I’ve had a very busy week so far in England. The reunion of alumni of the Institute for Humane Studies and the Freedom Week on Monday was really delightful. The trip back to Oxford was interesting, especially as the city has become rather more posh than when I was there. I had a really good time with the members of the Oxford Libertarian Society, who sponsored my talk on “Liberty as the Remedy to Poverty: Socialism as a Cause.” (I gave a short summary of the paper that will come out in 2009 from Cambridge University Press.) That was preceded by a tour through Blackwells and the glorious Norris Room. (I made a fateful trip to the top floor, where they sell used books, and…and, well, I had to buy the 1904 nine-volume edition of the works of John Lothrop Motley, the great historian of the Dutch Republic.) The forum on “The Financial Crisis: A Market View” that the Cato Institute co-sponsored with the London-based Mercurius Society was also quite an event. We had a good turnout of people from the (post Sarbanes-Oxley) financial center of the world, as well as MPs, journalists, and others to hear Tim Congdon, William Niskanen, and Andrei Illarionov. (The latter two “Skyped in” and were seen on the big screen, and — thanks to my handy Mac — were able to see the audience and hear their questions.)
I’ve had a number of meetings with think tanks (this morning with Civitas, and this afternoon with IEA, where I gave a lunch talk on “Promoting Liberty in Challenging Regions”). I will attend a conference tomorrow on Islam and democracy and then meet with some Muslim libertarian friends in the afternoon.