The Random Thoughts of Andy Janes

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T22:38:00.001+01:00

Obligatory:

Plus as an added bonus, a good summary of the Broken Window Fallacy (via he ASI blog):

Not much else new, spent the weekend re-hanging the bathroom door so it now opens out rather than in (thereby allowing the next project to proceed, replacing the rusty old radiator with a heated towel rail).

Tomorrow am at the ASI's boat party (where I'll be photographing the event for them),then on Thursday will be at the LPUK meetup in Southwark

Idiocy at the Standard

2011-07-02T22:00:00.001+01:00

I swear reading the Evening Standard is bad for my digestion. Case in point, a piece in Friday's business section by Anthony Hilton entitled 'What Banks is need is Nationalisation" which caused my jaw to hit the floor.

'the public interest demands that someone performs the basic banking function. That requires capital and if it is not going to come from shareholders then from where?.... conclusion is that banks should be state-owned. State banks should provide basic deposit and lending services which meet the core needs of the economy.'

Sweet Jesus, aren't there enough examples from the 20th that state-owned firms don't work? If you think customer service at your local branch is bad now, wait until it it is run with the same mentality as the post office. No doubt getting a bank account (note singular, because no one will need more than 1) will be as easy as getting a phone line installed in the days of the GPO was.
Of course, there would have to be some rationalisation as well, we wouldn't need numerous, wasteful branches in the average high street, but what's a few job losses compared to the efficiency to be gained? How about calling the new group British Leyland Bank?

The sad thing is that there are already alternative models for retail banking, like Building societies and Savings banks. Sadly it seems the statist mentality is alive and well at Evening Standard. I also noted in Friday's paper that their city editor has been appointed the new editor of the Independent. Hopefully he'll take Anthony Hilton with him.

Quick links 30

2011-06-27T22:05:00.003+01:00

Two Japan-focused pieces saw on Friday in the UK MSM, first on the new generation of entrepreneurs in the Economist, second in the Telegraph (of all places) on Hatsune Miku and K-ON!!

Book Pile update 35

2011-06-27T21:18:00.002+01:00

While was in Italy last month made good progress (since I got back, not so)

Since last update have finished The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley,
Seeds of Earth by Micheal Cobley,
Starman- The Truth behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. All of which are highly recommended.

Currently working through The Last Murghal by William Dalrymple

Still on the pile:
Sex, Science and Profits by Terence Keal
The High Frontier by Gerard O'Neil,
Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Noziack,
A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek,
The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto,
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith,
Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke,
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills,
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt,
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard,
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew,
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein,
The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow,
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker,
Life of Pi by Yann Martel,
Islands by Dan Sleigh,
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham,
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon,
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper,
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi,
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpter

Gradually going down!

Quote of the day 14

2011-06-27T20:33:00.000+01:00

'More government means less community. The horizontal ties, which bind people to each other, have slowly been replaced with vertical ties, which seek to bind individuals to the state. Society is weakened by this, because the government does a very bad job. And high taxes undermine philanthropic intention, and community action. The sheet vanity of politicians blinds them to the destructive effect of their interventions. Sir Titus built beautiful stone houses for his mill workers (where there was, until five years ago, not even a pub). The government shovels the poor in high-rise welfare ghettoes riddled with crime and drug abuse. The result is this very British phenomenon: expensive poverty.'

Fraser Nelson gets it. Read the whole thing

New gig's and other news

2011-06-20T22:39:00.006+01:00

Just noticed tonight that I no longer have author access to the LPUK blog. Not sure when that happened, but given everything that has been going on lately am not surprised. I have been invited to contribute to 2 new sites, Outspoken Rabbit and Libertarian Home, which I will try to string some coherent sentences together for in the near future.

Have been a bit quiet lately, mainly due to illness. Was off work for half of last week with abdominal pains, and possible gall stone(s). Went back to work Friday but still not feeling 100%. Have to go back to see my GP next Monday so will have to wait and see what happens then (was given pills but they run out Wednesday).

Spent most of that time and the weekend juts gone in bed watching anime or playing visual novels (downloaded a trial of a game called Edelweiss which am still not sure about, reminds me a bit too much of crap anime Green Green). Also finished a short yuri visual novel called Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo which was light on plot but cute (can never have too much of a girl calling 'Onee-sama'!)

Oh and I also spend far too much money on DVD's getting the Armando Iannucci collection as was half price in HMV, and ordered Clannad After Story collection from the US. I also for the first time ordered something from Japan, which may well be the single most expensive DVD I've ever bought- this. Have seem some clips on youtube which looked pretty good (costumes and instruments were spot on, even have a trap bassist!) so should be worth it (even though you won't be able to understand most of it- ed)

Have a few fun events to look forward to, am off the the IEA tomorrow for a Voices of Freedom debate (no free booze for me though!), and another the week after. Looking further ahead is Hyper Japan next month, and the week after that the London Anime con which am still not sure if I'll go to (Male to Female and Female to Male Crossplay? Shoot me now!) Then at the end of August am going to a one day music festival in Brighton featuring one of my favourite bands The Wedding Present. Found a cheap hostel so will stay over and relive my student days!

For now, laters~

A weekend of excess

2011-06-06T22:41:00.001+01:00

To much food, too much booze and too many late nights!

Started to go wrong Thursday, when went for the LPUk meetup after work. Missed the 10:12 train (which was cancelled anyway) and the next one sat at Plumstead for half an hour due to an incident on the train ahead which the police had to deal with. Finally got home half 12, and was up again half 6 on Friday.

Missed my train again Friday morning, and also forgot my rail pass so walked to and from the station 3 times that morning, so was a bit hot and sweaty when I got to work. In the evening went to see a friends band in Gravesend which was a late one. Was my brother's birthday on Sunday, and on Saturday had a BBQ round his where much fun was had and meat consumed. And then there was my contribution, a platter of Epic Meal Time inspired Candy Burgers:

Caloriffic! For his actual birthday yesterday had an Indian takeaway, so have been feeling a bit bloated today. Still catching up on stuff from when away and last week. Am out again tomorrow at the ASI to hear Peter Stringfellow (!) talk, and again Wednesday at the IEA for one of their Voices of Freedom talks.

Back from Italy

2011-05-31T21:57:00.004+01:00

Had a nice time and came back very relaxed, which one day back at work has already started to undo. Have put a few pics on Facebook already and will add more at some point. In brief I read a lot, drank lots of coffee and wandered round a lot. I bought their 72 hour tourist card and got my money's worth visiting several museums.

Had an awkward moment on the plane back as sat next to a man with no hands. After landing he was struggling with his seat belt I instinctively said 'Do you need a hand?' and regretted it instantly!

In other news my thoughts on LPUK future were posted while I was away and got a fairly positive response. Wil be at the monthly meetup on Thursday where no doubt will be some interesting discussions. Might go to a friends gig on Friday and Saturday my brother is having a BBQ which I might try and make an epic meal time inspired contribution towards

Future of LPUK- the minimal party

2011-05-24T22:53:00.003+01:00

(This is my orignal draft as submitted in response to the call for ideas on party future. It was published on the LPUK site May 28th)

Following on from Simon's post, I'd like to expand on idea's I brought up last thursday evening. Even though I've stepped down as an official, I have been thinking a lot about the way ahead for the party.

Personally I don't think we can carry on as before, this whole affair has had a severe effect on the party's credibility, membership and morale.
The biggest problem we've had in the past was that we have never had enough people who could provide the time to make the party as structured work. And we were never able to raise enough money to hire professional staff. Trying to do this now would be impossible imo.

On the other hand de-registering would waste our biggest assent, our name. £500 was spent registering it with the electoral commission. The question is how do we use it? Also, we should ask ourselves what is it we hope to achieve?

The answer to the second question is to promote libertarian idea by contesting elections. It is my view then that our 'mission statement' is simply to allow individuals to stand for election under the libertarian name.

I therefore propose that the party should be slimmed down to support this core function. For reference check out this group I came across last week; http://www.leave-the-eu.org.uk/.

They are registered as a political party just so they can have the words 'independent- leave the EU' on the ballot. (Their constitution is worth a read, as is their aim to publish all accounts online. This doesn't seem to have happened however)

The party should in my view follow this model and be scaled back to the bare minimum to allow individuals to stand- no leader, regional branches/co-ordinators, just the minimum number of legal officers. The only funds needed then would be enough to cover any electoral commission fees, web hosting etc, which membership fees and an annual pledge drive should be sufficient to cover.

Maybe we should have no set policies and manifestos, leaving it up to candidate to decide what they wish to focus their campaign on. As long as someone agree's to our basic principles they should be able to join and stand for election.

The ultimate expression of this new philosophy might be to change the party name to the Independent Libertarian party.

In addition I propose we create a new, non-party campaign/social group that I'll refer to for now as 'the libertarian network' (any suggestions for an alternative name would be much appreciated!) The TPA should be our model for this organisation- it should be free to join + open to all regardless of party membership, and would focus on networking, campaigning and promoting ideas. When elections come around the candidates can then tap into this to raise funds and find volunteers to help their campaign.

In addition members of other parties who have libertarian leanings could also reach out to the network and gain support. Hopefully being 'libertarian network endorsed' would one day be a badge of honour all aspiring politicians would yearn for!

In summary then I believe the only way forward is to scale the party back and focus its mission on supporting individuals standing for election.
It would be more consistent with our philosophy to act as a loose, open alliance of individuals than trying to build and maintain a heirachical structure in the current party system

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

R&R

2011-05-23T22:00:00.002+01:00

The last month has been pretty stressful, what with everything going on in the party, work being especially manic due to short weeks and having to cover holidays. Thankfully have just one more day to go now then on Wednesday morning I fly off to Trieste for a long weekend.

That is if Iceland's volcano's don't object that is!

Rant of the Day

2011-05-23T21:58:00.003+01:00

I had often suspected that Chris Black, city editor for the Evening Standard, was an economic illiterate. Reading his comment in today's issue has confirmed this:

'We have muffed our chance to lead the world'

What is he talking about you ask? The government’s decision not to recommend Gordon 'Calamity' Brown for the top job at the IMF. Maybe he is being sarcastic, or secretly wants Brown to work his magic there and destroy that institution. But if he seriously believes that 'With Brown at the helm, the IMF would be honest and moral' I want whatever he's been smoking. At least he admits Brown has his faults:

Yes, he oversaw the explosion in Britain's debt (although I for one do not recall many siren voices being raised then)- Erm I think you’ll find Dan Hannan, Eamon Butler and most Austrian school types did,

Yes, he left the nation straddled with an almighty public spending deficit- in the good times too, least we forget was a £30 billion deficit prior to the 2008 crisis,

Yes, he's a prickly brooder (and bruiser)- just ask the staff who had Nokia's hurled at them!

Anyone that takes Paul 'more stimulus' Krugman seriously looses all credibility in my eyes as an economics expert. Is not just him, last week was a columnist attacking the CPS (the think tank, not the Crown Prosecution Service), and another last month had a go at the IEA.

If you're going to pay people to write on business and financial affairs at least hire someone who understands and supports the bloody things. Where do they find these people?

Book pile update 34

2011-05-22T21:48:00.001+01:00

Finished since the last update:

Zero-G by Alton Ganksy- actually quite a good novel on space tourism, technically quite accurate and with presents the subject in a positive light. Just a shame about the occasional bits of religious philosophising and character bursting into prayer all the time), and the villain's motive wasn't very clear

The Pillars of Rome by Jack Ludlow- OK historical novel, but first in a sequence that I'll have to track down now)

Beyond the Corporation by David Erdal-interesting but the author's left-wing biases annoyed me, should have read his bio- apparently he was a communist organiser and worked in Mao's China! Seems to have recovered a bit, but hostility toward Bankers, the Invisible hand and stock markets got a bit annoying. Might do a full review of at some point (ha!- ed)

Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty by Eugene Miller- Not a condensed version as had thought but a summary similar to the PJ O'Rouke's one on the Wealth of Nations) A good summary of the key points.

Only bought one new book as well, Sex, Science and Profits by Terence Kealey (as was only 99p in the cheap book shop)

Still on the pile:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley,
Seeds of Earth by Micheal Cobley,
Starman- The Truth behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony,
The High Frontier by Gerard O'Neil,
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot,
The Last Murghal by William Dalrymple,
Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Noziack,
A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek,
The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto,
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith,
Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke,
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills,
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt,
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard,
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew,
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow,
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker,
Life of Pi by Yann Martel,
Islands by Dan Sleigh,
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham,
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon,
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper,
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi,
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi,
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

Yet more LPUK

2011-05-18T23:23:00.000+01:00

Despite not wanting to comment any more, after toady's events ,have been so angry I have to vent. So after a nice relaxing bath and with a whisky to hand, to the latest developments in the train wreak LPUK has become.

