We've really done it this time

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Like this bulletin? Tell your friends. Don’t like it? Tell me. — E

IN THIS ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE E-BULLETIN:
* YOOF: Gap Year opportunities
* REPORTS: Why I’ll never be welcome in a black cab again
* ONLINERY: Nanny statism, energy windfall taxes, and government cheese mongering

BUT FIRST...

The Queen’s Speech revealed a legislative agenda that is too long and too expensive, like bringing back British Rail (but calling it “Great British” as if that’s going to make a difference), a new government bank, more pointless high speed rail turmoil, punishing second-home owners with higher rates, putting a quango in charge of internet content and dictating the wages of ferry crews. Will the real Conservative Party please stand up? (Or, will the present one stand for anything at all?—Ed.) Still, crime must be improving because apparently, since 2015, one police station has been closed every two weeks. (Well, bank robbery must be down because there are no bank branches to rob any more—Ed.)

Sweden seems to have done better than most with its anti-lockdown, personal-responsibility Covid strategy. (Mind you, it’s swings and roundabouts: if you think taxes and the cost of living are bad here, you should try living there.)

This 'Beergate party was planned' story doesn’t hang together at all. I mean, who orders a curry in advance? You order the beer, then when you’re three-quarters cut and feeling hungry, you order the curry. Everyone knows that. (Yes, anti-Starmer dirty tricks, I reckon—Ed.)

The Republican Sinn Fein party ended up as the biggest party in the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly, and there are hints that those elected as MPs might now take their seats in Westminster. (Ha! That might take a while, given the delays at the Passport Office—Ed.) I suspect that far more people are actually interested in the Depp v Heard trial than the local elections. There are just as many freaks and misfits in it, but being professional actors, they give you a more polished form of bananas.

Still, if you’re reading this, World War III hasn’t started yet, so that’s something.

But I digress…


** QUEEN'S SPEECH WINS
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Despite the Queen’s speech being predominantly a hodge-podge of the Government’s interventionist pet-policies, there were a few ASI wins!
* A new vehicle class will be created which will regulate new forms of transport including e-scooters. The ASI released a paper ([link removed]) in 2020 on how legalising e-scooters could bring economic and environmental benefits, while improving transport links for communities not well served by public transport.
* Plans to ban Buy One Get One Free deals on junk food have been ditched. We called for this in our recent Cost of Living paper. ([link removed])
* The Government has pledged to remove unnecessary barriers inherited from the EU to enable the development of precision bred animals as part of their new Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill. In 2021, we called for the Government to create a GMO regulatory framework for gene editing in animals in a paper ([link removed]) making the case for GMOs and Gene Editing.


** REPORTS
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A Fare Shake: Reforming Taxis for the 21st Century (http:/[link removed])

Well, my chance of ever getting a black cab in London again has just evaporated after our paper by Max Marlow saying it’s time to scrap the Knowledge (i.e. the ‘Knowledge of London’ test, which costs cabbies about £10k and takes 3-4 years to get). But since everyone’s got SatNav, which even tells you where the jams are, what’s the point? And he also reckons that we should be able to hail ‘private hire’ vehicles on the street and allow ride-sharing to cut the cost. (Yeah, but the taxi union dominates the regulator, Transport for London, so that ain’t going to happen, is it? —Ed.)

Wait, there’s more! The paper also suggested a return of the Para-Transit Light Vehicle to the UK: a chimaera of a bus and minicab, offering the luxury of a car at the cost of public transport. You can read more about this in Madsen Pirie’s blog ([link removed]) on the subject. It also called for the scrapping a proposed qualification in advanced driving for licence holders and mandatory English language tests also made an appearance, not that the media wanted to talk about that.


** EVENTS
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Misrepresenting Adam Smith

David Friedman — son of the Nobel economist Milton, but a distinguished thinker in his own right — did a nice run-down on all the ways that bad guys try to claim Adam Smith as an early socialist. With chapter and verse on each. Turns out that NO, he didn’t believe in progressive taxation. NO, he wasn’t in favour of banking regulation all over the place. NO, he didn’t want education run by the government. NO … well, you get the idea.

