The danger of suppressing information and alternative views in matters of public interest is that it will likely lead to costly and lethal policy errors. Alastair Campbell says it is a shame that the UK does not jail politicians for misleading Parliament. Can he have forgotten that Blair assured the Commons that he knew - rather than was personally...
One of the few benefits of being old is a weary perspective - that our untameable climate has caused self-acclaimed scientists to be perpetually baffled. When it comes to this force of nature I am firmly encamped with King Canute who, possibly unlike our present king, deserves to be remembered as a debunker of baloney. Growing up in the 60's, and f...
Last Saturday we went to the theatre in Windsor. The car park no longer has a machine that takes cash. It does have two parking aps. The first was out of order, or at least it could not be downloaded. The second was one my wife has. Her credit card is registered with them, but she could not pay. She phoned them. A human sorted the problem, confirme...
Mr Robert Oulds' new book, World War II: The First Culture War has received praise and plaudits from all quarters. War strategists, academics, and politicians alike have praised his book as detailed, illuminating, and comprehensive. It's a book that goes deeper than merely the events, the politics, or the history many of us understand - it's a...
Still Want to Rejoin? - Read This If you want still to rejoin the EU, ask yourself after reading about nearly four decades of IMF economic data, how in the name of good judgement anyone might want to do that. For those four decades the EU has been a graveyard for UK GDP along with the r...
Why do bad men do bad things? Because they are mad, that is the modern explanation. But 'mad' is just English for 'I don't understand.' It's become common wisdom that all religious belief from Animism to Zoroastrianism is wrong, loopy and solely responsible for mankind's atrocities; but it's the irrationality and inhumanity of worldly wisemen that ...
Contrary to the Daily Telegraph's story today claiming that Britain's debt pile does not outstrip the EU's, Britain's is far lower, because the EU's is masked by creative accounting. The full extent of the EU's debts and other financial liabilities is detailed in my book recent book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they p...
The by-election results have had a predictable effect on MPs of the two main parties. The real story is that because there is not a Conservative party to vote for, Tories stayed at home. With the exception of a minority of democrats still fighting to implement Brexit, the conservative party is now Labour-lite. The real Labour party in full throated...
Have we in the UK been getting steadily poorer year-on-year over 46 years in the "European Project" [the EEC and then the EU] than if the UK had been out? What is the evidence? Remainers claim "We're better off in". But is it true? And if "We're better off out" people should know. The UK is tipped to overtake Germany and become the largest economy ...
The UK exited the European Union on December 31, 2020. Leaving the EU has been a double-edged sword for British companies, who have experienced advantages and numerous difficulties due to Brexit. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, the results have only sometimes favoured UK companies. Before Brexit, goods and services could be transported to and ...
We are pleased to publish this analysis by Sebastian James based on his blog at The Blue Anchor. PART TWO In part two we look at GDP growth. The dataset is here. Here is the graph: Below is the section from 1956 when records began up to the 1975 referendum vote to remain: I see a line going up from bottom left to top right. GDP grew fro...
As Cayetano Ripoll slowly choked to death on the Spanish scaffold, he would have been unaware that he was the last to suffer that fate at the hands of the Inquisition. They had demanded he be burned at the stake. As a compromise he was hanged, a slow death compared with the recently mandated garrote. Ripoll's crime was to have taught Deism, that th...
We are pleased to publish this analysis by Sebastian James based on his blog at The Blue Anchor. PART ONE After the vote to leave The Guardian started a regular tracker to chart its impact on the economy. But as the Remainer predictions turned to dust and the good news kept piling up the Guardian quietly dropped this feature. So I'm reviving ...
The German Federal Audit Office ('Bundesrechnungshof') has warned that the Bundesbank may need a bailout due to losses on the EUR650 billion of bonds it bought as part of the Eurozone's equivalent of Quantitative Easing. The Daily Telegraph reported on this on 26 June. Of course the risk is not for the entire EUR650 billion but for the fraction by ...