First off, at lunchtime the news that former chairman Nic Coome had submitted papers to the electoral commission to de-register the party. This has been blocked for now but the fact that him (and Andrew Withers) would rather do this than hand over to others speaks volumes. I do not know the nature of the relationship between these two do think the way Nic has behaved throughout this has been appalling, and can only guess at his motivations.

The when i get home I see Ken has posted his view's on the Anna Raccoon site. Nothing he said was a surprise to me, and it was pretty much his treatment that lead me to conclude resignation would be the end result (I backed publication of Nic's report mainly because had given up on the rest of the NCC and though best to get something out and see what happened.)

Have also been asking myself the same question he raised about 'why LPUK funds appear to have been used to fight an uncontested parish council election on an “Independent” platform.' Sadly I doubt will ever get an answer.

Since my last post my view has swung further to the 'kill it now' view, though as am going to the meet up tomorrow I may change my mind again and think there is something worth saving. If nothing else it is legally possible to stand as a Libertarian on the the ballot, if could turn into to a minimal structure to keep that option open to people who would otherwise have to be independents could be useful.

Chance of pace

2011-05-18T22:01:00.001+01:00

As am sick of posting on the LPUK situation (might have more to add on today's developments later), here are a tri of video's had been meaning to post for a while.

First up, the Keynes Hayek Rematch:

Then for something completely different, a couple of parody fan vids on the best show have seen this year, Puell Magi Madoka Magica

More on Rally Against Debt+ future plans

2011-05-17T22:40:00.000+01:00

Had meant to add this sooner, but had family round Sunday afternoon and last night went to the Freedom Associations' talk after work.

Anyway, for me the most memorable part was when walking to the pub afterwards when a cyclist started to berate us, and how the charity he worked for had had a 20% cut to it's grant. 'You're not a charity then' was our response.

As to the fuss about whether it was a sucess or not, I agree it is annoying 1900 people said would come on Facebook and only 400 or so came, but that seems to be the way events organised online go. Is far easier to click a button saying 'I'm attending' than to actually turn up.

All the speakers were good, and apart from Old Holborn burning the EU flag (which some poor interns had to scrape up the remains of) and the three counter protesters (who had their signs nicked!) was all good humoured and good fun, followed by a long afternoon in the pub- just seen my credit card statement, ouch!

Had a chance to have a good long chat with Chris Mounsey and a load of other LPUK people, Max was especially keen and as the main event was was winding down even went and started giving out leaflets to passersby.

As for the whole LPUK situation I find am kind of tsundere to it at the moment, depending on my mood I either feel what has happened is a crying shame and hope something can be salvaged or the whole thing is fubar'd and a lost cause. I have had some musings for a future direction today was going to post but after reading the latest comments on the site am thinking what's the point again.

As have mentioned once or twice my aim was to get out an promote the ideas I believe in and held build a movement that goes beyond the Westminster circle most think tanks and parties operate in, and to counter the lefties out every Saturday giving out their anti-cuts crap. Over the weekend I joined the Freedom Association and have enquired to them about helping out, and have gotten back in touch with the Taxpayers Alliance (I did some leafleting for them a few years ago prior to joining LPUK.) Though after saying that if the party survives I'd be more than willing to help out doing similar stuff,but for now I can't be arsed with all the crap going on.

Rally Against Debt

2011-05-15T13:12:00.000+01:00

I was there, and had a fun time (though majority of the day was spent in the pub).

More details to be added later, but for now am uploading my photos to facebook, which can be seen here. I'm also visible in some of the TPA's photo gallery on Flickr.

Resignation

2011-05-13T23:09:00.000+01:00

Today the Chairman's report on 'Coongate' was finally published on the LPUK site. The past few weeks have been... interesting to put it mildly, and to say it has been intense is a bit of an understatement.

What with everything that's happened and been said over the past few weeks I feel it would be impossible for me to promote the party and encourage others to join at the Rally against Debt tomorrow.

It was with deep regret therefore that early today I tended my resignation as South East regional coordinator of LPUK.

I also made a error of judgement in discussing the situation with another party official who was not an NCC member, and so feel partly responsible for the bad blood between the NCC and possibly made things worse.

I still intend to remain a member of the party for now, though all this has made me question whether I'm cut out for party politics.

Hopefully see you at the Rally tomorrow (just been making a placard!)

Autum trip ideas

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

After booking my next short break for next month, have been getting excited planning ahead for another trip in the autumn. Was looking originally at going to Russia, but the price and hassle involved in getting a visa has put me off. The other idea I had was eastern Canada, but want to save cash and leave for next year's big trip (provisional plan: New Zealand for 2-2 1/2 weeks with a stopover in Tokyo if possible. Failing that Singapore or Hong Kong would be OK for a few days on the way back)

So far then have these ideas for an Autumn short break (5-9 days):

1) Copenhagen: mainly as have a guidebook already, and have never been to Scandinavia. Like the idea of spending a few days in Malmo, Sweden as well while here.

2) Denmark-Germany: Alternatively fly into Copenhagen then get the train down to Hamburg, and maybe 1 more city in Germany (Cologne?) Only issue here is the cost, and amount of time this train would take.

3) Tallinn- Helsinki: fly to one, ferry then fly back. Issue that Easyjet are going to stop flying to Helsinki, and Ryanair only go from Luton. Plus if I do go to Russia soon would want to visit one of these two as well.

4) Just Germany: 2-3 cities via train, possibly Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf or Frankfurt.

5) Holland- really want to go see the Escher museum in the Hague.

Decisions, decisions.....

Blue origin plans

2011-04-20T21:48:00.000+01:00

Some very interesting newspace news this week, with NASA picking 4 firms to receive CCdev2 funding (yes I know in a pure libertarian sense a government agency like NASA shouldn't be picking winners to fund like this, but is a darn better use of money than spending billions on a NASA designed heavy lifter).

The biggest surprise is the inclusion of Amazon founder Jeff Bezo's firm Blue Origin, and the news that they are working on a VTVL orbital system. Like the other winners (SNC and Boeing) they are going to develop a capsule (that makes a powered landing rather than parachuting into the sea like SpaceX Dragon) to be launched on an existing expendable launcher, and eventually their own reusable booster. None of these would be able to compete with SpaceX on cost using existing launchers, so will be interesting to see how long it takes them to bring this online, and how SpaceX responds to being leapfrogged in the tech stakes (as I'd said before the best course of action for them would be a flyback booster based on F9 1st stage).

Previously they had described how their suborbital vehicle would consist of a booster and a manned capsule which would land separately. This makes a lot more sense now as it is how they are planning to operate an orbital system. Hopefully will lead to a full SSTO!

Carrying on

2011-04-17T21:25:00.003+01:00

After meeting up with a few of the key South East guys on Friday night for a beer, and now feeling better about the whole LPUK situation. Can't really comment further on the situation until the investigations are completed, but for now life goes on and we are still planning stuff for the Rally Against Debt next month. Also next month am going away for a short break to Trieste, Italy. The next 3 weeks are going to be manic at work, what with all the public holidays and still having to get everything done in less time (plus have 2 of my 3 assistants on leave as well). By time that is all over will need a holiday (only drawback is am away the weekend of the MCM expo) This week am going to the Freedom Association's Free Spirits event, and on Thursday is the annual ASI Blogger's Bash. No plans for the Easter weekend yet but am sure that will change!

Where now?

2011-04-14T23:22:00.000+01:00

Have had a very troubling afternoon, after reading this post by Anna Raccoon. Since that I have come across a number of blog post by members, ex members and soon to be ex-members it does seem many are getting a bit carried away and forgetting the principle of innocence until proven otherwise. The most important thing for me as I digested this is that so far only one side of this has been heard so far, and it would be unwise to act rashly until all the facts are know. Having said that I am deeply concerned and considering the way forward. The reason I joined the party was to have an impact and help build an organisation that could bring together people of a similar view rather than have to settle for the least bad options. Since Nov 5th, 2009 the leadership has changed twice, membership has fallen and not much has been done apart from a lot of blog posts generated. I bear part of the blame for not doing much since becoming an official last year. If the party keeps failing to contest elections what is its purpose? Do we want to be a joke like the SWP? Is there a future for LPUK even?

50 years of Socialist Manned Spaceflight

2011-04-12T06:00:00.003+01:00

50 years ago today the first man flew into Earth's orbit. Yuri Gagarin was launched on a modified ballistic missile as part of the cold war 'space race', which had been kicked off by Sputnik 1's launch 4 years earlier. This was all part of the Soviet Union's propaganda war to show how advanced their military and technology was (ironically the so called 'missile gap' never existed, the reason the Soviets early ICBM's were larger than the Americans and powerful enough to put payloads in orbit was because their nukes were cruder, and heavier than the USA's.) The United States response to the Soviets was to create their own socialist space program, NASA. This was run as a command economy where cost was no issue, beating the Russians was the goal ('Waste anything except time' was the motto during the Apollo Program). After the initial pressure of the cold war fizzled out, manned spaceflight degenerated into a jobs programme, the Shuttle was developed as a national launch vehicle that would serve all possible purposes from commercial satellite launch to station construction. To achieve a high flight rate (necessary to keep costs down) all other launchers were shut down. Yet the Shuttle failed to lower costs, because ultimately it was a government programme and not commercially orientated. Ironically once the Shuttle retires the only way for NASA to get its Astronauts to the ISS will be on Russian spacecraft derived from Gagarin's) In 50 years spectacularly little progress has been made in manned spaceflight because it is still government run monopoly with little incentive to cut costs. Compare and contrast this with the 5o years from the first manned flight (by a private citizen), to the first passenger jets. Thankfully the socialist era of spaceflight will soon be over. Last year SpaceX, a private firm founded by Paypal creator Elon Musk, launched into orbit the first privately developed manned spacecraft. Last week they unveiled their latest launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy. This should drop launch costs below the magic $1000 per lb, at which point all sorts of interesting things become feasible. There are numerous other firms out their working on all manner of orbital, suborbital manned and unmanned craft. The competition between them will lead to more robust, practical designs and lower costs. Hopefully the next 50 years will be the era of free market spaceflight.

A channel 1

2011-04-11T23:59:00.000+01:00

Another 4-koma adaptation? With lots of yuri overtones? Get in! This episode focused on setting the scene and introducing them. Tooru is a year younger than her friend Run, and just started at her high school. She has a pretty obvious crush on Run, fending off boys who talk to her with a baseball bat and gets very jealous when she walks in on this:

Never got a good explanation for what was happening BTW I did like how whenever Tooru was annoyed with Yuuko she'd start molesting her (Yuuko reminds me a lot of Mio from K-ON, with a hint of Mikuru what with the covering. Just need now for Tooru to force her into a bunny girl costume!)

I also like how her clothes are too big for her, shades of Lucky Star's Akira Kogami

Run obviously cares for Tooru but is a bit of an airhead. Will be interesting to see where this goes, though am not holding my breath for any yuri beyond what has been shown so far.

Book Pile update 33

2011-04-11T22:29:00.000+01:00

Finished today: Vinland: the Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson (was one story I skipped but rest were very good, esp. the detective story set on Mercury and the historical tale set on the Spanish Armada) and How to predict the Weather with a Cup of Coffee (and other Techniques for Surviving the 9-5 Jungle) by Matthew Cole (enjoyable, lightweight. Some useful info) Bought this weekend (3 for 2 in Waterstones): The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, Seeds of Earth by Micheal Cobley Starman- The Truth behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony Still on the pile: The High Frontier by Gerard O'Neil The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Beyond the Corporation by David Erdal, The Pillars of Rome by Jack Ludlow, The Last Murghal by William Dalrymple, Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Noziack, Zero-G by Alton Ganksy, The Constitution of Liberty and A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek , The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto, Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith, Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke, On Liberty by John Sturt Mills, The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt, How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard, The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew, Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow, The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Islands by Dan Sleigh, The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham, The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon, The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper, Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi, The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

Lazy weekend

2011-04-10T22:42:00.000+01:00

Spent most of yesterday in bed and I needed it! Last week was so busy, ended up going out every night apart from Monday. Thankfully have nothing planned for next week, so will be a bit more active here.

Kampfer fur die Liebe

2011-04-10T19:47:00.004+01:00

More Kampfer? Yes please.

