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March 16, 2004

Needed to be said

Even I occasionally agree with something I read in a major newspaper. Tim Hames from the Times has stated the obvious- that Spain's rapid distancing of itself from the US and Britain might make Spain safer in the near term, it will be disastrous for Europe in the future, as terrorists are rewarded with the results they are seeking.

Because lets face it, the Socialists weren't winning Spain a week ago.

“This is a victory for democracy,” Zapatero declared in his victory speech- but for a man right up to the bombings had little chance of winning, it was a victory for himself and his party. And his supporters. And al-Qaeda.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

Does it matter who?

The Spanish are angry at terrorists. And angry with their (now departing) government. But in being angry, they often point out one thing- that their attacks were a result of the War on Iraq. While it may be the case that Spain was specifically targetted because of its support in Iraq, Jose Aznar should not be blamed for the deaths caused. 201 people were brutally massacred on trains in Madrid because a group of fanatical (at this point probably Muslim) terrorists performed a terrible act. It is true that if Spain was not at War with Iraq, the terrorists might have attacked Poland or Britain, but they still would have brought their hatred to bear on someone. The West may not be united on Iraq, or free trade, or capital punishment; but it must be united against terrorism. Blaming Aznar is empowering terrorists- for they know their work will continue to divide the west. This will only motivate them further.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Hope this is a misquote:

Dominique de Villepin, French Foreign Minister, on Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the European Constitution:

“I think this is the most urgent and burning issue facing Señor Zapatero.”

Well forget securing the borders, tracking down terrorists, leading a nation through mourning, and redrawing a foreign policy. I'm sure the constitution is exactly what he is working on.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 15, 2004

Why? Read on.

According to Mohammad Fneish, representative of Hizbollah in the Lebanese Parliament, the overthrow of Saddam is good (Hizbollah is Shi'ia Muslim). So why was Hizbollah opposed to the War in Iraq? Among other things, said here;

"We have to distinguish between whether Saddam was overthrown for the good of the Iraqi people or for the good of American ambitions. "

Can something not be good for both? This seems to promote a zero-sum view of the world, one which is popular with many anti-American Islamists.

Overall, Mohammad Fneish seems to be a thoughtful, if slightly misleading, on his points, and his interview is worth a read.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Coach Class Education

The Telegraph has highlighted a new attack on University funding (thank you to those on the Sinner for pointing it out)- this one by Sir Richard Sykes, the rector of Imperial College. Sir Richard attacks the Governments policy of equal or even higher funding for "Third Class Universities," while top tier Universities struggle to compete internationally. Once again, the Government target of getting 50% of school leavers into University is criticized.

The problem with the current funding regime is that it doesn't reward a Universities performance with adequate funding. Meanwhile, research is generously rewarded on merit basis- which further distracts professors from teaching. Sir Richard is correct that funding should reward top-tier Universities, but this leaves the difficulty of deciding which University is "top tier" and by how much it is so. A market in education- ie University fees - would solve this problem- rewarding excellence in teaching with funds.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 11, 2004

Hacked

Apologies again for the offensive material that was posted to this website maliciously. This material was not posted by any members of the liberty club or the libertylog contributors, and we are sorry if it offended anyone. Obviously some members of this University are less mature than others.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 10, 2004

Is it China?

We've all heard it before - that the US economy is unfairly burdened with an undervalued Chinese currency which is pegged to the dollar. Looking at the US trade deficit makes this an easy conclusion, with $11.5 billion of the $43.1 billion trade gap in January coming from the Chinese shores. Yet while doing this, American economists suffer from too much focus on, well, America. A closer look shows that China itself has a trade deficit, and one that continues to grow - $7.87 billion in February alone. China might move massive quantities of manufactured goods stateside, but as its industrial classes grow in wealth, they continue to spend it on imports from various other nations. With its imports continuing to grow - and fast, at 77% on the year - the yuan could in fact slide. While the exact movement in the yuan would be difficult to predict, it is wrong to assume that it would appreciate.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

March 09, 2004

GM

GM has passed a major hurdle to its European Markets as the Government has given a thumbs-up to GM Maize. Not surprisingly, the National Farmers Union welcomed the move while enviormentalist groups have lined up against it.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Redefine war?

