Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
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Bruges Group Blog

Spearheading the intellectual battle against the EU. And for new thinking in international affairs.
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Murdering Democracy

The sun had shone all day, the people we had been meeting every time the Brexit battle bus stopped all of us anti EU, pro-Brexit campaigners, would pile out and meet mostly receptive people who were declaring they were going to vote to leave the EU in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum. We had spent an hour or so on Worcester market and were on t...

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Hot Air - Carbon Dioxide and Global Warming: A Review and a Few Facts

Introduction The purpose of these notes is to present some facts about the campaign to stop global warming and climate change. The climate has changed in the past, is probably changing now, and will change in the future. The campaign is trying to stop the unstoppable. The natural factors affecting global temperature are very powerful: terrestrial, ...

  8732 Hits
Warsaw, Poland Photograph by Author

Poland Challenges the Primacy of EU Law.

On Thursday, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal concluded that the Polish Constitution takes precedence over EU law, rejecting the primacy of the latter. The long-awaited ruling came in response to a request from the Polish Government for the court to clarify the relationship between Polish and EU law and sets Warsaw on a collision course with Brusse...

  2826 Hits
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From Inside The Liberty Zone (CPC 2021)

How refreshing to return from Party Conference which was held in a state of near normality. The only element which was not completely normal was that there were less people. That I think was due to the fact potential attendees were worried it would in the end be cancelled or that vaccine passports would be demanded in some form. This in a nutshell ...

  1967 Hits
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Does the WTO Promote Trade?

"Does the WTO promote trade?" is the research question that this literature review attempts to answer. The key word "promote" is taken to mean increase. The WTO is an abbreviation of the World Trade Organisation and has '164 members since 29 July 2016'[](WTO Members and Observers, no date) and was established in 1995 after the conclusion of many ba...

  2291 Hits
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The BBC: An Orwellian Nightmare

Recently, we moved home. I advised all the utilities and services by phone or online. I did so well in advance, so that no last minute hitch would add to a naturally stressful time. Everything worked perfectly, except the TV licence. At first, I was encouraged by what seemed an easy notification system. "Advise us three months before you move" the ...

  2394 Hits
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Signs You Might Need to Buy a New Phone

In the modern-day, few things are more important to a person than their mobile phone. This isn't necessarily because people have a deep connection with their phones. It is mostly just since they are so crucial for day-to-day life in today's world. They allow you to maintain fast communication, keep up with current events, and much more. It is quite...

  2316 Hits
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The Northern Ireland Protocol: Trigger Article 16!

Where is the evidence that this ruling has saved anyone from being exposed to sub standard or dangerous products? We have heard so much from the EU Big Wigs and European politicians about how important it is to have checks on goods going from one part of the United Kingdom to another – mainland UK to Northern Ireland - it is therefore vital to...

  1904 Hits
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Just Who Prospered During Covid?

The coronavirus pandemic changed the landscape of the world economy almost overnight. Certainly, industries who before would see handsome turnovers year on year had their custom suddenly wiped out – or at least massive reduced. We are all aware of the biggest losers from Covid, as the effects of their misfortunes were all around for all to see. Mor...

  2186 Hits
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Tips to Modernize Your Business

Keeping your business modern and up to date with the latest working, marketing and safety methods is essential to having a company that has potential to grow. If you are not willing to modernize procedures, your business could fall behind the competition and, in areas such as health and safety, you will run the risk of being non-compliant as well a...

  3019 Hits
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Heroes and snowflakes

A few days ago my wife and I were walking across the local supermarket car park when we met one of our teammates from our bowls club. After a few minutes conversation about the new season, and complaining about the dilatory manner in which the local council is dealing with the renewal of the club’s lease, we went to the shops, while he strode off towards the club. Nothing remarkable about any of that, except that just over 77 years ago, on 6th June 1944, he was landing on the D-Day beaches, and is now over 100 years old.

I reflected how heroic were the men and women of his generation, and also how modest. He refuses to say much about his wartime experiences, as they bring back too many memories of fallen comrades. One of our other fellow bowlers, who sadly recently died at the age of 96, spent the Second War in submarines, even being depth charged, while my parents, living in south east London were bombed in two wars, losing their house in 1940.

What a contrast we see as we contemplate the current scene, where pusillanimous weaklings abound, particularly in our so called universities. The fragile snowflakes who now infest these institutions are unable to endure ideas which conflict with their own, demanding trigger warnings, no platforming and safe spaces in case their sensibilities are offended. I suppose they burst into tears if anyone tells them that they might be wrong about something!

Of course this absurd state of affairs would not exist if it were not for the politically motivated, frequently Marxist, lecturers and university administrators who, instead of telling the students that they are there to learn, not impose ridiculous, and neurotic, ideas, actively encourage them.