Two weeks ago I wrote an article about the show trial of Boris Johnson. It attracted attention and comment on twitter. I have never looked at comments on the Bruges Twitter feed and it was a revelation. The level of spite and childish name calling was staggering. Since the removal of Boris the antics of EU acolytes and their rejoiner friends has be...
By Isidora Sanger, paperback, 359 pages, ISBN 9798364867902, independently published, 2022, £11.99. Isidora Sanger is the nom-de-plume of a retired medical doctor. In this splendid book she demolishes the case for gender identity ideology. Both the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act have been systematically misrepresented to ju...
The UK must not listen to declinists and defeatists. It is amazing how fast things can be turned around, and I've seen it in education, where the material we work with is often difficult. In the late Seventies I taught in an inner-city multiracial secondary school neighbouring Handsworth, where the first riots were to come three years later. The bu...
coThe economist Duncan Weldon has told the New Statesman's Will Dunn that 'Brexit is a "slow puncture" on the UK economy.' As former business editor of BBC's Newsnight and so presumably of the Left he received soft treatment by Dunn. Let us deflate his arguments a little. Clearly much of our difficulty with the EU post-Brexit is intentional on thei...
The hatred of Brexit is so great that it seems its opponents are happy to destroy not just the rule of law, but democracy itself in their quest for vengeance. Those who deny this, should read the Guardian newspaper Opinion piece 13th June 2023 Titled "Brexit was Johnson and Johnson was Brexit. Now that he has gone, Britain must think again" Its sub...
The Conservative Party killed the golden goose and got a lame duck. The wolves (now blooded) circle… A former prime minister has not only been pushed from office, but chased out of Parliament as well. Did that happen to Neville Chamberlain? Did it happen to Edward Heath? These days, however, former leaders need to be extinguished as well as removed...
'It is very sad to be leaving parliament - at least for now - but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.' This resignation of Bojo first starting point was the kangaroo court that was image of the modern po...
Boris Johnson's letter of resignation wonders how Harriet Harman's panel could have come to its conclusion: I have received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear - much to my amazement - that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament. That sense of injustice is reminiscent of Sir Thomas Mor...
Seven years after the Brexit referendum and three years since we actually left the EU project fear has intensified. Those who could never, and still cannot, explain why they want to be ruled by an unelected and democratically unaccountable president and 27 person commission, daily attack democracy. According to Osborne, Soros, Labour, Lib Dems, SNP...
It's time to call it a day. I'm not the only one saying it - ask Dominic Cummings, for another. The Party is moribund and we need to put it out of our misery. As for the Labour Party, that died a long time ago. New Labour gave a new meaning to the word 'New': 'Not.' Now it is a soft-handed version of revolutionary Communism, dedicated to the overth...
The word aristocracy has many stigmas and dogmas to it, some good, some bad, and Britain's aristocracy has in the past deservingly or not earned most of them to some degree or another. The good far outweighs the bad, this good that our aristocracy has contributed mightily to our stability and prosperity and that without it we would have neither. To...
The architect Robert Venturi said buildings were either Ducks (whose exteriors advertise their function) or Decorated Sheds, where the ornament is independent of the contents. This idea has wider applications: for example the British Constitution is a Decorated Shed, if you accept Walter Bagehot's separation of its parts into 'dignified' and 'effic...
The general public has little idea of how much debt hangs over our heads. Today, Laura Perrins warns us that government borrowing is now equivalent to 99.2% of GDP (i.e. a whole year's worth of national economic activity); but that is only the tip of the iceberg, because it is only looking at public sector borrowing. Unlike the UK, where valuable f...
The Conservative party is in trouble. The problem is that most of its supporters and a few of its MPs don't understand its ethos. During most of the last century, fear of a rabid socialist party (Atlee's 1945 party was really communist) has conspired to keep the wool pulled over most voter's eyes. If Brexit had never happened this situation may hav...
The totality of the public sector liabilities of EU and Eurozone member states is clouded in obscurity. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trill...
