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IN THIS BULLETIN:
- Why there’s too much law to understand — and what to do about it
- The debate on covid passports — encouragingly, some isn’t even hysterical
- Freedom Week — yes, we’re back expanding minds person-to-person
And much more!
BUT FIRST...
Readers from England can enjoy beer now that the (outdoor) pubs have reopened, but not skittles, as the bowling alleys remain closed for another month. Still, there was dancing in the streets of London’s West End as drinkers enjoyed their first pint since Christmas. It was rather like my dad’s account of Armistice Day 1918. A general absence of social distancing or face masks nevertheless caused some killjoys to complain that ‘the police have given up’ (though I think this happened some time ago, probably in the Cameron years).
David Cameron, of course, must be one of the few people not celebrating the re-opening. (Now he can legally show his face in public, he’ll be facing a few questions about his lobbying.) Boris cancelled his planned visit to the pub out of respect to Prince Philip (though I imagine the Duke would have liked to see him down a few Boddington’s). Reports are he got his hair seen to for the occasion (I believe he got his hair cut, I just don’t believe it was done by a professional).
It was interesting to see Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister and former Sinn Féin VP Michelle O’Neill giving a gracious tribute to the Duke (a task which Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon obviously struggled with). Meghan Markle seems relieved to be stopped from flying by her obstetricians, saying she "didn’t want to be the centre of attention” at the funeral. (It seems she was unaware that this role had already been filled.)
And talking of Edinburgh (do keep up), I see that the famous annual arts Festival will be outdoors-only this year. (Anyone who has experienced a Princes Street east wind might advise that it be moved to Majorca instead. I’m sure all it would take would be a phone call from David Cameron.)
But I digress…
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The debate on covid passports has stepped up this week, and it is interesting to see different people’s take on the idea that indoor venues (e.g. pubs, theatres) are opened only to those who’ve been vaccinated. In the anti corner are those who think Covid’s no big deal or lockdowns don’t work anyway. Plus many others who think this is the thin end of Tony Blair’s ID-cards dream. And those who simply don’t trust government with their medical data. Nor a private company for that matter.
Yet it was interesting to see Matthew Parris making a libertarian case that it’s better to have venues opened to at least some people than closed to everyone, which is the only choice currently on offer from our revered leaders. Publicans say compulsory passports will kill their business (only oldies like me would be allowed in, and you don’t make much money from half-pints of shandy; and then the young lose out again). But should employers, say those running pubs or care homes, be able to insist that their workers all have the jab so that the virus isn’t spread? To do that, we would need a law that permits such discrimination. Discrimination written into law? You can see the fun the judiciary will have with that.
In Israel, where 59% of the population have been vaccinated, nobody seems to ask for people’s ‘green card’ any more. So maybe the problem is merely a temporary one. Right now, though, it’s refreshing to see such an active, and mostly well informed debate on the issue. Matt Kilcoyne reviews some of the arguments here.
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There were 1,000 new Parliament-approved regulations last year alone, says our new report Ignorantia Legis (Ooh, very lah-di-dah — Ed.). Most go through without even being voted on. Many are concocted so quickly that they have to be re-written just days (or even hours) later. But red tape costs businesses £100bn a year — a lot of it the cost of simply finding out what the law is. Our author, law prof Robin Ellison, says that it’s impossible for citizens and companies to follow the law if nobody — not even the government departments responsible for it — can keep up with what the law actually is. He calls for a ‘depository of all laws and regulations’ so that citizens, businesses, and indeed judges, can easily find out what the rules really are. And while we’re at it, we should have a good clear-out.
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Our webinars feature real experts challenging orthodox thinking on key issues. They get thousands of viewers and win praise from politicians (and normal people) around the world. To see them in real time, just reply to this email and I’ll send you invites.
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Coming Up:
The British Midterms: With local and devolved elections underway across the UK, some of the most important debates in the country are happening away from Westminster. To examine what we're likely to see, what voters appear to be deciding, and what we can expect whatever the results, we're joined by experts from the media.