As I write St Andrews University is reported as enforcing diversity modules before students are accepted on courses, involving the acceptance of being obliged to accept 'personal guilt' and only pass by giving acceptable answers to compulsory questions on sustainability, consent and good academic practice, as determined by the fascists setting the tests.

The applicants are told that acknowledging personal guilt is a starting point in overcoming unconscious bias, and, if the latter disagree, they are told that they are incorrect, and are forced to redo the course if they get too many wrong in the opinion of the arrogant dictators setting the questions. Students are told that equality does not mean treating everyone the same but that in fact ‘equality may mean treating people differently and in a way that is appropriate to their needs so that they have fair outcomes and equal opportunity’. Obviously how you determine such parameters is at the behest of the ‘woke’.

Some students, obvious insufficiently brainwashed by the Marxists at the secondary schools, have rightly objected, pointing out that this process is contrary to academic freedom and freedom of thought, but this is not the first university to move towards these courses, with Kent also making students complete bizarre induction training. Emeritus professor of sociology Frank Furedi, said it was 'a corrosive form of indoctrination’, while Professor of Education at Derby University Dennis Hayes said such courses are 'reducing universities to training institutions in woke ideology'.

How, and why, starting with a nation of heroes, have we reached this point, where so many of the younger generation seem frightened of their own shadow, and have no appreciation of free speech and democracy?

As far as the how is concerned one can hardly offer a better answer than that given, in that excellent film ‘The Lion in Winter’, by Henry II, when asked by his estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, “How, from where we started, did we reach this?” answered “Step by step, step by step”.

The why is also clear, although vigorously denied by those who are seeking to undermine our society, and that is the burrowing away by the termites of Marxism, as they prosecute their ‘long march through the institutions’, corrupting everything, but in particular the education system. They know that the ordinary, sensible electorates of the West will never let them win at the ballot box, so they have sought a different method of achieving their ends. To brainwash the young, both at the level of at secondary, and tertiary education, has been their aim, and in this they have succeeded, convincing many that the West, and Britain in particular, has been the source of most of the wickedness in the world.

Marxists, despite many of them being apparently intelligent, are for the most part, morons, who refuse to recognize that, wherever Marxism has been tried, it has been a disaster, resulting in economic collapse, and dictatorship by monsters such as Stalin and Mao. Of course they always claim that this result is due to the fact that it was not implemented properly, but the millions who have died thanks to this insane philosophy would, if they could, attest to its fundamental evil.

Much more sinister are those who are aware only too well of the reality of Marxism, but are using it to try to achieve power for themselves. I was astounded to learn that there are Marxists, or their fellow travellers among imbecilic ‘woke’, who are now claiming that 2 plus 2 does not necessarily equal 4. This is of course the claim made by O’Brien of Orwell’s Inner Party in 1984, when he says “Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party”. To use the Labour Party approved vocabulary Marxists are scum.

So what can be done about it? A full return to selective education, with competitive exams providing the means by which those suitable for university can be identified, should be reinstated, while the ludicrous changes to the university system implemented by Blair must be reversed, with only a minority being sent to a much reduced number of institutions, with the whole system of fee paying and student loans abolished. The latter is unfair to the youngsters, and wasteful of taxpayer funded resources. It has also led to the ridiculous idea that policemen and nurses must have degrees, thus excluding those who have a genuine vocation, but lack formal qualifications in often irrelevant subjects. The scientific side of university education should be retained, but the vast bulk of the humanity courses, resulting in Mickey Mouse degrees in absurd subjects, should be abolished. The Marxist teachers and lecturers should be sacked, and told to do something more useful than corrupting young minds, like digging roads, while being excluded from any further involvement with education.

What will actually be done? I can say it in one word: Nothing. The chattering classes, and the majority of politicians are graduates, and clearly believe that if you do not have a degree it is surprising that you can walk and chew gum at the same time. The destruction of our society will continue, until a nation which is not in hock to these lunatics takes over. A nation of heroes will have been replaced by a population of snowflakes, who will be so surprised when they find that their fantasy world will not survive contact with reality.

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Peter-Lilley

In Conversation with Lord Lilley

I had the opportunity to speak to Lord (Peter) Lilley, a former speaker at a Bruges Group conference who served in Cabinet in the Thatcher and Major Governments as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Secretary of State for Social Security – and later in William (now Lord) Hague's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and De...

  2482 Hits
Stowe

The Left and Private Schools - Time to Get Real

 Given I have not seen any coherent argument in the Media spelling out the true facts aimed At any members of the public who have been taken in by this ill thought through proposed policy of taxing private schools. It's time for a simple statement of the obvious to be circulated to as many people as possible. The notion Labour is trying to sel...

