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Once a TV channel - now just like any other blog. 10/19/2002 Euro lobby hires critic of currency Well it makes a good headline. Not quite sure if it is the whole story. Spotted on Airstrip One. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/19/2002 10:22:00 AM 10/18/2002 Relegalize all drugs now Seeing as no one else is going to reply to Peter Cuthbertson I suppose I'll have to do it myself. Cuthbertson mentions the case of a grandfather who overdosed on Ecstasy and died. His view is that this proves the case for the continuation of a ban on all drugs. This is a truly bizarre claim (sorry Peter). This man died taking illegal drugs. The ban did not save him. This is the regime you support - not me. There are thousands like him every year who die as a consequence of taking illegal drugs. Now, it is difficult to get into Peter Cuthbertson's way of thinking not least because he doesn't state it. Does he think that the situation will be worse if drugs were relegalised? I find it difficult to imagine how it could be. First of all the criminal element gets eliminated at a stroke. So, we can look forward to a radical reduction in crime. Secondly, the quality of drugs will be improved once they are legalised. After all, how many of us die from dodgy beer or cigarettes. Thirdly, relegalisation will allow entrepreneurs to sell weaker and safer versions. Instead of heroin many will try opium. Instead of cocaine many will try it in leaf form - just like the Amazonian Indians. This is not to deny that some people will do some pretty stupid things. Some people will become addicts - just as they do now. Some people will overdose - just as they do now. The argument for freedom is not that things will be perfect merely that they will be less imperfect. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/18/2002 11:36:00 AM You can click the photos... and get a bigger version. The reason I have posted up thumbnails is because lots of large photos is going to cause major problems to people with puny connections - like me. Thanks to Brian Micklethwait for pointing out the confusion. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/18/2002 11:22:00 AM 10/17/2002 Spot the recession I was in Japan last week on a study tour with the Railway Study Association. Most of the details will appear on UK Transport but there were a few general things I noticed which aren't really transport related. So, they're going to get a mention here. We are told that Japan has been in recession or thereabouts for a decade. So, while I was there I thought I'd try to spot the evidence. It wasn't easy. Cars are new, people are well-dressed, there doesn't seem to be much abandoned property, restaurants seem busy enough, there don't seem to be any sales. I did however spot a shanty town.  This one was in Tokyo and there was a similar if smaller one in Nagoya. Even in destitution the Japanese beat us. Quite simply they have a better class of dosser. Take a careful look at the photos and you will spot that in addition to the regulation cardboard box these people also have blue tarpaulins.  Pretty sensible really. I also saw plenty of coat hangers presumably so that could hang out their shirts ready for that all important interview. Japanese cardboard cities also don't smell of stale urine. How they do it I don't know because public toilets in Japan seem pretty thin on the ground.
Another feature of the destitution phenomenon is the authorities' attempts to deal with it. I kept on seeing pedestrian overbridges with the bit under the bridge and not on the road sealed off. Presumably to stop the dossers spoiling the view. The only other evidence I could find for Japan's recession was this:  OK, it's an empty carriage floor. But just a minute, the picture was taken at 1721 on a Wednesday evening on a train on the Yamanote Line (Tokyo's Circle Line). Imagine finding that amount of space on the Tube at that time of day. Not bleeding likely.
So, when do they go home? From my limited experience it seemed that the peak was between 2100 and 2200 in the evening. I also understand that many Japanese also work Saturdays. They're not paid for it but they do. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/17/2002 07:43:00 PM The Rules of War Interesting discussion on Natalie Solent about this. Personally, I am rather on the side of the soldier. If you are going to go to war make damn sure you win it. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/17/2002 07:08:00 PM Conservatives back? I have noticed a certain sniffiness in libertarian circles over last week's Conservative Conference. As I was away, I missed the coverage so it's difficult to pass comment but my prejudice was that nothing much was going to happen. Indeed, I left the party earlier this year after I came to the conclusion that IDS's leadership was going nowhere. But, this is not a universal opinion. Indeed, good friend Paul Gray of Connect (the man who first put me in the direction of libertarianism, no less) was very upbeat. Paul, a man who is as optimistic as I am pessimistic, thinks that this was the conference where the party turned the corner. On a vast range of policy areas the party is turning in a more liberal/libertarian direction. He points to proposals to create a voucher scheme for schools, allowing people to opt out of the NHS and the decision to end the war on motorists. He accepts that it is early days and that the party has only made tentative steps in a liberal direction but he feels these are significant. Also significant is the way that the media are starting to be less cool to Conservatives. This is in part, he feels, because of new policies and in part because the party has started to face up to the mistakes of the past. He also feels that IDS's apparently tepid leadership style may in fact be an advantage. The presidential style of Blair is beginning to wane and voters may eventually warm to a quieter, more thoughtful approach. As with all things time will tell. I am still very much a sceptic. My view is that you know a leader within the first 100 days and frankly, IDS was found wanting, but it is interesting that there are other views out there. We shall see. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/17/2002 07:48:00 AM 10/16/2002 Here we go again After a lot of thought and consultation, and let's face it, orders from on high, I have decided to re-open CrozierVision. It is going to be in a rather different format though. It isn't going to pretend to be a TV channel (except occasionally) and it isn't going to be a digest blog. No, it's just going to be like any other blog - the only difference being that I am writing it. posted by Patrick Crozier 10/16/2002 05:36:00 PM |
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CrozierVision CrozierVision is going to be the most successful TV station in broadcasting history and the spearhead of the libertarian counter-revolution. Unfortunately, in the absence of TV cameras, studios, staff and money it is, for the time being, confined to being a one-man blog shamelessly picking up on the efforts of others in the Blogosphere and elsewhere. Editorial Policy CrozierVision picks up on whatever it feels like. This can vary considerably. If you have spotted a good blog post or posted something yourself or have a comment to make on something in the news please drop us a line. Please bear in mind that the fact that an e-mail has been received is in no way a guarantee that it will be acted upon. Contact Archives Counter
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