Continuing with the series tradition of mindless fanservice and genderbending, this special (think is going to be one more?) ignores the revelations of the finale and just gives us lots of glamout shots of Natsuru and co. Highlights?

Swimsuit Natsuru!

Bunny girl Natsuru

Sakura's yuri harem (like her 'jackpot' smile) Cameo by Matsurika,

Mikoto's nakkid apron look,

yuri eyecatches,

Shizuku and Akane's footwork (and Natsuru's reaction)

Nakkid locker scene, esp Natsuru transforming as 'this way, at least we're both female' Yes Natsuru, go for the yuri option,

Brief scene by Kampfer Akane and her foul mouth

finally, Natsuru's bra shopping revelation. All in all a fun way to spend 25 mins on a hungover saturday morning.

Nichijou 1

2011-04-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

A new 4-koma adaptation by Kyoani? Screw retirement, may as well blog this! Nichijou can be summarised as Lucky Star/K-ON/generic 4-koma adaption on LSD. Were some very surreal moments, especially the sequences involving the professor, her talking cat (voiced by Lucky Stars Akira Kogami and Minoru Shiraishi) and a robot with a key it's back (that fires a USB-equipped toe. Words I never thought I'd type in one sentence) Even weirder was the Helvetica Typeface section. The majority of the show focuses on these 3 girls here. Note the Akemi Homura clone on the left. The blue haired girl is called Mio, but acts like K-ON's Yui. This show certainly isn't going to win any awards for originality! As well as these there is a Tsukasa clone, Keima Katsuragi clone (who for some reason rides a goat to school),

and the aforementioned professor who is a dead ringer for Pani Poni Dash's Becky Minamoto

Despite all this I did find the show quite amusing, and will definitely watch more.

Oh, and what is the deal with this girl?

The week ahead

2011-04-04T21:53:00.002+01:00

A mixed weekend all in all, didn't go out as such but my Brother and his fiance came round for dinner Friday night, after which we watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on DVD (in one one, eh. Also, need to change the name of the trope from 'jumped the shark' to 'nuked the fridge' after the idiocy of that one scene. Saturday I went to a seminar on forex trading up in London, picked up a few useful tips and may give it a try, but definitely not going to spend £3k on a 2 day course like they suggest). After that just came home and slummed it indoors. Sunday I helped my Brother carry a fence panel back from Wickes, then stayed to dinner. Looking ahead a busy week, tomorrow am going for a Mothers day meal with Mum, Brother,his fiance and her Mother and Sister (to the place they might have their wedding at), Wednesday am going to a debate on AV at the Adam Smith Institute and Thursday is the monthly LPUK meetup in Souhwark. Hopefully I get a few more posts scheduled to appear later this week before calling it a night. Laters!

Thinking outside the (Money) box

2011-04-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

One idea that has received a lot more interest since the financial crisis is sound money- that is currency backed by something more tangible than a government's promise that it is worth something. Historically there have been many different types of commodity used, with gold being the most well know and advocated. However anything that is perceived to have value and is hard to forge/duplicate can be used. Over the years I have come across number of Science fiction authors that have touched on the subject, some more seriously than others. One of the first was Terry Pratchett in the novel Strata where time literally is money. In this universe there is a megacorp that builds planets, and pays is staff in Days. One Day is worth just that, a coupon that can be redeemed for a day’s worth of rejuvenation at the firm’s clinics. There are other currencies around, but this is the hardest and as only the firm offers this treatment and it is supposed to be impossible to forgeable (part of the plot involves funny money and the effect this has on the economy) This isn't the only novel to use medicine as a basis of currency. Cities in Flight by James Blish is interesting as at the start of the saga the Germanium Standard is used as the basis of interstellar commence, and the protagonists are understandably pissed when they return to civilisation (long story!) to find it is now worthless, and now longevity drugs are the basis of the economy. Here though this change is problem for the obvious reason that people need to consume the drug to get its benefits, and so are unwilling to trade with it. Getting back to metal-based currencies Larry Niven wrote a tongue-in-cheek essay called The Roentgen Standard, which proposed using nuclear waste to make coins! He outlines several possible benefits. Star Trek on the other hand is famous for having no money at all, as conventional economics are a thing of the past due to technological advances eliminating scarcity. Yet not all civilisations follow the Federations 'communistic system', with the Ferengi still using a metal called gold-pressed latinum (which is not forgeable) But what about other commodities? Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy is one o f the most thought-out attempts to develop alternative economic systems. In the second novel hidden communities use nitrogen as currency, however they also try to implement a 'gift economy'. In this the aim when bartering is to give more than you received, turning conventional trading on its head. This doesn't work well however and after Mars gains it's independence amore conventional economy (though based on worker co-ops) is adopted.

Finally, how about energy-based money? This has actually been proposed; however the only example I've come across in fiction was in Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome, not exactly a ringing endorsement. Yet there do seem to be some advantages to this, indeed as petrodollars are often referred to by traders so it could be argued that we have this already.

In the end, there is no one ideal unit of exchange as we all have different values and priorities. The best solution would be that competing currencies as Hayek advocated in his later years, letting us all chose what we value most.

Nautilus and other Private spacecraft

2011-04-03T08:00:00.002+01:00

Had been meaning to post this vid for a while, which I came across the other week on Hobbyspace. I have been pondering the possibility of craft like this, and the possibility of them being privately funded ever since reading this blog post at Samizdata.

Another kernel of inspiration came from a newsletter I picked up at the BIS the other week, one of which had a summary of this study done by Lockheed-Martin on using Orion capsules to visit a NEO (Near Earth Object). As Orion has been cancelled now this study joins the pile of could have beens proposed over the last 40+ years. It did remind me of a chapter in Bob Zubrin's book Entering space on asteroids missions. It struck me that something similar to this could be put together over the next few years very cheaply.

Using a Bigelow BA330 for the main habitat, Dragon for crew launch and return, F9 upper stages (modified for refueling in orbit and long term propellant storage) and F9/F9 heavy to launch it all an asteroid or Mars orbit mission (to Phobos and Deimos) could be put together for less than $2 billion.

Even cheaper and closer at hand could be a lunar landing, using 2 Falcon heavies to launch fuel pods, a Dragon and a lunar lander developed by Armadillo/Masten. At a guess this could cost less than half a billion all in all.

It would be really cool if this could be done to mark the Apollo 11 50th anniversary landing in 2019!

SpaxeX future launchers

2011-04-02T22:43:00.002+01:00

Via Next Big Future, this cool pic: Firs thing that I noticed is how it looks like the next step in their development plan is a new engine equal to 9 Merlin 1C's. Personally my view is that rather than keep building bigger and bigger rockets they should focus more on reusabllity and increasing flight rates. SpaceX's current plan is to recover the stages by parachute, which they aim to do by flight 6. The disadvantage is that it does not allow rapid turnarounds between flights. To get real 'airline like operations ' the vehicle needs to return to the launch site for refueling and checking out. The most straightforward way would be to add wings and jet engines to turn the F9 first stage into a flyback booster. As an added bonus these can be stacked into a heavy lifter equal to the F9 Heavy. The other option would be to go for a vertical landing a la Armadillo, Masten or Blue Origin. However this would be in essence a new vehicle rather than an evolution of Falcon, and would need a lot of new tech for them to work on (maybe taking over or merging with one of the previously mentioned firms would be bring in the necessary tech?) Moving on to the upper stage, a vertical lander could make sense with either of these first stages. Alternatively using the existing expendable F9 s2 with a reusable s1 until a fully second generation RLV is operational. Based on experience gained and depending on the path taken either a VHL or VTVL stage and a half design (i.e expendable drop tanks on a RLV) should be feasible. The third gen would then be a full SSTO capable of multiple flights per day.

As for the heavier vehicles pictured, I'm not sure what purposed the Falcon X and X heavy have. If the XX is supposed to be Saturn 5 class and the 9 competes in the current heavy lft class, what sort of payloads are these expected to launch? Also, while the big launchers could be useful, it is my view that flying smaller payloads on high flight vehicles would be more cost effective, while some very cool things are possible with just Dragon, F9 s2 and fuel depots. More on that later!

Book pile update 32

2011-04-01T08:00:00.001+01:00

Yet more additions! I picked up the other week a signed copy of 22 Days in May by David Laws, which I have finished and made me want Laws to hurry up and return to the government. I also read the space tourism book i got from the BIS event last week over the weekend, and have been quite preoccupied with space-thoughts since. The other weekend I went to Rochester and found a copy of Gerard O'Neils The High Frontier (whihc I have read previously so probably won't read again right now), and Vinland: the Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson. Finally last week I used the giftcards I got for xmas on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and have on order from Waterstones Beyond the Corporation by David Erdal (after reading Mark Wadsworth's review thought I'd check it out) Still on the pile: The Pillars of Rome by Jack Ludlow The Last Murghal by William Dalrymple How to predict the Weather with a Cup of Coffee (and other Techniques for Surviving the 9-5 Jungle) by Matthew Cole Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Noziack Zero-G by Alton Ganksy The Constitution of Liberty and A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke On Liberty by John Sturt Mills The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker Life of Pi by Yann Martel Islands by Dan Sleigh The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

So much for a political career

2011-03-31T22:01:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I received my polling card for the may elections, which reminded me that the nomination pack I got from Medway council was still sitting on a shelf. I got it out tonight only to find the deadline for nominations to be submitted is Monday. Plus there was a form that needed to be signed by the parties nominations officer (who lives somewhere in the west country) I still had to find 10 people to sign the form, and despite living in Medway for over 5 years I couldn't think of that many people I know who would be willing to so do I thought 'oh sod it' If am not going to give it my all I don't see much point in doing something, especially if the results is something like 6 votes. Instead will support more motivated candidates like Alex. Since becoming a party official in November I feel I have been pretty lame so far, what with not pulling my finger out and doing anything for the TUC demo last week, and now this. Truth is my heart isn't really in it at the moment, the whole political situation in the UK fills me with despair. Despite not having done much blogging under my new alter-ego I have found it more enjoyable tweeting on trivial stuff (kind of telling that my other account had double the number of followers of the real me and has posted more tweets as well) As am not going to be running for office now maybe I'll revert to animeblogging here next season and revive the Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Catgirls name?

A bried return for Planes in Anime

2011-03-30T18:38:00.003+01:00

I know am supposed to be being all serious now, but I was wandering around the West end on Monday and happened to spot this:

Yes, Airfix in their wisdom deiced that what would really make a 1:72 scale TSR2 kit sell would be to stick the girls from Stratos 4 on the box!

I can kind of see the logic of releasing this in Japan, but the UK? The show has been released over here but I doubt there will be much demand for this kit. What were they thinking?

It gets worse, they even included pilots seated in the shows 'unique' flying position. Oh god.....

An evening at the British Interplanetary Society

2011-03-25T18:16:00.004Z

Last night I attended the launch (no pun intended!) of this book at the British Interplanetary Society. I haven't posted anything on space for a while (or on anything else-ed), partly because of my general malaise.

Also though the waiting has been an issue. It is about 10 years now since I first became aware of Newspace. It was when doing some research in my universities library that I came across an article in SciAm on Rotary Rocket. Searching online lead me to the other firms of the era- Kistler, Pioneer Rocketplane, Kelly Space and sites like Hobbyspace/RLVnews.

Since then these firms have gone and been succeeded by the likes of XCOR, Virgin Galactic and Armadillo. I've built up quite a collection of books on the subject, all saying how Space Tourism is just around the corner. And while it does look likely that suborbital flights may start next year, the delays have taken a toll on my enthusiasm.

So it was refreshing to hear an energetic speaker, pointing out how long it took to go from the Wrights to the first passenger flights. It was also cool to visit the BIS for the first time and to check out their library and collection of artifacts. After yesterday my enthusiasm has been rekindled, and I spent the train home last night I musing on the next few years potential progress. I still expect that I'll be able to make a flight some point, so for now will keep saving!

