There has long existed a disconnect between theory and practice. Aspiration and Control. Democracy is a simple concept. Political parties have corrupted it, made it a vehicle for the enrichment of the few. The plaything of those convinced of their moral and intellectual superiority. In their view those who toil need leadership, not opportunity. Jea...
To paraphrase a saying from the Second World War, when some citizens seemed blissfully ignorant: 'there's a revolution on, you know!' Throughout my lifetime there has been no major war, but by stealth there has been a radical overturning of conventional society and its institutions and norms. This has now reached a Woke crescendo, and in Orwe...
A Front Row Seat at the End of History c FreedomPut simply, A Front Row Seat at the End of History is a collection of essays by academics Michael (M.L.R) Smith and David Martin Jones, most written collaboratively, over the course of a quarter of a century. It spans topics from international relations, Brexit and the decline of the West, to th...
K J Millard, author of 'Charlie and the Spitfire', released this week on 7th May, talks of her experiences of growing up with her grandparents' memories of the Second World War. I was born in an era when the tumultuous events of the Second World War were still, very much, living memory. Sunday afternoons would always be shared with my grandpa...
t's always the little things that make you stop and wonder. For me, it was the moment in the 1980s when the noble, dignified two tone klaxon of British emergency vehicles began its tragic extinction, replaced by the unhinged wailing of electronic sirens straight out of an American cop show. Supposedly, these newfangled noisemakers were better...
By Michael Rainsborough Reading Between the Lies So, what does my SAR file expose about 'them'—and the entire mess? If you're determined enough to dig, there are some nuggets of truth buried under layers of nonsense. It's essentially like discovering the draft of a painfully bad novel: a lot of cringe-worthy drivel that only underscores...
By Michael Rainsborough The Rise of the Dark Lord Had the Free Speech Union had been around back then, I would, no doubt, have stormed in with lawyers, righteous indignation and the soundtrack of Rambo (First Blood, not the later lesser movies). When I spoke with the Dean again the following week, I reiterated my disagreement with his facile...
By Michael Rainsborough But I am mulling over of the idea of the GDR as an article of faith. Communism, at least of the East German variety, was a closed system of belief. It was a universe in a vacuum, complete with its own hells and heavens, its punishments and redemptions meted out right here on earth. Many of the punishments were simply f...
There is an obvious clash of which one of two objectives will, inevitably, have to give way as neither can survive side by side. The two objectives are the continuous push for growth from both businesses and Governments and protecting the environment, only one can win. If growth wins this means populations will have to continuously rise, resu...
The EU has been busy making announcements on defence funding and Ukraine, so it would appear that the EU wanted to do these announcements first and allow Kubilius's programme to be a footnote. It is convenient for the EU to do it in this order as the EU would have appeared rather introspective if it had done Kubilius's mostly internally-focussed pa...
Years ago I worked with an economist on a project. He told me his 'art' (he refused to claim it was science) was akin to driving backwards the wrong way down a motorway - blindfold. It was a difficult project commercially and politically, which was perhaps a reason for his gloomy reflection. Unfortunately, the economic history of the world rather s...
With the abolition of slavery, Britain established the West Africa Squadron. Between 1807 and 1860 it seized some 1,600 Portuguese, American, French, and Cuban slave ships and freed 150,000 slaves. Additionally, force was used to prevent African rulers carrying on the trade. An example is the demand that the King Kosoko of Lagos end slavery and hum...
The Conservative Party is still in crisis despite the deep unpopularity of the relatively new Starmer-led Government and of himself and some of his chief ministers. The Opposition should be riding high and scoring points easily, but such was the deep disenchantment with the last Conservative government that led to loyal party members and activists ...
The election of Donald Trump and the new broom sweeping in the United States seemed like a light at the end of a very long tunnel. At last, it seemed, common sense had returned. Socialism and its woke spawn in retreat, hopefully to be vanquished. J D Vance's speech in Munich had the self entitled twitching with indignation. Olaf Scholz accused him ...
Despite being a lifelong pessimist and sceptic even I am astounded at how quickly has the Labour Party broken promises, and alarmed at their attack on free speech, and even free thought, in this country. The government, led by a humourless, robotic lawyer and bureaucrat, has empowered the Blob which dominates so much of our public services, made cl...
