The Thoughts of Chairman Matt

Not being a Telegraph reader, I’ve been spared several years of their sometime star columnist Matt Ridley’s pontificating on the evils of state intervention. Yes, this is Matt Ridley the recently-resigned Chairman of Northern Rock who (pardon my ignorance) turns out not only to be a stellar company chairman and versatile journalist but also a noted biologist and theorist of natural selection. With strong academic views on why government should not intervene in private enterprise.

Here are some of the thoughts of Chairman Matt, courtesy of a few minutes googling:

▪ "The more money a group receives from the taxpayer, the more it demands and the more it complains"

▪ "A Government that confiscates unprofitable firms from private owners so that it can subsidise them itself does not do its taxpayers a service"

▪ "Wherever the state has turned provider, it soon crowds out private rivals"

▪ "State control, whether in ancient Egypt or modern North Korea, has gone with tyranny, not freedom"

▪ "From British Leyland to British lay-bys, from the herring fishery to the National Health Service, public ownership always means neglect and under investment"

▪ "Governments do not run countries, they parasitise them"

Ironic, huh ? We don’t necessarily expect intellectual consistency from run-of-the mill businessmen. But maybe we could hope for better from an academic ?

ND

UPDATE: £ 20 billion and counting . . .

Feb 2008 UPDATE: did I hear £ 105 billion . . ?