From Our Man In Thessaloniki Greeks go to the polls on Sunday to elect their national legislature. Voting is compulsory, even for Greeks abroad (as so many are, since the economy crashed), but the obligation is not enforced and the turnout in 2019 was less than 58%. Foreigners who are permanently resident may also take part (something that our Sir ...
John Redwood's Lecture, All Souls College, Oxford Rt Hon Sir John Redwood will be giving a lecture on the great western inflation of the last two years. He will examine the role of the Central banks, explain how they could have avoided the general price rises, and ask how the Bank of Japan, the Swiss Central Bank and the People's Bank of Chin...
The EU member states contain numerous public sector entities with borrowing powers, and whose debts fall outside the definition of member state debt as reported by Eurostat. The responsibility for the debts tracks back, one way or another, to the member state but the amounts involved are opaque. All that can be said with complete certainty is that ...
EU authorities have permitted commercial banks to implement a particularly aggressive form of risk-evaluation methodology, the result of which is the ability to claim a thick loss-absorption cushion and to attest that the EU banking system is stable and resilient. It isn't: cushions are as thin as before the Eurozone financial crisis. This is laid ...
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It was often said about the anatomy of a bumble bee, when looked at its shape and size of wings, that they should not be able to fly, but do. There are lots of things like bumble bees that should not work but do, the House of Lords in the days before Tony Blair got his meddling mitts on it worked reasonably well. In those days the majority of membe...
The Eurosystem has expanded its operations well beyond what a central bank would have traditionally undertaken. It now owns assets that are not 'central bank money' definitionally. Assets have credit ratings as low as BB in the Standard and Poor's system, which means they are 'Speculative Grade' and involve 'Substantial credit risk'. It does not ev...
This Saturday, grassroot conservatives across the nation nestled in the city of Bournemouth to enlighten themselves with the refreshing back to basic Tory rhetoric. While enemies of Traditional Conservatives tried to thwart this event as 4D Chess moves from Johnsonites (although repeatedly stated not a Pro-Johnson movement from the ...
Rishi Sunak's government is consistent in one thing. It makes promises to implement policies clearly aimed at public support, only to, within a short period, to unfailing announce that it will not after all go ahead, or that oi might, but only at some indeterminate point in the future. Far from providing a reason to vote Conservative it is generati...
He [Caesar] declared in Greek with a loud voice to those who were present 'Let a die be cast' and led the army across. — Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 60.2.9 The meaning of this quote from Plutarch describes the start of the Roman Civil War, Julius Caesar articularly describes that things have happened that can't be changed back. This was s...
Yesterday (Thursday 11 May) was a wonderful demonstration of why we are blessed to have a sovereign Parliament. The Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch had informed the Press before telling Parliament about the decision to remove the deadline for abolishing hampering EU legislation. Coming to the House to explain, she began with an unfortunate turn of...
Our undoubted king has been anointed, crowned, walked through the Abbey accompanied by his queen, preceded by a priestess sword bearer - the lady of the lake. So far, so good. Britain was almost united again as it is sometimes and usually on a royal occasion, understanding implicitly that our monarch (but not their wider family) best represent...
There has been long and ongoing debate about the nature of the sizable loans and deposits that the Eurozone national central banks (NCBs) run with one another within the TARGET2 payment system. The debate has overlooked that the balances are nearly double what the European Central Bank (ECB) reports, and that the report only shows the amounts at th...
We are now well into May, and it appears that the flood of illegal immigrants across the channel has not abated – if anything, as the weather improves it is likely to increase. The opportunity to control our borders, and to decide who enters the UK and for how long, was a key strand of Brexit, yet nearly seven years after the momentous vote, nothin...
The programmes of the European Central Bank (ECB) are extensive, and involve greater risks than the ECB can bear, it being very thinly capitalised. Even modest losses on its programmes would require it to be recapitalised by its Eurozone shareholders – the national central banks (NCBs) of the Eurozone member states. This is laid out in the newly-re...
