Home About More Articles Meetings Links Join the Forum Archive of Free Life Book Shop

More Articles Latest Articles A Sceptical Look at the Disability Studies Industry by J C Lester:-  The overall picture is that disability has become increasingly politicised along politically correct lines to the detriment of society as a whole and, eventually, even to the disabled themselves. This is largely caused by the endemic trahison des clercs in our tax-consuming and coercively monopolised university system. Read Online dsi-pdf   A Sceptical Look at “A Skeptical Look at Karl Popper” "It is an irony to attack a more sceptical epistemology than one's own in the name of scepticism and defend, instead, an epistemology that is positively illogical." Read Online   Anti-libertarianism  A book review by Jan Lester:-    In this book Alan Haworth tends to sneer at libertarians. However, there are, I believe, a few sound criticisms. I have always held similar opinions of Murray Rothbard's and Friedrich Hayek's definitions of liberty and coercion, Robert Nozick's account of natural rights, and Hayek's spontaneous-order arguments. I urge believers of these positions to read Haworth. But I don't personally know many libertarians who believe them (or who regard Hayek as a libertarian).  Read Online antilib.pdf Behind The Caricature A reply to Alan Haworth's letter, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1998.   Thatcherism is Dead. Long Live Thatcherism! by Stephen Berry:-  2001 was a good year for the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Even before the events of September 11th placed him firmly in the eye of the world's media, he was enjoying the kudos of having inflicted a second crushing defeat on the Conservative party at the British General Election in June. Indeed, so comprehensive was the victory of New Labour that the pundits felt emboldened to talk about the death of the Tories and the prospect of the U.K. being ruled by a left-of-centre coalition for decades to come. Blair himself asserted that it was time to move beyond "Thatcherism and the old right wing agenda". But where would the seemingly unstoppable Blair juggernaut move to? Read Online thatcher.pdf   The Reluctant  European by Stephen Berry:-  But if one of the major European economies were in dire straits and decided to leave the Euro in order to be able to set its own interest rate, the grand European project would take a major hit from which it would be difficult to recover.  As a Libertarian who does not much care for states – let alone superstates – I would crack open a bottle of my very best French champagne to celebrate. Read Online tre.pdf   Posing the Problem: The Impossibility of Economic Calculation under Socialism by David Ramsay Steele:-    The Socialist economist Oskar Lange, in a sarcastic observation with serious overtones, stated that Mises' services to socialist theory were such that a statue of him ought to occupy an honourable place in the great hall of the socialist society's Central Planning Board. True, the statue has not so far materialised. But then, neither has the Central Planning Board of the kind envisaged by Lange. Read Online ec.pdf   Discrimination by David McDonagh:-      Liberalism is a moral paradigm. In judging whether it is suitable or not, the facts do have to be taken into account. But behind the factual debates in which liberal propagandists engage, we have the essence of their message, and that is the purely moral one that all individuals should have the most extensive freedom compatible with a similar liberty for all ...  Read Online     The British Fuel Crisis  by Stephen Berry:-    The news first broke on September 7th that truckers and farmers were staging a protest outside a refinery in the north-west of England.  Over the following weekend the demonstrations spread to all Britain's major refineries and by Monday 11th September there was panic buying of fuel in London.  By Tuesday evening 90% of filling stations in Britain had run out of gas.  All this happened with a speed which would have left the German generals of 1940 gasping with envy.  And all this had happened with massive popular support and without the intervention of a single major labour union. ...  Read Online PDF file The Political Compass & Why Libertarianism is not Right Wing by J C Lester:-     The political distinction between left and right remains ideologically muddled. This was not always so, but a return to the pristine usage is impractical. Putting a theory of social liberty to one side, this essay defends the interpretation of left-wing as personal-choice and right-wing as property-choice. This allows an axis that is north/choice (or state-free) and south/control (or state-ruled). This Political Compass clarifies matters without being tendentious or too complicated. It shows that what is called ‘libertarianism' is north-wing. A quiz gives the reader's Political Compass reading. Read Online LA-16.pdf   Rousseau: The Fall of Man and the Rise of The Free Market: by Bob Layson:-     "The masses of men are very difficult to excite on bare grounds of self- interest; most easy if a bold orator tells them confidently they are wronged." (Bagehot) ...  