BTW, here's me with the Author Derek Webber:

Quick Links 29

2011-03-22T22:30:00.001Z

(Originally posted at the LPUK blog) A good video at PJTV featuring Glenn Reynolds interviewing author and former Reason editor Virginia Postrel, Moonbat makes sense shock!, Dominic Lawson in the Indy sets out how public spending cuts are being blown out of all proportion. I especially liked this bit: 'government spending totalled £343bn in 1999-2000, which, if it had just kept pace with inflation, would have reached £438bn by 2009-2010. In reality, spending in that year reached £669bn, an increase, in real terms, of 53 per cent, over a 10- year period in which GDP had grown by less than 17 per cent. When you factor in how much of that GDP increase was the result of unprecedented levels of private debt then the truly unsustainable nature of the public spending becomes vividly apparent' Mark Wallace sets out the Libertarian case for intervention in Libya, and a counter argument by Sean Gabb (I'm probably in a minority in that I agree with Mark rather than Sean, indeed foreign policy is the main reason I prefer to call myself a Classical Liberal rather than a Libertarian ) And finally, some events that may be of interest, the ASI's annual Blogger Bash takes place on 21st Of April, plus next week they are hosting a debate on AV. This Thursday the Freedom Association is having a debate on the ECHR. And then there is the TUC's anti cuts rally this Saturday. After discussing it with the Metropolitan police we felt having a counter protest would be a bit hazardous, what with us being able to field (optimistically) 20 people against 50,000+ socialists in a bad mood. What we might do is a 'guerrilla' event, just going along and causally giving out flyers with our point of view to members of the public. If anyone is interested in doing this give me a yell . (postscript- in the end I didn't going due to hungoverness/fear for personal safety/lack of preparation)

Quick links 28

2011-03-17T22:44:00.000Z

A few interesting reads I've spotted over the last few days and wish to share, but don't have much in way of additional commentary: First off happy St. Patrick's day, though as Dan Hannan points out the Irish have little to celebrate at the moment, Peter Hoskin in the Spectator on rumours that George Osbourne is going to merge NI and Income tax, an idea that has much merit (of course I'd go further and have a flat rate with no exceptions, scrap PAYE and have a single page tax return), Also at the Spectator, Frasier Nelson on 'Clegg's liberalism' - only trouble with his conclusion is that there still is a quite left wing Liberal party. LPUK would be a better home for him, Laws and Alexander IMO. Indeed, after reading this great post at Liberal Vision echoing my earlier thoughts on State funded arts I definitely think there is common ground between us and the 'orange bookers', Moving on, some good thoughts on the Fukushima nuclear incident by Reason's Ron Bailey, and a conclusion I can heartily agree with: ''The main problem with energy supply systems is that for the last 100 years, governments have insisted on meddling with them, using subsidies, setting rates, and picking technologies. Consequently, entrepreneurs, consumers, and especially policymakers have no idea which power supply technologies actually provide the best balance between cost-effectiveness and safety.' And finally, a plug for an upcoming event that may be of interest: The Liberty Leagues Freedom Forum 2011. Details and how to register here.

Reasons to be cheerful

2011-03-07T22:16:00.000Z

(Cross posted fromLPUK blog)

Unlike Tim and Andrew, I'm going to (shock!) say nice things about the current Conservative-Lib-dem coalition government. Yes, from a Libertarian point of view there is a lot to moan about, from non cuts to the banker bashing. However there are a few good things here and there which deserve encouraging rather than a constant barrage of 'they're not going far enough'. So here are 5 highlights:

5) Income tax threshold being raised to £10k
Kind of fallen of the radar for now (which is odd considering was a key L-D concession), but come April for most of us there should be a gain, and those on the lowest levels of income will pay no income tax at all (yes I know will still be NI), which is a good thing IMO.

4) ID cards scrapped.
For now at least the idea of a policeman demanding to see your papers is history. In addition there's the Freedom bill, while not perfect is a good start at rolling back the excess of the New Labour years, and (as this summary by Freedom Association shows)

3) Health reforms
Scrapping the SHA's can only be a good thing in my book, though despite what the Guardian thinks this is by no means the end of the NHS. Again it would be better to give patients control of funding rather than GP's but is a step in the right direction. This leads into my next point:

2) Free Schools
Our single best hope for the future in countering the statists? If the ability of parents to start a new school takes off it could leas to questions about why the state needs to run schools at all, then maybe we can move on to hospitals. Plus if the teaching unions are this upset they must be doing something right.

1) Gordon Brown is no longer PM.
Don't those words bring a smile to your face?

Lacking motivation

2011-03-06T20:32:00.003Z

Since I got back from my travels have been a bit down, it always seems to be the case when have been looking forward to something for months, and it is suddenly over. Plus the cold, short days and the current situation at work aren't helping.

Overall have found myself with little to say and no energy to write much lately. Had done a few short bits for the LPUK blog (which I just imported to this site as the separate blogger site is going to be shut down soon), but the current political situation is sooo depressing I really don't feel like commenting much.

On the plus side am applying for an NVQ in management at work, and hopefully as the weather improves and we get into the may election campaigns (am going to be standing for Medway council) I will find some fresh motivation. This week am going to be busy again (was out 3 nights last week) at the ASI's next generation Tuesday and the YBF rally Wednesday, so posting will be light this week too.

Book pile update 31

2011-03-06T20:12:00.001Z

A very comprehensive list, since I last updated it have bought and read a great deal.

To start with, books received for Christmas:
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
Superfreakanomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The Disaperance of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Noziack (this is the only one that is still to be read)

Had also bought a number of other books recently, so far these ones have been read:
Tokyo by Graham Marks
Disgusting Bliss: the Brass Eye of Chris Morris by Lucian Randall
K-ON! Vol 1 by kakifly
Azumanga Daioh omnibus by Kiyohiko Azuma
The Quiet War by Paul McAuley

Others bought and still to read:

The Last Murghal by William Dalrymple

How to predict the Weather with a Cup of Coffee (and other Techniques for Surviving the 9-5 Jungle) by Matthew Cole

The Pillars of Rome by Jack Ludlow

Phew! Anything else? Oh yes, I finally got round to reading Churchill by Roy Jenkins while in Africa, and a friend loaned my Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson which I finished just before going away.

Still on the pile:
Zero-G by Alton Ganksy
The Constitution of Liberty and A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek
The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Islands by Dan Sleigh
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

Video of the day: The Decline and Triumph of Classical Liberalism

2011-03-05T13:50:00.000Z

Seems apt how after Barnsley the party that started with Gladstone may end with Clegg

Quote of the day 13

2011-03-02T21:05:00.000Z

If the roads, the railways, the banks, the insurance offices, the great joint stock companies, the universities, and the public charities, were all of them branches of the government; if, in addition, the municipal corporations and local boards, with all that now devolves on them become departments of the central administration; if the employees of all these different enterprises were appointed and paid by the government, and looked to the government for every rise in life; not all the freedom of the press and popular constitution of the legislature would make this country free otherwise than in name'

J S Mill, quoted by Hannan and Carswell in The Plan, 12 months to renew Britain (p 145).

Sadly it seems we reached this situation some time ago...

The Kings Speech does not mean we should subsidise the film industry

2011-03-01T21:53:00.000Z

A truly bizarre piece on the Torygraph blogs (does it still warrant that nickname?) on the value of state subsidised films. I beg to disagree. Art and culture are such subjective areas- one mans trash is another's treasure, that there will always be controversy as to what merits support (witness the fuss the Turner Prize generates every year.)

Therefore I am strongly of the opinion that nothing cultural should receive public funding. Despite what the luvvies claim, it is possible to fund films without state support. But what of the projects that the studio's won't back you cry? Well if you are unable to raise the funds for you project, it is probably a sign that it is commercially viable, so why should the taxpayer fund your vanity project?

Plus if you are truly dedicate to your art and believe in it that much take a look at what Kevin Smith did to fund his first movie, or how Japanese animator Makoto Shinkai produced his first movie by himself on a a macbook. You will find a way to fund it without state support, which will make the result even more of an achievement.

Has it really been 2 months since I last posted here?

2011-02-20T20:39:00.000Z

It would appear so. I had planned to have a break over Christmas, however as is often the case events kind of snowballed, one thing let to another and next thing I knew was Feb 20th.

So what have I been up to the past 2 months?

Well Christmas was very hectic and knocked me for 6, then New Years Eve was very.... messy. First two weeks of the year was really busy at work, then was off on Holiday to Egypt and Kenya.

Yes Egypt, just before the revolution. Apart from 3 vans of riot police parked outside my hostel (was literally just round the corner from Tahrir square) the last two days was no sign of the coming events, first I heard of was when checked my e-mail when in Naivasha). Only trouble had was when I was due to fly back and change plans in Cairo. I got to the airport (at 1am, as my flight was 4:30), only to find it had been cancelled. Thankfully Egyptair got me on a flight to Amsterdam, and after a three hour wait a BA flight back to London. Overall was just delayed by 6 hours so got off lightly, plus as an added bonus got a £175 refund from Egyptair!

Apart from that was a really good time, saw a lot of cool animals and sights (some photos posted here, more to follow) and met some nice people. Would definitely do again.

Since getting back haven't been very well, coming down with a stomach bug day after returning and once that was gone caught a cold. Now feeling nice and relaxed and ready to get stuck back into things (have already done a few posts at the LPUK blogs)

The myth of the two party system

2011-02-18T19:46:00.000Z

Spotted this week a column by James Forsyth of the Spectator, offering the usual Tory criticisms of electoral reform (i.e. that they won't be able to form a government, blithely ignoring the current situation). What really aggregated me however was this bit:

'The layout of the Commons’ chamber — with MPs facing each other, separated by the distance of two swords — creates an expectation that there should be two sides in politics, a government party and an opposition party.'

He then goes on about how we've always had a 2 party system. Apart from the postwar era however is historically inaccurate. Going back to the early 19th century, it was just Whigs and Tories right? Eh, no, there were radicals and Irish MP's (who formed a succession of different parties). The Conservatives (formally Tories) split over the corn laws forming the peelites, giving 5 parties in the 1850's. These merged with the Whigs and Radicals to form the Liberal Party, bring the total number in parliament. down to 3.

20 years later the Liberal Unionists broke away over Ireland, giving 4 again. By the eve of WW1 they had merged with the Conservatives, however the rise of Labour meant there were still 4 main parties in the commons. Post war the Irish party was wiped out, and the Liberals split yet again. Up until WW2 there were still 3-4 main parties, and this has been the case since the 80's again.

So to say that Britain has always had a 2 party system is a gross exaggeration. My hope is that we are heading towards another realignment of the parties, and that there will prove room for a socially and economically liberal party like LPUK.

Perpetual Motion economics

2011-02-09T23:07:00.000Z

Allister Heath's City A.M editorial (in response to the Governments new bank Levy) is so good it deserves quoting at length:

'Please bear with me, dear reader, as I try to recount what passes for common sense at the Treasury. “The banks” are back in the black, so they can afford to pay more – and given that they remain weirdly enamoured with London, they will put up with ever-higher taxes and continue as if nothing had happened. There will (of course) be no adverse effect on lending volumes, interest rates charged, the cost of services (such as advisory or fundraising work), the employment of staff in London, dividends paid to institutional shareholders or anything else that matters. The only changes will be that profit and compensation will be reduced (with no negative effect on the incentives of shareholders or staff, obviously, and no knock-on effects) – and that the government will collect more money. A faultless scheme, the budgetary equivalent of perpetual motion.

The Labour party agrees that taxing banks doesn’t have any disadvantages or unintended, perverse consequences: it just thinks the UK should do even more of it, and specifically tax profits and bonuses even harder (the government doesn’t really disagree; it hints it will do that if the Merlin talks collapse). It’s a firmly entrenched new consensus, shared by most of the media and virtually all of the public, who want banks “to pay their fair share” (a moving target, but one which it increasingly seems to mean close to 100 per cent of profits and pay). As Voltaire’s Candide might have put it, it’s all for the best in the best of all possible worlds.'

It is truly a shame that there doesn't seem to be anyone in power who understands the first rule of economics (incentives matter). Furthermore to any financiers regretting the funding they have lavished on the Tory party, there is a party here in LPUK that doesn't go in for banker bashing and actually understands how economics works in the real world.

I survived last week

2010-12-20T22:04:00.003Z

But only with the help of Halls Soothers. Seriously, nearly 2 weeks now I've had this damn cough. Return of the snow cocked up my plans for Saturday and going home for Christmas. Despite all this still managed to have a very hectic week, highlights were the Idlewild gig on Tuesday, IEA debate between Mark Littlewood and Nigel Farage on Thursday and pre-reg party Friday.

Really was just as well didn't go out Sat as was seriously tired, after going to get a haircut and some shopping had no energy left for getting on a train to London again.

Pending the weather, should be at the LA xmas party this Thursday, then I'm done for the year.

