…and while I’m on the ‘tort law’ topic

What's the point of injunctions in cases of breach of civil law? If someone breaks the criminal law, they should be punished. That's why we have criminal courts. But if someone's planning to do something which might, if they do it, be against civil law, what on earth is the justification for turning *that* into … Continue reading …and while I’m on the ‘tort law’ topic

Libel law reform

It's clear from this week's events, and indeed to everyone with access to either eyes or a braille reader, that English libel law is a disgrace that needs reformed. As far as I can make out, the only objection to libel law reform is that in countries like the US with a sensible (i.e. unenforceable … Continue reading Libel law reform

Banditry fail

Yes, I know - it's a poor show when the blog consists entirely of Twitter updates, and they consist entirely of Saturday night-Sunday morning tweets. And it's not even primarily riotous-living-based. Is it total disillusionment with political bunfighting? Is it working really hard? Is it writer's block? Yes to all three, combined with the fact … Continue reading Banditry fail

As usual, David Mitchell is spot on

The expenses scandal demonstrated three things: first, that British politicians can be dishonest, albeit in a petty way that genuinely corrupt political cultures would find quaint; second, that they can be idiotic, either in their stubborn refusal to concede that there were any irregularities or their spineless acceptance of every criticism hurled; third, that they … Continue reading As usual, David Mitchell is spot on

Very simples indeed

To Commentisfree, which is running one of the more embarassing pieces of po-faced Spartery I've seen outside a student union: A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I were watching TV at home when the advert for comparethemarket.com appeared on our screen. I had seen the ad before and not thought anything of it. However … Continue reading Very simples indeed

On al-Megrahi

Oddly enough, much of the best commentary on the thoroughly deserved release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi has come from rightish-libertarians: DK, Longrider, Longrider again. (I don't mean that right-ish libertarians are unlikely to provide sensible comment in general, just that "releasing alleged terrorist" and "annoying America" are things that, all else being equal, are things … Continue reading On al-Megrahi

That ‘Americans pay for drug R&D’ point

In the unlikely event that you've fallen for the absurd myth "US healthcare is really expensive because they pay for the rest of the world's drug development"... Total global pharma R&D spending was US$53bn for 2004 (it won't have order-of-magnitude changed since then). US healthcare spending was US$2.4 trillion for 2007. So even if you … Continue reading That ‘Americans pay for drug R&D’ point

Punishment from the gods

Apologies for lack of posting, I've been struck down by something resembling the flu. I was lucky as it wasn't quite as full-on I WANT TO DIE as it's been described by some (although there were a few hours like that), but deeply unpleasant and not recommended nonetheless. Anway, I've not been blogging much during … Continue reading Punishment from the gods