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Catch Up:
The Perpetual Battle for Free Speech. The Right Honourable Dr Liam Fox MP, Former Secretary of State for International Trade and Former Secretary of State for Defence, spoke at the Adam Smith Institute to make a pitch for free speech. His comments were followed by an in-depth interview with journalist Jodie Ginsberg. Together they explored the issues in civil society, law, and the philosophical battle over what we should be able to say, when, and where.
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Open societies: the verdict. Our own Madsen Pirie has described Johan Norberg’s latest book, Open: The Story of Human Progress, as an ‘instant classic’. In this webinar the best-selling Swedish author and broadcaster backs up the claim that openness promotes, not division and conflict, but ideas, innovation and progress.
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Adam Smith's Legacy: GMU’s Daniel B Klein, Jimena Hurtado from UniAndes in Colombia, and University of Glasgow Enlightenment expert Professor Craig Smith (no relation) joined me to talk about the pioneer economist’s relevance for today — including statues, slavery, empire, free speech, culture, community and identity.
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Race in Britain: In a recently released report, the Government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities investigated the extent and nature of racial disparities in the UK, as well as providing recommendations for policy change. It prompted strong and mixed reactions. Our expert panel spoke about some of the more contentious contents of the report and answered our audience's questions.
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Podcasts:
No pictures. Just great words. Greater listening.
Find The Pin Factory on all your favourite podcast providers: iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Podbean
You’ve been locked down so long at home that I bet you’re bursting to get back into the office (speak for yourself — Ed.). On your way, plug in those little white ear-gizmos and check out our regular podcast. You don’t even have to look at Dan Pryor’s Covid hairstyle (He’s going for brillo pad-chic — Ed.). In this episode, he and ASI research boffin Matthew Lesh are joined by our Head of Government Affairs (From what I read, there are plenty of those — Ed.) John Macdonald. They reflect on vaccines, the London mayoral election and one year of Keir Starmer as Labour Leader. Keep an eye out for this week’s episode on the return of the pubs and more, currently being edited by our wonderful gap year interns.
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It’s the final year to apply for one of our John Blundell Studentships. Our grant programme for postgraduates has already helped dozens of budding academics to pursue their studies in topics that promote freedom, and applications are open for this year’s programme. So if you or anyone you know could use a grant of £3,000 to £5,000 for their Masters, PhD or equivalent qualification, be sure to visit the applications page here!
This time I can announce that Freedom Week — our annual training camp for young pro-freedom activists — will go ahead in glorious physical reality. It will be the week of 23rd August at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. At Freedom Week, in partnership with our friends at the Institute of Economic Affairs, we give around 30 young people an in-depth immersion into the ideas of individual, social and economic freedom, the principles on which it is based, and how it performs against other options. It’s aimed particularly at students who might themselves go on to become ‘multipliers’ — teachers and people of influence who will spread these concepts to future generations. Applications are open online now.
We’re also gearing up some actual live visits to schools and universities. So if you would like an Adam Smith Institute speaker for your school, college or society, contact our education guru Daniel Pryor for information.
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Donate:
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Help us keep up this momentum as we continue moving back towards normality. We know we can always count on you.
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We’ve been very busy with our regular media comments on Covid-19 and vaccine distribution. ASI Fellow Jonathon Kitson could be found commenting on the EU’s vaccine troubles in Financial Times, while Matthew Lesh featured in The Telegraph on the same topic. He also wrote for CapX on the different British and EU approaches to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Following discussion on vaccine supply, our quote splashed in Daily Mail, Daily Mail again, and again. ASI Fellow James Lawson hit back against Russia vaccine propaganda in the Daily Mail while approval for Wales following data not dates appeared in the Daily Mail. Our comments criticising the dip in vaccine provision over Easter weekend also featured heavily in the Daily Mail (remember, critique of the bureaucracy ≠ critique of hardworking volunteers –– Ed.).
Covid aside, our comments on other Government snafus appeared across the pages. Our comments on digital sales tax featured in the I and Asian Voice while ASI author Terence Kealey wrote for CapX on government-funded R&D. Another ASI author, Henry Hill, wrote for ConservativeHome on his ASI paper Global Britons. Upon the publishing of our most recent paper, Matt Kilcoyne wrote on the need to remove wasteful regulation in ConservativeHome.