The requirement for ID in Thursday's local elections has caused upset - Richard Murphy calls it 'a reversal of the right to vote.' At least he (correctly) thinks it's important. So does the EU, which is why it is post-democratic by design: its Parliament is nothing more than a talking shop. Moreover, the individual's ballot is swamped by sheer numb...
Three years ago today (2nd May) my MP wanted to demonstrate her responsivity to her constituents, which makes a welcome difference from the types that have allegedly represented me in the past. Unfortunately, we have locally an equivalent to Theodore Roosevelt's 'hyphenated Americans': some people who wish to embroil us in foreign matters beca...
To summarise the whole Raab "bullying" scandal is best described from Conservative MP for Peterborough, Paul Bristow, deploring the saga as cynically making the UK as "not a serious country". Certainly Mr Bristow is pristine clear about this, the mockery that the accusation of "bullying" affecting the civil service makes our nation a joke.From...
We're still cutting the Lilliputian threads, but if we can prevent Remainer sabotage we shall be able to say that we're fully out of the EU. But then, so is North Korea. Rather than define our destiny negatively as against the puppet-empire in Europe, what positive vision should we have of Britain and our future? We talk of ourselves as a democracy...
As we approach the Coronation we can expect much malign and ill-informed comment from people who do not understand our political system. One reason for their ignorance will be the deplatforming of speakers who could put them right, such as the redoubtable David Starkey, shunned by the woke for their misrepresentation of an impatient and infelicitou...
Net Zero is proving to be a good cover story for the European Investment Bank Group to create huge financial liabilities for the EU taxpayer. The amount looks set to exceed €1.2 trillion by the end of the current EU budget period in 2027. This is laid out in the newly-released book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they po...
Adam Tolley's report on the behaviour of Dominic Raab is flawed. The accusations were plainly coordinated between departments and were 'afterthought' accusations that would have been dismissed by an employment tribunal. Of the accusers "Only some of those individuals had any direct experience of the DPM (Deputy Prime Minister - Raab); some had neve...
The European Stability Mechanism is the main bailout mechanism behind the Euro. Croatia recently joined it upon adopting the Euro. The ESM uses two accounting tricks to make it appear larger and more robust than it actually is, disguising that it lacks the firepower to deal with a major incident. This is laid out in the newly-released book 'The sha...
The structures of the EU and Eurozone have allowed the creation of a series of supranational entities that have taken on debts whilst having little financial strength of their own: their creditworthiness depends on guarantees or capital calls from member states, without the extent of the member states' liabilities being transparent and being added ...
Public credit rating agencies have not been even-handed in their treatment of the UK compared to EU member states, given the large shadow debts and contingent liabilities that weigh on the latter. This is explained in the newly-released book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability', writte...
The public credit ratings of EU/Eurozone member states are inflated, because the credit rating agencies have not factored in the significant shadow debts and other financial liabilities bearing down on the respective member state's debt service capacity. Total financial liabilities are much higher than these agencies appear to recognise. This is th...
Full yet? You wont see this on the BBC news but the last three quarters have seen the biggest improvement in the UK trade balance ever in history … EV-ER. This is precisely, exactly what the Remainiacs swore would NOT happen if we became an independent democracy again. The full dataset is here if you want to satisfy yourself I'm not maki...
Global debt markets appear comfortable to absorb all of the bonds issued by the European Union for its €750 billion Coronavirus Recovery Fund on the basis that 'it all tracks back onto Germany'. This is true: the guarantee structure behind the EU's debts makes each member state liable for the entirety of them. The same debt markets do not seem to h...
The EU and its member states position themselves as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order, but they break its financial rules in both letter and spirit by failing to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-e...
Cecil Rhodes once said: "to be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life". As a baby boomer growing up and going to school in the 1950's and early sixties, being taught to be proud of my country, our history, empire and its development into the Commonwealth, I always felt extremely privileged to be born British and fully agreed with...
EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trillion. This discrepancy is...
EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trillion. This discrepa...
The delicate balance of the Good Friday Agreement should be protected By Derrick Berthelsen Reprinted by permission of the Critic Magazine There are many reasons to vote against the Windsor Framework changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Several excellent articles have been published outlining why — in this and other periodicals — but tod...
