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---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - IN THIS BULLETIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - COMING EVENTS: Westminster events, training courses, conferences... SAD STATS: Odd facts and figures from the www.ePolitix.com news pages... BACKCHAT: But don't rely on my word when you can see it for yourself... FREEDOM ROUND THE WORLD: Song; students; and Stand against ID cards... WORST BOOKS: Still time to add your nomination... BUT FIRST... Bob Low, European head of Reader's Digest, sent me the January issue with a joke about incredibly intelligent pets that he thought you'd like. But actually I prefer the real-life tale from a Digest reader who jokingly aske= d his shop steward "Mike, how many union members does it take to change a light bulb?" -- expecting one of the stock funny answers. But Mike replied in all seriousness: 'None. Union members shouldn't be touching light bulbs.= ' If you want to know the intelligent pets joke, you'll have to subscribe! Se= e http://www.readersdigest.co.uk for details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - COMING EVENTS: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.ht= m ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - 1. WESTMINSTER EVENTS: For details see http://www.adamsmith.org and for information and invitations contact Steve on events@adamsmith.org 28 January: Adam Smith Lecture by Shadow Education Secretary DAMIAN GREEN M= P 29 January: Power Lunch with Environment Minister MICHAEL MEACHER MP 4 February: Next Generation meeting with ex-Palace pressman SIMON WALKER 5 February: Power Lunch with DAVID DAVIS MP (what more needs to be said?) 11 February: Power Lunch with DTI chief adviser VICKY PRYCE 17 February: Commons breakfast with Non-Execs Watchdog DEREK HIGGS 25 February: Power Lunch with Environment Committee Chair DAVID CURRY MP 4 March: Power Lunch with Administration Committee Chair DR TONY WRIGHT MP 5 March: Power Lunch with Shadow Culture Secretary JOHN WHITTINGDALE MP 18 March: Power Lunch with Public Standards Watchdog SIR NIGEL WICKS 2 April: Power Lunch with Tory Spending Shadow HOWARD FLIGHT MP 13 May: Adam Smith Lecture by Schools Minister STEPHEN TWIGG MP 2. TRAINING COURSES FOR MINISTERS AND OFFICIALS: for details and registration information, email Polly on info@adamsmithinstitute.com PUBLIC EXPENDITURE: Public expenditure training course 5-7 February POWER SECTOR: Regulation and privatization in utilities, 19-21 February SECURITY: South African prison and security policy, 5-7 March SPINDOCTORING: Policy and public awareness course, 26-28 March 3. TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL SECTORAL CONFERENCES: for information, programmes and registration details, contact info@asi-conferences.com STEEL: The ASI's CIS & East European Steel Summit is on 5-6 February 2003 a= t the Radisson Portman Hotel in London ENERGY: Our international conference on the French energy market is on 4-5 March 2003 at the Paris Marriott Hotel. AUTOMOTIVE: Our Sixth international forum on the Russian automotive sector will take place 18-19 March at the Marriott Grand Hotel in Moscow. Brrr! RETAIL: Our second international forum on the Russian retail sector is 1-2 April at the Marriott Grand in Moscow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - SAD STATISTICS gleaned from the news pages of www.ePolitix.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - - Downing Street's new air conditioning system breaks the government's rule= s on the environment [hopeless, or what?] - The Institute of Actuaries has warned that the government's green paper o= n pensions may accelerate the crisis in occupational schemes. - The fastest-growing sector of the economy is the public sector, which now employs 7m people, 25 percent of the workforce. - The number of young people claiming incapacity benefit is up 25 percent. - The government is seizing a billion smuggled cigarettes less than it has targeted [more bizarre targetitis from the government sector]. - Strikes in 2001 lost the UK 1.5m days, the highest number for 12 years. - Setting up the PPP for London Underground has cost taxpayers GBP 500m. - Schools continue to sell off playing fields at the rate of almost one a week despite a government pledge to end the process. - The compensation culture costs GBP 10b a year, say Actuaries. - Plans for a new Distinction award at A Level have been dropped by the government due to fears it would devalue other grades. - 15% of homeowners live in poverty, says the Rowntree Foundation [which must say more about their statistics than homeowners] - Nine out of ten crimes go unpunished, according to an ICM survey [now that, I can believe] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - BACKCHAT: Recent stuff at ASI ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - LOTS HAPPENING: We've been doing all sorts of interesting things, got new people working in the office, been causing lots of trouble. Boris Johnson really wowwed the Next Generation Group, for example. We've told the Financial Services Authority that equity analysis must be more independent. An Australian Senator dropped in for a Power Lunch on pension reform... But why should I go into details when you can find them yourself on our website news page -- http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/home.htm ? ISSUES PAGES: I'm in the process of making our website 'issues' pages deepe= r and more informative. You can see how we're getting on by hitting the green 'Issues/Projects' button on http://www.adamsmith.org and then selecting Education, or Transport, or Media. Upgrading the other pages soon! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - FREEDOM ROUND THE WORLD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - RAP FOR PRIVATIZATION: ASI is known for singing the praises of privatization, but never so sweetly as Uganda's leading popular music band do in their latest polychrome mini-CD track, 'Today for Tomorrow'. In English, and then Swahili, they cheerfully croon about 'Privatization.../ The certain route to /Economic... emancipation...' Our friends at the Institute of Economic Affairs have a small stockpile, so if you'd like a copy of this collector's item, send me =A35 in a a stamped addressed envelope and I'll get them to pop one in for you. STUDENTS NEED SUPPORT: Hillsdale College in Michigan -- the only US college that refuses to accept any government funding -- has a new student organization. Hillsdale Classical Liberals support liberalism, limited governments, and free markets, but need financial support to bring in good speakers and produce effective literature. You should help! David Frank -- dwfrank@hillsdale.edu -- will be pleased to tell you how. ID-CARD CAMPAIGN: Techno-libs tell me there's still time to respond to the UK government's consultation on smart ID cards. Lord Falconer says that mos= t people are in favour, which is as plausible as a Florida election result. The easiest way is to use the fab STAND site at http://www.stand.org.uk/ and you can use that also to fax your MP easily. It has some briefs on why its a bad idea, so you can do some pithy lobbying and have all the pleasure of using a well designed, state of the art guerrilla activist web site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - WORLD'S WORST BOOKS? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - YUK-ONOMICS: A few nominations from my 'Worst Economics Books' search: - Sheila Kennedy suggested The Silent Takeover by Noreena Hertz, being 'ful= l of fatuous comparisons, generalizations, and contradictions'. - Karen Gulliver proposed Salmon Day, by Douglas Lamont. Its subtitle, The End of the Beginning for Global Business, 'summarizes the only thought in the whole 275 pages'. - But the winner has to be No Logo, submitted by Tom Lamb. What more needs to be said? There must be lots more bad books out there! Keep 'em coming! e Dr Eamonn Butler Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BL, UK E-mail butler@adamsmith.org - Visit us online at www.adamsmith.org Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995 - Fax +44 (0)20 7222 7544 To unsubscribe, visit www.adamsmith.org/lists.htm
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