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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS BULLETIN... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS: Energy paper blows in; Sixth-form Seminar; Conferences; Nosh VILLAGE VICE: Insatiability Brown, Bureaucrats, and Bungling THE WEEK IN WEBLOG: More provocative themes which need your comments BUT FIRST... The Tory Party never make the same mistake twice. It's a new one each time. They've become so confused that they've taken to stabbing each other in the FRONT. Watching their frontbench in recent weeks has been like watching someone skating on thin ice...everyone wants to be there when it breaks. CONGRATULATIONS to my colleague Dr Madsen Pirie, who four years ago (!) put a bet on Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor of California (when Arnie was not even an active politician). Naturally Madsen got deliciously long odds, so in two weeks he plans a celeb party in Trafalgar Square. Well, not the whole of it, just Sir Clive Sinclair's luxury pad overlooking it. Drool! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOLDING GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT ***************************** EDWARD LEIGH MP, as head of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, has the job of lifting the stones to see what murky public-expenditure scandals lie underneath. Big job! He tells us about it at an Adam Smith Lecture to be held at Westminster's stylish new hotel and bar complex, the City Inn, on 18 November. Contact events@adamsmith for info/invites. ASI ENERGY PAPER BLOWS IN ************************* Are wind farms the way forward? Only if you don't mind power cuts, which is what's going to happen under the government's energy 'policy'. So on 25 November we're telling everyone what to do instead with a new energy policy report published today at a special meeting in the House of Commons. Contact Chris Lambert on ASI@chrislambert.org for information. SIXTH-FORM CONFERENCE ********************* 2 December 2003 is when our twice-yearly sixth-form seminar strikes Westminster again. Top-flight speakers in the (rotten) heart of the policymaking village. Free admission to school students and teachers. Contact isos@adamsmith.org for details/invites. POWER LUNCHES ************* IVOR CAPLIN, Defence Minister, 30 October ANTHONY KING, election expert 6 November SIR CHRISTOPHER GENT, newly mobile reformer, 11 November TERENCE KEALEY, independent university Vice-Chancellor, 13 November MALCOLM WICKS, Pensions Minister, 18 November DANIEL HANNAN, troublemaking MEP and scribe, 24 November TOM WINSOR, rail regulator, 26 November BRUCE GEORGE, Commons defence committee head, 27 November MIKE SUMMERS, Falklands Island representative, 1 December STEPHEN CARTER, Ofcomm supremo, 10 December Contact steve@adamsmith.org for information/invitations BUSINESS CONFERENCES ******************** INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET MANAGEMENT, London, 3-4 November Speakers include Nick Winser (Nat Grid Transco), Rob Harrison (Dir, Thames Water), Terry Morgan (CE, Tube Lines), Jim Craig (Macquarie) Contact Alex Ellis on admin@confs.co.uk RUSSIAN FOOD AND DRINK SECTOR, Moscow, 17-19 November Contact Christina@asi-conferences.com for more information RUSSIAN ENERGY SECTOR, Moscow, 20-21 November Contact tom@asi-conferences.com / niki@asi-conferences.com RUSSIAN PULP AND PAPER, St Petersburg, 2-4 December Contact Christina@asi-conferences.com for more information THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN RAIL, Paris, 1-2 March 2004 Speakers include: Tom Winsor, Eurostar CEO Richard Brown, EC rail supremo Jean-Arnold Vinois, SNCF Veep Guillaume Pepy, Arriva boss David Martin NEXT GENERATION GROUP ********************* NEXT GENERATION MEETING with ANDREW NEIL, 4 November Contact tng@adamsmith.org or call Steve on 020 7222 4995 DECEMBER NEXT GENERATION MEETING, 2 December Contact tng@adamsmith.org or call Steve on 020 7222 4995 ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------- WHO'S HOT? WHO'S NOT? ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------- POLITICAL QUOTATIONS: Cites site POLLY TOYNBEE: Rot spot http://www.politicalquotations.com http://www.guardian.co.uk/columnists --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WEEK IN WEBLOG: Visit http://www.adamsmithblog.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's just a few of the think pieces that are on our acclaimed weblog right now. Give us your comments and help us to construct new policies! BREEDING CRIME ************** The UK is now officially the most violent place in Europe. Can we trace the roots of this back to our rotten state-run school system? http://www.adamsmithblog.org/archives/000078.php SILK CUT ******** The government says it wants to reform the legal profession. Reform's too good for them, say we. Privatize and deregulate the lot. http://www.adamsmithblog.org/archives/000068.php FISHY BUSINESS ************** Is Disney's new "Finding Nemo" a harmless kid's movie or a pathetic attempt to follow -- or lead -- an absurd agenda of political correctness? http://www.adamsmithblog.org/archives/000071.php --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VILLAGE VICE: More Westminster scandals from http://www.ePolitix.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSATIABILITY BROWN ******************* Gordon Brown may be putting the economy into his wife's name after an Ernst & Young prediction that his borrowing will reach 36 billion this year. To try to close the gap, experts say he may issue a staggering 55b in gilts. News reports suggest that the Treasury is keen to raise air passenger duty from 5 pounds to 10 on domestic flights and 20 pounds to 40 elsewhere. The Institute of Chartered Accountants says red tape costs the UK 6 billion pounds a year, of which two-thirds falls on small businesses. The water regulator says that bills will have to rise by 30 per cent between 2005 and 2010, bringing the average bill to 306 pounds. Mercer, the actuaries, say that couples need to save more than 180,000 pounds for retirement in order to do better than relying on state benefits. John Prescott wants help key public sector workers onto the property ladder with loans of up to =A350,000. (What's wrong with the mortgage market, then?) PLAGUE OF BUREAUCRATS ********************* A doubling of staff numbers since Labour came to power means that the new 310 million pound Home Office building in Marsham Street is too small. Ministers are to appoint a social care "tsar" to monitor the relationship between the NHS and social services. More Tsars than peasants these days. The DTi is banning Christmas day opening by supermarkets and other large stores. If you forgot the batteries and brandy sauce, hard luck. Europe Minister Denis MacShane has suggested that the UK is losing out because it has too few politicians compared to most EU countries. Groan! USUAL BUNGLING ************** Despite Patricia Hewitt's promise to cut the 183 business support schemes of the DTI to 10 by next spring, only 17 have yet been disbanded. Now dropped from the DoH website are all details of progress on cutting cancer waits -- which stood at the target maximum of 80,000 last time. Sheffield academics warn that John Prescott's 2-billion-pound flagship assault on poverty hotspots is undermined by confusion and incompetence. Teacher vacancies in secondary schools have trebled since 1997, with 1,942 unfilled posts in England, compared with 649 when Labour came to power. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AS ADAM HAD IT... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you reflect on the Tories' leadership woes, reflect that politicians, like the rest of us, are never satisfied with what they have. Adam Smith understood this well, when he wrote: "Such is the delicacy of man alone, that no object is produced to his liking. He finds that in everything there is need for improvement.... The whole industry of human life is employed not in procuring the supply of our three humble necessities, food, clothes and lodging, but in procuring the conveniences of it according to the nicety and delicacy of our tastes." -- Adam Smith, Lectures on Justice, Policy, Revenue and Arms e =20 Dr Eamonn Butler, Director 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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