In the latest round of political bickerings, Bush has accused Kerry of being "deeply irresponsible" for proposing cut proposing cuts to the intelligence budget in 1995, saying "that is no way to lead our nation in a time of war." Forget that in 1995 we weren't IN a war, at least none that I can remember. And that today we again really aren't at war. Bush will continue to tout his war leadership skills to the public, which is fine, but he seems to be stretching many lines when attacking the war leadership record of Kerry.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (25) | TrackBack (0)

March 04, 2004

Unauthorized Access

You may or may not have viewed some offensive material that was briefly posted to this weblog yesterday, 3 March. This was the result of malicious St Andrews students gaining access to my user account. We at the libertylog apologize for any harm this post may have caused, and will do all we can to ensure it does not happen again.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Reasons to vote Conservative if you're a British libertarian, no. 94

Michael Howard promotes free trade

Michael Howard has thrown his weight and influence behind the Conservative campaign to end protectionism and open up world trade.
Michael Howard promotes free trade

Michael Howard has thrown his weight and influence behind the Conservative campaign to end protectionism and open up world trade.

He called on the world's richest nations to throw open their markets in a bid to bring prosperity to the poorest nations on the planet.

And in what was seen as a swipe at the policies of the Bush administration in the United States, he declared: "The rich countries should act in accordance with what they know to be true: free trade spreads prosperity, protectionism does not."

The Conservative Leader was addressing a special Trade Justice Forum, hosted by the party at Central Office, and attended by rock star Bob Geldof, Harriet Lamb of the Fairtrade Foundation, and Jeremy Lefroy, from Equity for Africa.

Criticising wealthy countries for the "appalling" way in which they have shut poorer nations from their consumer markets by imposing trade tariffs, Mr Howard warned that such activity effectively maintained poverty.

"Free markets and free trade generate the wealth that helps lift people out of poverty. But for this to happen, the rich countries must open up their markets. It is appalling that the West should close its markets to so many of the world's poor. It is even worse that it should target its tariffs primarily to exclude agricultural products," he said.

Mr Howard went on: "For every dollar that western countries give to poor countries, those countries lose two dollars through barriers to their exports to the developed world. So for the developing countries, it is one step forward and two steps back. This is hardly the right way to help our fellow human beings - more than a billion - who have to struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day."

He also called on the richer nations to establish an "advocacy fund" which would be available to give developing countries access to top legal advice to help them negotiate a better deal at the World Trade Organisation.

See the Conservative Party web site for more information...

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March 03, 2004

On Marriage

Tim Cavanaugh believes that same-sex marriage will fundamentally destroy what we now know as marriage. And he thinks its a good thing

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (3)

February 26, 2004

NUS arrogance

The National Union of Students continues to get quoted in articles about St Andrews. Odd, when in a student-wide referendum on whether St Andrews should join the NUS, 1013 students voted against joining. Only 63 voted in favour of joining.

Posted by Alex Singleton | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 25, 2004

NAFTA Bashing Season

Primaries have a way of revealing the party's populist tendencies. Kerry and Edwards have made NAFTA and outsourcing of industrial jobs central to their compaigns, especially as they battle for hard hit industrial states. But here is the hitch - Kerry voted for NAFTA, and the WTO, and welfare reform, and....the list goes on (bottom of the page here)

So how do you vote for NAFTA and tell people you don't support outsourcing? Well, you fudge with words, and fudge with facts. As stated on Kerry's website:

"John Kerry believes that American workers can compete and win with workers anywhere in the world if they have the skills and training they need and the level playing field they deserve. He will put in a place a series of incentives to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States and he will ensure that our trading partners play by the rules."

So he believes Americans can compete on their own two feet, but then wants protections for those same Americans put in to protect jobs going to, well, more appropriate people. The contradictions continue: He wants to "Assure Trading Partners Play by the Rules" and "Break Down Barriers in Key Export Markets" but also "Give Tax Breaks to Manufacturers in America." So he wants to punish other countries that support their own industries and, well, support his own industries.

