Ah-LAY-DEEEEEZ AND GENNEL-MEN! Roll up, roll up, and purchase your tickets! This is a once in a LIFETIME opportunity to witness the strange, the weird, and the illiberal! To ride the rollercoaster of the British legislature! To experience the stomach-churning terror of the food stalls...

GASP at Mr Goldacre's Amazing Hydra in the Freak Show! Marvel at the gall of David Milliband on the Hook-a-Duck stall! SWOON as the beautiful, ethereal Madam Mortimer tells the future with uncanny accuracy (and salty language!)!

Enter the Carnival if you dare...



Hello, good evening, and welcome to the fourth Carnival on Modern Liberty! Go back in time to the previous incarnations of this funfair at Lib Dem Voice, Our Kingdom, and Liberal Conspiracy. But I see you have your ticket there... Come in, come in!


Thrill Rides

You'll wet your pants with fear at the scary muslims on Geert Wilder's Ghost Train! Some say this ride is so scary it shouldn't even be allowed in the country! Many disagree.

Hop onto Henry Porter's Dodgems, and try to bash those statists masquerading as Liberals off the track!

Get summarily thrown out of the Hall of Mirrors by over-eager bailiffs! With the full backing of the law!

London Underground is on the Waltzers with Clay Shirky, pondering direct action and if it's easier in the internet age.


Roller Coasters

Chambers the Poet is facing the long drop after the high of Obama's election.

Iain Dale hooks his car to Yasmin's, and is taken over, round and through a series of breathtaking twists and bends in the comments.


Menagerie

Diffusion has a trio of strange creatures - three charters of our liberties for you to download.

Mystic Madam Mortimer's collection of crumbling acts of parliament gibber their weird and illiberal instructions at you, and caution you that they know where you live.

The Lesser-Spotted Copper is here in all his glory! Take his picture, while you still can! Be quick, you've only got till Monday!


Freak Show

The first freak on show is Mr Griffin's Revolting Parents! They're scum, and they're locked up, as they deserve to be! Or do they...?

The second freak is Mr Goldacre's marvellous Hydra! No matter how many times you try to chop off the head of this post about the ridiculous scaremongering over the MMR vaccine, it just grows more heads...

The next freaky exhibit is Mr Graham's Ostrich Home Secretary! Present her with a fact, and she burys her head in the sand and refuses to acknowledge it!

Tony Curzon Price is the networked man! Connected to everyone and everything (even John Stuart Mill!) he talks about what it means to be so individual and yet so deeply embedded in the Matrix.

See the talking Nosemonkey! Hear him expound on freedom as applied by the Council of Europe!


Fortune Telling

Mystic Madam Mortimer has been using her Crystal and gazing into the depths... and, worryingly enough, she has a message for you.

UK Liberty has the bill for your purchase of an ID card which no-one can read. The cost appears to be growing before your very eyes...

In the corner, the homunculus Old Holborn reminds you that you are being watched. Beware, and move quickly on! If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear...


Prize Games

Mark Thomas hands you your ammo, and tells you not to worry about the police officer watching you throw it at the nuts on the Coconut Shy.

Our Kingdom sponsors hook-a-duck, where you, yes YOU, can try to catch a Milliband in condoning the torture of British citizens. Win a goldfish! More ducks here, here, and here.

Champion of the rifle range is Costigan Crackshot Quist. See him hit the bullseye, with this post about how ordinary people are losing their liberty.

Tasty Treats

By now, you're probably starving, yes? Hand over some cash to the grinning stallholder, and you too can have a dodgy burger, a can of dandelion and burdock, and a huge pile of candy floss that somehow always ends up in your hair.

Open DOT DOT DOT would like to hand you a leaflet, but dares not, as the police are watching. Take it! Quickly now!

Try some of Andrew Hickey's Famous Chocolate-Free Market Analogy! No calories, guaranteed!

Divided We Stand, United We Fall has some tasty-looking pig-based items. Barack Obama's Stimulus Package sounds like a rude name for a sausage inna bun to me... More porcine teats here.

Henry Porter would like to tempt you to a pint, but beware! Your image will be passed to the police if you accept...


The travelling funfair is over now; hopefully your goldfish will survive the night, and you won't be sick from all the candy floss. Next week's ringmaster is probably going to be Matt Wardman, and if you want your ride showcased, the application form is here.

Farewell, young friend! Live in peace and freedom! If you can...

(I think I might have taken the carnival metty-for a bit too far, mightn't I? Oh well...)