You say you want a revolution? I say 'No thanks'

2010-12-20T21:04:00.003Z

In light of recent events, reading this today made me shudder at what next year might bring, I am not a fan of revolutions, as they get out of hand far too easily and cause unnecessary suffering and even death to ordinary people. Plus they are hardly good for private property and the rule of law! Most of all thought they tend to decrease liberty (the US war of Independence being the most obvious exception)

So when I read Libertarians saying in effect 'bring it on' I have say my view is 'hell no'-mainly because we'd loose. We have seen how easy it is for our ideological opponents (leftists, statists, Fabians, call they what you will) to get tens of thousands of people on the streets waving socialist worker placards and smashing up topshops. We, on the other hand struggle to fill a small pub in London. If it did kick off next year, can you honestly say you'd think we'd get less government?

Too many people had bought the line that everything going down now is due to 'greedy bankers' and taxing the rich would prevent the (minuscule) cuts being made. For us to succeed we need to play a long game, and focus on getting out to real people with the truth about how economics, money and government work. Most of all we need to be saying over and over 'There's no such thing as a free lunch'.

The free market/classical liberal movement had done pretty poorly in the past at getting this message out to people. I believe it should be LPUK's priority to focus on this and build our base, focusing on grassroots networks and getting in a position to supplant the Tories and Lib dems in local councils over the next few years.

It will take time for us to build up momentum (time we may not have), remember how long it took the Fabians to get to the position where they could implement their agenda. Even if it takes us 20 years, is still better than blood on the streets

'Tis the season to be crazy busy

2010-12-12T22:17:00.003Z

Last week was pretty busy, what with the ASI and Cobden centre's xmas parties, and a friend's gig last night Looking ahead posting will be light to non existent this week, as my schedule is as follows:

Monday- Dentists then xmas shopping,
Tuesday- Panel discussion on Britain's Trillion Pound Horry Story at Portcullis House, the Idlewild gig at the Garage in Highbury.
Wednesday- dinner for a work colleagues birthday,
Thursday- xmas lunch, in the evening an event at the IEA with Nigel Farage,
Friday- Pre reg xmas party,
Saturday- A friend's 30th birthday/homecoming drinks (has been travelling for 6 months),
Sunday- in bed all day recovering!

Video of the day 5

2010-12-10T13:11:00.002Z

Reason TV interview Taxpayers Alliance director Matthew Elliot on Britain's Burgeoning Tax Revolt.

Book pile update 30

2010-12-05T18:50:00.000Z

I finished The Alternative Manifesto by Eamon Butler the other week, and also his Austrian School Primer (both of which were very good). A friend lent me Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson which I had been reading on the train.

While have been housebound this week got through 2 novels that have been on the pile for ages, Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (OK apart from some of the politics- all the bad senators are Republican. I bet Ron Paul and the like wouldn't have acted that way!) and The Half Life of Stars by Louise Wener. (very enjoyable and well paced).

Still on the pile:
Zero-G by Alton Ganksy
The Constitution of Liberty and A Tiger by the Tail by F. A. Hayek
The Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de Soto
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Churchill by Roy Jenkins
Islands by Dan Sleigh
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

A strange week

2010-12-05T18:47:00.000Z

Has been a a slightly odd week all in all. Thanks to a cold and the snow was only in work 2 1/2 days, and housebound the rest of the time. This meant I couldn't make it to either event was supposed to attend- Tim Worstall's book launch on Tuesday and the monthly LPUK get together Thursday. Instead have been reading a lot and watching a lot of DVD's/videos. Plus today I put up my xmas tree.

Thankfully am much better and the snow has almost all melted now, so should be able to make it to this weeks xmas parties. The Adam Smith Institute is having one tomorrow, and the Cobden centre on Thursday.

I hate Space Marxists

2010-12-03T20:12:00.000Z

Though I didn't even realise they existed until I read this devastaing review (via)

Keynesian Economics Is Wrong

2010-12-03T17:34:00.000Z

Not that we need convincing but very good regardless.

I also came across these two good pieces from the Cobden centre today. The first an audio interview on the situation in Ireland from an Austrian perspective, and second currency devaluation and economic growth.

Quick links 27

2010-12-03T16:56:00.001Z

Two good pirces from the Cobden centre, first a audio interview on the situation in Ireland from an Austrain perspective, and second currency devaluation and economic growth.

From the tele blogs, James Delingpole's latest on AGW, and Dan Hannan on how the financial crisi should have been delt with,

a guest post I made on party member Alex Ellis Roswell's blog,

and finally via twitter, a good liberty quote

Whither the Lib Dems?

2010-12-03T14:27:00.004Z

Another interesting read found via Liberal Vision. Whole thing is worth reading, but I found this bit in particular worth highlighting:

At 12.5% the Lib Dems are just not going to win many seats at a GE and the ones they do win will be due to big name local incumbents. The marginals (and Scotland?) will be gone. My own (FPTP based) model has the Lib Dems gaining just 22 seats at the current level in the polls and an enormous Labour majority. The Lib Dems would be dead (and Dave too) if current polls were actual GE vote shares.

Based on recent events I suspect 22 seats is optimistic. The tuition fee's vote could well be the straw that breaks the camel's back and leads to a full party split. Breaking away or joining Labour could well be the only way for the majority of Lib Dem MP's to keep their seat next election.

UPDATED: more on Clegg's woes

Quote of the day 12

2010-12-03T09:13:00.005Z

“I don’t care if the FA and clubs want to host it, pay for it (and all the associated policing) themselves, but force people to pay and you cross a line.”
-commentator Nonconformistradical on this post at Liberal Vision

In other news I couldn't get to London today as was one train that was so full I couldn't get on, and all the others were cancelled

Hypocritical Utah Republicans for Pork

2010-12-02T20:50:00.000Z

Good piece by Rand Simberg here on how Republicans are just as bad as democrats when it comes to bringing home the bacon

First attempt at video production

2010-11-30T21:23:00.002Z

Have been playing around with xtranormal, and this is my first effort. Dialogue is basically cribbed from the LPUK website. Feedback greatly appreciated

Parting of the ways

2010-11-28T11:33:00.000Z

I have been blogging here for about 3 years, and under the banner 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Catgirls' for about 2. The name summed up perfectly my main interests that I wished to blog about. However the last few months I have been considering whether this has been a good approach. I doubt the people who come here for the anime stuff are interested in the political stuff. Conversely I was fearing the the political stuff would not be taken seriously because of the pics of 2D anime girls.

After DK's Andrew Neil incident, I also worried that my anime blogging would be a liability if I ever wanted to get more serious in political activism. As you may have seen on my twitter feed, s of yesterday I am not the South East Regional Coordinator. Therefore I have decided to drop the LLPC name, and focus purely on politics, my life and other interests on this site. I haven't decided yet what to do with my anime post archive, might transfer to the LLPC blogspot domain I have, or remove altogether. I want to make it clear that I am not embarrassed of anything I've posted here in the past, but do not want to give political opponents an easy target to try and undermine me or LPUK. I am also going to be posting to the SE blog as well, please check it out.

Having said that , this is not the end of my anime blogging. Anticipating this I created a new blog recently under a pseudonym, if you e-mail me here I will let you know the new sites URL.

As Vinnie Jones' character said in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels It's been emotional'

Yosuga no sora 8

2010-11-25T21:46:00.003Z

Find it hard to top Kurogane's comments, though do want to add the following:
Am finding the plot is dragging a bit, only redeemed by Sora's jealously (here's hoping for a nice boat ending!)

Did find it funny how Sora was watching them bonking all those years ago, explains a lot about her issues.

Dude sure knows how to show a girl a good time! Also, insert joke about melons here

Funniest part was how Akira's head is so huge now it can sink a ship and eat a whale whole!

A localist agenda

2010-11-23T22:58:00.000Z

Last week I received 2 big plastic bags from my local council for recycling, a blue one for cardboard and white for all other waste. Was also a note that will only be collecting kitchen waste every other week soon.

This annoyed me on a number of levels, but the biggest is the way the council feels it necessary to dictate to us when and what we throw out. This strikes me as a good local issue for LPUK to campaign on at local levels.

Previously at the monthly get together's I've discussed with other members the difficulty of campaigning at a local level, as councils have very little power over what they do and how they pay for it.

Waste however could be a good starting point. At the moment in my area the local council contracts out to Viola to collect domestic waste. So why not cut out the middle men?

Easiest way to do this would be first to make refuse collection a separate charge on council tax bills, as police and fire services are. Should also be same rate for all households, based on a fraction of the amount the current contractor charges the council. Then households could be given the option of contracting out of the council's service if they wish to use that provided by another firm. If people wanted to pay extra for a weekly collection, or for a recycling service good for them. Of course would have to be some mechanism to prevent people from having no service and letting it all build up (al la that Simpson's episode when Homer gets in a fight with the binmen)

If this works and leads to competition and lower prices the idea could be extended to other council services, and show how voluntary associations and charges are the way forward. Eventually I'd like to see all council services undertaken as a voluntary contract, rather than be given a bill and forced to pay for them.

A hypothetical situation for 2015

2010-11-23T21:57:00.001Z

Here's a scenario for though I came up with over the weekend for 2015 (after reading this)

Suppose at the next election the Lib dems obliterated, which seems very likely given the polls. Labour gain northern and Celtic seats, Tories gain in southern England. However neither has an outright majority as Tories loose previously safe seats to UKIP.

If offered an in out referendum and the numbers add up, could we see a Labour-UKIP coalition?

Sorting out the railways part 2

2010-11-23T21:36:00.002Z

Have not had a good couple of day's traveling. Not only have the trains been late almost every day for the last week, but yesterday was an incident at Cannon street that caused me to not get home to gone 7. Then tonight my train was cancelled so had to get the next one which resembled a sardine can (again), only to find the fares are probably going to go up 10% in January.

As I stood there fuming, I though back to my previous post on the matter. Trouble is that there is no way short of a massive program of building new railways to get decent competition. Coach firms can't compete with trains, for me to get one everyday would take twice as long and only be a few hundred pounds cheaper. What is needed is another way to get a better deal for passengers.

So the idea I had is as follows;

Everyone who buys a season ticket gets a share in the train company. These could be set up either as regular stock to be bought and sold, or just to last as long as they ticket is valid and give voting rights at their AGM (like how my building society does).

At least that way they have an influence in how the company is run, and could vote against remuneration packages for boards or against fare increases (assuming of course a massive change from the current system as I outline in my previous post). Is this a feasible idea?

UPDATED: In response to comments Simon made on Twitter, the current system is very much a corporatist model, as shown today by today's news that the government is to spend £8 billion on new rolling stock. As well as owning the track the government sets the timetables and fares, only thing the TOC's do is run the service on their behalf.(see the previous post I made on the subject here)

I want to go back to a fully private system where the government has minimal involvement. As the current system was created by HMG I have no problem with them sorting it out- as long as is done properly. What I am suggesting is a set-up like in a building society where customers are also stakeholders in the enterprise.

Mai Waifu

2010-11-21T21:51:00.002Z

Via twitter, found this today. My result?

Andrew George Janes is destined to marry Azusa Nakano on March 21, 2013 おめでとう^o^/ !!

Yeah baby, result! Why did i use my full name? Because

Andy Janes is destined to marry Fuko Ibuki on August 14, 2011 おめでとう^o^/ !!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Quick links 26

2010-11-19T20:43:00.002Z

More stuff found via twitter, mainly frivolous or pics:

a summary of the tribulations facing soon to be LPUK party leader Andrew Withers,

thoughs on GM's IPO

the top 10 movie plot holes (most of which I'd noticed before),

a couple of nice Amagami pics,

What's Ui found?

get ready of xmas with some K-ON festive wallpapers, plus Santa Mio and one of Ritsu rocking the Avril Lavigne look,

video of the french dissing Miku

and finally, the anime plot generator. Great fun!

Quote of the day 11

2010-11-17T22:24:00.001Z

(too long for twitter)

'The growing state involvement in medicine that began with the National Insurance Act 1911, and culminated in the establishment of the NHS forty seven years later, was largely a power grab by the medical professions. Doctors were relieved of having to do business with ordinary working class people, and could deal instead with officials and politicians of their own class. These officials and politicians had their own status enhanced by the ability to spend vast amounts of the taxpayers' money. For the rich and for increasing numbers of middle class people, choice remained – if at a cartellised price. For ordinary working people, however, medicine became something that was doled out by their betters. This was attended by a great increase in the quality of health care – though this was improvement felt in all other countries regardless of how it was financed. But the result here was a growing apathy among the working classes. Where health care was concerned, they were no long active clients, able and willing to negotiate for what they wanted. They were passive recipients. They paid through their taxes for what they received. But their only input was to vote for politicians who promised better funding or better management of a system that was now insulated from direct pressure.'

