Daily Mash: CONSUMERS should be able to choose whether or not they want to buy a useless, second-hand car and leave it rusting in their driveway, a crazy right-wing think tank has claimed. The Adam Smith Institute said that Rover 200 buying should be done on a voluntary basis and that perhaps you should

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond is to have a free hand in the number of politically-appointed government advisers he can make.

"Victims of recession to get free therapy," said the headline in yesterday's paper. As part of my contribution to raising the nation's spirits, I'm offering a free journey back to the 1950s. Not a single mention of a credit crunch, and a vision of management and workers toiling hand in hand. Peter Sellers was never better.

It’s often said that Adam Smith would turn in his grave if he knew what was argued in his name. The latest Adam Smith Institute attack on the Robin Hood Tax would certainly be enough to make his skeleton blush crimson.

Free speech has always posed a liberal dilemma. On the one hand, we hold dear the principle that individuals are free to speak their mind, even when it gives offence. On the other hand, there is Mill’s ‘harm principle’ – what to do about those individuals who incite hatred and violence through their words. It

"Why can't my left hand give money to my right hand?" wondered Wittgenstein. Bizarre proposals to jump-start the stalled private finance initiative, discussed in Wednesday's Society Guardian, resemble the left hand writing out a deed of gift while the right hand pens a receipt. A scheme whose supposed rationale was using the private sector to shelter the taxpayer from risk may now be rev...

What would Adam Smith have made of today's economy?

Possibly one of the funniest thing I've seen all day. Derek Draper's new book is launched on Thursday and you can already buy a second-hand copy at knocked down price on Amazon. Second hand before its even new. That's very spechul! Hat Tip: Donal Blaney

There is an interesting debate between Eamonn Butler of the Bernard Mandeville Adam Smith Institute - which was originally established as Britain's own version of the Heritage Foundation - and Chris Harman in this week's Socialist Worker. It is an odd moment when Butler says: "I don't defend capitalism. I defend free markets." Moreover, said free markets are a force for peace: "Busi...

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Ben Wright, BBC political correspondent, almost burst out laughing when covering the Jacqui Smith MP story just now in the BBC TV news. He kept control, but only just. I bet it’s a laugh a minute when the cameras are off. Politics has always gone hand in hand with comedy, it’s just that