Lib Dems and the State

Julian Astle, of the think-tank CentreForum, has an interesting piece on the Telegraph's website: 'Lib Dem back cuts to reinvent the State - not to reduce it'.

This rather chimes with my view that the coalition will be looking at changing the relationship between the citizen and the State.

There are, of course, liberals who do wish to reduce the State as well as the small State Tories that Astle mentions. In fact, some liberals want no State at all.

Arguably, it isn't just about the size of the State. A small State is still a State and can be authoritarian in nature.

Perhaps the difference between those who want a night watchman State and modern liberals is in the argument over the purpose of the State. The libertarian view is that the State's only function is to ensure liberty by defending the State and keeping a system of justice running.

The modern liberal is more concerned with the things that prevent freedom. They are more interventionist in that sense. This view sees poverty as something that stops people being free and these liberals want to do something about it.

One option is to pursue social democratic public policy. It is this approach that led liberals towards the Labour party.

Another approach is to tackle the problem of poverty in another way: the night watchman becomes the day porter doing things like ensuring children get an education that equips them with the skills and knowledge that leads to a successful future.

The problem is that by using the State to ensure freedom, as opposed to guaranteeing liberty, the State can be used by others to do other things. Then there are unintended consequences that can lead to increased poverty.

If one follows Julian Astle's route of redefining the State there is another potential unintended consequence. People might come to like more freedom and having control over their lives. If they do, it might be the voters who reduce the State regardless of the intentions of the politicians.

Reflections on the coalition

When the Conservative and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government, I speculated that we might be seeing something like a Whig government.

Since then the dominating narrative has been spending cuts. There are voices from the Labour party and academia that are warning that cutting too early will damage the recovery, while the Government has remained steadfast in its commitment to deal with the structural deficit as quickly as possible.

It is important to get this policy right. Not being an economist, I leave it to others to argue the merits of when to cut and by how much.

As the Government begins to cut they also have the opportunity to refocus the relationship between the citizen and the State. Nick Clegg made it clear that this was on of the aims of the Government.

As the two parties deal with the day-to-day challenges of office, they may lose sight of that aim.

The Labour opposition has also talked about reshaping the State. Once the party has a new leader, it will be interesting to see if a non-partisan conversation about the role of the State in the 21st century can take place.

Review: 30 Rock, season three

The third season of 30 Rock sees Tina Fey and the excellent cast get into their comedic stride. Not that seasons one and two weren't funny. It is just that by season three it is clear they are confident enough to play around with the characters and conventions they have set up. The show also boasts some fantastic guests playing parts or themselves.

Alec Baldwin has probably never been better but like the first two seasons, it is Fey who is the star. She is a superb physical comic and has the ability to deliver wonderful one-liners with ease. The show is littered with references to her comic inspirations but nothing is stale or nostalgic. Fey makes everything feel fresh and of the moment.

While the political tensions between Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy are still there, he is a Republican and she is a Democrat, and there are the jokes around working in an office, the show's focus is more on the characters than anything else.

Enjoy!

Reflections on The Man Versus The State

I started reading Herbert Spencer's The Man Versus The State months ago. I should have taken up the kind offer of Jock Coats and listened to his audio version. It isn't that it is a difficult read, it is simply that I find I have less time to read books these days.

In fact, I have yet to read the other essays that have been added to the book since it was originally published.

For anyone interested in classical liberalism or non-statist approaches to governance, then the book is well worth reading or listening to.

Spencer's starting point is that the Liberal party had become, in effect, the New Tory party: committed to intervention instead of supporting the individual against concentrations of power.

He documents legislation that leads to unintended consequences such as pushing people deeper into poverty and requiring more legislation to sort the problem out. This leads to greater government and more legislation.

Spencer wrote the book in 1884.

He also looks at how societies function without formal government, the emergence of 'natural rights' and the workings of free trade.

At the end of the book, Spencer says: "The function of Liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the powers of kings. The function of true Liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the powers of Parliaments."