The repudiation of the sovereignty of the UK's people by a pro EU elite has always been a puzzle. It is a puzzle because not one of them was able to explain their reason. In the absence of a cogent argument, independence opponents resorted to 'Project Fear' during the referendum campaign on leaving the EU. Blood curdling threats were rolled out exp...
Politicians should have a vision. George H. W. Bush's perceived lack of one probably cost him a second term. Atlee's vision of a British Socialist Commonwealth condemned the UK to a painful exodus from the privation of WW2. Its legacy hampered our development. The Reagan - Thatcher vision was a time of hope, a vision of a renewal for the world demo...
Since its establishment in 1988, the IPCC's many scientists have been mandated by its founders (the UN Environment Programme and World Meteorological Organization) to "make policy relevant – as opposed to policy-prescriptive – assessments of the existing worldwide literature on the scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of climate change....
With little discussion most of the world (the democratic west at least) is in a race to a net zero bottom. Scientific evidence is manipulated to 'prove' carbon damage. Normal climate variations that have existed since the world began are now labelled a 'Climate emergency'. Scientists who disagree are silenced by withdrawal of funding and or loss of...
Seventy five years ago George Orwell, in my view the greatest political thinker of the 20th Century, wrote the novel 1984. This was one of the most prescient books ever written, eclipsing most science fiction stories, in that it is so true to the age in which we now live, while, as a horror story it puts fantasies such as Dracula in the shade. Not ...
Whatever the choreography we have a clog dance not a ballet. Sunak's 'deal' is yet another fudge. Involving the King in politics and the manipulation, copied from the EU, demonstrate a cynical disregard for probity. The Northern Ireland Protocol is a travesty. No Independent nation can agree to be ruled by a political court (The ECJ) whose sole rem...
The values that have nurtured our law and democracy are increasingly under attack. Keir Starmer endorsing the move to enable people to declare that they are not the sex they were when born. He claims women can have a penis. He also, unsurprisingly was unable to define a 'Woman'. Supporting this idiocy, media reports of a rapist who claims he ...
For many years I have pondered the cunning, deceitfulness and often seemingly sinister actions of our elected Members of Parliament and Governments, I have tried to understand why they were so happy to surrender our country to rule from the European Union and why they are all so besotted with 'Net Zero' and spout a lot of nonsense about globa...
Since the referendum governments have squandered opportunity. We should be in a strong position, but a combination of Pro EU Tories, the Blob and the Civil Service has put democracy at risk. The daily attacks on Brexit citing idiotic opinion polls, demonstrate a determination by the opponents of democracy to take us back into the EU whatever the co...
The Bruges Group is pleased to republish this article by Barnabas Reynolds Brussels' rules are prescriptive and controlling, and are holding back British growth The Prime Minister must restore Britain's sovereignty over our laws The Government is seeking the power to remove some of the vast swathes of EU-inherited law by the end of 2023 in it...
The Prime Minister advocates that the teaching of Maths should be a priority, although one suspects that he really means numeracy, as the ability to add up a few figures is more useful for the average person that knowing all about the calculus of the hyperbola. However the level of debate concerning economic matters in this country makes clear that...
In the Middle Ages, before the widespread use of gunpowder, the moat of a castle was an effective means of defence. Although the age of castles as strongholds is long gone we in this country have one trusty moat which has protected us for centuries, and I have often remarked, when contemplating history, and indeed modern threats, "Thank God for the...
This paper was written in November 2022 by: Stuart Agnew. MRAC (Agricultural science) Roger Helmer. M A Cantab (Mathematics) It is published by the Bruges Group as an Important contribution to a debate we should be having. OVERVIEW Within the last 20 years a belief has become established that the planet is imminently destined for catastrophic clima...
Three quarters of a century ago, when Britain was fighting for her life and the freedom of Europe, no important body of opinion would have questioned the value of patriotism or the importance of preserving and cherishing our nationhood as a focus of resistance to Nazi totalitarianism. Pride in our heritage, our sense of connection with the past and...