What's the best way to destroy a project? The simple answer is to put a person or persons in charge who hate and are totally opposed to that project—that way failure is assured. From the 1st February 2020, the very first day Britain was officially set free from the EU's bureaucratic clutches, there were claims that Brexit was not working even befor...
Ariane Loening's Inquiry is detailed in her book published by the Bruges Group. It is available on Amazon In this article Ariane describes the background to her work. I started to investigate the issue of rural Bengali women's disadvantage after living in West Bengal for several years, having learnt Bengali and qualified and practised in rural area...
Kevin's leg, or lack of a leg, is currently the big topic of discussion in the Lyndon where we go for a lunchtime pint and chat with friends. Kevin, who is the youngest of our group, has been having problems for a few years. First it was decided, after various treatments by his medics, that he needed a partial amputation of his foot, then in recent...
Following the BREXIT referendum those opposed to democracy claimed the vote was not a mandate. 51.89% was not enough. Fabian Socialists like Starmer demanded another referendum. Bizarrely, some even claimed that the real result was actually only 37.44% obtaining that figure by reference to the total number of person registered to vote. In vai...
This article written by Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor. is reproduced with permission https://dailysceptic.org/2025/01/21/mps-to-consider-bill-likely-to-cause-mass-starvation-death-disease-and-societal-collapse-in-near-future/ This Friday, January 24th, the UK Parliament is due to vote on a Private Member's Bill that could...
.According to the Met Office we have just experienced the coldest January temperatures for 15 years. I wonder how much colder it has to get to satisfy the Greenies among us. Our national news media have been claiming that 2024 was the hottest year on record and that it was over 1.5 degrees C above the pre industrial norms. How accurate is this clai...
The mortar is the global south. Ironically for all its anti-colonialist rhetoric and claim to speak for the global south, an empire ('of free trade' at least) appears to be under construction, or an unequal association with eventually its own currency and foreign policy. Of particular concern is the presence of the China, Russia, Iran axis at the t...
In 2025, the Starmer Government will place the UK under EU rule in the key policy areas of foreign affairs and defence A December 2024 headline states: 'EU leaders warn Trump it's bad timing for a Ukraine deal'. Subsequent headlines have said the same - the EU is actually seeking to dissuade the US from ending the Ukraine war. Why would they do thi...
We have the son of a toolmaker and an engineer. They seem intent on squeezing us between a Rock and a Hard place. Starmer senior was, reportedly, a successful business man who made useful tools for his clients. His son seems intent on doing the opposite. Every day this man of the extreme left displays his Socialist credentials. He is following the ...
Pantomime has come early, every day we are treated to Labour MPs, advisors and commentators shrieking 'Fourteen Years'. Like a demented Animal Farm chorus line the phrase is repeated to answer everything from cigarettes to army numbers. Seemingly, the only talent required to become a senior minister in our new government is an adenoidal vowel destr...
1. The Labour Government intends to conclude a 'defence and security pact' ('The Pact') with the EU next year and the likelihood is 'almost certain'. No events which would prevent this pact are currently anticipated. The only factors which might delay or even prevent would be UK public outrage which would require public awareness and/or US Go...
Yet another COP event and yet more insanity and hypocrisy, not least from our Prime Minister who, by promising his eco pals at the COP 29 event which, after most of the delegates flying in from all over the globe in their private jets, with tables groaning under the weight of expensive food and drinks, as well as all the hot air, these events...
Arguably the history of Britain, indeed the world has been damaged by 'religious fervour'. Experts and those claiming an elite right to rule have, through the ages, clung to beliefs that damaged society. When Robert Peel split the Tory party on free trade and led many, including Gladstone into opposition he espoused a sensible solution to the probl...
In the summer we had relatives visiting from Kyrgyzstan They wanted to see England, but also the Continent. We took them to Germany and Belgium. In Germany we stayed in a four star hotel I had enjoyed when I lived there. It's old and has a wonderful kitchen. It did not have a phone in the room. "Everyone uses mobiles these days", I was told. Even i...
Many waves of world revolution find their common beginning in the "shot heard 'round the world" on the April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord. An intellectual contagion would sweep through France (1789), Haiti (1804), and the rest of the American Hemisphere carrying the good news of the rights of man, modernity, and rationalism as opposed to obscu...
