Welcome to the Brian Micklethwait Archive. We are slowly adding writings to this site. For progress on this see the news section.

• Do some jippering. Buy some pluggles, and become a wadgellist. Try to be a rich wadgellist. If your parents object, tell them that this is what will make you most happy.

  Reflections and Recollections of an Occasional Career Counsellor
  2000

• The computerisation of education is a momentous process bursting with long-term significance for our civilisation.

  The Failure of Politics and the Pull of Freedom: Reflections on the Work of the Reading Reform Foundation
  2002

• If high earners do more, lower earners get pulled up the income ladder, to do jobs that the high earners are now too busy to do. The increased spending and investing of high earners creates more chances for the people below, and hence more spending by them as well.

  The Top Rate of Income Tax Should be Cut to Zero
  1996

• We believe in government only between genuinely consenting people, who really have agreed to a “social contract” instead of merely having had one dumped fictionally on top of them by word twisting political theorists.

  Liberty Versus Democracy
  1983

• ...rich idlers may *not* be robbed by the otherwise respectable poor. Cross that line, and the next victims of robbery will be the poor themselves, respectable or disreputable. The property rights, not just of upstanding citizens with admirable jobs, fine reputations and unblemished credit ratings, but of *all*, must be respected.

  The Morality of Consequentialism and the Consequences of Morality
  1999

Archives

• About Brian
• Libertarian Alliance Pamphlets
• Blog Highlights

Latest Update

November update

All of the tributes from the IEA event in honour of Brian have now been transcribed. Many of the speakers are still unidentified. If you recognise yourself or anyone, please get in touch. It is possible that in time we may also be able to fill in more of the blanks caused by the faulty recording.

Details of Brian’s funeral have been published on Samizdata.

Sean Gabb has written an obituary of Brian.

Highlight

In this video, Steve Baker MP recounts how Brian introduced him to books about freedom.

Elsewhere

Here is a collection of other places on the internet where you may find writings by Brian.

• Brian Micklethwait’s New Blog
• Contributions to Samizdata
• Podcasts with Patrick Crozier
• Old blog
• Culture blog
• Education blog
• Libertarian Alliance pamphlets
• Normblog profile

Video

• Channel 4 Documentary: ‘If I were Prime Minister’ with Chris Tame
• Internet Archive videos
• YouTube search results