I wrote for CapX on the Prime Minister’s ‘greed’ gaffe and why it doesn’t reflect the reality of capitalism. I also criticised plans for a global minimum corporation tax rate in The Telegraph and our comments kicking back against Momentum’s labour market plans ran in the Express. To round off Capitalism 101, ASI Senior Fellow Tim Worstall uses Greensill to explain how short selling provides an important market feedback mechanism in CapX.
Matt Kilcoyne roundly critiqued the Government’s plans to add calorie count labels to all alcohol drinks in Capx with comments in the Daily Mail, the Daily Mail again, the Mirror, Daily Express, i Newspaper, and Simple News. Our comments on the shelving of the Mad Ad Ban Plan also ran in The Sun.
The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP wrote an assessment of free speech in the UK for The Telegraph which coincided with a keynote speech and interview he gave in our offices. The speech was covered in The Express, Express x2, Daily Mail, Sky News, ConservativeHome. In addition, ASI research on free speech featured in a new House of Commons Library briefing.
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On our hyper-blog
Lord Frost has gone to Brussels to sort out the Northern Ireland Protocol, grasping, I hope, Tim Ambler’s latest blog in his hand. What’s needed, he says, is a pragmatic approach, but the EU demands “all kinds of bureaucracy, paperwork and veterinary inspections, and even the colour of ink used on forms,” which seems just bloody-minded. In any case, the EU’s problem is the fear of non-tariffed goods being smuggled south. Yet “smuggling is not dealt with by paperwork but by detection,” Ambler concludes. We need a new agreement — without the Byzantine paperwork and delays.
Madsen Pirie just can’t help being cheerful. It’s not a failing I’m subject to, but in the latest of his Reasons to be Cheerful articles, I see he has a point. The 1947 Town & Country Planning Act, which protected those with homes at the expense of those without, is the source of our housing pain today. But attitudes — and policies — are changing. There is a rising realisation that the Act has strangled development, and an acceptance that more housing is needed. So forget subsidised loans and grants: make housing affordable by finding acceptable ways to build more.
Matt Kilcoyne pays his own tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, seeing him as a believer in the power of personal choice. “The individual shouldn’t be lost in the bureaucracy of state,” the Duke told Thames Television in 1984 (a significant year on that score). Instead we should “trust individuals to pursue their own interests to the benefit of their fellow citizens.” To him, says Matt, institutions provided stability in a changing world, but need reform if they are doing the opposite. Institutions and policies should be “judged against facts and not fashions."
There is growing optimism (no doubt that man Pirie has been spreading it around again) that the UK will experience a remarkable economic bounceback this year, with growth of 6% and maybe even 8%, which would be nearly doubt the forecast for the EU. But of course, lots of individual businesses have suffered deep damage. And so, says Tim Worstall, they are coming cap in hand to the Treasury for bail-outs. But bail-outs preserve the bad along with the good. Better to let the market do its job. A business going bust “will be painful to those who currently own it. Other than that, well, not much. The assets that are worth reemploying will be reemployed. Those that aren’t, we shouldn’t be trying to save anyway.
Seen Elsewhere...
From the Kibbutz to Libertarianism: An engaging Cato Institute essay on how even the best-case scenario for living under socialism made at least one person hate it.
The most influential paper published on the costs of housing regulation turned out to … yes, massively underestimate how good deregulation is at boosting growth and wages. Bryan Caplan discovered the error.
Yet another UK poll finds majority support for freeing the weed. Our vice expert Daniel Pryor will be delighted.
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AND I QUOTE...
The Duke of Edinburgh, I’m reminded, told a Washington Press Club lunch how he had been in Tokyo when Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, and how this was embarrassing when he and the Queen had to return there some years later.
“They asked me ‘Is this your first visit to Japan?’ ‘Oh, yes, yes,' I replied. I’m not always as tactless as people make out."
Bye
e
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