"The Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is." Winston S. Churchill, The Truth is Incontrovertible, (International Churchill Society; https://winstonchrchill.org/resou...
A lasting regret of my time travelling in the ex Soviet Union is not having bought a postcard. In my mind I can still see the object of my regret. It was titled 'Sofia by Night'. The photo was of the main square in Sofia, Bulgaria. Brightly lit at night. No traffic, no people, not a dog, cat or owl, just an empty square. I never enjoyed my business...
On October 3, Boris Johnson shared with The Telegraph his assessment that Donald Trump would have stopped Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine—a striking indictment of the current leadership vacuum in Washington under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Johnson's claim should be a clarion call to any American voters who care about the West's geopolitical ...
We are in the second stage of Blair reforms. The dark shadow of the former PM hangs over the new Labour administration. This Blairite legacy was always about 'constitutional reform', Supreme Court, devolved powers and field sports were their aspiration. It was something to excite the Labour membership's turgid mentality. Now in 2024 with a big Comm...
When I wrote the article: 'How to destroy a country' for this esteemed blog, I meant it to be seen as a warning. Sadly, from their actions, it appears our Labour Government have used it as an instruction manual, they have taken the art of wrecking this nation to frightening new heights. During the run up to the July 4th general election Sir K...
Starmer's government has saddled up for a full Parliamentary session but the question of Labour's legitimation remains. This is not merely a new administration but one with a comprehensive socialist plan it wishes to implement. The potential impact of 'Golden' Brown's grand strategy on our constitutional arrangements is arguably far greater than th...
I know the dangers of forming political opinions with a barman over a cold beer. I was in France's Perigord, normally a tourist hotspot. The mill-leat outside was busy with gushing water in stark contrast to bar trade. The barman told me that the season was catastrophic after such a wet early summer, then the French elections, European footba...
The Conservative Party has not had much luck in choosing leaders. The first to be elected by ballot, rather than appointed, was Edward Heath and we can debate how successful that choice was for national sovereignty or otherwise another time. The most recent term of Conservative government contains the stream of ineffective leaders the Party did not...
Very few people would have heard of the obscure American politician, Dick Tuck, but many may remember his famous quote after he lost the 1962 Senate Primary election, he said: "The people have spoke - the ba….d's". Those who follow political history will know that all Labour Governments are bad, they tax and regulate far too much and always end up ...
"I beg your pardon," they never promised us a rose garden, but they did. The new Labour government is unravelling and blaming it on everyone but themselves, but mostly on the last government, the members of which seem strangely silent for an Opposition whose job it is to oppose. 'Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party'. Th...
When Angela Raynor, deputy Prime Minister, called Conservative voters Scum she was using a Socialist tactic. So too was David Lammy, now Foreign Secretary, when he described Conservative MP members of the ERG (a group that supports Brexit and Democracy) Nazis. When challenged he said the label was "not strong enough". Socialism has always been nurt...
Just a week before Christmas in 1947 I came into the world by cesarean operation in the long gone Loveday Street hospital in Birmingham. My home with my parents, Bert and Rose, was at the bottom of a yard where I then spent the next seven years of my life until my parents managed to organise a mortgage to buy their first house. Like many places aro...
The candidates for the Conservative leadership have been announced and are each hoping to be in the final two to be voted on by the membership. Why the Parliamentary Party ultimately get to restrict that choice is neither here nor there. It was in comparatively recent history that they themselves were not given that choice, but the leader was appoi...
During the reign of Tony Blair a slow fuse was lit under the values the vast majority of British people value as normal. Simply, democracy and fair play were the norm. Immigrants who happily integrated were welcome. Of course there were roughs who hate everybody, but by and large Britain was a success. Compared to most other countries with diverse ...
There are three certainties that come with every Labour Government, these are: Labour always raise and find new ways to tax the population, they are hypocrites and every Labour Government has left office leaving the country in one hell of a mess. Sadly, nothing will deviate from this statement regarding our newly elected Socialist masters. As...
Not since the assassination attempt of the late US President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., has there been an attempt on the life of a president or presidential nominee prior to last week. A 20-year-old male with no criminal history borrowed his father's rifle, made his way onto the roof of a warehouse 150 yards from where former President Dona...
