Three of the bright young people behind the Freedom Institute, an Ireland-based free-market think tank, came and visited the ASI recently. The Freedom Institute is doing sterling work in Ireland. They've recently been publishing on topics like: the relationship between church and state; poverty; and where human rights went wrong.

To give an idea of where the Freedom Institute is coming from, their home page quotes Ronald Reagan saying: "There stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor. " Quite right.

They have a good blog, too. I particularly liked a blog entry entitled The State Creates the Black Market, accompanied by the poster (right). It serves as a useful reminder to politicians that it is government action that has created drug dealers. I don't want to live in a society where everyone's drugged out, but almost anything that politicians could do would be better than the status quo.

Final note: It's my last day at the ASI - I'm leaving to run the Globalisation Institute - so I thought I would be indulgent and say goodbye. A gorgeous lead crystal captain's decanter has found its way onto my desk today. I've secretly been wanting one of these for ages, so it's very much appreciated.