Sean Gabb, writing here.

Random idea- an elected monarchy?

2010-11-17T22:23:00.000Z

In all the hubbub around the news yesterday of Wills and Kate's engagement , I noticed how this issue is one which showed a clear divide between Conservatives and Libertarians. looking at my twitter feed, the former were all rather enthusiastic (on BBC news this morning when reviewing the papers mentioned the Mail had 16 pages of coverage! Seems a bit much for just an announcement), while the latter were mainly making comments on the likely cost.

This got be thinking of an ideas I first came across when in Malaysia, elective monarchies. It seems this is not just something dreamed up by George Lucas but has been used many times in the past. And it makes sense, the first chiefs/kings/whatever got the job by being better than the rest of the group (better often meaning stronger, fiercer in battle and so on). They would often then try to pass on there position to their offspring, with various levels of success (one of the most interesting points in the book I just finished was how Charlemagne split his empire between his 3 sons on his death. This eventually lead the different histories of France and Germany; on one weak kings lead to a patchwork of city states and princedoms, and the other a united kingdom)

Getting back to the hear and now, if the UK wishes to keep a monarchy over a presidency (for which their are many good reasons), why not elect the Queen's successor? It is not without precedent for parliament to select a monarch, and would hopefully lead to a national figurehead with more legitimacy and not Queen Cheryl Cole or King David Beckham (I'd like to imagine a selection process doesn't end up something like X Factor).

New Mitsudome trailer

2010-11-17T20:33:00.001Z

Streaming here. Must have been a great gig for whoever was stuck inside that costume...

Yosuga no sora 7

2010-11-17T20:31:00.000Z

Wait, so Nao and Haru boinked when they were preteens? Can't work out how old they were supposed to be, given he looked about 10 and her rack was bigger than Sora's is now.

Other highlights this week included jealous Sora (why she fights Nao in the second ED makes more sense now),

Private swimming lessons leading to a jack in a box, then.

Haru getting to second base with Nao (despite already having previous home run),

Finally, the extra section was very funny, liked how Mokota went from dere-dere to ripping off Haru's clothes in 3 seconds flat

BTW, why is SD Akira's head so huge?

The trouble with UKIP

2010-11-14T22:32:00.000Z

There was an interesting post on the telegraph blog the other day asking 'could a revived UKIP be the British Tea Party' My answer-no.

Trouble is that UKIP (IMO) is still a single issue party, and that issue is the EU. Even though they have tried to broaden their base and did indeed have an interesting manifesto in the last election, that is all they are seen as by the majority of the electorate. This is borne out by how the only elections they every do well in are the European ones. In local and National elections they tend to do poorly, as it is hard to sell yourself to the electorate when your main issue is not seen as a high priority. Plus it doesn't help that it has a history of splits and in-fighting.

In addition, there are IMO two main reasons to be anti the EU. The first how it is remote, undemocratic, corrupt and the good of the free movement of goods and individuals within are more than outweighed by the barriers against the rest of the world. Unfortunately the majority of UKIP members have the second view- that is they don't like being told what to do by 'Johnny Foreigner'

Indeed, this is what bothers me most about UKIP- its members. While there are a few libertarian minded ones like Mark Wadsworth and Tim Worstall, I'm friends with a few on facebook and they are pretty much broken records. Every time I check my feed they are going on how all politicians are traitors, there is no difference between the main parties and how the electorate are fools/naive/sheep for voting for them. I get the impression that a lot of them would be perfectly happy with freedom-restricting legislation if it comes from Westminster- casein point their proposed Burka ban.

Overall I recon that any proposed UK tea party-like movement needs to have a have a pro-liberty message as it's core. And that is why I'm in LPUK.

20,000 visits!

2010-11-14T21:19:00.002Z

20,083 to be exact, according to sitemeter. Sadly majority are still google image referrals (most visited page? This one). Still, onwards and upwards.

Quick links 25

2010-11-14T20:24:00.001Z

More stuff found on Twitter (and elsewhere) the last few days, some of which I'd already re-tweeted:

The future of high speed rail in the US in doubt,

The ASI on now tax loop-holes should be closed and taxes cut- an idea I fully support,

Some interesting historical thoughts on the Liberal heyday,

Sean Gabb on the case against central planning (written when I was 2 months old!),

very sad news- the Devil/soon to be ex-leader bows out (for now),

a video explaining Quantitative easing,

some weird videos; first the sort of crazy animation that can only come from Japan, and two random fan mixes- K-ON bollywood style, and K-ON soviet style,

and finally, some cute pic's of Azu-nyan's VA. think she's visiting a studio but not 100% sure.

Remember me 2010

2010-11-11T22:13:00.000Z

As is my annual tradition, to mark Remembrance day, here is British Sea Power's 2003 video to the song Remember me.

Yosuga no Sora 1-6

2010-11-11T22:10:00.001Z

I was intrigued enough by Jason's post the other day to download and catch up on the first 6 episodes of this show. All I can say to start with is.... wow, this was actually broadcast?

First episode alone featured implied incest, and actual onanism, and it just gets racier from there on.
(note to Akira- if you're sitting on a guy's lap in the bath there's only one thing that can be poking you!)

Set-up is typical of the ero-VN adaptation, new guy Haruka (and creepy sister) return to small village after parental tragedy, where they meet various people they used to know and uncover secret pasts.

Like Amagami they've decided to do multiple stories (would be a bit hard to have otherwise, not many girls would be willing to date the guy who just banged your sister). However the way they decided to go back to a previous point in the story rather than reboot entirely is a bit too much like a VN. Plus of the two girls featured so far, the only factor which changed was which one went outside when Haruka (isn't that a girl's name BTW?) tried to return a cell phone- seems a bit odd to be that is all it takes to lead to him to falling her.

Art is ok, though have taken the lazy route and only given each character one casual outfit, VA work is good so far but what I really like most though is the parody sections after the first ED (2nd ED is much better an upbeat), thanks to the SD art style and clumsy/pathetic maid. Will def keep watching ,but is very much a guilty pleasure.

Rage against the rioters

2010-11-11T21:55:00.000Z

Unlike a number of libertarian bloggers who he found their rage abated the last few months, I'm finding it is constantly growing. However whereas in the past the likes of DK, Mr Eugenides and Obo were venting at the Brown government, it is everyone else that sends my bile rising.

Right now am watching this programme on Channel 4 Britain's trillion pound horror story, and the figures are truly terrifying- total national debt of £ 4.8 trillion, equivalent to £77,000 per person, or a stack of £50 note 6561 miles high! Yet as yesterday's riots showed every special interest group screams blue murder when their subsidy/perks are affected. If I read one more letter in the ES by some Quango boss saying why their organisation should be spared (as this blog post at Samizdata the other day pocked fun at) I feel I'll scream in the middle of the train.

Indeed, as this editorial in the Standard today says, the Coalition has been utterly useless at making the case for why the (tiny) cuts being made are necessary:

'The Coalition's dramatic claim that Britain was on the “brink of bankruptcy” prior to George Osborne's Superman-type intervention has been pooh-poohed by so many leading economists as to be at least highly questionable. The suspicion that the axing is fuelled by Conservative ideology more than necessity (a belief fostered by Tories cheering as the Chancellor made his Spending Review statement last month) continues to linger.'

Worse, they are not making the case why a smaller state is desirable, and are leaving us open to arguments at the next election if conditions improve that we can continue as before.

Returning to the programme I'm watching, so far has been excellent overall, with contributions by Phil booth, Eamonn Butler, Richard Wellings Mark Littlewood,and Alister Heath. Those of us who do think a smaller state is a good thing need to make more programmes like this and get
on selling our message in a positive way. Rather than letting the Fabians, Keynesian's and the rest dominate the narrative and tag us as heartless, tight b*stards we need to take control of the agenda and argue that it is better not to coerce people into paying for stuff they would rather not spend their money on.

Another idiotic call for a ban caused by a personnel tragedy

2010-11-11T19:50:00.003Z

This time that horror of horror, window blind cords! Won't someone please think of the children!!! (why am I not surprised this happened in Essex?)

I'm sorry Mrs. Edwards, but just because you've had a tragedy it is daft to blame the type of curtain and banning them won't bring your little girl back. Considering how many households have these blinds without causing fatalities lets just accept this as a bizarre one off before we call for the government to protect us from our own stupidity. Children will always find ways to cause accidents if not supervised carefully, blaming the item is like calling the candlestick rather than Colonel Mustard the murder in a game of Cluedo

Stupid cartoon

2010-11-08T21:08:00.002Z

Another pic via twitter (original here). I know it shouldn't but I still found the lazy logic and really annoying.

In all three cases it wasn't so much a lack of but a failure of oversight (esp in the banks, no mention of the central banks role in the crisis).

Is typical statist thinking that evil big corporations are the biggest problem, never mind that they only exist due to the current legal system.

It also fails to realise that the tea parties and us 'crazy' classical liberals are more concerned about the role of rather than the size of government, hence the key phrase 'limited government'

UPDATE 091110- the UK Libertarian has a fixed version. V. good!

Quote of the day 10

2010-11-08T20:46:00.003Z

From this excellent piece (via)

Where does it go from here? It will all depend upon whether Classical Liberals can unite around a few standard bearers. And how prominent those Classical Liberals become in the leadership of their respective parties. I believe the future is theirs for the taking. Social-ethical small c conservatism is dying, especially among the under forties. Economic state interventionism will not achieve the economic growth needed to avoid the UK being reneged to museum status. Flagship aims such as tax cuts have huge popular appeal.

Leaving individuals free is the way to go.

Read the whole thing, plus the comments.

Question is, how big a role will LPUK play in all this? Sad truth is Steve Baker has had far more impact as a Tory MP than the whole of LPUK so far. If the party is to have a future it must adopt a 'flypaper strategy' of picking up all those from other parties of a similar view and spread a positive message of individual freedom and voluntary association

NME Weekender and other craziness

2010-11-08T20:25:00.000Z

'twas a manic weekend indeed...

Started on Thursday evening with LPUK meetup in Southwark, then a very busy day at work on Friday. In the evening went to Medway beer festival and had a variety of regional ales (best named one I tried? Betty's Big Sister) and some Belgian fruit beers (Cassis one was very good. Wanted to try the 11.5% champagne beer but was £20 a bottle!)

Saturday had first lie in for 2 weeks, which was slightly spoilt by waking up at half 6 but luckily managed to get some more rest. After a bit of shopping down town was the main event this weekend, the NME weekender at Camber Sands, which my brother won tickets for. Was a bit of an unusual venue (reminded me of the scene in Spinal Tap where they get second billing to a puppet show). Only band I wanted to see (and also the only one I'd heard of) were the headliners, British Sea Power.

Lighting wasn't very good, and was bit smokey but managed to get a few good shots:

I love the lighting in this one

Guitarist Eamon with a pizza someone threw on stage...

...prior to climing the stage, running around with a drum and general craziness at the end of the set.

By time got back was gone 1am, end result of this was that I pretty much crashed out yesterday (had to have a nap in the afternoon!). Thankfully have nothing planned for this week.

Libertarian Alliance Conference 2010

2010-11-01T20:35:00.000Z

Very busy weekend (not helped by engineering works and my brother's girlfriends birthday), mainly occupied by the Annual LA conference. This years was another excellent event event, with a wide range of speakers on a number of topics.

Was a slight change this year in that instead of a Q&A session after each speaker they were grouped together into panel discussions. This had the advantage that we didn't have to listen to the ramblings of attendees in love with the sound of their own voices, however it did mean that the questions tended to be focused on one particular speaker.

Kicking things off on Saturday was Christie Davies on Humour, Freedom and Political Incorrectness, with a look at jokes and how the law is unevenly applied depending on the subject.

Next up was Dr. Peter Mentzel on
Praxeology, History and the Perils of Historicism, a subject that didn't make much sense to me,

was kind of interesting but I didn't really see the relevance of

Highlight of the day for me was Steve Baker MP on
Honest Money and the Future of Banking (esp. after the Hayek lecture on Thursday). Left me cautiously optimistic, esp Douglas Carswell's bill (even though it prob. won't get passed at least the subject is being discussed)

After lunch and a Q&A session (dominated by Steve), we had Kenli Schoolland on A New Playing Field - A View from the Next Generation. She mainly gave examples of past successes like the New Zealand government in the 80's, but would have been more interesting to hear about her own experiences (is active in the Hawaiian Libertarian party)

Alex Deane of Big Brother Watch (subject: Anonymity is Not a Crime) then thoroughly depressed me by calling the here and now the high point of the coalition's commitment to civil liberties (esp after the bomb plot this very weekend), and suggested that part of the problem is that Cameron trusts his civil servants to much and can't see their agendas when they oppose reforms.