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What You Need to Know If You Visit North America in 2022

With travel restrictions lifting and people getting more confident travelling – it may be time to start planning your next trip. One place – with endless places – to visit is North America (especially Canada, the United States, and Mexico). If you are considering a trip there – here are some things you should know – from fun and food to safety and ...

  2005 Hits
Conference-Banner

Liberty Zone at Party Conference

At Conservative Party Conference this year, we are delighted to be hosting the 'Liberty Zone' on Monday 4th October 2021 at the Science and Industry Museum, Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4PF.  We are holding our annual Party Conference event this year alongside Time 4 Recovery, a group set up to pressure the government with oppositi...

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A Modern Energy Crisis

This government's refusal to plan for Britain to be self-reliant in energy has produced a perfect storm of soaring prices, disrupted gas supplies and domestic steel and other essential manufacturing output compromised. Years of inertia have been the consequence of a near-religious belief that "the market will provide" alongside an unfounded fixatio...

  2101 Hits
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Tax is Theft!

You get to meet some interesting people on holiday, each year for several years my better half and I would return to the same hotel during the same two weeks in June where we would meet up with other regular returning guests. One of them was a senior accountant with a very large firm, he once told me every time they had to produce a cheque to pay t...

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Top 5 Ways to Go Shopping with Your Bride

"I do".These two words might seem inconsequential without context, but they mean the world to any couple looking to spend the rest of their lives together. Exchanging vows with the woman you love will certainly send her over the moon and make her the happiest woman on earth. However, you don't have to wait until your big day to start making your br...

  1678 Hits
AUKUS

AUKUS - Time to Raise the Periscope

By Mike Clitherow Wow, so much coverage everywhere of the AUKUS agreement and the outrage in France. Must be the Remoaners dream to be able once again knock their own country and cry for an EU member state. "Those naughty two faced Brexit Brits " they will scream. For me an important point has been completely missed in all media coverage. So n...

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Green fascists, woke police, prosecutors and a useless political class

In view of the problems associated with travelling abroad at the moment my wife and I have just returned from a motoring holiday around England, which, until the very end was pretty much trouble free.

However, as we reached the point of driving home from Bletchley Park, which, if one were not to take a very roundabout route through subsidiary roads, necessitated using the M25, we faced the possibility that the latter might be blocked by green scum (a noun approved by the deputy leader of the Labour party), leading to massive holdups.

These arrogant, and self righteous, green activists blocking motor ways are putting innocent people at risk, and disrupting the lives of many thousands, but, instead of an instant, and effective, response, we see the police colluding with them, and taking their part against understandably angry motorists. That the police actually escorted some of these imbeciles onto the road would be unbelievable, were it not for the previous behaviour of other officers taking the knee in sympathy with anti semitic Black Lives Matter demonstrators, and dancing with the troublemakers of Extinction Rebellion.

In their so called movement these people number a convicted dealer in heroin, and a holocaust denier, but incredibly they seem to believe that they are morally superior to the decent people to whom they are causing such problems. Unsurprisingly we are now seeing the result of the appeasement by the political and cultural elite of politically correct agitators, as those charged with defending us against criminals become instead their accomplices.

As an erstwhile supporter of the ordinary policemen and women I had assumed that the problem lay with their pusillanimous leaders but I am informed by friends, who are ex coppers, that actually the poison has spread to all ranks. This can only be made worse by the policy of recruiting only graduates in future, as these will be the products of university brainwashing by Marxist lecturers, and will be even worse. The police claim, probably with some justification that weak laws, and gutless prosecutors in the CPS, make it impossible deal with the green morons, but, if this is so, then it is up to our elected politicians to take action now.

The authorities must cease to indulge the arrogant agitators, because if they do not, and law abiding people find that they cannot rely upon the police to enforce the law, we shall see a descent into vigilantism as providing the only means of defending honest citizens from such parasitical nihilists. The growing energy crisis is merely the beginning of the disaster we face, thanks to our political elite having accepted without question the specious arguments of the environmental lobby, and its appeasement of the extremists who seek to disrupt our society.

One would have thought that the contrary, and frequently incorrect assertions made by so called scientific experts concerning the Coronavirus epidemic would have made clear that to ‘rely on the science’ means little when the science is itself questionable, but this is the mantra of those convinced that , in order to ‘save the planet’, we must sacrifice our way of life. A few years ago the scientific consensus was that we should fear the end of the current interglacial, but now the most vociferous claim that the opposite is true.

