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- THE MORE THE MERRIER PART II: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE POPULATION BOMB
In certain political circles west of my own, it is received wisdom that overpopulation is a problem, wisdom that one must be a fool (or worse, a conservative) to doubt. Yet it is difficult to recall a concept about which so many people have been wrong -- and with such dire consequences.
- THE MORE THE MERRIER PART I: OPEN UP THE BORDER
If one thing alone irks me about Britain's right (including otherwise sane folk like UKIP), it would be the near-universal hostility to immigration.
- THE MICROSOFT "MONOPOLY"?
What does it mean to call Microsoft a monopoly? The term is thrown around unthinkingly by many people in the free software community. Yet it's worth asking exactly what Microsoft have a monopoly on.
- SUPPORT OUR NON-FARMERS
Elections are nigh, and it follows as surely as night does day that the likes of the National Farmers' Union will be urging politicians to "support our farmers" in exchange for union votes. Of course, people (including politicians) should be free to support British farming -- or Bangladeshi farming, if they so choose -- with their own money. But any non-farmer should object to what "supporting our farmers" means in the political sphere: subsidies and trade barriers. Or, put differently, taking your money and telling you what to do.
- SOCIALISM (OR, "YOU'RE FAT? TOO BAD!")
For someone like me, who does not think phrases like "it's your own stupid fault" and "sorry, but that's not my problem" are anachronisms, it is almost painful, and certainly disheartening, to follow debates on public policy, especially in an election season.
- THE 2005 BUDGET, AS BAD SCREENPLAY
- Maybe I'll write a serious and thoughtful analysis of Brown's budget tonight. But bad screenplay versions of my thoughts are so much funnier, not to mention easier to write. Brown: So the budget for 2005 is as... Pensioners: Wah wah...
- IS EXTENDING MATERNITY LEAVE A GOOD IDEA?
If the government passed a law tomorrow that mandated that anyone hiring a black person must enter a lottery in which there was a significant risk of having to give the new employee a bonus worth nine months of wages, most people would probably smell a conspiracy against blacks. Yet, when the government imposes policies with identical incentives to hire women of a certain age, there are few dissenting voices.
- TESTING 1, 2, 5
- So I actually decided to design my blog, and readability be damned. I finally understand what Hell is really like: Satan and his angels will force people to design their sites in CSS and get them to look right in...
- THE LIB-DEM DANGER (OR, RICH PEOPLE GOOD, OLD PEOPLE BAD)
Last week the Liberal Democrats unveiled their "alternative budget", in the process showing why they should never be elected to power -- and why they will grow at the polls in the next few years.