IN THIS BULLETIN:
- CANZUK is coming
- Bye bye PHE, you shan't be missed
- The dulcet tones of ASI: webinars and podcasts galore
BUT FIRST...
The first week of a new term at Westminster High but not all of the teachers are back in the office (a few of my colleagues continue to Work From Home, by which I presume they mean bed). The students though are roaming the halls deranged and out of control. I speak, of course, of Extinction Rebellion who descended on Tufton Street to protest us. Good thing they haven’t done their homework, we’re not based there and never have been. (They're also protesting HS2, shall we join? — Ed.)
I was blown away by Nancy Pelosi’s brand new hair do, or rather the brazen cheek of the speaker of the United States House of Representatives ignoring her party’s own lockdown measures to get her hair did. Meanwhile the EU’s Irish Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan (more like Phil Ho-gone amirite?! — Ed.) had to resign after attended a big ole game of golf with his parliamentary friends — again against the rules set by his own party at home (one rule for them, and another for the rest of us plebs).
And a happy birthday to El Presidente Dr Madsen Pirie, who turned 80 this year but who continues to act much younger and with much more joie de vivre than any of the twenty somethings in the office. It turns out the elixir of life is a combination of long lunches, Lord Madsen cigars, and fighting for freedom every single day.
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RESEARCH
Always willing to partner with our antipodean friends (well you did hire one — Ed.) we’ve published a new paper by Australian Senator James Patterson: A Ripper Deal: The case for free trade and movement between Australia and the United Kingdom. If you didn’t know by now, we’re big proponents of striking a free trade agreement with our Australian allies and Senator Patterson makes the Australian case for closer trade, freer movement, and reinvigorated partnerships across CANZUK countries.
Some bad old ideas that just won’t die. In a new paper, Professor Terence Kealey of the University of Buckingham, makes the case against a British version of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) first tried in the US in the 1960s (lots of things are tried in the US that we don't want here — Ed.). In No to ARPA: How state research spending does not stimulate innovation, Professor Kealey outlines the history of the US state-sponsored research organisation. He explains why we shouldn’t pursue the same here; instead, we need to let the market drive innovation and scientific growth.
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FREEDOM!!
We co-hosted the first ever virtual Freedom Week with the Institute of Economic Affairs in late August! Twenty students from around the world spent a week immersed in high-level seminars on the theory and practice of classical liberalism. Though we couldn’t replicate the experience of punting in the River Cam and drinking with the faculty in the evenings, the attendees assure us they enjoyed the virtual pub quiz and political pictionary.
We’re also looking through our records of more than a decade of Freedom Weeks to organise a big alumni reunion once physical events are viable again, so watch this space! If you attended a past Freedom Week and want to know more, please reach out!
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DONATE!
If you've seen recent progress with planning reform, the scrapping of PHE, and continued scrutiny of the government's coronavirus policies - know that none of that could happen without your help.
Our world class education programmes thrive because of donations from people of all kinds. The John Blundell Studentships, Freedom Week, and another year of our gap year internship programme mean so much to young freedom loving kids.
And throughout lockdown we've worked hard to secure our economic and personal freedoms when they were most under threat. We continue that work diligently as we're urged out to eat, back onto trains, and into offices.
To help us continue to advocate for freedom and educate those who need it most, please donate today. All you have to do is click the button below.
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WEBINARIUM
We took a short hiatus from our webinar series during Freedom Week but we’re back in full swing. While you wait for next week’s edition, check out our past webinars on our YouTube channel.
Education in an age of Covid-19 Daniel Pryor hosted educational experts Dr Joanna Williams, Calvin Robinson, and Kerry McDonald to discuss school lockdown, reopening, and how Covid-19 has affected schooling and what changes to education policy might be appropriate in the wake of the pandemic.
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In Defence of Globalisation In this webinar, I interviewed Bruno Macaes, Cindy Yu, and Dan Ikenson on the costs of decoupling parts of the global economy from one another, the risks involved in shutting out whole peoples because of the actions of their governments, and what a reorganisation of the global order would end up looking like anyhow (us at the top, obviously — Ed.).