Reform and Trump have similar objectives. These have generally been mischaracterised as far right, but this new wave of populism is more about nationalism vs globalism than it is about left vs right. It is primarily concerned with what is seen as the theft of our national democracy in pursuant of global goals by international bodies that include th...
The United Arab Emirates is causing increasing concern in democratic capitals. Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted western nations to impose sanctions on them. The purpose was to constrain Russia's ability to wage an illegal war through economic sanctions. Although a bullies appetite is never sated this has not deterred the UAE and to a lesser ex...
We have just witnessed a six week long surrender culminating in a humiliating defeat that the vanquished have greeted with joy. The glad handing between Starmer and Sunak might lead people to imagine that England's footballers had triumphed, not that Sunak had failed. After the Conservative triumph in 2019, it quickly became obvious that the so cal...
I'm just going to say a very few brief words to mark this occasion and to mark some of the very significant problems that the conservative party faces going forward. And frankly, it now has to decide whether it really wants to be the Conservative Party. Firstly, a little good news there's not much of it about I'm afraid but over the last few months...
On 23rd June 2016 (St George's Day) the people of Britain voted to leave the European Union. This was an historic moment. We could say this was the 7th Brexit in history. And it is not complete yet, as we shall see. In effect, this was not the first Brexit, not the first time that Britannia separated her destiny from that of Europe. In 43 AD ...
Some years ago, at a Cambridge University event, I talked to a young lady PhD student. She explained that she was hoping for a career in HMRC or the Treasury. To boost her opportunity she was preparing her thesis on the subject 'Flat tax inefficiency and economic damage'. It was a social event and I did not engage her starry eyed subservience to or...
The Labour Party of today came into being as we know it around 1900. Its roots lie in the trade union movement of the 19th century and thanks to such people as Keir Hardy the Labour Party was formed. However, there is an irony in the fact that over a hundred years later, the only people who can afford to vote for the party that was formed to repres...
Sir Keir Starmer's plans relating to the UK's future relationship with the EU are unclear, but then again, his ever-shifting image and (apparent) political position (embracing Corbynism and Blairism), in an attempt to appeal to both Left and Right, Middle and Working class, the old red wall and staunchly pro-EU constituencies, does rather confuse e...
As we move ever closer to the 4th of July, we deserve to hear the plans of those parties most likely to form the next government – the detail, and how any 'wish-list' would be costed. Until detail is supplied, then any manifesto promise, or gimmicky card 'pledge' is meaningless, as there is nothing specific against which to hold a newly-elected gov...
Back in 1997 I walked the streets locally and knocked on doors with the Conservative candidate in what was regarded as a safe constituency. It was a thankless task, but a worthy one and in spite of a cold response and some derision he was elected with a respectable majority. I remember standing outside a polling station as a Labour van went by blar...
Multiple credit cards and a carefree attitude to paying-off bills was at one time the preserve of the more feckless section of society. These days it seems to be a universal ill of local finances and it is a trend that central government has fostered. As local authorities teeter on the brink of insolvency – indeed by any 'normal' accounting assessm...
Ask a child to tell you where their centre is and they'll point at their belly button. It's obvious. It's in the middle. Politicians of the legacy parties bleat incessantly about the 'Centre'. Apparently, no one ever won an election to anything unless they were precariously perched on a fence. Where has that got us? In reality the 'Centre' is the e...
ONS projections show a UK population increase of 6.6 million by 2036, of which 6.1 million will be due to immigration. Annual net migration of 315,000 will lead to a projected population increase of nine million people by 2046. That's eight cities the size of Birmingham. According to Migration Watch, "a child born today to an indigenous British cou...
Transcript of the conversation: the Italicized script is Sir Christopher Chope's responses We are in conversation with Sir Christopher Chope, Conservative Member of Parliament for Southampton, Itchen from 1983 to 1992 and then Christchurch from 1997 onwards. Early in his career he was a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environmen...
Words can define eras. Harold Wilson's government was full of people who, like their union paymasters, 'Acquiesced' so they could keep their jobs. Today, all of a sudden, all sorts of politicians, journalists and business people have discovered their contemporaries are guilty of egregious behaviour (not themselves of course). Are they all guilty of...
