Political Note number 6 is about what can be done about unemployment. It is also a snapshot of political debate just after the UK elections of 1983.

Faint libertarian noises have been emerging from the Conservative Party for some time now, and the notion that effective libertarian propaganda can proceed merely by libertarians pretending otherwise is silly.

It is precisely because of the Conservative-libertarian connection that the differences between the policies favoured by libertarians and the policies that the Conservatives are now all too likely to rely on need to be so clearly spelled out.

And spell them out this pamphlet does.

..of the eight new legislative tasks the government is now engaged in, four consist of further restrictions. There’s the new police powers act, a data “protection” act (which will strip away the protection from data), something to stop naughty videos, and, a perennial favorite, laws to smother trade unions in the same restrictions that everyone else suffers from.

It also explains what can be done about unemployment, discussing the poverty trap of taxing low-paid workers, the effects of minimum wage and employment protection laws, and how rent controls make it harder to move for work.