Kerry's voting history on free trade has actually been quite good- its a shame he can't tell the voters just that.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2004

How much?

Thanks to Ronald Bailey in his most recent Reason article for finding these facts related to the "Oil Crisis." According to many, oil is running out- fast. While it is true oil is running out in that it is being used and not really being repleneshed, few have actually looked at how FAST it is actually running out. Well, few in the political world. Many have in the geological world. And to the non-geologists here, the facts are a welcome surprise.

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February 16, 2004

Keele Libertarians

Keele University now has a libertarian group.

Posted by Alex Singleton | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Making a difference on campus

Originally published in Freedom Today magazine in 2001

Student unions may not be as viciously left wing as they once were, but they are still battlegrounds. I was an officer of mine for a short period, and it was hell. I had to attend meetings to discuss whether students in wheelchairs can play an active role in the disco, and whether we should ban Guinness from being sold at the bar. Despite royal patronage, my university, St Andrews, is a hive of activity for the Left. Societies include the Left Wing Union, Fair Trade, Tree and Frog (an environmentalist pressure group), One World and St Andrews in Europe. These groups receive generous funding from the student union (in other words, they receive taxpayers' money) and in some cases free propaganda from the European Union.

By February of this year [2001], enough was enough. Edmund Burke said: "When bad men combine, the good must associate." Taking his advice, a group of us formed a pro-freedom society called the Liberty Club. We decided to launch a series of campaigns attacking political correctness, the welfare state and anti-capitalism. We saw the hard work that the Left had put into their campaigns, and realised that we had to work even harder. Margaret Thatcher once pointed out: "Marxists get up early in the morning to further their cause. We must get up even earlier." So we did.

Our most rewarding experience was actually one of the cheapest. We booked a stall in the student union foyer and spent a day handing out leaflets in favour of free trade and globalisation. We also wore and sold "I love Capitalism" T-shirts which created quite a stir. We realised that there were more freedom-lovers in town than we had thought, and it gave us lots of opportunities to explain why capitalism is the morally best system. Handing out flyers for our talks outside the University Library was a fun occupation, especially when our leaflets contained the headline: "Socialism is killing the third world." This is completely true, but some of the more commie students were not used to the opposition.

We debated whether or not to accept student union funding, but in the end we realised it was a question of staying true to our principles. Student union money is, in part, taxpayers' money and therefore stolen. We also realised that it is more hassle than it is worth to take the union's money: it comes with lots of strings attached, such as a requirement to follow the union's Equal Opportunities' Policy and to fill out lots of paperwork. Instead, we set out to raise private finance. Over the summer holidays we raised over £1000, disproving the myth once and for all that societies need to be financed by the taxpayer.

Now we want to see Liberty Clubs set up across the UK. The sad fact is that in many universities the voice of freedom simply does not exist. Perhaps the reason is that while those who are pro-freedom will find themselves in a bar, the Left are desperately putting forward motions in student union meetings while drinking warm ale. But I believe it is essential if we are to limit the size of the state to ensure that students are exposed to the ideas of freedom instead of the mutterings of the free society's enemies. I have found that many students come to university without clearly defined political views, and it is these people that we need to focus on if we want the middle-way conventional wisdom to be challenged.

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February 09, 2004

Stalked?

Somebody likes us.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Whirlwind

While many of my democratic friends flocked the polls over these past weeks, I was doing my patriotic duty - taking a two week holiday to France. Separated from most of my news sources and the internet is difficult for a political junkie such as myself, though somehow, with the aid of my skis, managed. When I Left, Kerry and Dean were neck and neck in the polls, and I told everyone I knew that Dean would probably take it. I hope no money went down on that. Since then, Kerry has been on a nearly unstoppable run. Kerry’s new power is his “electability” which, by relying on his previous victories, only seems to gather in strength. After eating my words on Dean, I am willing to make a second obvious prediction – Kerry’s run will only gather in steam, and the bickering second tier will lag further behind. If this does happen, people around the world will see why little places like Iowa and New Hampshire can nominate a president – its all in the momentum.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 22, 2004

End of an Era?

