The greatest threat to the Western Way of Life is the Western Way of Life itself.

The Age of Enlightenment was born sometime around the beginning of the eighteenth century. A mere three-quarters of a century later, industrialization ushered in the Age of Endarkenment, and human life has grown more and more perilous ever since.  Read more »

I was in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office for over 20 years and a member of its senior management structure for six years, I served in five countries and took part in 13 formal international negotiations, including the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea and a whole series of maritime boundary treaties. I headed the FCO section of a multi-departmental organisation monitoring the arms embargo on Iraq.

I am an instinctively friendly, open but unassuming person who always found it easy to get on with people, I think because I make fun of myself a lot. I have in consequence a great many friends among ex-colleagues in both British and foreign diplomatic services, security services and militaries.  Read more »

This is the beginning of the end for the EU unless it can find the capacity to start again on radically new bases.

Within a single month, we have witnessed Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece announcing his country's possible default, an expansive European rescue loan offered to him on the condition of devastating budget cuts, soon followed by the "downgraded rating" of the Portuguese and Spanish debts, a threat on the value and the very existence of the euro, the creation (under strong US pressure) of a European security fund worth €750bn, the Central European Bank's decision (against its rules) to redeem sovereign debts, and the announcement of budget austerity measures in several member states.  Read more »

British voters went to the polls on Thursday in a general election that promised to be historic – for all the wrong reasons.

Firstly, voter turnout threatened to hit a post-Second World War record low. Over the past six decades, the percentage of eligible Britons casting their vote has steadily fallen from 80-70 per cent to around 60 per cent.  Read more »

The BBC has spent almost £5million on flying its directors, staff and guests around Britain, it has been revealed.

Despite the corporation’s pledge to be more environmentally friendly, the licence-fee payer has funded almost 100 short-haul flights a day for BBC staff - a massive 68,000 plane trips over the past two years.  Read more »

There has recently been a surge of interest in the economics of happiness. Wellbeing is important but it would be better to focus on freedom.

When the crisis in the public finances is over, should the Government buy everyone a garden? Or an allotment, at least? There is a close correlation between having a garden and being happy.  Read more »

The European Parliament has come under fire for spending millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on a "propaganda" television service, ski trips and language lessons for staff.

In a report, MEPs raised questions about the assembly budget, including concerns about a £72,000 fund for parliament staff which was used to pay for a trip to the Italian Alps for the children of MEPs and officials.  Read more »

Perhaps it is only satire that is able to capture so eloquently and succinctly the insanity and truth of our current banking crisis.
The Daily Mash sums it up quite nicely.  Read more »

Billionaire financier Jim Rogers has predicted that the British Pound could completely collapse within weeks, sending shockwaves throughout the global economy and heralding the beginning of a downturn that would make the recent economic crisis look tame in comparison.

"Other currencies aren’t strong and the Euro has real problems, with cracks much wider than Greece beginning to show," Rogers said.  Read more »