In all the propaganda from climate change obsessives how often do we hear about the medieval warming period from 950 AD to 1250 AD, when average global mean temperatures have been calculated to be similar to the early-mid-20th-century warming. Possible causes included increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity, and changes in ocean circulation. Nothing to do with Man’s activities! This period was then followed by global cooling from about 1300 to 1850, and it should also be noted that we are actually still living in an Ice Age. About 50 million years ago, the planet was too warm for polar ice caps, but Earth has mostly been cooling ever since. Do the idiots shouting about climate change even know this? It seems unlikely, as we have learnt that one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion, when taxed with why she drives a diesel car, said that she couldn't afford an electric car, but that she needed to take her children to sports fixtures. At the same time one of the volunteers said that he could not afford solar panels, as the average cost was six thousand pounds. Are these people so steeped in their self righteous, holier-than-thou mindset that they cannot understand that it is precisely because ordinary people cannot afford to be deprived of their cars, or gas boilers, that they oppose the demands of these extremists? They are either not very bright, or blatant hypocrites, when they demand that we should sacrifice our standard of living at a time when China is intending to build hundreds of new coal fired power stations, their emissions already dwarfing ours.

While it is sensible that incremental steps be taken to replace finite resources these should not be undertaken at a precipitate rate, endangering our energy supplies, and undermining our economy, particularly when the contribution of this country to CO2 emissions represents less than one per cent of the global total. To reduce our gas storage capacity to an absolute minimum, to rely on the wind, which doesn’t always blow, and to make cars, and warm homes, too expensive for the working class, in order to appease the green obsessed chattering classes, are policies which will result in misery for millions in pursuit of a chimera. If the Conservatives wish to be reelected they should abandon this fixation on a dubious theory, and cease to listen to the environmental fanatics. The latter should transfer their attentions to the Chinese embassy, not the M25.

We should immediately restart fracking, launch a programme to develop nuclear power, both via main stations, and through the UK SMR technology envisaged by the Rolls-Royce-led UK consortium, while massively increasing our gas storage capacity, and ensuring that our coal stocks are rebuilt to the sort of level achieved by Mrs Thatcher, coal fired power stations being made available once again. Money should also be made available to develop tidal power, something which we, as an island, are in a perfect position to do.

Almost immediately on arriving home, thankfully avoiding the M25 halfwits, we were confronted with the petrol crisis, and we have not been able to find a single petrol station in our area open since. For the Remainers of course the supply problems are all to do with Brexit, but the reality is very different. Neglect and exploitation of HGV drivers has reduced the number in the profession, while the mere mention of petrol shortages caused the problem. It seems likely that this can be traced back to anti Brexit figures within the Road Haulage Association, who are so anxious to kiss the backsides of Brussels bureaucrats that they don’t care about the trouble they are causing.

Unless Boris drops this insane fixation with climate change, and puts the interests of the British people first, he will do what I thought to be impossible in 2019, and lose the next election.

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Why Businesses Should Invest in Professional Audio-Visual Equipment for the Office

 Why All Businesses Need Pro Audio-Visual Equipment in the Office Do you run meetings from the office that include your remote workers or contractors? How do you connect your in-house team with your remote team? If you're a small business, you probably have someone from the team create a Zoom meeting with their laptop. This can work, since it ...

  1998 Hits
Bermuda

The AUKUS Agreement Isn’t Perfect

On Wednesday, September 15th, 2021, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced a new trilateral security agreement, 'AUKUS', which has the purpose of improving collaboration in the defense sectors of the signatory countries including collaboration on artificial intelligence, cyber security, quantum technologies as well as undersea ca...

  2355 Hits
Sunak-budget

To Stimulate Economic Recovery, We Need Low Tax Solutions

Hands up, who still thinks the Conservatives are a low tax party? If your hand is up, might I suggest you put it swiftly down and start writing some letters to the 321 Tory MPs who this week voted in favour of the biggest tax hike since the Second World War. Someone ought to inform them. Someone also might want to disband CCHQ come the next general...

  3253 Hits
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Scotland and the Opinion Polls

Different opinion polls ask different questions. Survation's surveys of Scottish opinion ask, "should Scotland remain in the United Kingdom or leave the United Kingdom?" This question rightly offers both options. This follows the Electoral Commission's guidance that "A referendum question should present the options clearly, simply and neutrally." R...

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Barry Legg's Letter to The Telegraph on Tax Increases

SIR – Extra taxation on savers to fund the NHS and care-home fees is bizarre. Some paying the extra tax may have been motivated to save in order not to depend on the state in their old age. Now achieving that objective will be undermined. Others will be care-home residents, now having to make a higher tax contribution to fellow residents' costs.&nb...