Finally Dr. Terence Kealey of the university of Buckingham spoke on a subject near to my heart;
Against Publicly Funded Science. Was very interesting to hear of figures in this weeks economist that show that for every $ of public funding spent on scientific research it crowds out more than a $ worth of private funding

After a final Q&A sessions (LA Director Tim Evans moderating the afternoon's speakers, was dinner and then beer.

Sunday morning I made a cock up and put my phone's clock back, not realising it self adjusted so was an hour late.Luckily I wasn't the only one, and the morning sessions had only just started when i arrived.

Subject was Freedom and the Internet by Malcolm Hutty, mainly on how the legal system is catching up with tech and the attempts by governments and big business (music industry) to regulate the Internet

I though Jock Coats on Mutualism would be another highlight, however he focused more on his how his own thoughts had developed rather than the practicalities and prospects for more mutualist groups (of which I am a bog fan)

Instead Peter Tatchell on
Multiculturalism - Right or Wrong?
turned out to be the most interesting speaker of the day, was good to hear a leftie criticising his own side (for inconsistencies like support fundamentalists who opposed gay rights).

On this subject was very much in agreement with him (shame he made a few points near the end on his other views which the audience picked on in the Q&A session, he even asked for them to be asked stuff towards the end such was he the focus of attention)

Finally the conference wrapped up with Dr. Mark Pennington talking about The Mirage of Climate Justice. Was getting sleepy by this point and almost dozed off, but the gist was that legal actions by 'victims' of climate change were pointless and unnecessary.

Overall was an excellent weekend.

Book pile update 29 (post conference edition)

2010-11-01T20:00:00.003Z

As always with the LA conference, come home with a huge pile of books and papers to read. Highlights this year were the Hayek album (centre of pic), and Eamonn Butler's Alternative manifesto and Austrian economics primer, plus two books on Hayeks writings- a summary of the Constitution of Liberty and A Tiger by the Tail.

I also got a (signed) book on the Austrian school by Prof Jesus Huerta de soto at the LSE event on Thursday. Since the last post on this subject I have finished one bok, Tom Holland's Millenium (very good, full review to follow)
Still on the pile:

Zero-G by Alton Ganksy
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith
Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
The Half Life of Stars by Louise Wener
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Churchill by Roy Jenkins
Islands by Dan Sleigh
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

Quick Links 24

2010-11-01T19:04:00.004Z

Stuff I saw on Twitter today that I didn't get round to re-tweeting:

A must addictive K-ON! game, a new logo for MGM, and lastly on the subject of K-ON!, a nice bit of Halloween themed fan art

Moving on to two space themed links, one on the possible impact of space tourism on the atmosphere (already criticised by Clark at Hobbyspace), and a second on the possibility of a UK involvement in Lunar colonisation.

And finally, Liberal Vision on flat tax

Thoughts on big idea discussion last night

2010-10-27T21:27:00.006+01:00

So last night I braved the wind and rain to go to a big ideas event, titled 'What is political Liberty?'. The speaker was a professor from Queen Mary University called Quentin Skinner. He started off quite positively by going over the ideas of Hobbs, Locke and Mills.

However it went downhill rapidly when he started going on about 'neo-romanism' and the problem with arbitrary powers; he seemed a lot more concerned with these than oppressive legislation. Indeed he pretty much said as long as the majority approves of an action it is acceptable (did at least concede the problem with minority views but didn't have a solution, and dismissed the suggestion that there be limits of legislates to protect freedom).

Given he also made sneering comments about 'Daily Mail readers', Tea partiers and flat out said he though libertarians were wrong was pretty clear Prof. Skinner was not an ally of liberty. Did get some use out of it though, when he said how there are a number of political ideas which we all priorities differently. Coupled with that chart I linked to on Monday I have come up with the following:

'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'. Pick one. (I choose the first)

An interview with Aubrey de Grey

2010-10-27T21:27:00.005+01:00

Via NBF, at wired. Funny enough, after my recent musings on what to spend a fortune on see he's had a similar idea with theNew Organ Prize. I'd definitely fund if had a few million spare.

Did also find the bit at the end about the political impact interesting too, and have to wonder how any rejuvenation tech will be introduced and paid for (recon Peter F Hamilton's R&R insurance in the Commonwealth saga is the best model)

Letter to the Metro

2010-10-25T21:42:00.000+01:00

Sent this into the paper today after reading an especially boneheaded reader's letter (not online, anywhere I can see anyway):

Sasha Simic's letter today has so many flaws am not sure where to begin. For starters she neglects to mention the reason debt was so high in the 40's was because a major war had just ended. Second pensions were introduced in 1911, not at this period.

As for debt not being too high, comparing us to countries with worse debts doesn't mean it is not an issue. Furthermore, it is the deficit that is the bigger problem. Currently HMG is spending £160 billion a year more than it receives in taxes. This is not sustainable, by 2015 the interest on this will be higher than the education budget (see here for details; http://www.liberal-vision.org/2010/10/20/cuts-what-cuts/. The cuts being made are still only going to reduce state spending as a percentage of GDP to 2006 levels.

Finally, describing the tories as 'free market fanatics' in laughable. I am a libertarian and don't believe Cameron and co really get what it is all about- the free part is the what is most important. I fully support privatising the NHS, BBC and welfare as I don't believe it is moral to coerce people into paying for services.

MM! episodes 1-4

2010-10-25T21:38:00.001+01:00

So far MM! is proving to be the most entertaining show this season IMO. At first glance is a typical looser male/harem dynamic. The twist however is the guy (Sado, talk about theme naming!) is a masochist and gets off on being abused by cute girls. It is also the spiritual successor to Maria+Holic

The main female character is Mio, president of the second volunteering club (is there a first?) At first appearance she is the typical soft-spoken upperclassmen. However she is really a violent, foul mouthed tsundere along the lines of Maria+holic's Mariya.
Plus she has top tier thigh highs and cosplays a lot

This leads to an interesting situation in that she gets violent, he gets off on it and begs for more, at which point she looses interest

Next up is Yuno, also in this club. Due to an incident in middle school she has a strong fear of men, and and so often whales on Sato. She's like Kanako except without the hives and flaming lesbianism.
She is a lot bouncier than Mio, reminding me of the classic Shana/Yoshiko dynamic. But these two arn't the real draws for me...

Yumi is a very close friend of Yuno's, and also does not like men (but very much for Kanako's reasons), even going as far as to want Yuno to transfer to her all girl school.

Plus she's very good at massages.

So we have a tsundere, yandere and now yuri girl, good but nothing special. What puts this show over the top (and in Maria+Holic league) is the next character....
...Tatsukichi. Yes that is a guy
Sado was not pleased to discover that the the girl he had a thing for was really his best friend. What makes the character even more epic is when he gets 'really' into character and starts insulting Mio for being flat chested (yours are pads. Pot? Kettle?)
Finally, toss in a Mother (and older sister!) with some serious oedipal issues,
and a Hot for school nurse (who likes to take pictures of yuri action) and we have a pretty twisted show. Am looking forward for the yuri girl to fall for the trap, then this will be a true successor to Maria+Holic.

The animation is pretty good foe Finally, this is definitely the year for XEBEC (esp.compared to their recent work in Ladies x Butlers) and the cast is good. Overall a good work. Oh, and this is definitly the year of the awesome Mio's

'I don't get politics, me'- so let us tell you what to think

2010-10-25T20:55:00.000+01:00

Following on from my previous post on the matter, another thing Twitter is very useful for is finding stuff like this: Right and Left Wing - What Does it Mean? (via @charlottegore).

Sign, where to start? At least they do briefly mention that a left-right axis is very limited and that there is such a thing as the political compass, but it is then dismissed for simplicities sake. But the whole problem with a straight axis is that it doesn't account for everything, just because I believe in economic freedom doesn't mean I'm automatically against gay rights or whatever. I also don't like how they equate left with looking forward and the right with traditions.

What really grates is how they compare left and right to make it seem that lefties are all caring and about helping others, while rightists are selfish bastards, and (again thanks to the limitations of a line) just a few steps away from Nazi's.

That said I do think this is a fair point:
They (the right) believe in freedom to succeed over equality... They (the left) believe in equality over the freedom to fail.

Replace left and right with liberal versus statist and think are getting somewhere

Weekend frolics

2010-10-25T20:27:00.001+01:00

The weekend is over already? It seriously flew by, which seems odd as I didn't really do much. Did go see an AC/DC tribute act on Saturday night. Were pretty good, both sounded and looked just like the real thing (guitarist was even wearing a school outfit). Only downer was some guy and his girlfriend having a domestic in the audience and fighting, at one point the band had to break up!.

Right now am listening to a sample of the guitarists solo instrumental album (from here), and am seriously tempted to order.

Tried taking some pics with the crackerry but were moving too fast, this is the only one that came out half decent:

Yesterday went to a bar in Smithfields and met up with some friends I made on my travels earlier in the year; one was over from the Hague for the weekend so was good to catch up. Looking ahead is going to be a very busy week, tomorrow I am tempted to go to this event, then Thursday is the Hayek lecture at LSE then the LA conf is all weekend. If am still alive is then an ASI event on Monday...

Blogging V Twitter

2010-10-22T22:35:00.000+01:00

Has been about 2 months now since I got the crackberry, and started using Twitter regularly. So far am def finding it much more useful than a blog post when have a rant to get off my chest, thoughts on something am watching and news/links I want to share-don't think will be doing any posts on then anymore. Blogging is still more useful for more in depth thoughts and reviews/commentary. However as they take time and motivation I often lack think for now the majority of my activity will be tweets.

So please follow me!

Am I a Moetard?

2010-10-22T19:17:00.005+01:00

Saw this on Shinn's twitter feed this morning. I do generally find these sort of fan on slightly different-fan attacks quite tiring in a Judean peoples front/peoples front of judea way. Note how it distinguished between 'Real' fans and 'Moetard', what is a real fan exactly? And what's wrong with liking moe?

So lets go down the list, and how do I score?

Supposedly a moetard is:

'obsessed and usually only enjoys anime and Japanese things'- Don't think I am obsessed and have a wide range of other interests (must finish this before the Event starts tonight)

'Will watch an anime if it includes cute characters, don't care if the story is awful'- well I have
watched some crap for various reasons, including this one. However I don't often like then (see scores given to Strike Witches and HSOTD)

'loves moe elements'- guilty.

'doesn't like complex stories of any kind, not only in anime'- as i like shows like Lost, BSG,etc a no

'doesn't know much about anime'- not guilty (esp older material)- haven't really watched anything pre mid 90's so guess this applies

'buys DVD's, figures, posters, keychains and other garbage'- have all these, mainly because the shows I like are never likely to come out on DVD and want some way to reward the creators.

'people who like K-ON, Sora no Woto and Strike witches would be in this class'- OH SHI- (shoots shelf in head)

Quick thoughts on summer + initial thoughts on autum season

2010-10-20T22:37:00.004+01:00

Another subject have been meaning to post about but delayed due to laptop fail.

In all I watched 5 show to the end last season, and dropped one, Ookami-sam towards the end (got left behind and wasn't too bothered to finish). Apart from Kuroko-narrator wasn't much that stood out. Might go back to in the future, but for now ungraded.

Completed shows;

Highschool of the dead- should have been called well-endowed highschool girls and the dead. Def a guilty pleasure, lame ending and cast was too dumb to live. D+

Strike Witches S2- better animation than S1 but still basically a retread. Drunken Mio was the high point, went down hill from there (flying Yamato was even lamer than first seasons flying Akagi. C+

Mitsudomoe- Funniest show, had me in stitches most weeks, Right mix of innocence and dirty humour,plus some touching moments. A-

Seitokai Yakuindomo-Purely smut jokes, on a par with Bottom or Hale and Pace. Disapointed the pres never tried it on with guy (whose name escapes me- shows how unrememberalble the charsacter was) B-

K-ON!! Best overall show. Not much more to add to what have already said A++

Ongoing shows:

Amagami SS- like the approach of giving each girl an end. Sae's arc was most entertaining what with the hammy narrator and dr fish scene, though Miya is my favourite character overall. Karou's belly-button kissing scene one of the funniest this year. Ai's arc is a bit lame though- problem is have just had one with an kouhai, too similar to Sae. Provisional grade B

New shows:

Sora no Otoshimono Forte- finally finished watching first season in time for this,very funny so far. New character is a bit annoying so far.