"The Republican party has long been the party of small government," an aide to a senior Republican senator said, "but the era of small government has ended for the Republican Party." (from the NY Times)

But is this so? While the quoted aide is correct that the current administration has been throwing fiscal caution to the wind, the truth is Americans still recognise the budget deficit as a problem while recognising that tax cuts are helpful. I only hope the public can make the logical conclusion - and the Republicans return to their base of fiscal conservatism.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

January 20, 2004

Homeward Bound

After surprising showings in Iowa, the democratic primary moves on to my home state- New Hampshire, though this time I won't have the pleasure of being there to experience a supercharged primary in a miniscule state. The joys of NH, I once heard a comedian say, is every four years you have people from Washington shovelling your doorstep.

As for the Iowa results? Commentators are speculating that Kerry's surprising win - with an astounding 38 percent of the vote - is attributed to democratics searching for a more electable candidate than the previous frontrunner, Howard Dean. Dean, for his part, finished in Third, behind John Edwards, gaining only 18 percent of the vote. He currently leads NH by a large margin, and as NH has never been one to look for the electable, I figure he'll win it. Kerry I find no more electable than Dean, perhaps war experience will give him something to brag about come election day, but that hardly makes up for his stiff, impersonal look and feel.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 18, 2004

Iraq: the real questions

Latest rumour suggests that the Hutton Report into the tragic death of Dr. David Kelly will be arriving on the 29th of this month. I was watching Newsnight at some pount during the summer, when I was intrigued by a comment made by George Ffoulkes MP, representing the government's point of view over the latest round of the Enquiry at that time. He stressed, rather more strongly than he might have had he merely been correcting a technicality, that the Enquiry was designed to look strictly at the circumstances surrounding Dr. Kelly's death, and not the wider issues concerning what caused the war on Iraq. At one point, he even admitted that a wider enquiry was asked for, but not granted. This prompted me to wonder, why is he - and all the other government spokesmen - so keen to stress the limits of the Enquiry's remit? Could it be that they have something to hide?

Continue reading "Iraq: the real questions"
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January 17, 2004

Twice the rate

"The Republican Congress is spending at twice the rate as under Bill Clinton, and President Bush has yet to issue a single veto," Paul M. Weyrich, national chairman of Coalitions for America, said at a news briefing with the other five leaders. "I complained about profligate spending during the Clinton years but never thought I'd have to do so with a Republican in the White House and Republicans controlling the Congress."

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

January 16, 2004

Explained

So What is a Caucus? With Iowa coming up in just a few days, I wanted to have the system explained. Except no one I talked to could actually explain it. So here is what I have found, from the NY Times. Something between a vote, neighborhood party, and an outdated sense of democracy.

Continue reading "Explained"
Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Hijacked

The intellectual wing of the anti-globalisers often complain that their movement has been “hijacked” by others with less desirable views, be them “anarchists”, communitarians, socialists, etc. I understand their point, namely attempting to distance themselves from less reputable factions, in order to regain intellectual integrity. I think the globalisers need to do the same. The Globalisation movement is oftentimes hijacked by governments with very political vendettas, and corporations with rational incentives. In all of this, the liberal aim is often lost. True liberals believe in globalisation because they see trade between individuals as natural, and the imposition of artificial boundaries as unnatural. Thus a free trade system must arise absent of mercantilist aims, and individuals trading in this system should seek their gains from the system, not their respective governments. Every time Bush approaches Latin American nations with proposals for a American free trade zone, he does so while pumping billions into his domestic businesses, most notoriously domestic agriculture. NAFTA has already proved the results of this, where wealthy Canada necessitates keeping its agricultural subsidies (though they are low), and Mexican farmers struggle to compete in many crops. Brazil and other Latin American countries know that opening the borders to US imports will result in a dumping of subsidized products – something they are rightly worried for.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 14, 2004

That Profile

Suicide bombers are increasingly difficult to pigeonhole, and hence defensively identify. The once sure signs of young, single, unemployed, religious male have become an eclectic mix of age, gender, and social status. Just today a Palestinian married mother of two detonated herself at an border crossing, killing 3 soldiers and one civilian. She had a high-school education, stable family life, and came from a reasonably middle-class family. In Turkey, a father aged 47 was among the suicide bombers that struck Instanbul, and Chechnya has seen a rash of mostly-female suicide bombers. Questions remain, though, does this widening scope a sign of increased desperation of the terrorists organizations, or a sign of a increased popularity of the movements?

