Sri Lanka 1 - 0 UK

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** IN THIS BULLETIN:
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* A BROKEN HOME — Why the Home Office is broken, and how to fix it
* OUR YOUTH ACTIVITIES — And why you should sponsor this effective work
* ON THE BLOG — Conservatives, people and Marx



** BUT FIRST...
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The House of Commons canteen's food hygiene rating has been downgraded due to 'the presence of pests nearby”. (Obviously: in Westminster you’re never more than fifteen feet away from a rat.) Talking of which, the Conservative Party’s Brexit divisions continue to divide: they can’t decide whether their troubles are down to Boris, Liz or Brexit. (Down to not being Conservative, I’d say—Ed.)

A rare sign of coordination in the rail industry, however. No sooner had Network Rail told us that holiday-season travel would be disrupted by engineering works, the RMT union said we would be disrupted by strikes too. Visit Cornwall boss Malcolm Bell should be pleased at the shutdowns, though, after criticising "bloody tourists”. (Yes, Cornwall is full of charming villages, though not, it seems, charming villagers.)

The Church of England has told parishes to move their carol services so the flock can watch the World Cup instead — which must say something about the CofE’s priorities. For my part, the last World Cup match I watched was in 1966, and I‘ve felt no need to watch another. This time, though, it might be worth tuning in for the politicking, riots by beer-starved fans, and artistically thuggish policing.

Rishi Sunak, this month’s Prime Minister in the UK, has pledged to keep the National Health Service free for rich people. (Not exactly free, as rich people pay most of the cost, but we know what you mean—Ed.) Speaking of… apparently he has private healthcare, much to the chagrin of our NHS fans. But really, he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t because our precious NHS is under so much strain it can’t handle all the people, so really he’s doing a service by taking his custom elsewhere.

But I digress...


** IN THE THINK TANK
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** Research
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But what about the children?

Look out for our new report Boomer or Bust, by John Macdonald, out soon. While young folk face stagnant wages, higher taxes and unaffordable homes, my generation has been quietly helping itself to triple-lock pensions, subsidised health and social care, and free bus passes. How to fix the resulting intergenerational inequality? Well, planning and housing reform for a start, ending stealth taxes on young people, seed capital for young entrepreneurs, making UK education more international, and lots else.

Enjoy your retirement, Sir Humphrey

Look out too for our book on civil service by management expert Tim Ambler. We reckon we could cut the number of ministries by a third and reduce Whitehall staffing by about two-fifths, without noticing any reduction in output. (No, no, we need a reduction in Whitehall output!—Ed.)

A broken home

Let’s face it
, the Home Office is not fit for purpose. ASI author Henry Hill says there just aren’t enough ministers to oversee its sprawling objectives. Instead, it should be split in two (Split asunder might be better—Ed.), one department for immigration and another for security and policing. Well, do you think that the answer to the Home Office’s problems is more ministers? I’m not sure, but you can judge for yourself here.

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** $80,000 and a sore arm
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I’m just back from Washington DC and New York. In DC I had talks with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Cato Institute, both of whom will be screening our new film on The Real History of Communism and feeding our film material into their educational activities. Then I popped into the Competitive Enterprise Institute to swap (sneaky) ideas for achieving post-Brexit deregulation.

At the Atlas Network’s forum of world think-tanks we were up for a prestigious award for our work in shortening Covid lockdowns and speeding up Covid vaccination in the UK. Goldurn it, we were just pipped by Advocata, a very brave young group in Colombo, who had taken on Sri Lanka’s entire government during the economic meltdown. Deserving winners but I came back with $80,000 less than I hoped I would — just what we needed for all this year's work of finding good young people and introducing them to the ideas of free minds, free societies and free economies. But you can help fix that ([link removed]) .

As I nurture a sore arm after my pneumonia jab, I reflect that I’m lucky to get it at all. With waiting lists, even for the most serious problems like cancer, continuing to rise, everyone today has their healthcare horror stories. With NHS budgets at an all time high, it’s not lack of funding that’s the problem. Nor Covid: the supermarkets, for instance, are back at 100% capacity after their lockdown travails. It’s that top-down nationalised monopolies don’t work. We need to guarantee people’s insurance-style access to free care, but have competition in its delivery. We don’t have a National Shoe Service. We give needy people the money to buy shoes with. Why is healthcare any different?

The big event this month was the Autumn Statement (Don’t remind us!—Ed.) and our team had plenty to say about it. Ahead of the announcement, Daniel Pryor was in the Telegraph ([link removed]) on stealth taxes and the i ([link removed]) on our ever-rising tax burden. Our reaction to the statement featured in Guido Fawkes ([link removed]) , ConservativeHome ([link removed]) , the Telegraph ([link removed]) and the Guardian,
([link removed]) John Macdonald was featured in CityAM ([link removed]) on the extension to the Windfall Tax, and Emily Fielder wrote a particularly damning piece for the Daily Express ([link removed]) .

Elsewhere, Emily was in CityAm ([link removed]) commenting on the Government’s plan to restrict solar projects on farmland, and Eddie Bolland had his CapX ([link removed]) debut on the same topic.

As ever, we’ve also been making our thoughts on the Online Safety Bill known. We co-signed aletter ([link removed]) with 70 other civil society organisations, cyber security experts and elected officials, highlighting our concerns about the threat to end-to-end encryption. Daniel Pryor also signed this letter ([link removed]) to the UN Special Rapporteur on privacy to outline how the Bill threatens our human rights.


** SUPERBLOG
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Dr Madsen Pirie ([link removed]) , who’s been writing a book on the subject, tries to explain the difference between ‘Conservative’ and ‘conservative’. A ‘conservative’, he thinks, wants to keep things as they are, while a ‘Conservative’ wants change to be organic and spontaneous, rather than planned by politicians and authorities. That’s why ‘Conservatives’ favour low taxes and allowing people to keep and use their own money. Except, of course, most of them.

Dr P ([link removed]) also welcomes ([link removed]) the 8 billionth living human. Far from this being a disaster for the planet, it’s a positive benefit, he argues, as human beings, with their brains and many abilities, are the ‘ultimate resource’ that creates yet more resources — I mean, we turn sand into computer chips. And our ingenuity will enable us to overcome the problems that right now seem impossible.

Tim Worstall ([link removed]) argues that capitalists are helping bring about the Marxist utopia. Marx, he notes, figured that capitalism would get ever more productive until it creates a society without any scarcity. And that is when true communism will emerge. So if you are a socialist, you should be helping capitalism get ever more productive. QED!


** Donate!
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As every parent knows, young people are very expensive. We’ve been working with young people for 35 years and yes, it costs a bob or two. There’s our school seminars on politics, economics and even some careers advice. Our freedom week boot-camp for undergraduates looking to go into teaching, where they can be ‘multipliers’ for the ideas of social and economic freedom. Our regular Next Generation events. Our speaking visits to colleges (this week Daniel visited Warwick University to discuss the future of economic liberalism). Our books for schools programme. And much more.

We’ve also taken on two gap-year interns, Sofia (from Manchester) and Eddie (from Leeds) who are great additions to our team and are already writing articles, organising events, even appearing on radio. (You have to learn fast at ASI.) Right now we’re paying them two measures of gruel a week, so we need you to help sponsor them. Please help us, and them, with a contribution to the Adam Smith Research Trust.
Donate to the Adam Smith Research Trust ([link removed])


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** AND I QUOTE...
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Adam Smith wrote that

"There's a great deal of ruin in a nation."

I fear that over the next year or two we will discover just how much.

Bye,

e

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