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At long last, the Liberal Democrats have promised to do something that will genuinely benefit the wider community:
Yes, we can all look forward to a better world for our children if Liberal Democrats stop breathing. September 21st, 2004 | 25 comments - (Comments are closed)
 Well, miracles do happen. For a while, I was labouring (scuse pun) under the view that no British Conservative MP would ever set foot (or fingers) in the blogosphere. I was wrong. The Conservative MP for Henley and all-round media superstar, Boris Johnson, now has a blog. I only hope he has some inkling of what he has let himself in for. [My thanks to Peter Cuthbertson for the link.]
September 21st, 2004 | 19 comments - (Comments are closed)
When capital punishment was abolished in Britain in the 1960’s, the resulting public disquiet was mollified by assurances that convicted murderers would spend the rest of their lives in prison. That assurance proved worthless. Over subsequent years, and by gradual degree, the span of ‘life sentences’ was whittled down to the point where a convicted murderer is now confined, on average, for between 10-12 years. Apparently, even that is now far too draconian:
The caveat of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ is a promise which will prove to be as valueless as the last one. Step-by-step and case-by-case, the defintion of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ will be widened to the point where convicted killers are routinely sentenced to spend a few hours exploring their inner child with a Court-appointed Outreach Counsellor. Towards the end of the 19th Century the British State made a contract with its citizens the material terms of which required the individual citizen to surrender up their right to self-defence in return for the protection of the state which, by its agents, would both defend the citizen from harm and pursue and prosecute those who did (or attempted to do) the harm. Gradually, but inexorably, the state has walked away from its side of that bargain. However, this would be no bad thing were the citizen likewise released from his or her obligations. If the entire contract was simply put in the shredder, it would, at least, leave us free to make our own arrangements for our self-defence and security. But this is not so. The citizen’s promises to relinquish the right and means of self-defence remain not only extant but zealoulsy enforced by the state which has decided that it does, indeed, take only one to tango. The poor, willing, plodding, dutifully contracting citizen has now been placed in the worst possible situation: forbidden from defending their own life and limb and unable to call on anyone else to do so for them. The perfect scenario for the perfectly predatory society. September 20th, 2004 | 50 comments - (Comments are closed)
This is not a re-run of the 1930’s but surely I am not the only person who can hear the thin bat-squeak of warning?
National Socialists+Communists+Germany = Hackles rising. September 20th, 2004 | 29 comments - (Comments are closed)
An acquaintance sent me a link to an article about the future of Europe and asked me for my opinions in response. As someone with a reputation for having an opinion (usually a fairly inflammatory one) about everything, I find myself untypically, and perhaps rather annoyingly, equivocal. But this is entirely due to the fact that I am unsure whether or not this kind of thing can or should be taken seriously:
I have heard such sweeping assessments before, courtesy (mostly) of some of the more intemperate conservative blogs and websites. But is there any substance to the claim? On the face of it, it appears both alarmist and far-fetched. Just taking the EU countries alone, I believe that there are, at most, some 20 million Muslim people out of a total population in the region of 470 million. Less than 5%. But, let us suppose that some profound demographic shifts over the next few decades result in Muslims outnumbering non-Muslims. Does it automatically follow that Europe will then be ‘Islamic’? And, if so, what type of Islamic? Are we talking about the arid, monochromatic, repressive Saudi ‘Wahabbi’ version or the more secular and easy-going Turkish variety? Or could it be some newly-manifest and unique ‘European’ version of Islam? Also, and given much of Europe’s descent into post-modernist torpor, would any of these scenarios (assuming they came to pass) necessarily be a bad thing? So many questions with no answers. Or no satisfactory answers at any rate. My own inclination is to regard the article with a high degree of skepticism. Human affairs are sufficiently fluid to make predictions about the next week seem foolhardy, let alone the next century. However, it is worth bearing in mind that North Africa (the Maghreb) was once as European as France or Italy is now and that fully two-thirds of what was once the Roman Empire is now a part of the Islamic world. But the past is not necessarily a guide to the future, so that just leaves me back where I started. In short, I just do not know and I am hesitant to venture any sort of opinion more definite than that. September 19th, 2004 | 74 comments - (Comments are closed)