  2418 Hits
Manley

In Conversation with John Manley OC PC - Former Deputy PM of Canada

I had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable John Manley, a long serving Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Government, having served in key posts such as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs – among others. John Manley is also known for having authored the Manley Report on Afghanistan in 2007 and having been...

  2930 Hits
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Scotland and Currency

Clearly neither Wales nor Scotland could create their own currencies: they would have to stay with the pound or join the euro. And since the euro is hugely unpopular in Scotland (only 18 per cent of Scots want to join the euro) - and would simply introduce dependence on Brussels - that would mean sticking with the pound. Yet Alex Salmond seems...

  2375 Hits
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Nightclubs: The Latest Casualty in the Government’s War on Freedom

The claim that a dark and heaving nightclub delivers the perfect breeding ground for Covid isn't particularly contentious. Lots of people packed tightly together, snogging, singing and shouting in a confined space with poor ventilation is perhaps the Department of Health's worst nightmare. Now, if you want to keep clubbing in Britain, the governmen...

  3521 Hits
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Technology Sovereignty

 Economic victory in a free trade world will always go to the strongest economy – and the disparity is growing. Against this a new concept has emerged: technology sovereignty. This recognises that IT infrastructure lies at the heart of a modern society. And it's about far more than access to broadband. Networked computers are not only essentia...

  2037 Hits
BJUN

Zero Carbon?

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its sixth assessment report in August, setting off a chain reaction of apocalyptic responses. IPCC was set up in 1988 to scientifically understand human-induced climate change, its impact and possible responses. But every IPCC report since the first in 1990 has been accom...

  2056 Hits
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America Retreats - What Next?

Is America's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan just a temporary setback, or does it signal a strategic retreat, an abdication from its role as world leader? If so, it will leave a gaping void, a vacuum that others will want to step in and fill. To be a world leader a country needs not only muscle (economic, military, demographic) but also a m...

  2318 Hits
vaccine-passport

The Fight for Liberty - No Vaccine Passports!

Since Boris Johnson was elected with a thumping majority of 80 events have over taken his premiership. It was assumed that the biggest political headache would be Brexit. That proved not to be the case and in less than 3 months Coronavirus was upon us and all that has entailed. Sadly we have just copied the actions of the Chinese Communist Party, w...

  3017 Hits
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A Coalition of Chaos

The failure of the SNP to gain a majority in the elections to the Scottish parliament has forced them into a huddle with the equally separatist Greens – and into a series of increasingly unpopular policies. Dubbed a 'coalition of chaos', the new alliance in August between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party has been born out of...

  2603 Hits
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Alarum and excursions

At the beginning of Act V, scene 3, of the First Part of Henry the Fourth (Folio 1, 1623), prior to the entry of the King, the Prince, Lord John of Lancaster, and Earl of Westmorland, Shakespeare gives the stage directions “Alarum, excursions”. There is no doubt about what is meant and now, with a different spelling, and a non military connotation, we understand the word alarm to mean the sudden sharp apprehension and fear resulting from the perception of imminent danger, but clearly this is not the understanding of the ‘woke’ snowflakes now dominant in our police force.

No better illustration of this attitude can be found than in the Suffolk police investigating a potential hate crime because one anonymous local neurotic had complained about a pensioner, who, as an enthusiast for American Indian culture had installed a totem pole in his garden, which contained the image of a black person. The snowflake concerned claimed that this had ‘racist overtones’, but even the police decided that there was no case to answer. However the incident was recorded as “a possible public order offence, due to the visual representation which caused alarm and distress to members of the public”. To prevent further argument the pensioner concerned painted the black face white. I feel alarm as I contemplate the rise of China, and the fall of the USA, while I am distressed by reports of young children being murdered by their own parents, but I find the complaints of the idiots on Twitter to generate either amusement or nausea. I am sure that ninety per cent of normal people feel the same way.

What a pathetic, paranoid phobic anyone offended by such a representation must be, and how truly wretched the response from the police. This sort of waste of police time is occurring when violent crime is on the rise, when young girls continue to be abused by organised gangs of those the police are afraid to name, and ordinary members of the public find their interests ignored because the police claim to be over stretched. However it should be noted that, on the same day, the police are congratulating themselves on devising gender neutral uniforms, thus bowing to the demands of the liberal left.

I do not for one moment blame the ordinary copper who I am sure is disgusted as is everyone else by these displays of political correctness, but the senior ranks must be full of those with a very different agenda. Should this continue some of our favourite dramas of the past would need changing. Regan and Carter would be leading the Sweeney to arrest veterans at war memorials who were daring to wave union flags, and engendering hate against our ‘friends and partners’ the Germans, while DCI Gene Hunt would be raiding addresses where copies of Churchill’s war memoirs were believed to have escaped the ritual book burnings.