For over a century the UK has struggled with political realism and to an extent, its identity. In 1918 the Labour Parties pamphlet 'Labour and the New Social Order' set out an essentially communist agenda. Beatrice and Sidney Webb's 1920 book ' Constitution For The Socialist Commonwealth Of Great Britain' fleshed it out. Many were taken in by talk ...
The short-lived Truss government came to power with a mandate to change Britain. She fought her campaign clearly stating her policy. She was lawfully elected according to the rules. Her policy was designed to produce growth. Cutting taxes was a part of the program. The respected US Tax Foundation in its 2020 report on UK tax wrote: "All things bein...
A competent Conservative Government would have rectified the anomaly of taxable income between £100,000 and £125,140 being subject to an effective tax rate of 60%. It is clearly anomalous for the effective tax rate to rise from 40% to 60% on income in this band and then fall to 40% on income between £125,141 and £150,000 before rising to 45% on inc...
The UK faces problems, problems that to a great degree are the fault of the political and financial establishment. There is no point in blaming every ill on Covid and Ukraine indeed it is only to the latter crisis that the establishment response has been sure footed. Otherwise, the failures are legion. Brexit has not been fully implemente...
I was raised to consider the police to be the friends of ordinary people, there to protect us from criminals and thugs. As a youngster I found this to be true and later, as an adult I met many policemen, when playing in teams against them, at various sports, such as golf, tennis, squash, football etc. Now retired I know a number of retired officers...
One of the less-endearing qualities of the Conservative and Unionist Party (and I speak as a life-long Conservative voter), is the lemming-like compulsion to immediate change leader if things appear not to be going their way. 'Throwing out the baby with the bathwater' appears to be the inevitable jerk reaction by some MPs, regardless of the value o...
The great war time leader, Winston Churchill, once said: "democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried". he was seldom wrong in his political thinking, a sound working democracy ensures tyrants and despots do not have the chance to come to power. Sadly, through history and events today, there have been ...
Democracy is in serious trouble. Before Trump was sworn in, many Democrats took to the streets to protest. 'He is not my president' was their battle cry. The American people were presented with a choice between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. They had to elect one of them and the majority chose Trump. For democracy to function there must be loser ...
The final lines of G K Chesterton’s poem “The People of England” are “We are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet. Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget.”. The period of mourning, and the magnificent funeral, of our beloved late Queen have shown that these words are not empty, but reveal the truth. Despite years of hectoring by the intellectual Left, whose domination of the media, particularly the BBC, has given the impression that their view of the world is the only acceptable one, and that to be what they describe as socially progressive represents the only virtue, the ordinary citizens of this country have shown that they have not changed, and that, when the chips are down, they are as patriotic as those who endured, and won, two World Wars in order that freedom and democracy might survive.
The true British spirit of those days, as portrayed in the great war films of the 1950s, such as “The Dambusters”, “Reach for the Sky”, and “The Cruel Sea” , shows a people with grit, and determination, using both the shield of freedom, and the sword of righteousness, to defeat evil regimes seeking to destroy democratic civilisation. They are far removed from the vociferous, carping, and ignorant, left wing activists, who claim to seek a socialist Utopia, but in fact would plunge this country in a dystopia as envisaged by Orwell in 1984, where humour and laughter do not exist, only a grim pursuit of power for themselves. What a contrast to the smiling face of Queen Elizabeth!
In the last words that Holmes ever addresses to Watson he says “Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing world”, and this is something that could also be said about our much mourned Queen Elizabeth II. She was never afraid of innovation, and was instrumental in transforming the monarchy to adjust to the modern world, yet in those matters which abide, and are truly important, she was steadfast. As the last significant link to the great Second World War generation she represented duty, courage, faithfulness, humour, and a stoic endurance of the worst, in order that the best should ultimately triumph. To use the words of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in the eponymous play, she was “as constant as the Northern Star”, and contrary to the speech of Antony from the same source “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”, the good that she did will survive, as her son takes on the mantle she has now laid aside.
