Dear Harold,
1) This is short notice, but there will be a Libertarian Alliance meeting
on Monday the 9th March 2009, starting at 7:00pm. The meeting will be in
the upstairs room at The Coach and Horses on Great Marlborough Street,
Soho, London. To find out who the speaker will be, and to ask any further
questions, send e-mail to David McDonagh <mcdonagh10@yahoo.com>
2) The Chris R. Tame Memorial Lecture will take place on Tuesday 17th
March 2009 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm at the National Liberal Club, One
Whitehall Place, London SW1 (nearest tube Embankment). Professor Kevin
Dowd will speak on "Lessons from the Financial Crisis: A Libertarian
Perspective". For further details, contact Tim Evans
<tim@libertarian.co.uk>
3> Here is a video of my speech to the Marlborough Group on the 22nd
February 2009. In this, I take issue with those who claim that British
law and the British Constitution have been breached by New Labour.
Constitutional lawyers like Michael Shrimpton are wholly correct that
whatever goes through Parliament has the force of law. He is also right
that the Queen cannot be held to have broken her coronation oath - any
Act that conflicts with the words of her oath are taken to have altered
the meaning of the oath. My reply is to ask "so what?" The law and
Constitution exist to enable ordinary people to live in peace and
freedom. They draw their legitimacy from the extent to which they achieve
this purpose. When they stop achieving this purpose, or when they begin
to frustrate this purpose, they become illegitimate, and can rightly then
be overthrown and replaced. Where the Monarchy is concerned, I argue
that, whatever the lawyers may claim, there is a contract with us. We
agreed in 1688 to regard these people as the Lord's Anointed, and they
agreed to respect our rights, and also to protect them. Since the present
Queen has broken her side of the bargain, she had no right to our
deference. This speech was given in the heart of England to a meeting of
rather elderly conservatives. There was barely a single person there who
had not been made by circumstances into a fan of Oliver Cromwell. Here is
the speech link:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1760896777516663004
4> My speech to the Oxford Union on the 26th February 2009 went very
well. I will write a full report of this in the next week or so, but am
very busy at present.
Best wishes,
Sean
--
Sean Gabb (away from home computer)
Director, The Libertarian Alliance
sean@libertarian.co.uk
Tel: 07956 472 199
Skype Username: seangabb
http://www.libertarian.co.uk
http://www.seangabb.co.uk
http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk
http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com
Linkedin Details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/seangabb
Wikipedia Entry: http://tinyurl.com/23jvoz
FREE download of my book - "Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How
Conservatives Lost England, and How to Get It Back" -
http://tinyurl.com/34e2o3
Sunday, 8 March 2009
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