We have endured scenes of police ‘taking the knee’ in support of the Marxists, anarchists and nihilists of Black Lives Matter, while standing by to allow similar supporters of Extinction Rebellion to disrupt the lives of the public in the name of a cause based upon false premises. Unfortunately, if the liberal Left get their way, in future the police will only recruit those with degrees, so brainwashed products of our ‘woke’ universities will come to outnumber the real coppers. The majority of the lecturers and professors in humanities in these latter institutions are nothing but propagandists for those who hate our society, and desire to see it replaced by a politically correct dictatorship of those who think just like them.

All this political distortion of values is an insult to the brave men and women who form the thin blue line, and on whom we rely to protect us, and our democratic society. In the USA the lunatics of the Left have been advocating the defunding of the police, and should such people triumph in the UK, and fully undermine the ethos of policing, then the only way decent people will obtain justice is by the rise of vigilantism, a recipe for disaster. The timid middle class might do nothing, but one can be sure that the more assertive working class will not lie down forever as their daughters are violated, and their right to freedom of expression, crushed at the behest of these ideologues.

To destroy the police will first lead to anarchy, and then, as sure as night follows day, to some sort of dictatorship, with terrible consequences for all of us. Now is the time to reverse the direction in which the woke are taking us, and restore respect for the rule of law, not of the diktats of the morons of the liberal Left.

  2616 Hits
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Poker Strategies to Help You Get Started

Are you curious about the world of gambling and want to get started on your own? Are you specifically interested in poker but have no idea how to play the game or what kind of strategies to make use of? Playing at online casinos is a great way to have fun and win some money. There are so many different games available that it can be hard to choose ...

  2104 Hits
China

The CCP and the Taliban - An Unlikely Friendship

The recent withdrawal of the U.S. and its ally forces from Afghanistan has been nothing short of being consequential. The ambiguity of Afghanistan's future has already been deemed a loss for the U.S. thanks to extensive media coverage and the Taliban's rapid conquest of the nation, despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken declaring it a successful...

  2277 Hits
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A Nest of Hornets

Although we celebrated when European Communism collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, it has proved not to be ‘The End of History’ as predicted by Francis Fukuyama, but more of a poisoned chalice, whose effects are becoming clearer day by day.

The Cold War has the advantage of simplicity as everyone, except the idealistic idiots of CND, and the traitorous fellow travellers who sought a Soviet triumph, were able to see that our most fundamental liberties were under threat from a totalitarian ideology, with ambitions to snuff out our democracy. We stood firm, and eventually the Soviets collapsed because of what Marxists would have referred to as their internal contradictions.

In the years that followed we came under came under attack from terrorists inspired by a mediaeval theology, and basically succeeded in driving them back. However the lack of a clearly identified enemy has led to the fragmentation of Western nations from within, as those who do not have a real foe have decided that they must find their opponents within their own society.

The Marxist organisations of Black Lives Matter, Stop the War and Extinction Rebellion have used reasonable causes to advocate extremist solutions, and have spread discord throughout society. The complete lunatics of ‘woke’ continue their campaign to denigrate our past, demonise all white people as ‘privileged’, and destroy free speech. Incidentally they might like to explain how my parents, who lived through the Great Depression, and saw a friend die of malnutrition in an English home, were ‘privileged’.

The absurd obsession of the American political class with these gender and cultural wars, to the exclusion of issues of real import, has led to probably the worst administration since the disastrous days of Herbert Hoover, with both the Presidency and Congress dominated by those who are consumed with the desire to argue about the inconsequential, while ignoring the truly significant. Not only has this already led to the betrayal of the people of Afghanistan, especially the women, but it has cast into doubt the future of the American place in the world, and to the future of NATO.

I am disgusted by the manner in which Western governments have scuttled out of Afghanistan, leaving the people to their fate. The inevitable result will be a resurgence of terrorist activity around the world, while the decent people of Afghanistan will once again be subjected to a mediaeval regime of bigots. It will embolden China, Iran and Russia, and make the world a more dangerous place for democracy. I dread to think of how of our troops those maimed in the conflict must now feel, while the loved ones of those killed must believe that they died in vain. In 1939 Leo Amery uttered his famous admonition “Speak for England” during the critical Commons debate on the German invasion of Poland and we in Tonbridge applaud our MP, Tom Tugendhat, for his similarly powerful speech on the debacle in Afghanistan.

I tremble for the future of those nations, such as Israel and Taiwan, for whom the retreat of the US to Fortress America will spell doom. For us the lesson must be that as America apparently reverts to inter war isolationism we must look to our defences. The most fundamental concept for any government should be patriotism, and the desire to put the interests of the people first, and its first duty, as is true of all governments, is the defence of the realm. We now face a world where Russia and China are hostile, Iran and associated Muslim states utterly opposed to our way of life, and, following the retreat from Afghanistan, America apparently reverting to inter war isolationism.