Thanks to our careers in the administrative sector of the Church my wife and I had the honour of meeting Her Majesty at the time of the Silver Jubilee, and later attending a palace garden party, and we can attest to the fact that she was expert at putting people at their ease, and showing an interest in their lives. She was a truly great lady, a devout Christian, and an example to all in how to behave.
Although we shall never see her like again the new King is cut from the same cloth, and offers a certain hope that her legacy will continue. The monarch, by standing about the political fray, provides a calm centre to our national life, preventing by their very presence the possibility of any sort of demagogue becoming a dictator, or some democratic, but divisive figure, becoming President.
Constitutional monarchy has been shown to be the best system yet devised to protect the rights of all, providing a template for governance which billions around the word envy. Who could believe that a President Edward Heath, Tony Blair, or even Boris Johnson, could unite the nation, and command the love and respect that the monarch enjoys?
In the face of the blandishments of the vociferous republicans we should indeed be foolish to throw out an institution which has served us so well, although there is one danger which could yet destroy it. Should, God Forbid, through a terrorist attack, or a simple plane accident, anything happen to the Prince of Wales and his family, we should be faced with the prospect of the Duke of Woke becoming King. Harry has shown himself to be courageous, and supportive of injured soldiers, but he is unfortunately also, just like Edward VIII, not very intelligent. He has fallen under the influence of one who is herself the product of the shallow, celebrity culture of Hollywood, and who seems to be obsessed with the idea that she is somehow oppressed, even when living in a vast mansion. His accession would be unacceptable to vast numbers of people, who are sick of being lectured on their supposed shortcomings by the woke. In addition, although never convicted of anything, the Duke of York, next in line if the Sussexes were excluded, would also be rejected by too many for him to inherit the throne. If it were constitutionally possible these two parts of the royal family should be removed from the line of succession, in order to safeguard the future of the monarchy
Two more truths can be derived from the events of this month.
The first is that the Armed Forces, despite the efforts of too many administration to downgrade their importance, remain the same disciplined organisations they always were, responding triumphantly to the demands put upon them . The bearer party of Grenadier Guards were superb, and all deserve medals, while the faultless performance of the troops on the day was breathtaking to behold.
The second is that, in an age when useless managers infest so many of our public, and indeed, private bodies, the skills of the Duke of Norfolk, shown in his organisation of everything, put such parasites to shame.
The Queen has gone. God save the King.
An energy crisis hit world economies and after almost three years the pain exploded in most countries. The exception was the USA. Acting pro-actively President Reagan slashed regulation to free the economy. He fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers. Breaking the strike. An action Paul Volcker saw as a 'watershed' moment in the battle ag...
Jeremy Nieboer wrote the excellent 'Climate: all is well, all will be well', published by the Bruges Group in 2021. His new book is another thought-provoking contribution to the debate about climate change. The author, a retired lawyer, forensically examines the scientific evidence about CO2. He shows that CO2 is essential to all life on Earth. Car...
The appointment of Chris-Heaton Harris as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was greeted warmly by unionists, ever hopeful that at long last we would have a Secretary of State who cared as much about protecting the rights of unionists as those of nationalists. Moreover, there was a great hope that this UK Government would break with the sy...
The best way to honor the queen would be to take up her form of leadership—as service. She was vivacious and regal up until her final passing. But the queen exuded something even more profound—a surety in the way she led. The entire world watched (an estimated 4.4 billion, making it the most viewed event in history) and wept over the recent l...
The Acts of Union is the present constitutional foundation of the United Kingdom. As the late Lord Trimble, the unionist architecture of the Belfast Agreement, said: The Acts of Union is the Union. The Northern Ireland Protocol "subjugates" (in the words of the Court of Appeal) Article VI of the Acts of Union, and therefore it follows that it subju...
"…in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themse...