"Finished", "stuffed", "toast" . These have been the words and worse that many otherwise loyal Conservatives used about their own party recently. However, now that the election has been called in spite of such pessimism, there is hope for the beleaguered Tories.: A week is a long time in politics, said Harold Wilson, so how much longer a...
The World Health Organisation, with the support of governments, public-private agencies, profit-seeking multinational corporations, academic institutions, charities and foundations, has been allowed to become a medium for the international marketisation of medical tech and vaccines, and, if we are not careful, the use of these may become mand...
Other reasons for getting out I have put together some material which I think should help to get the UK out of the ECHR completely and thus, also, enable us to stop the small boats. The failure to achieve this has been given as a major reason for the Tories' forthcoming debacle. There are plenty of people, even in Parliament, who are upset ab...
How to destroy a country may not be an everyday item on the minds of many as they go about their daily lives. Most people living in this country have other things to to think about such as their jobs or juggling the household finances, a big question may be, if they lash out on a treat will they have enough money left to pay the rent or the mortgag...
According to the experts, Kier Starmer will be Prime Minister by March next year at the latest. On one level it makes little difference. The Conservative Party is indistinguishable from the Liberal Democrats, they are indistinguishable from Labour. Starmer pretends that Labour has moved right, to the centre ground. The reality is that while Cameron...
The Tory party having abandoned Conservatism is now drifting like a metaphorical Marie Celeste. From the Heroic 80 seats to a potential near zero. An updated story of "From Hero to Zero". Rishi Sunak having usurped the leadership plays Captain Ahab uninterested in the calamity he has unleashed. The plan is working he cries while the Tempest rages. ...
Going back centuries alchemists were convinced they could turn base metals into gold, despite none of them being able achieve this, these days we laugh at them for their obvious foolishness and ignorance. Going forward in time, as machinery and technology advanced, a new breed of people were convinced they could invent a perpetual motion machine, l...
Friday March 1st Rishi Sunak stood at a podium outside ten Downing Street. Like a trainee teacher lacking any form of sanction, he confronted a rebellious class. He did not quite say, "You are all very naughty", but it wasn't far-off. Lots of words, a threat to back the Police if they ever get off their knees. He had harsh words for two group...
We are in trouble. It started when Ted Heath told lies about the Common Market and its true intention. Since then, a certain type of self-serving politician has lied about everything from expenses to democracy. According to Nick Robinson, Lindsay Hoyle can be forgiven for caving into Starmer because, "he's only human and wants to keep his job". The...
We live in a small village in Kent. Our 'Medical Centre' in the next large village has gone digital. Repeat prescriptions are only accepted if one uses the NHS Ap. It has a box where you can write a message. Oddly it has a notice stating "You can add a note about your prescription here. Your note may not be seen or replied to, so if you have an imp...
Straws in the wind The NHS The NHS is crumbling and cannot continue for much longer in its current form. Free healthcare for all at the point of need was possible in the late 1940s and early 1950s but with ever more costly and complex interventions this is no longer the case. None of the modern imaging equipment had been invented when t...
Reform or Revolution? This is the question. One way or another there will be no more "status quo" on our current course because: if Labour wins, we will have socialism; if things do not change, history shows there will be violence (a revolution). The parallels between the present and the French Revolution (as well as the fall of Rome) are self-evid...
Reproduced with permission of Blue Anchor In this blog I'm going to run through the main economic consequences of Brexit. After the vote to leave The Guardian started a regular tracker to chart its impact on the economy. But as the Remainer predictions relentlessly turned to dust and the good news kept piling up, they quietly dropped this feature. ...
A year ago, I wrote suggesting that many of the current Conservative MPs would rue the day they ditched Boris. The blog was published in October 2022, and identified three key reasons why people had voted Conservative in the 2019 election: (1) Boris's call to 'get Brexit done' – this reflected the national mood when 'leave' won the referendum in 20...
AI is a direct threat to formerly trustworthy and secure sources of information, image and data. In a recent open letter, AI-expert signatories of which included Elon Musk urged a pause in AI training to reflect and take stock. "AI research and development should be refocused on making today's powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate,...
Far from being located in the sky, cloud data centres are very large and earthbound with real effects on energy security There are differing statistics on the amount of electricity drained by data centres globally, but it is substantial and as cloud expands to and within developing nations, it will increase. There were already around 3.6 bill...