We even recorded the lecture so you can watch it back ([link removed]) if you couldn’t make it along.

Ayn Rand on freedom and flourishing ([link removed])

We’re pleased to welcome
Craig Biddle, author and director of education at the Objective Standard Institute, and an expert on Ayn Rand, here on Tuesday 24 May (and on the miracle of Zoom ([link removed]) too). Best known for her novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, Rand developed ‘a philosophy for living on earth’ that provides principles for life-serving choices, actions and institutions. For invites email [email protected]. (mailto:[email protected]?subject=RSVP%3A%20Craig%20Biddle%20evening%20lecture&body=Dear%20ASI%2C%0A%0AI%20would%20like%20to%20RSVP%20to%20the%20evening%20lecture%20with%20Craig%20Biddle%20on%20the%2024th%20May%20at%20the%20ASI%20offices.)
RSVP (mailto:[email protected]?subject=RSVP%3A%20Craig%20Biddle%20evening%20lecture&body=Dear%20ASI%2C%0A%0AI%20would%20like%20to%20RSVP%20for%20Craig%20Biddle's%20evening%20lecture%20on%20the%2024th%20May%20at%20the%20ASI%20offices.)

How Liberty Made the Modern World ([link removed])

On Tuesday 31st May we will be joined by Deirdre McCloskey to discuss how innovation, and therefore human ideas, are fundamental to economic success. The talk will examine the role ideas such as a culture of free speech and an economy of enterprise played in the ‘Great Enrichment’. For invites email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=RSVP%3A%20Deirdre%20McCloskey%20evening%20lecture&body=Dear%20ASI%2C%0A%0AI%20would%20like%20to%20RSVP%20to%20Deirdre%20McCloskey's%20evening%20lecture%20on%20the%2031st%20May%20at%20the%20ASI%20offices.) , or to watch along on Zoom click here ([link removed]) .
RSVP (mailto:[email protected]?subject=RSVP%3A%20Deirdre%20McCloskey%20evening%20lecture&body=Dear%20ASI%2C%0A%0AI%20would%20like%20to%20RSVP%20for%20Deirdre%20McCloskey's%20evening%20lecture%20on%20the%2031st%20May%20at%20the%20ASI%20offices.)


** THE GRAND TOUR
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The latest installment in our series of Sixth Form economics seminars took us to Burford School in Oxfordshire, where the team regaled students on free market environmentalism, how politics ruins economics, the perils of woke capitalism and more. (Thank goodness the taxi driver hadn’t read our latest paper — Ed.) If you or someone you know would like an ASIer to speak at your school or university, get in touch! [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])


** GAP YEAR OPPORTUNITIES
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We’re looking for a (very) few good young people to spend a year with ASI between A-Levels and university. And no, it’s not just photocopying, it’s carrying out research, organising events, writing blogs and articles, meeting influential people, learning about economics and politics, and generally being part of the team. It even pays. Click here ([link removed]) to find out more and how to apply.


** THE PIN FACTORY PODCAST
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If you like to be stirred up on your morning drive to work (Or while you’re working from bed, more like—Ed.), you can’t do better than listen to our weekly podcast. A captivating mixture of wit, gossip, fact, innuendo, criticism (And sheer bile—Ed), in the last couple we’ve featured conversations with iconoclastic researchers Max Marlow ([link removed]) (he of the How to Annoy Cabbies report) and Christopher Snowdon ([link removed]) (who thinks regulation on tobacco, fizzy drinks, fast food and pretty much any other vice are a load of nanny-state tosh). Just visit here ([link removed]) or get it on your favourite podcast thingy.

And here's a few clips to whet your appetite:

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Maxwell Marlow discusses Paratransit Light Vehicles

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Christopher Snowdon on calorie counts in restaurants


** ON OUR SUPERBLOG
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Turns out that the US government is one of the biggest cheesemongers in the country. (Well, I think we all know what a cheesy bunch they are—Ed.). Apparently they’ve got old mineshafts full of the stuff, according to Madsen Pirie ([link removed]) . Well, you never know when you might run out, I suppose. But rather than paying millions to store billions of dollars’ worth of cheese, wouldn’t it be better to, say, donate it to food banks?