In this important book, the author Jeremy Nieboer sets out the case for CO2 as a vital element of mankind's survival. It is also a powerful indictment of the UN and Global elite who have so woefully failed to protect the earths population. Shockingly the author explains that this failure is brought down upon us solely by unquestioned submission to ...
There is a disconnect between the media, politicians and the people of the UK. We are fed a daily diet of gloom. Hysterical millionaire 'experts' rant with messianic fervour. A plethora of experts, who helped cause the problem, seek to out do each other in their apoplectic zeal to blame others. It is as if they seek to reprise the late Jack Hawkins...
It is time to reset our expectation of democracy. We have drifted into a situation where people vote for politicians who, mostly, ignore their duty. That duty is to protect the nation and its people. To create an environment where, in security, hard work is rewarded and people can flourish peacefully under the law. Perversely, politicians have adap...
In a very revealing article many years ago called "Why I am Not a Conservative," a very famous libertarian let the cat out of the bag. He loudly denounced the argument for tradition and custom by calling for a form of anything goes liberalism and atheism. Some go even further, coming close to anarchy with their complete opposition to the state and ...
Democracy, liberty and the continuation of western civilisation is under threat. It is threatened by those we have elected to protect and nurture our society. A small number of self entitled politicians and bureaucrats take decisions without reference to their electorate. Sunak's decision to raise Corporation tax to 25% next year has everything to ...
We hear about a crisis in mental health which requires urgent solutions, but it may be that, rather than any physical cause, this is the result of the way in which the realities of our modern world are affecting peoples’ perceptions.
Those living in these islands for the past two millennia have had much to cause them concern. The dictatorship of the Roman Empire, the wars between the original British and the Saxons, then those between the latter and the Danes, followed by the Norman Conquest, the many wars with Spain, France and others, culminating in the battles with Germany, and then the Cold War. In addition we have endured plagues, and famines, while much of the nation lived in what we would now describe as poverty.
Today we have been faced with the Covid pandemic, the renewal of war on the European continent in Ukraine, demands that we wear sackcloth and ashes for the past sins of our ancestors, accept blame for supposed climate change, and fret over matters of sexual identity. If there is any truth in American police dramas, as shown on TV, psychiatrists seem to be inventing countless new phobias, and other mental conditions, although it often seems that these are produced by defence lawyers trying to excuse the guilty.
There are however two major differences between our times, and the past. Firstly for many centuries, however bad things were, the vast majority had a religious faith, which offered a hope, and for most, a certainty, that there was an order to their lives. presided over by a beneficent deity, who would ensure that in the end justice would prevail, and they would enter a blissful new life. Now, with so many believing in no such thing, people face an existence in a vast, unending, perhaps eternal universe, with only personal oblivion to which to look forward at the end.
However, such thoughts may usually be far from most people’s thoughts, but what is not is the fact that the unprecedented expansion in communications brought about by the technological revolution is bringing concerns before us that would not have disturbed our ancestors. I can remember when the first live satellite signal to Britain from the United States was broadcast via satellite on July 23, 1962, but now we think nothing of speaking live to friends in Australia from our own studies at home. Where once, if one had an opinion on some issue which one wished to share publicly it was necessary to write a letter to a newspaper, or hold a meeting, now everyone with access to the Internet can broadcast their views to their heart’s content via social media. The inevitable result is that people are worried more and more by things of which they would not have been aware in the past, and expected to take positions on matters that do not impinge on their daily lives, and on which nothing they do or say would have any effect.
Boris Johnson's fall is due to a combination of factors. The man who was London's Mayor for eight years seems to have forgotten the reason for that success. He chose able lieutenants to implement his policy. As Prime Minister he desperately needed them. Without them, everything from BREXIT to Tax Cuts stalled and it seemed increasingly that the gov...
The following analysis by Ben Habib is reprinted from: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/ben-habib-we-are-being-hoodwinked-again-by-the-northern-ireland-protocol-bill-3750685 Ben Habib is a Newspaper Columnist and former Brexit Party MEP I am having a profound sense of déjà vu. In 2019 I said the Prime Minister's oven ready deal was a...
