As we emerge from the serious instability in Britain caused by the defection of the American colonies and the war that followed, and as we stand on the brink of Britain’s pursuit of a second empire to replace the first, we pause for a moment to talk about Adam Smith, a man whose ideas have rung down the centuries to today. It turns out they’re not exactly what many of his admirers might suggest. But then, from his time on, most of them have been ignored by the people in power anyway.

Illustration: Adam Smith, etching by John Kay in 1790. National Portrait Gallery D16843

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License