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Psychedelics Transforming Mental Health Off the back of our paper (and off of our heads — Ed.) on the potential benefits of psilocybin for treating illnesses like depression and PTSD, Daniel spoke to Professor Joanna Neill (Professor of Psychopharmacology, University of Manchester), Dr. James Rucker (Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Clinical Lecturer, King’s College London) and David King (Director of Research, Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group) to discuss how we can pursue this promising avenue and what it might mean for revolutionising mental health treatments.
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PODCAST
Our digital output doesn’t stop there! Each week you can listen to the dulcet tones of various ASI staff members and star special guests on our podcast, The Pin Factory.
Recent episodes include, Rishi’s Tax Rises, Back to Office and Back to School with Matthew Lesh, myself, and Sam Dumitriu, History of the Adam Smith Institute: A Discussion With President Madsen Pirie; PHE’s Downfall, A-Level U-Turn and Channel Asylum Seekers with Tom Slater, Deputy Editor at Spiked and our John Macdonald ; Planning Reform and Second Lockdowns with Anthony Breach, Analyst at Centre for Cities, and Dr. Chris Berg, Co-Director of the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub; and Wiley and Free Speech, Tech Monopolies, and US Election Delay featuring Robby Soave, Senior Editor at Reason and our Daniel Pryor.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and download episodes on your favourite podcast provider, including iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Podbean, and like and share across all social medias.
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MEEJA
Speaking of medias, we’ve been quite busy on that front:
Our report on psilocybin and mental health treatment has continued to appear in publications across the country. Daniel wrote about the subject for CityAM and the report featured in HealthEuropa. North Welsh Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones endorsed the report across ITV, in The Times, The Mirror, The Express, MSN, and the DailyPost.
Our rejection of the ARPAlling idea (that’s enough already — Ed.) for a British version of the American’s state funded research outfit appeared in an article for ConservativeHome by Morgan and in CapX by Matthew Lesh. And our distinguished author Professor Kealey featured in the Times Thunderer.
A Ripper Deal by Senator Patterson featured in The Telegraph, The New European, The Daily Express, The Express again, Nikkei, Wired.gov, and CityAM. I discussed the power of CANZUK and international cooperation with our allies a few times in ConservativeHome.
On coronavirus, you can find Matthew Lesh talking about test and trace in The Telegraph (we don't need to keep telling you though, I'm sure you know where to find him by now — Ed.) and the potential second wave in CapX. In terms of economic recovery you can find his comments on tax proposals on the front page of The Telegraph and in the Express, as well as the call for a smaller state in CapX.
The Government has finally said boo to nanny and ordered the end of Public Health England. As long time critics who have been advocating for this for years, our comments featured heavily in reporting of the news. We featured in The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and The Sunday Telegraph; and Matthew Lesh wrote about how this had been a long time coming for The Telegraph, and John Macdonald was in CapX discussing how we need to keep an eye on it’s new iteration just as much.
Sadly, we worry that PHE’s ninny nannying has filtered through the government and could be here to stay. But not if we have anything to say about it. With Boris’ food ad ban plan in the works, we continued to decry the policy in The Sun, Daily Mail, The World News, Entertainment Daily, and Daniel spoke at length with Dan Wootton on TalkRadio. Keep an eye out for more work in this space.
Scotland is revisiting their controversial hate speech bill after renewed criticism. We’ve partnered with Free to Disagree to continue push back against the legislation which could see people criminalized for using “offensive” words. The campaign featured in The Times, The Scotsman, The Express, twice, and The Evening Telegraph.
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ON THE INTERWEBS
Our Superblog
Adult Social Care: broken promises. Lamenting the unending wait for the promised social care reform Green Paper, Tim Ambler walks us through the recent history of adult social care reform and all of the broken promises along the way. He says: “A Commons Library briefing note has a timeline of Green Paper postponements up to September 2019. Amongst them are: “January 2019 – Mr Hancock told the House that he ‘intends’ for a social care Green Paper to be published ‘by April’”. When there was no sign of it by the end of April, he “attributed the ongoing delays to a lack of cross-party consensus”. As the Opposition pointed out, there was nothing to be consensual about.” Of course, you can read more about adult social care reforms in our recent paper, Fixing Social Care: new funding, new methods, new partnerships.
