Dear All,

Here is this week’s digest of Libertarian Alliance activity. Highlights include strong political commentary on the Conservative collapse, a reminder of VE Day’s forgotten reality, several sharp reviews of Asian cinema, and continuing analysis of economics, history, and public health. As ever, the aim is clarity and truth—on matters large and small.

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Yours in Liberty,

Sean

Economics
💼 Trump Tariffs: A Libertarian Viewpoint
This article examines Donald Trump’s tariff policies and evaluates them from a libertarian standpoint. It acknowledges the popular appeal of protectionism but argues that tariffs distort markets and hurt consumers. A short and clear defence of free trade in an era increasingly hostile to it.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/06/trump-tariffs-libertarian-viewpoint/

📉 Reply to Prior Consultancy’s Interest Rate Release: A Critique from an Austrian Perspective
This reply dissects Prior Consultancy’s recent policy note on interest rates. It draws on Austrian School insights to argue that state manipulation of interest rates leads to credit bubbles, inflation, and malinvestment. An intelligent and well-informed critique of mainstream economic thinking.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/08/reply-to-prior-consultancys-interest-rate-release-a-critique-from-an-austrian-perspective/

History
🇷🇺 Remember the Russian Victory on VE Day
This article reminds readers that the Red Army played the central role in defeating Nazi Germany. Western commemoration often ignores the scale of Soviet sacrifice. Without excusing Soviet crimes, the article calls for a fuller and fairer account of history.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/07/remember-the-russian-victory-on-ve-day/

☠️ The Impact of Plague on the Roman Empire in the Third Century
Disease struck the Roman Empire with devastating force in the third century. This piece shows how recurring waves of plague weakened the military, the economy, and social stability—paving the way for deep institutional change.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/05/the-impact-of-plague-on-the-roman-empire-in-the-third-century/

👨‍👩‍👧 Incest or Custom? Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt
Was brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt a religious practice, an economic decision, or something stranger? This article looks at the historical evidence and challenges modern assumptions about family and sexuality.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/09/incest-or-custom-brother-sister-marriage-in-roman-egypt/

⚖️ Obesity in the Ancient World
This article explores how obesity was viewed in ancient times. It draws on medical texts, satire, and sculpture to show how Greeks and Romans understood fatness—“Ptolemy VIII of Egypt, nicknamed Physcon (“Potbelly”), offers a similar case. He was monstrously fat and a gross monster. He wore a long tunic to hide his corpulence, and was famously mocked for having to walk through Alexandria when Scipio Africanus came on a diplomatic visit. The story goes that he only ever exercised “because of Scipio” (διὰ Σκιπίωνα) (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 12.550a).”
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/04/obesity-in-the-ancient-world/

Politics
🏚️ Cheap Housing for Asylum Seekers, Expensive Consequences for Everyone Else
This article challenges current housing policy for asylum seekers. It argues that public money is being spent on short-term housing for migrants while local people struggle to find homes. A strong statement on fairness and unintended consequences.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/09/cheap-housing-for-asylum-seekers-expensive-consequences-for-everyone-else/

⚰️ Let It Die: The Final Collapse of the Conservative Party
“Hardly surprising the knives are out. There is talk of Boris Johnson returning. A recent poll shows that if he were reinstalled, the Tories would regain the lead over Reform. Wishful thinking if ever I saw it. The man is a bloated bag of offal, with a feeding tube at one end and an erection at the other. He is the man who shut down our lives, sent masked thugs into our homes, and handed billions to defence contractors. That he might be the last hope of the party says more than any obituary.”
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/10/let-it-die-the-final-collapse-of-the-conservative-party/

📊 Reform UK: Local Election Results 2025
This article offers an early assessment of Reform UK’s performance in the 2025 local elections. It praises local successes while noting national weaknesses. Real hope, it argues, lies in the shifting tone of public opinion.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/03/reform-uk-local-election-results-2025/

🔐 Comments on Together’s Draft Digital Bill of Rights
A second inclusion of this analysis, due to ongoing discussion. It considers the risks and benefits of formalising digital rights and warns against creating new legal tools for future governments to misuse.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/04/29/comments-on-togethers-draft-digital-bill-of-rights/

Health & Technology
🧼 Needles and the NHS: A Slim Chance of Salvation
“If even a small fraction of these wretched creatures experience the more “serious” side effects [of Ozempic on demand], the total number of the obese might go down. It will be a better misuse of the taxpayers’ money than most I’ve seen. When you have to share a classroom day after day with the dysgenic refuse of a dying nation—the sweat, the smell, the snoring in lessons, the endless excuses—you earn the right to a certain hardness of heart. These people have been gorging themselves into triple-XL uniforms since Year 7: a little thyroid cancer might be the first productive thing their bodies have done in years.”
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/03/needles-and-the-nhs-a-slim-chance-of-salvation/

🌌 Taurine, Longevity, and the Temptation of Medical Populism
Can taurine slow ageing and extend life? This article separates fact from hype, and questions whether our search for miracle supplements reflects deeper fears about death and decline.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/02/taurine-longevity-and-the-temptation-of-medical-populism/

🤖 The Triumph of the Widgets: AI and the End of the Developer Grift
AI is now writing code better than most humans. This short piece argues that many tech-sector jobs were always inflated by jargon and gatekeeping—and that automation is now revealing the truth.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/04/the-triumph-of-the-widgets-ai-and-the-end-of-the-developer-grift/

Arts & Culture
🎩 Honour and Mercy in Takashi Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
This review analyses Miike’s remake of the 1962 classic. It praises the film for its slow pace and emotional depth, and for its critique of cruelty disguised as honour.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/03/honour-and-mercy-in-takashi-miikes-hara-kiri-death-of-a-samurai-2011-a-review/

🛳️ Project Wolf Hunting: A Relentless Voyage into Horror and Action
A South Korean horror-action film in which a ship of criminals becomes a slaughterhouse. Visceral and bloody, the film is praised for its energy and condemned for its lack of restraint.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/06/project-wolf-hunting-a-relentless-voyage-into-horror-and-action/

👸 Save My Seoul (2017): A Sanctimonious Snooze-Fest
This documentary on prostitution in South Korea disappointed the reviewer, who had hoped for titillation—but found only sentiment and cliché.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/03/save-my-seoul-2017-a-sanctimonious-snooze-fest/

🍾 VFW: Gore, Neon, and Not Much Else
An attempt at grindhouse nostalgia that misses the point. The film borrows the visuals of 1980s action but delivers neither style nor substance.
https://libertarianism.uk/2025/05/01/vfw-gore-neon-and-not-much-else/

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