Read Online PDF file   Britain on the Slow Track by Stephen Berry:-      The brutal political truth is that road accidents are generally not covered by the TV cameras and are therefore not political problems.  A rail accident is a media event and rather embarrassing for politicians who insist on being at the centre of 'Britain's transport policy'.  More deaths, but less political hassle; that is the trade-off made by politicians as a result of the Hatfield crash and it does not make for a pretty story. Read Online LA-15.pdf    The Way We Were    During the 1980s, the Libertarian Alliance were fortunate enough to retain the services of the well-known mountaineer and épéeist Stuart Blade.  For an all too brief time he fastened his falcon eye on the absurdities of the modern statists and ridiculed them in his popular column, 'News from Somewhere'.  Read Online News from Somewhere    Falsificationism UNFALSIFIED A reply to “Why Popper Is Wrong on Induction” by Gene Callahan by J C Lester  Falsificationism remains very far from commonsense. If there is a pons asinorum in epistemology, then maybe it is being able to understand falsificationism. Many otherwise bright people, including philosophers and logicians, have sometimes got hold of the wrong end of the stick and then used it to beat off anyone who has tried to explain this to them. I fear that Gene Callahan, an otherwise very able fellow, appears to fall into this category. Read Online Reply by Callahan Falsificationism Redux 2nd Reply to Callahan Falsificationism: No Redux without Dux   Right to Roam or Licence to Trespass?  by Dr Jan Lester:-      Under no circumstances should the absurd "right to roam" be incorporated into the legislation of this country. In reality, it is clearly a mere licence to trespass. Armed with the appropriate economic and philosophical arguments, we should eventually be able to offer an effective counter-attack with a movement for the ‘right to own' privately every last one of the state-controlled commons, heaths, hills, mountains, downs, woodlands, rivers, beaches, and footpaths. As a result, there will be no imposition on legitimate landowners and more access to better resources for ramblers ... Read Online  PDF file   Hanging, Drawing and Quartering – American Style:The Brutal Dissection of Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is the world's largest and wealthiest software company, with billions of dollars of cash sitting in its bank account. Today it is under siege like never before. It is embroiled with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and several US states on a protracted antitrust case, which it has just lost. Microsoft also faces a number of lawsuits from competitors. It is regularly slated in the IT press, especially by the more technically elite section of that press. Many of its competitors complain about its business practices, even if they do not always bring lawsuits against it. By contrast, most customers seem sufficiently satisfied with the company's product offerings. In short, Microsoft seems to be hell for competitors but heaven for consumers ... Read Online PDF file   Say's Law Revived.-  A Book Review by Bob Layson:-     "Yet if Steven Kates is right about Maynard Keynes then Keynes was very wrong about Say's Law – as understood and employed by most mainstream economists up to the writing of The General Theory itself. And not simply was Keynes wrong about the classics but in making legitimate the concept of aggregate demand failure, the consequence of Mr Keynes has been ruinous for theory and policy alike:"  Read Online PDF file Porn and Rape by David Ramsay Steele:-    A man views some pornographic material. Subsequently he goes out and commits rape. I hold that he should be punished. Another man never views any pornographic material, but without its assistance he takes it into his head to rape someone, and does it. I hold that he should be punished ...  Read Online PDF file Libertarian Alliance Statement on the London Bombings: Islamic bombers have finally hit London. Why has this happened and what can be done to stop it?  Read Online "Stop Press.  Read an official statement from Tony Blair on the recent mosque attacks." Read Online Old Hickory's  Diary Updated 1/8/05:- This time Old Hickory looks at: "The death of Edward Heath and thus, reflections on his life"; "The bombing of London and the aftermath" and " The topic of the G8 summit; aid to Africa and climate change." Read Online oldhick9-pdf   Old Hickory's  Diary Updated 9/4/02:-    This time Old Hickory looks at: The New Caring Conservatism, Spin Doctors and the Jo Moore Affair, and The Socialist Party of Great Britain's Review of Bjorn Lomborg's Book. Read Online oldhick-6.pdf © Libertarian Alliance  2010   web la-articles f this phrase of the "balance of power", the meaning of which nobody can exactly make out, is to be brought in on every occasion to stimulate this country to war, there is an end to all hope of promoting peace... Bright he individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself... J S Mill