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 08, 2004

Dean misunderestimates the global economy

Quote from Howard Dean, Democratic Primary candidate, taken from the Iowa debate on Sunday:

"We need to have a level playing field. We need to have the same kinds of environmental protections, labor protections, human rights protections and worker protections if we're going to have open borders. That will not disadvantage exports."

Thus far I've been rather impressed with Gov. Dean and have tended to root for his candidacy in the primaries, but this quotation worries me greatly. Not just because I disagree with him, but rather because it seems to reveal a deeper misunderstanding - a misunderestimation, as it were - of the way that the global economy works.

Continue reading "Dean misunderestimates the global economy"
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December 23, 2003

A Sad Note

It saddens me to know so many Palestinians and Arabs want change in the Middle East, only to be continuously held back by their own people. While I sincerely hope for the best in the Middle East peace process, I realize that real change will only come when the Palestinian people come together and reject extremism and violence.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

December 14, 2003

On Public Spending

Conservatives and welfare-liberals oftentimes mix their morals with politics. In doing so, they mix their own morals with other peoples money, ie the taxpayers. Since their own morals will defy many of the morals of individual taxpayers, there is hardly a case for a moral structure of spending public money. In fact, the best way for morals to be expressed in line with the populace is to spend as little public money as possible - and have individuals spend money based on their own moral structures. One must remember that the "rational man" that neo-classicalists keep on referring to will value things according to their moral structure, and hence will pay a price accordingly.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

December 12, 2003

Whose helping whom?

The white house has been coming under intense scrutiny over its refusal to allow corporations from anti-war nations such as France, Germany, and Russia bid for reconstruction contracts in Iraq. "The taxpayers understand why it makes sense for countries that risk lives to participate in the contracts in Iraq," Bush is quoted. Unfortunately, Bush forgets that mixing politics with, well, just about anything, is a recipe for disaster. The taxpayers are just the ones that lose out when their money is not used in the most efficient way possible. If companies from anti-war nations can efficiently and effectively deliver reconstruction services, than the entire reconstruction process loses out...to nothing but petty international politics.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

December 11, 2003

Not the NHS, Today

Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Insitute, published a great article on their blog today focusing attention to something many Brits overlook - the strength of private health services today, services that naturally act where the NHS fails so often.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 06, 2003

Definition of a 'luxury problem'

I quite like this somewhat paradoxical expression, but I've been thinking over the past few days about what it could actually mean. I've decided that it's when one is faced with a difficult situation that actually isn't all that difficult in the general scheme of things.

All luxury problems are therefore relative to other potential problems that one could face; for instance, my having 2,500 words of an essay for which I've researched left to do for 5PM on Monday is a luxury problem in comparison to the one I'd be facing if I'd done no research and had started neither it nor the other 3,000-word combined project for another class, due on the same day, that I've actually already written.

To take a different example, if I had ten speakers for the Parliamentary Debate on Wednesday and needed to tell four that they aren't needed, this would be a luxury problem compared with my present situation, where I lack two, and need to get them from somewhere. All of these problems are, in turn, luxury problems compared to, in the words of Johan Norberg,

"an existence in abject poverty, in filth, ignorance and impotence, always wondering where the next meal is coming from and whether the water you have walked so many miles to collect is lethal or fit to drink."

Stress, choice, the necessity of running one's own life - all are the hallmarks of a modern, Western society, and many are tempted to yearn for a simpler existence, seek an end to the system that has brought all of these about, and to prevent it from being inflicted upon the developing world - I refer, of course, to capitalism. Yet it would do these people well to realise that they suffer only from luxury problems, and for that, to thank their lucky stars and hope that, some day, only luxury problems will threaten the lives of everyone throughout the world.

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December 01, 2003

Another WTO Success

They may seem few and far between, but occasionally they get something done. We can only hope this can act as a roadblock to the spiralling protectionism seen in todays world.

Posted by Christopher Berry | Permanent link | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)