What are charter cities? They are privately owned and operated cities where everything from health care, education and the police force to the legislature and the judicial system are not controlled by the state but by a private corporation accountable only to itself. The corporation sets the rules and enforces them with its privately owned judicial system.

“Don’t be daft. It couldn’t happen here,” you will say, but think again. As you would expect, the idea comes from the USA where it is being pushed by the Heritage Foundation, Charles Koch and hedge-fund guru Robert Mercer, all billionaires or pressure groups for billionaires.

Hmm.

It is ironic that the libertarians and free marketeers who are the loudest supporters of deregulation should want to replace what we have with a system which would control our lives ever more tightly.

Unless of course it is all just a put on. See Friedman and Hayeks endorsement of the Pinochet dictatorship.