I like this proactive thinking from TCC’s Consultant Communications Manager, Antoine Clarke. He has just set up a Facebook page promoting the outstanding Spanish economist Jesus Huerta De Soto for a Nobel Prize. This is a most deserved cause and one that my TCC colleagues and I fully support. If you are on Facebook, please join here.
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Press
Recently at a TCC board meeting everyone agreed that the organisation must now commence is media outreach program. It is therefore with some delight that from Monday we welcome Antoine Clarke, already a member of our Advisory Board, into an even closer and more proactive relationship. From here on in he will be preparing our media releases and helping us to reach out to a broad range of journalists and opinion formers. A graduate in philosophy from London University, he is a former advisor in the early 1990s to the Slovak Finance Minister. Having subsequently written for a range of French national newspapers, until recently he was the international editor of a leading pharmaceutical trade industry magazine based in London. Currently studying for an MBA with the Open University, Antoine has long been an enthusiast for Austrian economics, honest money and all things free trade. Already an occasional blogger and writer for the TCC, as a communications professional he is passionate about the transformative capabilities of social networking platforms. Active on Facebook and Twitter, my hope is that he will help us tweet our way to greater success. For given the perilous state of our economy, communicating TCC solutions is now a pressing priority. Politics
Chris Neal offers a personal perspective on bloated EU regulation. I am reading ‘God Stories’, a wonderful book by Andrew Wilson and last night enjoyed the chapter entitled “Concerning His Son”. In this Andrew unpacks a passage of Scripture that in a “mere 40 Greek words” summarises the entire Gospel.1 He compares this “mere 40 words” of highly effective language to the Magna Carta’s 4000 words, the American Declaration of Independence at 1321 words and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address at 267 words. Let me add some more examples:
Andrew’s final example is the EU directive on the sale of cabbages – yes that’s right ‘cabbages’ – which extends to an incredible 26,253 words! I found this quite amusing in the context of Andrew’s writing last night but this extraordinary fact has played on my mind all day. How did we ever get into the position that we allow the ‘Eurocracy’ to conjure such useless and lengthy pieces of legislation for us to then implement and police? Furthermore, what does this persistent and systemic interference from the EU cost the British tax payer? Richard Cobden campaigned for the repeal of the Corn Laws: best we set about EU veggie directives sooner rather than later!
Economics
Occasionally, in this globally interconnected world of ours, one comes across an image that says so much. I was sent this photograph yesterday by that great blogger Donal Blaney. Quite rightly, he thought it would be a hit with the team at TCC!
Events
In a few days, my wife (who writes for this excellent food blog) and I are joining TCC’s Chairman, Toby Baxendale, to check out a venue in Central London that we have our eye on for our planned monthly TCC dinners. To be held in the private room of a good Central London restaurant, these events are designed with several objectives in mind. Each one will gather a mixture of 16 sound journalists, academics, and politicians as well as numerous members of TCC’s Team and Advisory Board. Each will promote a sound after dinner speaker on a subject close to our hearts, be it: honest money, free trade and or the wider world of liberal social reform. Above all else, each dinner will stimulate, encourage and court debate and learning. By the end of 2010, the TCC’s dinners will be making their mark. Helping to promote the organisation’s networking and outreach capabilities these events will greatly aid our quest to impact on the intellectual and policy life of the UK, as well as the world beyond. Events
Today, TCC launched the events page on its web site. In the coming days and weeks this section will be updated with the details of our extensive events programme for 2010. With monthly dinners, an annual lecture planned in June and an ‘Honest Money Christmas Reception’ at the end of the year, and lots more besides, do make sure you watch this space! Economics
Via FT.com, Ofgem urges a shake-up of the energy market,
Which all seems very well, until you realise that this is the fruit of an ideological aversion to the free mutual cooperation of individuals and corporations. Ofgem apparently tell us, “It would mean taking away the market’s role in delivering that investment.” We need to make our minds up about whether planned or free economies can provide us with the means of our survival and prosperity. History’s answer is clear: planned economies cause misery and then collapse. Further reading
Events
Tomorrow evening, the TCC’s Chairman, Toby Baxendale, is hosting a small and informal dinner for one of our Advisory Board Members, Andreas Acavalos. The gathering is set for a restaurant near Knightsbridge and will bring together our Corporate Affairs Director, Steve Baker, as well as some of members of the Advisory Board including Chris Neal, Gordon Kerr and Antoine Clarke. I will be there too and am greatly looking forward to it. As you can see here, Andreas is a management consultant specializing in organisational strategy and post-merger integration. Crucially, he is also very sound when it comes to money, markets and social reform. Events
I have just accepted an invitation from that great London free market networker, Shane Frith, to address an excellent group he is involved with called Progressive Conservatives. Not being a Conservative myself (I consider their general disassociation from much that I regard to be progressive and liberal off-putting), the chance to speak to a group professing Progressive Conservatism in the liberal sense greatly excites me. My talk is scheduled for 22 February 2010 and the current title is ‘Free Market Thoughts on the Political Atmospherics of Money, Banking and Finance’. Events
Yesterday evening, James Tyler and I spent a pleasurable time speaking to, answering questions from, and then socialising with, students at Warwick University. It was a good gathering with some twenty people present. With students coming from different courses and levels of study, James and I were particularly impressed by the quality of debate and the sheer enthusiasm of those present. As a departing gift, James and I gave our hosts a dozen copes of the Adam Smith Institute’s excellent recent publication A Beginners Guide to Liberty. Containing an excellent collection of highly engaging essays, this book also includes a chapter by the Cobden Centre’s Founding Fellow, Dr. Anthony J. Evans. His ‘Banking, inflation and recessions’ is highly recommended. You can download your free copy here. |
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