Localism, this year’s post code lottery  

Right-wing blogger and Euro MP Daniel Hannan has long made the case for localism - the theory that all decisions should be taken at the lowest or most local level possible - and he knocks down some familiar criticisms of it on his blog this week. He quotes The Guardian's Julian Glover who argues that localism's biggest drawback is nimbyism, that people won't vote for a phone mast or a recycling plant near their homes even if such a development were in the wider interests of the community. Predictably, Hannan thinks that this can be solved by money, essentially by bribing local groups with cuts in council tax or one-off payments. It is perhaps indicative of the poverty of Tory thinking (and Mr Hannan has, let us not forget, guru status amongst many Europhobes Tory activists) that they think that the only possible behaviour modifier for an intransigent public is money. As a side issue the Tories...