Calls for windfall taxes on energy companies are misguided, says Tim Worstall ([link removed]) . For a start, while BP doubled its profit to $6.2bn, it’s also written off four times that by pulling out of Russia, producing a net loss of $20bn. A windfall tax on a loss isn’t exactly very sensible, is it?

The long road to Brexit is even longer than you might think. Dr Madsen Pirie ([link removed]) traces it all back to a speech from Jacques Delors in 1988, calling for an ‘ever closer union’. Not quite the outcome he intended.


** DON'T DESPAIR - DONATE!
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Let’s face it, we’ve all had a pretty miserable time and it doesn’t seem to be getting much better. First there was all the self-inflicted economic catastrophe caused by Covid lockdowns. Then this, er, special operation that has blown apart Ukraine. Now our politicians seem to think that they can end anything that people don’t like by passing new laws and setting up new bureaucracies. We need to make them aware that they’re not as smart as they think and that a big government is a politicised, cumbersome, self-interested and unsustainable government.

And we need to introduce these ideas to young people who don’t get them at school, plus the general public who don’t get them from mainstream media. I can’t think of a more urgent time for us to be stepping up this effort. Please make a donation to the Adam Smith Research Trust here, today. It’s easy! And it’s super-effective!
Donate to the Adam Smith Research Trust ([link removed])

Maxwell’s paper on taxi reforms received plenty of coverage: it featured in the Sun ([link removed]) , the Telegraph ([link removed]) , CapX ([link removed]) and CityAM. ([link removed]) Maxwell appeared on GBNews ([link removed]) with Tom Harwood and on TalkTV ([link removed]) to discuss the report on air, whilst Fiona Townsley wrote about it in a piece for 1828. ([link removed])

Elsewhere, Morgan Schondelmeier has been discussing all the newsworthy topics over the past week, including Windfall Taxes, the Cost of Living crisis, Roe Vs Wade and ‘Pestminster’ in the IEA’s Live with Littlewood ([link removed]) and the CapX podcast ([link removed]) . Morgan also wrote an article on Roe vs Wade, and why it’s unlikely that women in the UK will be facing the same battle, in a piece for CapX. ([link removed]) She also appeared on LBC ([link removed]) to discuss measures to reduce the impact of the cost of living crisis on low income households and in the Evening Standard ([link removed]) on the moral and economic reasons for legalising cannabis.

In other news, Charles Bromley-Davenport has been explaining why the Government should consider revisiting the sell-off of student loans in CapX ([link removed]) . On energy, John Macdonald was quoted in CityAM ([link removed]) talking about energy price caps, whilst Emily Fielder was on the front page of CityAm on windfall taxes- more on this story here ([link removed]) . John also wrote an excellent piece for Conservative Home ([link removed]) on why the Conservative Party are losing the young and aspirational voters and how they can fix that.

Our views have also been sought on the contents of the Queen’s Speech. John appeared on BBC News ([link removed]) , Morgan was on LBC, ([link removed]) Daniel Pryor was on Times Radio ([link removed]) , Maxwell was on GB News ([link removed]) and Emily was in CapX ([link removed]) .
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John Macdonald discusses the Queen's Speech on the BBC


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** AND I QUOTE...
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Friedrich Hayek, the Nobel economist and political scientist who developed some of the key ideas in modern liberal thinking, was born this week (8th May) in Vienna, in 1899. He’s never easy to quote from, as he wrote English in a kind of German style, usually with the verb at the end, but I thought I would leave you with this small piece of his wisdom, on the limitations of politics, politicians and planner.

". . . before we can try to remould society intelligently, we must understand its functioning; we must realize that, even when we believe that we understand it, we may be mistaken. What we must learn to understand is that human civilization has a life of its own, that all our efforts to improve things must operate within a working whole which we cannot entirely control, and the operation of whose forces we can hope merely to facilitate and assist so far as we can understand them."


Bye,

e

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