If a South African bus driver asks you for a rand for a ticket, you’re not going to hand over a Kruggerrand are you? No, you're going to hand over a "clipped" rand. The bad money circulates and the good money is hoarded and thus driven out of circulation. The market responds to the state's intervention.

In a free society the same principles would operate when it comes to freedom of speech.

I remember my first trip to the US. At a shop checkout desk there was a newspaper with a headline: “Elvis seen on Moon”. Great I thought: we’ll be getting some new records. The next day it was something like: “Alien spaceship lands in Central Park”. Damn, I’d missed it. But then I started wondering why none of the other papers were carrying these stories. By the third day it was: “Fed plans to stop inflation”. Then I knew it was all a con. The point is this: in a society that allows free speech, the right to be believed has to be earned in the marketplace. And that’s how it should be here and now.

As far as I can see there are only two justifications for restricting free speech.

First, when you agree to such a restriction in a contract. For example, you work for a pharmaceutical company and your contract of employment bans you from giving away trade secrets. If you break that agreement and are fired, you deserve what you got. Besides, that would be a civil matter with there being no question of the state threatening to lock you up.

Secondly, it is legitimate to ban speech that threatens to initiate violence.

Otherwise the right to free speech is absolute. Ultimately these ridiculous injunctions and super-injunctions are designed to protect reputations. But a reputation is what goes on in someone else’s head and it is ludicrous to legislate about people’s thoughts or about the verbal expression of those thoughts. No one else has a property right in your mouth.

Ah, I hear some of you saying: “That would mean that all kinds of scurrilous stories will fill the papers.” Yes it would – for the first week or two. But then we’d quickly learn not to believe everything we read in the press. Some of us are there already – I’m now dubious about reported sightings of Elvis. But once there is a “free for all” in communicating the market will sort it all out. Only those writers and broadcasters that get it right over a long period will be trusted. The rest will be laughed at. And that’s just how it should be.

The state’s legal tender laws were an attempt to steal from the public by forcing them to accept devalued coins. The public reacted by hoarding the sound coins.

The rich and powerful got the state to restrict freedom of speech. And now, with technology and globalisation on its side, the public reacts by demanding that our freedoms be restored.

We need to get rid of state interference in both the production of money and in the production of words. Let the people drive out the bad laws.

A Scottish Guide for English Journalists

The Maximum Eck has let me into a little secret. The Scottish Government is about to institute a contest for English journalists. The journalist with the most points gets to win the "They Just Don't Get It Award" for 2011.

Points are to be won every time the journalist uses an ever-so-worn-out cliche about Scotland.

First, every mention of the word "kilt" gets you one point. Come on now, everyone's got to get at least one point, haven't they? Happily you can lose the point if you are sufficiently well informed as to explain that kilts are only worn at weddings and at football matches (normal or rugby). Note that good planning may even enable North British kilt wearers to do a wedding and a game on the same day. This is not advisable for the groom...

Almost everyone will get two points by mentioning "Braveheart". Most southern journalists think that Gibson-Wallace was born in the Highlands. It certainly looked that way in the film. Fortunately you can lose all points accumulated so far by noting that Gibson-Wallace was probably born near Glasgow Airport. If you are really informed you may explain that one body of opinion claims that Gibson-Wallace was actually born near Prestwick Airport. Either way, he was Scotland's first plane spotter. It seems unlikely that Gibson-Wallace really did have an affair with Sophie Marceau, but then how does one explain the "Auld Alliance"?

A perennial favourite is Hadrian's Wall, as in "Let's rebuild it". Mention of this pre-Berlusconi Keynesian construction site earns the contestant three points.

But beware. As all right-thinking folk know, the Wall doesn't divide Scotland and England. Oh no, not at all. It started (as did yours truly) on the Solway Firth. But, sadly for the Wall, it started on the southern side. So unlike myself. Perhaps the pre-Berlusconians were too scared to start construction in Annan, although Toni's Cafe has been there for quite some time...

The really interesting thing is at the other end, conveniently known as "Wallsend". Just before Wallsend is the fine city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. But here's an amazing fact: It looks likely that while the centre of Newcastle would still be in England when the Wall is "rebuilt", St James's Park would find itself north of the border. The Old Firm would be increased from two to three! Howay the lads, whatever foot they kick with.

Anyway, why do these Wall revisionists want to give away 99% of Northumberland? Note the angle at which the Tyne enters the North Sea. Rebuilding the Wall means England losing a huge part of its offshore resources. George Osborne will send the Wall rebuilders homewards to think again. Assuming he knows where "up north" actually is, of course.

To earn the maximum of fours points, journalists entering the contest need to mention the dreaded Deep Fried Mars Bar:

I’ve found it; the mists of myth and legend have lifted and the deep-fried Mars bar has been tracked down. It’s served as petit fours at the Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh, as is Irn-Bru Turkish delight. I’ll type that again, in case you were distracted by the urgent necessity of extracting your teeth from the table-top: it’s served as petit fours at the Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh.

Well, the Hotel du Vin is the only place in Scotland I've been to that serves the DFMB. And the joke is that the waitress assured us locals that the evil concoction was only ever eaten by tourists. Perhaps the visiting journalist should get five points for consuming this masterpiece of Scottish cuisine. After all, it'll be on expenses.