Well, yes, this is rather the point. Tim Worstall reminds us that not everything needs to be overseen by a government diktat. In response to criticism that without PHE we won’t have bureaucrats watching our caloric intake for us, Tim says “What individuals do which affects only those individuals is no damn business of government in a liberal and free polity. Yes, this does indeed mean that those who wish to eat themselves into a pile of blubber get to do so. Public Health England has rather missed this base and basic point. Which is one of the reasons for doing away with it. It is not just that is has been provably incompetent when there actually was a pandemic, it’s that it’s been poking its nose in where public health has no business.”
Can vaping reduce inequality? ASI fellow and head of WeVape Mark Oates says yes. “ONS data suggests those earning below £10,000 per year smoke at double the rate to those earning above £40,000. Smoking is also expensive due to the high and regressive tax placed on the product. This further leads to a reduction in the money in the pocket of Britain's poorest: something confirmed by a 2019 University College London study which found that smokers could save around £780 a year by vaping instead. Vaping is therefore a win-win for both the health and income of Britain's poorest.”
Other internetty places
My old boss Sam Bowman and old colleagues Ben Southwood and Saloni Dattani have this week launched Works In Progress, a new online magazine dedicated to sharing novel ideas and stories of progress, and features original writing from some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. This week it features works on Charter Cities, state capacity and the evolution of psychiatry. Definitely worth a gander.
A supercomputer has crunched Covid-19, analysing 2.5 billion genetic combinations, leading to the development of a new theory about the virus that could help explain all its bizarre symptoms. It’s bradykinin hypothesis: “Covid-19 is like a burglar who slips in your unlocked second-floor window and starts to ransack your house. Once inside, though, they don’t just take your stuff — they also throw open all your doors and windows so their accomplices can rush in and help pillage more efficiently.”
With the US set to ban the mega-popular TikTok from the phones of Gen-Z, Bloomberg writes up how the inanity of TikTok is critical to China’s growing soft power. The US claims that the video app, with more than 800 million users worldwide, is harvesting users data, potentially posing a national security risk. While it may seem hard to believe that an app full of coordinated dance routines and adorable pets can harm national security, it does raise questions about China’s increasing power in the digital sphere.
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LOCKDOWN TIME
After gorging out on Rishi’s rations and other people’s mid-pandemic getaways to exotic locations, I decided to satiate my wanderlust with a binge-watch of the new season of Street Food on Netflix. It’s got it all, love, loss, death, coming out, corrupt police and even more corrupt governments. But above all, it’s got personal triumph in the face of these adversities, all centred around building businesses. I told CapX why it might be the most neoliberal programme ever made.
I’ve also been obsessively listening to Christopher Tin’s new classical album To Shiver the Sky that celebrates man’s desire to slip the surly bonds of earth and take off into the sky and into space. His music, set in many languages and in many styles, reminds us that man everywhere is lifted up through the power of his own creation and invention.
I’ve also been watching the latest series of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. A rag tag bunch of superhero siblings trying to stop doomsday all while being hunted by a trio of ruthless Swedish assassins from a mysterious agency that controls all of time and space. A fun diversion or the ultimate Chekhov's gun for the season finale of 2020? You decide.
Morgan and John both went to a real life theatre to see Christopher Nolan's new film Tenet (separately, I might add — Ed.). It's all about time, but also if time went backwards. Very confusing all in all but a major plot point involves freeports. As a main character asks "do you know what a freeport is?" Morgan found it hard not to shout YES at the screen (it was an almost empty theatre so it wouldn't matter anyway — Ed.)
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AND I QUOTE...
""If you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so they don't apply to you.” —Terry Pratchett
Back to our regularly scheduled Eamonn programming next time.
Bye…
Matt
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