McIntyre lecture report

[Guest guest]

I would just like to make my position clear - and I see no point in entering

into a lengthy debate about the minutiae of 's lecture. I still maintain

that the terms in which this report is couched amount to a personal attack. The

tone is one of open contempt: 'he didn't seem to know the difference between an

EU directive and an EU regulation' (of course not, he's only been doing this for

15 years). Please note that I am in no way enamoured of regulation or of

bureaucrats - nor do I think that regulation will be without casualties, notably

some of the small suppliers. I am certainly not happy about this - nor, I

imagine, is anyone else (though what Tim Lane and friends seem to imply is that

anyone outside their group couldn't care less). But I am convinced that the

casualties would be that much greater without the kind of work that has

been doing, and that refusing to engage with the inevitable will have disastrous

consequences. Since he accuses of not having one, I wonder what 'sound

evidence base' Tim Lane has for imagining that we can somehow 'opt out' of the

regulatory regime that the government has said it will put in place.

Colin