Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!

• Wrong emphasis...
• Ironing out the kinks
• Found in Translation 
• i on the Media
• Best of the Blog
• You’re Invited!

Wrong emphasis...

This week IEA spokespeople reacted to the contents of the Queen’s Speech, which was delivered on Monday.

IEA Director General Mark Littlewood argued that the speech highlighted some worrying interventions planned by this Government, which would place too much emphasis on the role of the state, and not enough of the role of free markets.

While the Government’s commitment to preserve free trade with the European Union and expand free trade with the rest of the world remain welcome pledges, Mark argued that essentially all of the Queen’s Speech focused on where the Government can further intervene, rather than where the state can roll back its initiatives or reduce our tax bill. 

While many of the domestic policy issues neglected over the past three years must be addressed and tackled post-Brexit, he added, the solutions are more likely to lie with market-based propositions than with heavy-handed state intervention.

Read his comments in full here.

Mark’s comments were carried in The Times, noting his criticism of the Australian-style points-based system, and also in City AM. He also spoke to Fox Business discussing the Queen’s Speech as it related to Brexit, and the progress of the negotiations thus far.

Meanwhile, our Associate Director Kate Andrews appeared on Sky News to discuss the contents of the speech. She noted that, from the free market perspective, it left much to be desired.

Ironing out the kinks

On Wednesday, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan announced that the Government will be scrapping its plan to introduce controversial porn laws, which many have argued would make online users vulnerable to data breaches and hacks.

IEA spokespeople have been calling for the porn laws to be scrapped, on the practical basis that they were unworkable in their current form, but also on a more principled basis, that the state was crossing a red line, overstepping into people’s private lives. 

In June, Kate Andrews penned an article for City AM calling for the porn laws to be scrapped, noting the host of technical issues around the proposed laws, including their effectiveness.

But fundamentally, she said, the arguments made against the specifics of the porn laws come secondary to the fact that the principle behind them was at total odds with our liberty – our freedom to live as we please, as long as we don’t harm others in the process.

Read the full article here.

A small win for liberty!

Found in Translation

An update from Linda Whetstone, an IEA trustee and leader of the Network for a Free Society’s translation projects:

Center for Development and Enterprise: Great Lakes 

The Center for Development and Enterprise (CDE) Great Lakes is based in Burundi but also covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Incomes are very low in these countries, and access to the internet is not always reliable and often expensive.

CDE translated and published IEA primer, An Introduction to Capitalism, written by the ASI’s Dr Eamonn Butler, and Professor Don Boudreaux’s book Free Trade and How it Enriches Us, publishing 500 copies of each. 

They have formed communications groups, each made up of roughly 20 people, in each of the three countries where they operate, who they keep informed of relevant ideas, books and events so these can be promoted locally on radio, television, blogs, etc. 

One or two events were held in each country by Students for Liberty to explore and explain the concepts in the books, with around 30 students attending each of them. 

Look out for an IEA video featuring Linda and all the great work she does worldwide translating IEA books, hopefully released this winter!

i on the Media

IEA staff have taken part in far too many media bids over the past month to count! (Or at least, to list here.)

Some highlights…

And on it goes... As the Brexit debate rumbles on, IEA staff have been commenting across the board on the latest developments. 

Mark Littlewood has penned an article for today’s Sunday Telegraph, arguing in favour of the Prime Minister’s vision for a free trade agreement with Europe.

Meanwhile, Kate Andrews did the rounds on BBC News, Sky News, and talkRADIO to discuss the economic merits of the new deal. She also penned a piece for Brexit Central, arguing that the new deal is good in its own right, not simply compared to the original Withdrawal Deal. 

And our Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson penned a blog for the IEA website, explaining clearly what new changes have been made in the deal, and what’s preferable about the new arrangement. 

New Vision... Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan told a select committee she was “open-minded” on the future of the BBC licence fee. Her comments came in response to a question from Julian Knight MP, who welcomed our latest report ‘New Vision’ in which author Prof Philip Booth proposed a subscriber-owned model similar to the National Trust. 

The Culture Secretary’s comments were reported in The Guardian and the Daily Express.

Breaking through... Peter Ainsworth, one of the co-author’s of this year’s winning entry for the Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize, summarised the proposals for ConservativeHome.

Meanwhile, our Research Director Syed Kamall also penned a piece about the winning essay, focused on higher education and life-long learning, for CapX.

Nanny overload... Dame Sally Davies left her post as Britain's Chief Medical Officer, but not before a final report which took the nanny state to new levels.

Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics, rubbished the plans saying it shouldn't be a crime to eat a sandwich, commenting in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, and The Sun, among others, and penning a piece for spiked! Kate Andrews attacked the plans in a debate column in the Daily Express, and wrote her City AM column on the topic.

Guesstimation... New research was published claiming minimum unit pricing (MUP) had led to a reduction in alcohol-related deaths in Scotland. Chris was quoted in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail arguing that is was too soon to tell if MUP has had a positive effect on health.

