ASI Bulletin: Genny Lec
Dr. Eamonn Butler, our Director and Co-Founder, takes you through the last few (always hectic) weeks at the Adam Smith Institute.
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Psychedelics at ASI !
Move over, Sir Roger Scruton
My plans to become a TikTok influencer
But first...
After last week’s US Presidential debate, the Democrats should be thanking Donald Trump (A man of convictions—Geddit?—Ed.) for making Joe Biden look young. But Biden is obviously unfit for office (though that would disqualify most UK politicians too...).
Nearer home, a once-reviled minor right wing party is surging in the polls (and not just in France, but here too). But the Tories hope to gain from Sunday's Euros result as people realise that not quite everything has stopped working, though it often needs a good kick. Tory Leader Rishi Sunak says Labour will bankrupt the country, which of course is his job.
The King has opened up Balmoral, where you can have tea off (replica) royal china for £50, which seems a fair way to spend your money before Rachel Reeves does. And on stage at a scorching Glastonbury, national treasure Prof Brian Cox rejoined D:ream to play the completely apolitical song Things Can Only Get Better.
If any of the above reasons make you think of emigrating, you should know that we have already pissed off most potential destinations (the EU, Russia, China, most of the Commonwealth, all Middle East countries and a fair chunk of South and Central America). When Trump’s elected we’ll be banned from there too. And by the time you work out where’s left, Foreign Secretary David Lammy will have pissed them off as well. But here’s a link to the biggest real estate agents in New Zealand
Though I digress...
EVENTS
The Philosophy of Conservatism
Move over, Sir Roger Scruton. On Tuesday 9 July, my co-founder Dr Madsen Pirie is launching his new book The Philosophy of Conservatism, which is kinda timely, as there has been very little of it over the last 14 years. In the book, he separates the conservative psychology (loathing of any change!) from the conservative method — an approach to enabling change that works and avoiding grand ideas that don’t. He also traces the history of the Conservative party and asks which prime minister have been method conservatives and which not — with a surprising conclusion.
And we’re delighted to be joined at the launch by our keynote speaker- none other than Lord Frost!
The bash is 6pm at ASI- it's invite only, though we do have a ballot for supporters. So get your ask in now if you want to be pulled out of the hat.
Psychedelics at ASI !
Well, not really… In the next of our Enlightenment Evenings, we are looking at the legal status of psychedelic drugs with three leading experts, Professor David Nutt, Dr Anne Schlag and Max Ranegely. Wednesday 17th July, 7pm.
And remember, our previous Enlightenment Evenings (and other good stuff) are all on YouTube.
ASI alumni garden party!
We’re hoping for good weather this Saturday, 6 July (Dream on, it’s Wimbledon week—Ed.) because we are inviting all of our many hundreds of past employees, gap years and interns to join as at a garden party get-together in London’s swank SW1X Chelsea area. (And football at the Admiral Codrington pub afterwards.) If you have worked at ASI (Let’s say ‘been employed at ASI’. I don’t think we got a lot of actual work out of some of them—Ed.) please send Mimi@adamsmith.org a note and we will send you the invitation.
GAP YEAR INTERNSHIP
Each year, we take two talented students, between school and university, to become part of the ASI team. That’s it, not to slave over the photocopier, but to participate in and plan events, write research pieces, work on producing reports, make the tea, meet important people and do everything that the rest of us do.
One of this year’s gap year interns, Siddhi Badole, says: “Joining ASI was the best decision I ever made. Beyond practical skills, it broadened my worldview. Events, debates and even books in the office gave me a new perspective on ideas I hadn’t considered before and wouldn’t have picked up if I went straight to university.”
Applications for the gap year internship scheme for 2024/25 is now open. To apply, candidates must send a CV and a cover letter of around 500 words to maxwell@adamsmith.org. Deadline is 20th August , but don't delay! Full details below.
RESEARCH
Tax Freedom Day!
Tax Freedom Day, the day we stop earning for the taxman and start earning for ourselves, fell on the 10th June this year- the latest since current records began! To depress you further, it’s expected to hit 22nd June by 2028.
Our handy manifesto guide, The Pledge Parade, from the Next Generation Centre, summarises the key pledges from the major parties on the areas that matter most to young people and explore how they might improve the prospects of the next generation. For the sake of fairness, we’ve focused on major national parties consistently polling at more than 5 per cent, these being Labour; Conservatives; Reform UK; the Liberal Democrats; the Green Party. (Pity—I thought the Official Monster Raving Loony Party had a pretty good manifesto, with more deliverable policies—Ed.)
Nothing New Under the Sun
Our new special archive paper, written by the ASI’s very own Siddhi Badole and Sam Bidwell, finds that many of the policy ideas that would help Britain’s young people get ahead in life already exist- because we’ve been coming up with them for decades. But just like the Trojan Princess Cassandra, the ASI has clearly not been listened to enough by our cloth-eared politicians. So we’ve created a handy compendium of these policy proposals below!
THIS & THAT
Move over, Khaby Lame. It seems that I’m going to be a TikTok influencer. I’d always thought that to be on TikTok you had to jitterbug or take your clothes off, or both, but apparently not. Our tech team (OK, two people in their early 20s) recorded me in a rather stately Westminster park talking about the thrillingly hip and trendy topic or Universal Basic Income. It’ll be all over the interweb very soon.
According to Smart Thinking, in June we were the most searched-for think tank. Considering that this is one of the most important elections for policy-making we’ve had for a while, it is at least mildly reassuring some policy-makers want to know what we’ve got to say!
Our school talks continue, with our Policy Director Maxwell Marlow talking to Ravens Wood School about the election and about careers in think tanks.
We’re planning a number of events and publications to mark the 50th anniversary of the philosopher F A Hayek’s Nobel Prize — including a new and updated edition of our Hayek Festschrift, Hayek on the Fabric of Society and a talk-in at the London School of Economics. BTW, my friend Bruce Caldwell, co-author of the new biography of Hayek, will also be giving a lecture at the LSE this autumn.
Plus, we’re delighted to welcome Sebastian Charleton, another St Andrews alum, to our staff as an associate! Seb will be working on our social media strategy and content, as well as writing his own research.
MEDIA
Our Chairman James Lawson wrote about why politicians aren’t being honest with us about the nature of the tax burden for the Telegraph.
Tax Freedom Day was further covered in MoneyWeek and the Daily Mail, and Sam Bidwell wrote about it for CapX.
Our work on housing policy is continuing to get coverage across the media: our Green Noose report was highlighted in the FT and Property Reporter, and Children of When was in The I. Plus Next Gen Centre Director, Sam Bidwell. wrote for CityAM on why none of the major political parties are serious about house-building.
ENLIGHTENMENT ESSAY COMPETITION
Don’t forget to enter our Enlightenment Essay Competition, with prizes of £8,000 (first place), £4,000 (second) and £2,000 (third).
We’ll be looking further afield in our search for excellent essays. We are asking students, from undergraduate to post-doctoral, to answer the question: “How can the ideas of the Enlightenment become embedded in the Arab World?”
The deadline is 30th August. To apply, you have to be an undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral and post-doctoral student. We are asking for up to 5,000 words including any footnotes, Chicago citation, British English. Submissions to maxwell@adamsmith.org.
More information here. Good luck!
And I quote…
On the 1964 election in the US, by Ronald Reagan:
"If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to.... And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we … confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”
Bye,
e
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