Reflections on The Prisoner

As mentioned in a previous post, The Prisoner is currently showing on ITV4.

The show is certainly a product of its time: a psychedelic spy story. At times it is just plain weird but there is also plenty of classic sixties television fight scenes to keep one amused.

The storyline is straightforward. A spy resigns in anger (we know this from the opening sequence) and is abducted. He wakes up in The Village to discover that he is now known as No 6. He is there to provide information. No 6 refuses to do that and each week attempts to escape or undermine the system.

You can enjoy The Prisoner as an adventure, a science fiction show about a dystopia that likes nothing better but to brainwash its citizens or as a reflection of something closer to home.

The Village provides everything its residents need: food, shelter, art and entertainment. Everyone has their place and the sign outside N0 6's home says 'private' in recognition of the need for personal space. For some it might actually be utopia.

Except that everyone is watched and must conform. There is no self-ownership in The Village.

The hero is played with an obsessive energy by Patrick McGoohan who created the show and wrote and directed some episodes.

The Prisoner is a complex piece of television. It is clearly a critique of Statist society but in its final episode hints at a darker truth: the survival of such a suffocating world is made possible by the consent of all of us. We are all N0 1.

Be seeing you...

Crime and punishment

Jock Coats is always worth reading but his post on punishment and prisons sets out an alternative and radical method of dealing with crime.

Fascinating stuff.

The Prisoner: you must conform

As ITV shows the remade American version of The Prisoner, ITV4 has been showing the original series.

It is about half-way now and can be seen on Monday nights at 6pm.

For anyone who has never seen it below is the opening sequence plus a scene where No 2 attempts to educate No 6.

Review: Callan

I recently watched Callan: the monochrome years on DVD.

The series began in the late 1960s and went into the 1970s. The anti-hero, David Callan, is an assassin and spy who worked for an arm of British intelligence. It starred Edward Woodward and the supporting cast included Anthony Valentine and Russell Hunter.

I watched the programme as a child, probably in the 1970s, and remembered I liked it. I couldn't remember much more than that.

Seeing it again, made me realise not just how good it was in terms of performance and script but the affect it had on my taste for thrillers and spy stories in particular.

Callan's world is a far-cry from the jet-setting of James Bond. In fact, Callan makes the Len Deighton series of Harry Palmer films look positively glamorous.

Spying was never more grubby, cynical and hopeless. By the end of the first series, Callan is unable to prevent a personal catastrophe, partly because he is the perpetrator of the act.

This was daring television that show its hero losing and questioned the morals of the Cold War.

For a taster, here is a trailer of the DVD.

Blog design

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that it has a new look.

I decided to change from the previous design because this one looks fresh, modern and allows for video inserts to be seen as full screen unlike the previous template.

It is a template and not something that I produced.

My thanks goes to Josh Peterson. I have never met Josh and have not had to pay him a fee to use his work.

Blogger, run by Google, provides the service for free hosting blogs and offering standard templates to people like me who have limited HTML and design skills.

I hope you find the new-look easy on the eye. As for the quality of the content, that bit is down to me.

World collapse explained in three minutes

Thanks to The UK Libertarian for spotting this

Journalism and the press

The decision by News International to charge for accessing the Times and Sunday Times online has reignited the debate over the web and the future of journalism.

Here are some things to consider:

• The future of journalism does not depend on the future of the press
• Journalism may evolve, as it has over three centuries, while the traditional press (printed newspapers) may eventually disappear
• As the Times paywall approaches the physical newspaper is being given away for free at Victoria station every day
• Paywalls defy the inherent structure of the web - linking is key but why link to something if you know others can't access it unless they pay
• The newly-designed Times website makes the site look more like a traditional paper and works well on the new iPads
• If newspapers stop printing, will people then be willing to paper for online content? If this is the case, is Murdoch ahead of the curve and planning, at some point, to cease production of the physical newspaper?
• A physical newspaper is a delivery mechanism, what is more important to the reader: the mechanism or the content?