Samizdata quote of the day: how Britain is seen abroad edition

Johnathan Pearce (London) · Liberty · Slogans & Quotations · UK affairs

“We are seen, bluntly, as a country run by student union activists, a place where violent criminals are released from prison to free up space for people who have posted nasty comments online. If you’re British, you might protest that things are more complicated than that, but you must also concede that our critics have the big picture right.”

– Daniel Hannan

November 24th, 2024 |

5 comments to Samizdata quote of the day: how Britain is seen abroad edition

• BenDavid

  November 24, 2024 at 11:15 pm

  As an American born in the 60s I see both Britain and America through the prism of the Reagan-Thatcher era of return to fundamentals.
  American conservatives and small-L liberals were naive, dropped the ball, and were not prepared for the depth of deceit and the vehemence of opposition to Western ideals on the political Left… to be honest the sharp coup and pull to extremism were not yet complete on the Left, either…
  Trump is the second shoe falling.. the silent majority is now fully awake and focused.

  It seems that something similar happened in Britain after Thatcher left the stage…. There was a bump with the Brexit vote – but that galvanized the Left while lulling the Conservatives into thinking that had settled things… now Farage and others are fighting for legitimacy.
  After being raised on a history that pegs the start of modern democracy with the Magna Carta and the British roots of our country’s protection of individual rights and expansion of suffrage – I must say I never thought I would see British citizens arrested for thought crimes.

• GregWA

  November 25, 2024 at 12:05 am

  BenDavid, I want to believe “the silent majority is now fully awake and focused” and I’m very glad Trump was allowed to win (snark alert!) but somehow I still think we have just slowed the inevitable decline to drudgery, slavery, a new Dark Age.

  Which of the following do you think Trump will be able to get done:
  Make significant spending cuts through DOGE, say $500B at a minimum.
  Not lose either house of Congress in the midterms
  Put at least one more reliable conservative on the SCOTUS
  Avoid more lawfare–btw a friend of mine had a great suggestion: Trump should pardon Biden’s son. A goodwill gesture to end the lawfare.
  Eliminate even one Cabinet agency.

  I think he could do great things even if he falls short of the above list–put the fear of God into agency leaders with Musk shaming them on X, gut several agencies even if he can’t eliminate them.

  What do you think?

• Fraser Orr

  November 25, 2024 at 1:29 am

  I couldn’t read anything except the excerpt since it is behind a paywall. But TBH I think the truth is that foreign countries do not think anything about Britain. It never crosses their mind. Perhaps drinking tea with an outstretched pinkie and Paddington Bear having lunch with the Queen is about all they think of. I doubt you ask the average American or Brazilian or Italian or Thai and they’d have no idea how bad the clamp down on free speech has been in Britain.

  Which of the following do you think Trump will be able to get done:

  I think that he will be able to get some low hanging fruit, but not cut much below the epidermis. But I never thought he’d get elected, so I guess my judgement is off. I think that for sure he will lock down the border very quickly, and deport a lot of people (Tom Homan is perhaps the only person in the world who can get it done. He does not give a flying f–k what they think of him. I hope to god they are giving him presidential level security.) I think he will stop both the war in Ukraine and the one in Israel. That is assuming Biden’s utterly reckless behavior (or rather the utterly reckless behavior of the deep state) doesn’t escalate the war off the charts — god help us if our only salvation is relying on the restraint of Putin.

  As to DOGE, I worry that it’ll end up as a symbolic thing. For sure all the “Which medicines make monkeys masturbate” projects will get axed. But they are tiny. I think DOGE is more important for its reduction in regulation than anything else. If they do, as has been suggested, cut all remote work and start moving agencies out of DC, I think they will be able to substantially cut the workforce. Will they close down any agencies at all? Probably not. Maybe some tiny ones. But bigger ones will take congressional action and they just don’t have the juice there. If he can move agencies out of Washington that would really make a difference. But I think his chances of doing that in two years are not high.

  But I guess you should never underestimate Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy all together (and I might add Pam Bondi who is a really excellent pick.)

  As to the economy I think it’ll improve a lot. I’m buying American stocks again. I think both opening up hydrocarbon leases, backing out of ridiculous green commitments, reducing the fed interest rate, dramatic reductions in regulation and changes to tax laws will make a big difference. It’ll be interesting to see what trade deals Trump does. I do worry about overuse of tariffs. However, I think the economy will look good.

  Main thing though is he has two years. And that’s not a lot of time.

  So border locked down, millions deported, wars stopped, economy improved, federal agencies getting a bit of a haircut. Those I think are achievable, assuming the deep state doesn’t head him off at the pass by starting World War III, which seems to be their goal. But I don’t think he has enough time to get down to the bones to make a permanent change. But like I say, my judgement has been proved wrong.

• Snorri Godhi

  November 25, 2024 at 1:40 am

  I doubt you ask the average American or Brazilian or Italian or Thai and they’d have no idea how bad the clamp down on free speech has been in Britain.

  Fraser should know more about the average American than i do. But i know a bit about the average Italian, and i believe that Fraser is correct.

  But I guess you should never underestimate Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy all together (and I might add Pam Bondi who is a really excellent pick.)

  I’d add RFK Jr.
  If he gets to improve American diets, then wokeness is finished.
  Because only brain damage from a xxi century Americanized diet can sustain wokeness.

  And don’t forget JD Vance: nobody can deal with hostile interviews better than he can.

• lucklucky

  November 25, 2024 at 3:14 am

  Trump should pardon Biden’s son. A goodwill gesture to end the lawfare.

  That will only get Biden family not anyone more and i don’t even sure it is fair.

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