MM- trap + foul-mouthed club pres in thigh highs= win. Quite amusing too

Milky Holmes- only watched as met the VA's the other week. Ok, like how were already an established group rather than having an origin story. Not my usual thing but will stick with a bit more

TWGOK- First girl reminded too much of Azumanga'a Tomo, plus Keima looks too much like Austin Powers. His mum has a Sawa-chan feel too. Also on probation

Ore no Imoto- slightly swicky subject but good cast (Azy-nyan and Ritsu), very similar to Haruka Nogizaku minus UST and maids.

Squid girl- art reminds of Yotsuba, Squid girl herself is a bit like (Kan)nagi. How was roped into producing ink had shades of American Dad (the potato salad made with Roger's breast milk)

So looks like will be following 7 shows again this season.

Book pile update 28

2010-10-19T22:17:00.000+01:00

Have been meaning to do a major update for a while, but events conspired to keep me buys. Due to my recent PC issues have read a fair bit recently, but as usual is a case of one off the pile, another on.

Before I went to York last month I had finished Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman -(very good, not much stuff that was new apart from the stuff on a negative income tax, an idea I'll have to consider more) and Audition by Ryu Murakami (not a huge fan of horror but was ok, does contain a classic example of Chekhov's gun). While there I re-read Peter F Hamilton's Dreaming Void, as on the way back I went to a signing and got the third volume of the trilogy the Eternal Void.

I was planning to re-read volume 2 but got impatient on the train and started 3, which I finished the following week. (excellent, though finale was bit of an anticlimax and a bit twee). I also bought in York from a cheap book shop the Last Theorem by Arthur C Clarke and Frederick Pohl (ok apart from the reuse of a lot of Clarke's previous ideas like space elevators, technology leading to world governments, galactic overminds and solar sail races-that chapter was blatantly lifted from one of his short stories) and a novel called Zero-G by Alton Gansky. I only skimmed the back cover and saw it was about space tourism. On closer inspection it turns out to be a Christian novel! Not sure if will read, might be a giggle.

The other new book I bought recently was Millennium by Tom Holland, which am currently working though and quite enjoying.

Finally, I finished Hammer and Tickle: A history of communism told through communist jokes by Ben Lewis the other day, which has a few gems and some good observations (in the conclusion points out how much the west was influenced by collectivism in the post war era, and the divisions between the soviet bloc and 'free world' were not that clear cut)

Still on the pile:
Shootin' the Sh*t by Kevin Smith
Diaries-Into Politics by Alan Clarke
On Liberty by John Sturt Mills
The Theory and Practice of Communism by R. N. Carew Hunt
How to Live Forever or Die Trying by Bryan Appleyard
The Reconstruction of Warriors by E. R. Mayhew
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
The Half Life of Stars by Louise Wener
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Churchill by Roy Jenkins Islands by Dan Sleigh
The Bumper book of Government waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot and Lee Rotherham
The Virtues of Capitalism by Arthur Seldon
The Open Society and its Enemies vol 1 by Karl Popper
Letters from Iowa Jima by Kumiko Kakehashi
The Bomb in my Garden by Mahdi Obeidi
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter

Universities, tuition fees and loans; a personnel view

2010-10-18T20:03:00.003+01:00

Many headlines and much analysis has been generated by the recent news on changes to the UK tuition fees charged by universities. Over the weekend I received my annual Student Loan company statement, which caused me to reflect on my own experiences and what I think of these changes.

First off, a bit of background. I was in the first year to go to uni under the current system. My school, a grammar, pretty much drove home the point constantly that we were in the top 25% of the population and therefore it was expected that we would all go to uni after finishing sixth form. I remember at the graduation ceremony looking though the list of 'destinations' of my fellow students, and indeed there were only a few that were not heading to further studies.

It turned out that there were 5 other boys from my school who attended the same uni as me. Of the 6 of us, only 2 graduated after 3 years (2 dropped out in the first term and others repeated years). This lead to me think right away that uni is indeed not for everyone, and the drive for more and more students was an error. (Supposedly the previous government's target was 50% of school leavers to attend, which was insane IMO)

When I got to uni I was relatively fortunate in that due to my parents income I did not have to pay any tuition fees, and got a full loan for living costs. I budgeted well and made it last all term. I also worked part time in my second and third years, and during holidays. In the end I had no other debts when I graduated. Of the money I borrowed I have no qualms with repaying it, as easily 40% of it went on booze and going out. I fail to see why others should pay for my good times.

Indeed, many of the students I knew certainly had a good time, I knew people who burned though their loan in the first month of term and were overdrawn constantly. They were often the same students who never got a job and were most vocal in apposing the loan system (ironically they were also often arts students so had plenty of time to work, compared to us poor scientists with out 30-odd hours of lectures, tutorials and lab classes a week)

As to the benefits of my time at uni, certainly having a degree was useful got getting work in the lab sector, and the first firm I worked for paid graduates more than no graduates. However I found the knowledge from my degree was little use in industry, and the lack of practical experience was a problem (most jobs I'd apply for would want experience using mass spec, GC. HLPC etc- none of which I'd done). In addition that firm would sponsor employees to do a degree on day release, which is probably of more use and avoids running up debts.

For my non scientist friends however their degree was even more so a tool for getting interviews and nothing more, hardly any of my contemporaries use theirs in everyday life.

So it does seem to me that the current system has some major problems, people are encouraged to get hideously in debt for 3 years of partying and debauchery, at the end of which they get a line on their CV. As well as the issue of the target driven culture (why 50%, indeed who is to say what the 'right' proportion of students going to uni is?) the lack of price signals caused by all unis sharing the same (undervalued) fee means there is high demand for courses that are often of little use to graduates or employers.

So what do I think of the new proposals? It's a start, universities should be able to charge what they want for their services, which will reduce demand for places. However I expect that while the price will rise initially, in the long term competition will cause them to fall for some courses (esp those which are often sponsored by employers), as this ASI blog piece points out. It still leaves the universities as an arm of the state though. I am a big fan of the idea proposed by Alan Duncan in his 90's book Saturn's Children.

What he proposed is to make all uni's independent of the state by giving them an endowment. Each would be given enough to run for X number of years, which they could then top by by charging fees to those able to afford and tap into to subsidies those who can't afford and and which the uni wishes too. Some universities will no doubt fail to attract enough students and may even close, but others will thrive. Buckingham shows it can be done.

Furthermore I fail to see why the government needs to be in the position of being a monopoly supplier of living cost loans. Banks competed with each other to offer students banking services (I chose mine because they have you a railcard or something similar), so could easily offer long term loans similar to mortgages. Students need to realise that their studies are an investment in their future and so should look on their loans accordingly.

Finally, the biggest problem I had with students was the view that an education is a right- it is a privilege. I am grateful for my time at uni and think the costs were worth it.

tadaima!

2010-10-16T12:39:00.003+01:00

Normal service will be resumed shortly. Thanks again for the advice offered. In the end reinstalled last night and everything seems to be ok. Just finished re-installing programmes, now copying files from my various back up drives now.

In the end I bought a new flash drive to do this- got an 8gb one for £16 in Asda the other night- still amazed how cheap they are getting (last one I bought was 2gb and that was £6).

Apart from that not much else new, on Wednesday went to a Freedom Association event on drug decriminalisation, work just as manic as ever. Time for lunch now then some more musings after have been shopping

What would I spend £113 million on?

2010-10-12T22:20:00.002+01:00

Apart from computing woes, have been giving much though today to the so far unclaimed euromillions jackpot prize. After sorting out the family and friends, and buying the usual trinkets (house, cars, travel) reckon I'd have a good £100m left to play with.

So what I'd do is set up my own philanthropic foundation, to pursue my various interests. There are 4 main areas I'd like to focus on- human space flight, longevity research, novel energy sources and education.

For starters would partner with existing groups like the X prize foundation to offer rewards for notable advancements, such as solar panels with 50% efficiency or rejuvenating limbs/organs in viva. Would also invest in a number of promising start ups like xcor and Masten space.

Finally regarding education, would firstly make donations to think tanks like ASI and IEA to improve the profile of classical liberal ideas, but would also like to start a free school too- would be fee paying but give bursaries to poor students. Aim would be to cover costs not make a profit.

Reckon £100m should be enough to cover all that. What would you spend it on?
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Quick update on my laptop fail saga

2010-10-12T22:02:00.002+01:00

Haven't been able to get online properly for a few days and finding it very frustrating! Am typing this on the crackberry to mail in and share my tale of woe.

It all started last Wednesday, when I left the laptop running when I went to bed to finish downloading a file. Thursday morning I come down and find a resident shield alert. Had to switch off and leave 'till I got back from work. After leaving the scanners running overnight found 3500+ infections found!

That took all evening to sort out, so wasn't until Friday eve that I tried going online to update my scanners and do a final purge. That found another 23 infections and I thought that was the end of it. But no, when I try and use the machine again Sunday it seems half the drivers and other files to do with internet connectivity have been corrupted and the damn thing is about as much use as my washing machine for getting online.

Have spend the last 2 nights trying to sort out, even going as far tonight of getting my old desktop out of the basement- but is so old and decrepit all it does is freeze when trying to update avg.

Seriously running out of options now, think will have to re-install the laptop tomorrow (which I'm not keen to do as haven't backed up mu hd for a month, and am a bit paranoid about connecting it to the laptop when not 100% sure is virus free still (am I being OTT?)

Any suggestions/advice greatly appreciated.
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

BT Homehubs are useless!

2010-10-05T21:40:00.002+01:00

Serious, WTF is going on? For the last 2-3 days now the broadband connection keeps randomly shutting down, esp. annoying when in the middle of a download. (Almost as if it were a conspiracy....)

Anyway, really need to get an early night as am off to Birmingham tomorrow (no not for Tory party conference, is a microbiology seminar work are sending me to, slightly more interesting). Laters

Hyper Japan, 021010

2010-10-02T21:05:00.000+01:00

Today I was in Brick Lane for Hyper Japan, a japanese food/cultural event that was quite an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

Biggest hightlight was 4 geniune voice actors all the way from Japan, here to promote a new show called Milky Holmes (Sherlock Holmes and 3 other famous detectives reimagined as 15 year old schoolgirls- only in Japan!) They performed a couple of songs,
had a Q&A session,

then posed for photos with the punters.

Another point of amusement was the amout of stuff they were trying to flog by adding moe, such as curry, tea and sake (I did buy some of the sake in the end though so their devious advertising did work).

Finally, there was the cospalyers! How many characters can you name?

Spot the odd one out...

K-ON let's go! Live event

2010-10-02T20:08:00.002+01:00

After seeing the clips on youtube that Jason twittered, last night I managed to find a full version of this concert. Thoughts?

Well to start with there is a lot of taking I fast forwarded though (the version - dl'ed didn't have any subs) but the music itself is pretty awesome. I can't quite work out if the cast is really playing their instruments or not. In some songs (noticeably my love is a stapler) they do appear to. In others however there is blatantly someone else playing (my guess is it's the session musicians who play for the character songs) as the music carries on when the girls are clapping.

In those occasions they really put the models fro Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to love' video to shame. Another clue is that Yoko Hikasa (Mio's VA) is playing a left handed bass- is she really left handed?if not she gains serious respect points for attention to detail.

That's another thing I really liked- the little details like the character plushies hanging from the mike stands, how all the instruments are the same as in the show (even Mugi's keytar). Azu-nyan' twintails and the costumes themselves.

I esp. liked Sawa_chan's character song where she comes on in in the full metal outfit, with 'moderate' outfit underneath. (added bonus in her song: hair metal guitarist!)

As for the songs, the character songs were ok but the ones from the show are really good. Brush and Pen and DSL are the highlights IMO. However the real problem is there wasn't really enough material for a full concert, they even play cagayake girls twice ffs. (should do another concert with all the second season songs, that would be awesome). If I'd paid for this to find only about half the disk is music I'd be annoyed.

Any other complaints? Well they could have done with more costume changes (should have had the DSL costumes for the encore), and the third encore was a bit much- was so much blubbing it was like watching 7 Japanese Gwyneth Paltrow's on stage. Subs would be nice but apart from the lyrics is not much to gain (even I can follow when the most common words are 'thank you' and 'amazing'

In summary is ok for a bootleg but wouldn't pay for. Despite that the cast had obviously put in a lot off effort practising/learning their roles and deserve to be praised. Take a bow!