The conservative party is constipated. Bringing back Cameron makes it worse, not better. The One Nation group of MPs led by Damien Green are Europhile. Despite the failing performance of the EU's major economies they still worship the 'project'. It's hard not to believe that their shenanigans are not deliberate sabotage. They have no hope of rejoin...
Germany is a relatively young country. Created as a 'Customs Union' it quickly became an Empire as Bismark consolidated power through a war with France. In 1871 all members of the Zoll Union became provinces of the Empire, with the exception of Luxembourg whose ruling Duke opted out. Bismarck introduced reforms such as health insurance, but mainly ...
Kids can be very cruel, when I was at the start of my teenage years at school in 1961 the banter we used was often quite cutting. If anyone wanted to wind another lad up they would often use an insult using the abbreviation of a word which inferred the other lad's sexual leaning were not quite what was expected from a member of the male species. Th...
The UK's national governance is being corroded by a failure to identify and take the steps necessary to re-emerge as a sovereign country after leaving the EU. This is causing lower economic growth and an ungoverned clash of cultures which threatens the credibility of our system itself. The problem is that we are seeking to maintain large elements o...
I have no idea whether Rishi Sunak worships Kali among his pantheon of Hindu Gods. His betrayal of Johnson and coup against Truss and the membership of the Conservative party certainly bear they hallmarks of the Thuggee sect that worshipped her. The word 'Thug' comes from the Hindu word 'Thag' which means 'swindler' or 'deceiver'. Certainly it seem...
The termination of Home Secretary Suella Braverman by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is evidently a calculated maneuver aimed at bolstering the stability of the Conservative Party and fortifying its electoral prospects in the imminent election. Braverman's successor, none other than David Cameron, the former leader of the Conservative Party, ousted in ...
By Dr Jonathan S. Swift On Saturday 14 October, I took my daughter to the Open Day at Manchester University. It is some five years since I have spent any length of time in Manchester, and I was shocked by what had happened to a once-vibrant and beautiful city. The most disturbing part of the whole experience was the seeming acceptance - dare ...
Women seem to provide us with consistently better common sense leadership than men. Leadership that reflects the values of the majority rather than a self-indulgent minority. Elizabeth 1, Queen Anne, Victoria, Margaret Thatcher all reflected the hopes and wishes of the people. All were proud of their country and their pride was matched by the ...
The chief executive of Deutsche Bank Christian Sewing told a meeting in Frankfurt "We are not the sick man of Europe. But, it is also true that there are structural weaknesses that hold back our economy and prevent it from developing its great potential. And we will become the sick man of Europe if we do not address these structural issues now." Ac...
.What used to be East and West is now the global North and South in a new geopolitical dichotomy. While not strictly ideologically divided, the ascendancy of (southern) BRICS members being largely economic, they and the whole Global South are increasingly defined politically according to their perceived history. Much is spoken about multipolarity b...
The intellect of mankind has developed down through millennia which has facilitated his progression of understanding. Unfortunately the level of understanding is not, and has never been, universal due to group isolation and environmental limitations. On a world scale it has been and remains a long and very slow learning curve, its progression ...
The word 'elites' has come to mean a shorthand for 'the powers that be', which may include or be separate from and above one's elected representatives including international regulators that dictate to and restrict governments. This comprising an embryonic world government for whom and for which no one voted. According to various conspiracy theorie...
The photo of me is from 1968 when I was young, beardless and fresh faced, it was one taken for my very first passport. In those days our British passports were wonderful things, they were dark blue with a hard cover and inside were the instructions from our Monarch to let the holder of the passport pass without let or hinderance. As I used th...
'Thirteen Wasted Years' is the war cry of Starmer's Labour party. To those who remember, it simply demonstrates that they have not got a new idea - on anything. The slogan was used by Wilson for the 1964 General Election. I suggest that the truth is that, apart from Thatcher, we have had 84 wasted years, well 79 if one deducts WW2. Neville Chamberl...
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...
Robert Oulds new book, 'World War II The First Culture War', is a remarkable literary accomplishment. This is history of a different sort. It looks in detail at nations, cultures and people and examines the reasons for events. Rather than a catalogue, with endless references, of events, it examines the reason for the event(s). When the events thems...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
