Friday 17th October 2008, 7pm
Bateman Room, Gonville & Caius College
Terry Arthur is Pensions and Financial Regulation Fellow for the Institute of Economic Affairs, and author of “Crap: A Guide to Politics”. In 1975 he published “95 per cent is crap: A plain man’s guide to British Politics”, an unusual survey of British politics at the time. The format is extensive quotation from various contemporary sources, interspersed with commentary. Mr Arthur draws from the manifestos and conferences of various political parties, focusing on the three largest ones, the Reith Lectures, and The Guardian, “probably quite representative of what is commonly termed ‘the centre’”. The result is hilarious, and persuasively advances the argument against statism. The first chapter is called “Newspeak Crap”, and other chapters deal with contradictions, meaninglessness, statistics, etc.
In 2007, Mr Arthur published an updated version of the book, following the same format.
Mr Arthur will be speaking on newspeak, irrationality and bad statistics in politics. Come along for what promises to be a thoroughly entertaining and informative evening.