“What they have done is despicable and we will not allow it to rest – the countryside will become a no-go area for Labour ministers.” Countryside Alliance spokesman Tim Bonner following the decision of Cabinet Minister Alun Michael to pull out of an appearance in rural Lancashire over fears for his safety. September 19th, 2004 | 7 comments - (Comments are closed)
Sometimes it takes a stark juxtaposition to shine the spotlight on the vacuity and moral cowardice of our Fourth Estate. I was watching the early evening ‘news’ yesterday on ITV1, the more popular terrestrial, commercial station. This is something I can bring myself to do only very occasionally as commercial TV “news” presenters are such unwavering amplifiers of fatuous Nulabour propoganda that they make the average BBC reporter look like Rush Limbaugh in comparison. Yesterday evening’s first (and, by scheduling implication, most urgent) item was a piece of political agitprop by some organisation calling itself ‘Mothers Against Guns’, barely dressed up a ‘news’ feature. Not content with the strictest anti-gun laws in the Western world, these people are upset because (wait for it) replica guns are still commercially available. Rooted to the spot, I squirmed through the next five minutes of shockingly blatant manipulation mixed in with junk statistics that were so obviously and ridiculously fraudulent as to be beyond parody. “Nine Tenths of all deaths in this country are caused by replica firearms which are converted to fire real ammunition”. Yes, the Mothers Against Gun frontwoman actually said that and got clean away with it. → Continue reading: How about ‘Mothers Against Victimhood’? September 18th, 2004 | 15 comments - (Comments are closed)
It is so bloody infuriating when some ungrateful, selfish kids simply refuse to acknowledge the fact that they are ‘disadvantaged’:
Preposterous nonsense. They must be making it up. It is totally beyond question that things like this can only happen by means of an appropriate legislative framework, an appointed governing body and generous levels of public funding. September 17th, 2004 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
Parliament today finally voted by a substantial majority to outlaw hunting with hounds:
The ‘fearless and principled’ Tony Blair (having pushed this law forward as a sop to his increasingly fractious party) failed to show up for the debate and did not even bother to vote. But plenty of hunt supporters did show up to rally outside the Houses of Parliament in a protest that turned into a pitched battle. By 5.00pm this afternoon, the radio news networks were reporting that Westminster had been closed off by the chaos and blood on the streets. Five hunt supporters even managed to invade the floor of the House of Commons:
Wrong. This is democracy in action and the hunters are on the receiving end of it. Tempers are flared:
This is not the end. It is just the beginning. September 16th, 2004 | 135 comments - (Comments are closed)
Here, at last, is the truth that the US Government tried to suppress. They did not want the world to know but, thanks to the painstaking forensic skill and integrity of the Fourth Estate, the skeleton is finally out of the closet! 
Case closed. September 14th, 2004 | 39 comments - (Comments are closed)
Something tells me that HMG does not expect their proposed fox-hunting ban to be awfully popular with the country folk:
They used to warn that ‘walls have ears’. Now walls will have eyes as well. I suppose the panopticon countryside is nothing more than a logical extension of our panoptican cities. It is merely a matter of time before every workplace and every home is wired up to the Big Eye of Big Brother. Then the nightmare really begins. There exist all manner of varying justifications for this surveillance-fever but there is only one reason that our political masters are deploying it with such alacrity: because they can. The same technology that enables us to chatter with each other across national boundaries is being used to create a tightly-wrapped police state. What a very, very grim future we face. Cross-posted from Samizdata.net September 13th, 2004 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
Something tells me that HMG does not expect their proposed fox-hunting ban to be awfully popular with the country folk:
They used to warn that ‘walls have ears’. Now walls will have eyes as well. I suppose the panopticon countryside is nothing more than a logical extension of our panoptican cities. It is merely a matter of time before every workplace and every home is wired up to the Big Eye of Big Brother. Then the nightmare really begins. There exist all manner of varying justifications for this surveillance-fever but there is only one reason that our political masters are deploying it with such alacrity: because they can. The same technology that enables us to chatter with each other across national boundaries is being used to create a tightly-wrapped police state. What a very, very grim future we face. September 13th, 2004 | 56 comments - (Comments are closed)
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