Up to now, libertarians have been very good at telling the world what the state shouldn’t be doing and shouldn’t have done but not so good (as Brian Micklethwait is constantly reminding me) at telling the world what the state should be doing.

So, at risk of preserving constitutional government in the UK, here’s my go:

1. Abolish all employment, planning and health and safety legislation.

2. Cut all departmental budgets by 25%.  No exceptions.  If contracts get in the way change them retrospectively.  OK, there will be exceptions.  But anything more for Department A means even less for Department B.

3. Re-introduce the 1997 tax code.  If nothing else it will be a lot shorter than the current one.  But the chances are that it will be a lot simpler.

4. Abolish the Bank of England and allow private note/coin issue.

5. Abolish all bank regulation.

6. When banks go bust (as they will) honour deposit guarantees but do not bail them out.

7. Abolish deposit guarantees (when things start to stabilise).

8. Seeing as democracy - or that version that allows representation without taxation - got us into this mess; abolish it.  All voters must be net contributors to the budget.

But won’t there be strikes and riots?

Maybe, but it still has to be done.  The government has made a whole load of promises it can’t keep.  If the population would rather live in a fantasy land and express this preference through rioting then we’re doomed anyway.

“Everything” to include unemployment, the Fairness Doctrine, liberation theology, Guatamalan novelists and banking - a subject that prompted Paul to remark: “If you consider it and think about it too long, you go mad.”

It’s new and it’s roots are shallow but the Indian Premier League (IPL) looks set to stay. Brian and I talk about why I like it and what is says about India and cricket in general. Some swearing.