British Politics on the proper path for progressive politics.
“Im proud to be a populist progressive. I think the power of progressivism doesnt come from commissions investigating ‘which policies are capable of maintaining normative commitments to social justice while aspiring to be a truly competitive force in the evolving knowledge based economy’.
“I believe in high quality education and healthcare for all free at the point of use. I dont particularly care how these are achieved. I believe that trade rules should be written to the advantage of developing countries, I believe that every citizen has a right to be supported when sick, old or unemployed and a duty not to abuse that support. I believe in the responsible management of the economy so that people do not live in poverty, or are trapped in communities with no hope of change. I believe in state intervention, not to support dying industries, but to transform struggling communities.
“I fundamentally believe that the majority of my fellow citizens agree with me. My duty therefore is not to talk to other progressives about social capital, but to them about education and healthcare.”
(Intellectual) property is theft 
Larry Lessig passes on a great post by Eric Hughes on how Disney continues to profit from the public domain. Every character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which Disney is about to release, is in the public domain.
Nicholas Kristof provides some interesting perspective on Tony Blair and George Bush. “Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair took very similar positions over the last couple of years, and both exaggerated the Iraqi threat — and yet Mr. Blair is perhaps the leading statesman in the world today and Mr. Bush is regarded by much of the globe as a dimwitted cowboy.”
Don’t, however, believe Kristof that Blair is in any real electoral difficulty. Maybe I’m not looking at things clearly, but I can see no scenario where the Labour party will dump Blair before the next election. And the electoral arithmetic — and more importantly the continued incompetence of the Conservatives — makes it overwhelmingly likely that Blair will win the next election with at least a good majority. After that, who knows?
I know some people who are sceptical about group weblogs, but Crooked Timber, launched today, holds tremendous promise. “Crooked Timber is a cabal of philosophers, politicians manque, would-be journalists, sociologues, financial gurus, dilletantes and flaneurs who have assembled to bring you the benefit of their practical and theoretical wisdom on matters historical, literary, political, philosophical, economic, sociological, cultural, sporting, artistic, cinematic, musical, operatic, comedic, tragic, poetic, televisual &c &c, all from perspectives somewhere between Guy Debord, Henry George and Dr Stephen Maturin.”
I’m not thrilled by the cod Victorian introduction, but the past weblogging records of Chris Bertram, Kieran Healy, Henry and Maria Farrell and Brian Weatherson are excellent.