Stats galore... IEA research was quoted in a number of stories on increased sugar consumption. ‘Cooking for Bureaucrats’ – published by the IEA in August, revealing the complexity and inconsistency of government food content targets for sugar, salt, fat, and calories - was quoted in the Daily Telegraph, The Sun, and The Mirror. 

Over in America... The United States continued to escalate its war on vaping but as Chris and Mark argued, banning vaping may do more harm than good. 

Mark wrote about the potential bans in his fortnightly column for The Times and Chris wrote for the Daily Telegraph suggesting the clampdown was inevitable, as the US media and Centre for Disease Control have ‘played dumb’ about the true causes of vaping-related illness.

On a related note, IEA staff wrote columns which were published in US outlets.

Mark wrote an explainer of Brexit and what happens next for The Detroit News, while his policy advisor Alexander Hammond wrote about the US business and their relationship with China for The Washington Times.

Observation... Mark was invited by The Observer to review the latest film offering from Ken Loach. 'Sorry We Missed You' focuses on a family living on zero hours contracts.

Mark criticised the film's depiction, saying it was “clever at showing the precariousness potentially associated with the dramatic changes that are happening in the labour market”. The film is out on November 1st.

Extra, extra... Kate Andrews and our Head of Communications Emma Revell both reviewed the newspaper headlines on several occasions.

Emma joined Julia Hartley-Brewer’s talkRADIO breakfast show a handful of times throughout the month, and Kate appeared on Sky News, BBC News and BBC Radio London.

Best of the Blog

On the blog this week, our Chief Operating Officer Andy Mayer discusses why Extinction Rebellion (XR), the movement using direct action to seek to persuade the Government to adopt a headline 2025 net zero target to tackle climate change, has been banned from protest in London.

Andy notes that this ban is a difficult subject for liberals and libertarians. On the one hand, we are some of the strongest defenders of freedom of expression and the right to protest. On the other hand, we also recognise the importance of the rule of law and the need for law enforcement when these rights collide with the rights of others to peacefully go about their business.

It is always then a nuanced case whether such bans are proportionate, and you will find a range of views across the spectrum of free market thought.

But in this case, Andy argues in favour of the ban, arguing that it has not been a peaceful protest, but rather an effort to cause harm to others through economic damage, and claiming their targets (banks, fossil fuel companies etc.) can afford it. But in reality they’ve mostly hit market traders, shopkeepers, taxi-drivers and delivery workers.

Read the full blog here.

You're Invited

"The Lonely Libertarian"

           

The Institute of Economic Affairs is delighted to invite you to the UK launch of Ron Manners excellent new book “The Lonely Libertarian” – a compelling book explaining how to combine a successful career whilst simultaneously still speaking up for liberty.

The event will take place on Wednesday October 30th, 11am - 1pm at IEA’s offices in Westminster.

Books will be available to purchase at the event at the discounted price of £25.00 [cash sales only].

We very much hope that you will be able to join us for this special event.

Sandwiches and light refreshments will be served.

RSVP here.
 

Political and Economic Challenges of Venezuela

The Institute of Economic Affairs is delighted to invite you to our upcoming event with Jorge Jraissati on Tuesday 30th October, from 6-8pm, who will be discussing the ‘Political and Economic Challenges of Venezuela’.

Venezuela is currently facing the worst dictatorial regime in Latin America. Moreover, its economic collapse is the worst in the modern history of the western hemisphere. As a result, Jorge will not only explain how Venezuelans plan to reconquer their democracy and rebuild their economy but also share some lessons from the Venezuelan experience applicable to other nations. Why is the Venezuelan economy ruined? How and why did Venezuela become socialist?

Jorge Jraissati is the President of the Venezuelan Alliance, an international platform for initiatives advancing freedom, human rights and economic development in Venezuela. Jorge’s work has focused on raising international awareness about the importance of achieving a free and democratic Venezuela and he has been invited as a guest lecturer to more than twenty academic institutions such as Harvard, NYU and Cambridge. Academically, Jorge is an economist from the Wilkes Honors College, and a Visiting Fellow of the Abigail Adams Institute at Harvard.

If you would like to attend, please email [email protected] to register.


Hayek 2019

The Institute of Economic Affairs will soon be hosting US author Professor Bryan Caplan, who is delivering our 2019 Hayek Memorial Lecture, on 3rd December at Church House, starting at 6.30pm. 

The acclaimed author of The Myth of the Rational Voter - hailed as ‘the best political book of the year’ by the New York Times - will unveil his latest project, POVERTY - Who’s to Blame?

Bryan Caplan is Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Virginia. He’s also author of The Case Against Education and Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids.  He’s featured in many publications - from the Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post - and appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News and more.

Our thanks to CQS for their generous sponsorship of the Hayek Memorial Lecture.

If you’d like to attend this must-see event, RSVP [email protected] or call 020 7799 8900