Obviously we are no longer the paramount military power in the world, as we were for over a century, but we are nevertheless, along with France, the only European nation which could, in the absence of American forces, resist an onslaught from the East. We must ensure that we are like a nest of hornets, sufficiently strong to make attacking us not worthwhile. This will entail immense cost, but, if American involvement in Western defences is to be curtailed, then it will be the only way to preserve our liberties.

To do this we need to double the size of the Army, and the RAF, while building a great many more Naval warships, including a large number of smaller frigates to guard our coasts, not least from the tide of illegal immigration crossing the Channel. In addition our military hardware should be built in the UK, necessitating reopening shipyards, and steelworks, while the insane policy of selling our most vital armament manufacturers to foreign owners must be stopped, and reversed. Importantly we must have a larger nuclear deterrent, which is fully independent of American control, while our capabilities in the realm of cyber space must be enhanced. All this would involve great expense, but that is the price of liberty.

Those who deride our martial abilities should remember that the UK’s DNA contains warlike Vikings, Saxons, Celts and Romans, that the British beat Philip II, Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler, and that when our freedoms are threatened we have always been a formidable opponent. I don’t believe that we have fundamentally changed, despite all the noise from those on the Left who hate their own country!

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Modern Method of Auction

The Modern Method of Auction gives sellers the opportunity to sell their property for the best possible price, quickly and securely, and places the property before a wider audience of potential buyers. Sellers pay no estate agent fees and fixed timescales mean buyers must exchange and complete within 56 days. Benefits of selling using the Modern Me...

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CP

In Conversation with the Hon. Christopher Pyne

Kendall O'Donnell and I, as contributors representing The Bruges Group, had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable Christopher Pyne, a long-serving former Cabinet Minister in the Australian Government, holding portfolios ranging from Education to Defence. We spoke on matters ranging from the domestic, such as Australia's Covid policy and the nat...

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Why Should You Become a Realtor in New York?

People who enjoy sales and real estate may have thought about attempting a career as a Realtor in New York. But do you know some of the actual benefits of this field, and how it might improve the quality of your life? To learn why being a Realtor could be the best decision you make, read on. No Need For a DegreeLet's face it: Going to college isn't...

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Papers!

Most people will not have heard of Clarence Harry Willcock, an unsung hero of British democracy. A dry-cleaning manager, and a Liberal of the old school, he was the last person in Britain to be prosecuted for refusing to produce an identity card. He was prosecuted under the National Registration Act of 1939 and fined. However, he subsequently appealed against his conviction, and the case, which became a cause célèbre, influenced Winston Churchill’s decision to scrap ID cards.

In 1950 he was stopped by a policeman who demanded to see his ID. He refused, telling him simply, “I am against this sort of thing.”, an act of resistance which inspired a movement, as soon after, the British Housewives’ League took to Parliament to set fire to their ID cards.

Mr Willcock was prosecuted and the case reached the High Court in 1951, where he was given an absolute discharge for his refusal to show his ID. He would be the last person to be prosecuted under the National Registration Act. In the judgment, Lord Chief Justice Goddard said the 1939 Act was “never passed for the purposes for which it is now apparently being used” and that using the law in this way “tends to turn law-abiding subjects into lawbreakers as such action tends to make the people resentful of the acts of the police.”

I still have the card that was issued to me, containing only name, address, and date of birth, and largely intended for use in evacuations and rationing. Given the situation during the war it was certainly understandable that such a measure was necessary, but once victory had been achieved there was no excuse for continuing with the cards. Incidentally, as even allied prisoners in German POW camps were able to forge documents capable of fooling the Gestapo, it is certain that the simple cards we had could have been faked very easily.

What this proves is emergency measures tend to extend in duration and purpose, often to the disadvantage of citizens. in the wake of 9/11, Prime Minister Tony Blair told us we couldn’t possibly fight terrorism without them, but Boris Johnson vociferously opposed the idea, noting the inevitability of mission creep, saying in 2004 that if he was asked to show his ID, he would physically eat it.

Thankfully the campaign run by NO2ID was successful, and the idea was dropped, yet those who love the idea are still trying to have the cards adopted, the current Covid emergency giving them the perfect opportunity to introduce them via the back door, starting with vaccine passports, which we can be sure would soon be extended into other areas, such as eligibility for benefits, or even age related access to the local pub.

