This is the speech by Oliver Jull that won him a spot in the speech competition finals, but then his school canceled as it was worried it may offend some people. You don’t have to agree with it, to think he should be allowed to express his beliefs.
The censored school speech
The censored school speech
20 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
18 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Seymour’s courageous but who will support him? That the Waitangi Tribunal was highly critical of the Act party’s proposed, although currently undrafted, Treaty Principles Bill was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. The timing is not surprising either. The Tribunal has become an extraordinarily political body, one that in this instance has…
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
Should the government operate petrol stations?
17 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, privatisation, property rights
The extent to which the government should be involved in the provision of goods and services generates a lot of debate. Most of that debate is unhelpful, since it involves small-government, market-fundamentalist types arguing against anti-market socialist types. It’s all ideological, and there’s a pretty good chance that neither of the sides in that argument…
Should the government operate petrol stations?
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: constitutional law, native title
A letter signed by more than 170 legal “experts” has been circulated around the media in the last few days and quoted extensively. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the letter in its entirety but have gathered some quotes. The letter claims to fact check Hobson’s Pledge’s ad which was published on…
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, Milton Friedman, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Chile, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The Great Enrichment, Venezuela

I’ve repeatedly praised Chile’s pro-market reforms (see here, here, and here) and I’ve repeatedly condemned Venezuela’s shift to socialism (see here, here, and here). But if you don’t have time to read all those columns, this chart from the Maddison database tells you everything you need to know. Simply stated, Chile’s reforms have delivered huge […]
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
Globe-Trotting Climate Activist Fined 100,000 Euros After Blocking Frankfurt Airport
15 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of crime, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics Tags: climate activists
If NGOs or collection campaigns don’t help out, the climate-blocking criminal could end up in prison as a substitute. How many years would that amount to?
Globe-Trotting Climate Activist Fined 100,000 Euros After Blocking Frankfurt Airport
“An America Issue”: Washington Post Reporter Calls on White House to Censor Trump for America
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

In my new book on free speech, I discuss at length how the mainstream media has joined an alliance with the government and corporations in favor of censorship and blacklisting. The Washington Post, however, appears to taking its anti-free speech campaign to a new level with open calls for a crackdown. The newspaper offered no objection […]
“An America Issue”: Washington Post Reporter Calls on White House to Censor Trump for America
School speech censorship
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Stuff reports: A speech which ordinarily would have failed to raise attention outside the walls of New Plymouth Boys’ High School has grabbed national attention after a student was banned from delivering it. Oliver Jull’s speech – The Decline of Western Civilization – was scratched from the school’s speech finals last week out of concerns […]
School speech censorship
“We are Monitoring”: EU Censor Threatens Musk Ahead of the Trump Interview
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, media bias, political correctness, regressive left

In my new book on free speech and various columns, I write about the European Digital Services Act (DSA) as one of the greatest assaults on free speech in history. One of the most notorious anti-free speech figures in the world is European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services Thierry Breton. Where some censors express […]
“We are Monitoring”: EU Censor Threatens Musk Ahead of the Trump Interview
The (Non) Mystery of Economic Growth
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, law and economics, macroeconomics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: The Great Enrichment

The recipe for economic growth is not complicated. You can put it in very simple terms, as Adam Smith did a few hundred years ago. Or you can develop and utilize data-heavy indexes like the ones published by the Fraser Institute and Heritage Foundation. In either case, the result will be the same. If you […]
The (Non) Mystery of Economic Growth
Stablecoins – a digital version of Swiss bearer savings books
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in history of economic thought, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, property rights Tags: bitcoin, Switzerland
Before anti-money laundering laws arrived in Switzerland, anyone could walk into a Swiss bank and open an account without showing any ID. The bank would then issue you something called a bearer savings book, otherwise known as inhabersparheften or livrets d’épargne au porteur. Ownership of the savings book was considered by the bank to be…
Stablecoins – a digital version of Swiss bearer savings books
Wind turbines taller than skyscrapers to march across British countryside
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, property rights Tags: British politics, wind power

By Paul Homewood h/t Philip Bratby Is there no limit that this moron will go to wreck this country? Giant wind turbines taller than London’s Gherkin building are to be built across Britain’s countryside after Ed Miliband rejected calls to impose a height limit. The Energy Secretary’s decision means turbines as high as 850ft can […]
Wind turbines taller than skyscrapers to march across British countryside
A Harris-Walz Administration Would Be A Nightmare for Free Speech
12 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Below is my column in The Hill on why a Harris-Walz Administration would be a nightmare for free speech. A long-standing advocate for censorship and other speech controls, Vice President Kamala Harris just added an equally menacing candidate to her ticket for 2024. Here is the column: The selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as the…
A Harris-Walz Administration Would Be A Nightmare for Free Speech
NZ now has an asylum problem
12 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in Economics of international refugee law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of immigration
Stuff reports: The number of people claiming refugee status in New Zealand has exploded in the past two years, statistics released by Immigration New Zealandshow. In the 11 months to 31 May 2024, a total of 2220 people claimed refugee status in New Zealand. Half of these asylum seekers – 1108 people – were from a […]
NZ now has an asylum problem
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