Posted in Europe, Nigel Farage, Politics, UK on May 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »
After the great success in recent British elections, UKIP leader Nigel Farage might have more influence on British politics. Thus it is interesting to hear his current thoughts on the Euro crisis:
The big question is: What is the European Union for?
And I think that the alternative model is a Europe based on cooperation, a Europe based on trade, a Europe based on nation-state democracy. This is a vision that can only grow in support as the years go by.
Posted in Education, UK on April 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The other day I found some interesting thoughts on educational issues in an 18-year old article by Theodore Dalrymple in the City Journal:
Since failure is now regarded as fatally damaging to self-esteem, anyone who actually presents himself at an examination is likely to emerge with a certificate.
Everything is reduced to a mere contest of wills, and so the child learns that all restraint is but an arbitrary imposition from someone or something bigger and stronger than himself. The ground is laid for a bloodyminded intolerance of any authority whatever.
Perhaps the method of teaching by turning everything into a game can work when the teacher is talented and the children are already socialized to learn; but when, as is usually the case, neither of these conditions obtains, the results are disastrous, not just in the short term but probably forever.
The unemployed young person considers the number of jobs in an economy as a fixed quantity. Just as the national income is a cake to be doled out in equal or unequal slices, so the number of jobs in an economy has nothing to do with the conduct of the people who live in it, but is immutably fixed. This is a concept of the way the world works which has been assiduously peddled, not only in schools during “social studies” but in the media of mass communication.
There is one great psychological advantage to the white underclass in their disdain for education: it enables them to maintain the fiction that the society around them is grossly, even grotesquely, unjust, and that they themselves are the victims of this injustice.
Posted in Europe, Politics, UK on January 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced that he wants the British people to have an in-or-out vote on Britain’s membership in the European Union. Not surprisingly, he received harsh criticism from almost all leading politicians in Europe. That leaves me with a question: Why are the European leaders so afraid of a referendum?
As far as I can see, there are three options:
So, if leading politicians reject the idea of a British referendum they implicitly argue that the first option is false (otherwise a referendum would simply support Britain’s membership). Which leaves me to conclude that either politicians regard voters as sheep or they fear the voters might get the opportunity to judge the mess in Brussels.
Posted in Politics, Thatcher, UK on December 14, 2012| 1 Comment »
Some decades ago William F. Buckley and Margaret Thatcher discussed the importance of capitalism in a free society:
Once you compress the incentives from the top and say “It doesn’t matter how much you earn, I am going to take the lion share away from you”, then they say “Alright, then I’m no longer going to do the lion’s part”. And then they stop creating the extra wealth which would both benefit them and society as a whole.
Posted in Europe, London, Pictures, UK on December 3, 2012| 2 Comments »
Had a couple of great days in London and here are some impressions:
London in 2012
Big Ben and Churchill
London School of Economics (LSE)
Tower Bridge
The Shard
Buckingham Palace
St.Paul’s Cathedral
Fish and Chips
Cookery Book for the Working Classes
View of London from Paramount
Posted in Europe, London, Pictures, UK on November 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »
From Nov 29 to Dec 3, I will visit England’s capital. Here is a preview:
Posted in Europe, Politics, UK on November 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, comments on today’s EU budget talks:
Not a single penny more for the EU’s begging bowl
You only have to imagine the ludicrous scene, of Luxembourg officials scrabbling over some dusty Spanish hillside in search of 150 non-existent merinos to see that they have only scratched the surface of the abuse.
There are fields that are forests that are meant to be farmed. There are forests that are meant to be fields, and we are paying subsidy for both.
The EU budget will never be properly policed because the cash doesn’t properly belong to any nation — it belongs to “everybody”.
Posted in Europe, Politics, UK on January 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
In a great 9-minute speech, British journalist and Member of the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan points out the nonsense of centralizing Europe:
Decentralization is of the essence of the spirit of Europe.
Posted in Europe, Nigel Farage, Politics, UK on August 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In a lucid moment of European politics, British Member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage gives vent to his anger:
Untold millions must suffer so that your Euro-dream can continue. But it won’t work.
Posted in Books, Economics, Paul Collier, Politics, UK on March 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Published about four years ago, The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier has already become a classic. Definitely a good read if you are looking for an interesting book on development economics. However, if you are lazy, just watch Collier presenting the main points:
“With compassion annealed by smarts; irony softened by warmth; and a commitment to penetrate to the core of things, Collier picks up the tools of economics and forthrightly applies them to the politics and economics of the developing world. Accessible and refreshing, this books provides a blunt and no-nonsense look at a major issue of our times.”
–Robert H. Bates, Eaton Professor of the Science of Politics, Harvard University
Swiss Economist 