Alcohol Minimum Pricing Shelved in Rest of UK

I recently published a piece arguing that the SNP's minimum pricing proposals ran counter to Millian liberalism, since the aim is protect drinkers from themselves (paternalism), rather than to prevent harm to others. At the time the Westminster coalition government were considering following the Scottish lead and introducing minimum pricing in England and Wales. It now seems, however, that this plan has been shelved. Too bad they didn't cite my article as a key driver of policy...

Literacy Tests for Voters

J. S. Mill argued that voters should have to satisfy general literacy and numeracy tests before being allowed the franchise. The idea doesn't sound ridiculous in the abstract, but the danger lies in how the tests are administered.

This is apparently the kind of literacy test used to deprive blacks of the vote in the US South. It's full of trick questions (like 25) and others that are so ambiguous (20 and 27) as to, in effect, allow the sheriff arbitrary power to decide who has the answers right and wrong.