We fought the Second World War partly so that, unlike much of the world, our citizens would not be confronted with the demand “Papers”, while going about their lives. We can be sure that those with the “put that light out” mentality of Warden Hodges of Dad’s Army fame, would take a delight in harassing ordinary people, backed by the force of the law. Those very many people who do not possess smartphones, or a mastery of computer technology, would also find themselves in the position of being second class citizens, regarded with suspicion, and even sanctioned, for not showing the proofs demanded by petty officials.

If the authoritarian instincts of the bureaucrats are allowed to prevail we risk all those liberties for which so many died, as we can be sure that the presumption of innocence would be undermined. I recall an advertisement in support of credit cards from a few years back in which an attractive girl in a bikini walked down the street with only such a card on her person. I also expect to be able to walk down the road (thankfully not in a bikini!) with no documents should I so choose. One thing of which we can be sure is that respect for the police would be undermined, as the British would not take kindly to being forced to produce proof of their identity, while those workers charged with checking such proofs would be placed in an invidious position.

Boris must wake up, and reject all proposals which would lead to this slippery slope to an authoritarian regime in Britain. Modern technology would ensure that, once the principle of such items as vaccine passports were accepted, they would swiftly evolve into a national ID system. Mr Willcock’s fight against the paper ID cards would have been in vain, as Orwell’s Big Brother state’s use of IT would make them appear benign in comparison.

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The Influence of Cryptocurrency on the World Economy

If you don't know what crypto or digital currency is and you've never heard the word Bitcoin being bandied about in a cocktail conversation then welcome to the new millennium, we are happy to have you! Yes, cryptocurrency has taken hold and the world economy has certainly taken notice. Consider that the leading crypto, Bitcoin, was born only a doze...

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Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

My fellow Americans: Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts wit...

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US Capitol Building The US Capitol Building in Summer 2015. Photograph by Author.

As Midterms loom, the GOP is in good shape.

National elections are never far away in the United States, and while even the most disinterested of foreign observers is aware that Presidents are elected on a quadrennial basis, fewer may grasp the significance of the 'Midterms' - in which, every two years, one third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives must submit to the verdict...

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Time to Escape Orwellian Diversity Training

 It is sad that of all the members of the House of Lords, only two had the guts to make a stance against the enforced anti-bullying and sexual harassment training course which has been inflicted on all Peers. For the powers that be in the House of Lords, to insist all our Peers take part in this training, is presuming that all 800 or so member...

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Why ‘Wolf Warrior’ Foreign Policy is the New Status Quo for Beijing

Xi Jinping's acceleration of the shift towards an increasingly jingoistic Chinese foreign policy reflects a strengthening of Xi's position in China. Throughout the past 12 months, Chinese foreign policy has changed course in an aggressive manner. China spread propaganda about Australian soldiers committing war crimes in the Middle East and lashed o...

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All You Need To Know When Playing Online Poker

IntroductionThe world of online poker can be extremely daunting, especially if you're a first-time player. When the Internet is saturated with thousands upon thousands of online poker sites, with millions of players all around the world trying to get in on the action, where do you begin? Online poker rooms are akin to the Internet's Real Madrids, B...

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Interview with Ambassador Jim Gilmore

Kendall O'Donnell and I had the opportunity to speak to Jim Gilmore, former US Ambassador to the OSCE, Governor of Virginia, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee, among other roles. We spoke on matters international, regional, and domestic, on topics stretching from President Biden's foreign policy, European security and the EU's role ...

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A Secular Religion

In 1988 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London described itself as: "An ace caff, with quite a nice museum attached." Today we seemed to have reached the point where the NHS would describe itself as “a great Health Service, with quite a nice country attached”.

Although there was some reason for the early panic about overwhelming health care this concern has now been extended by some of the more vociferous scientific advisors to a warning that a winter flu epidemic could overwhelm the NHS, so consequently we must all continue to live under strict regulations. Of course this begs the question of whether the NHS exists to protect our health, or whether the country exists to protect the NHS.

Unfortunately, rather as is the case with Remainers worshipping at the shrine of Brussels, many people treat the NHS as some sort secular religion, which must not be criticised, and whose demands for more and more resources must be met, whatever the cost.

The reality is somewhat different.

I yield to no one in my respect and admiration for the front line workers in the NHS, nor in my gratitude to them. However, as I, and others, including many doctors and nurses, have pointed out, the effectiveness of the NHS has been undermined by asinine changes made in the past few decades.

The ever expanding NHS bureaucracy, with its ridiculous number of so called managers, has absorbed a vast number of resources, which should have been utilised to improve front line services, without in any way helping patients. These pen pushers are absurdly overpaid, and overstaffed, resulting in the creation of pointless levels of administration. One nurse of my acquaintance tells me that she once had one level of management above her, which has become seven, the vast majority of whom do nothing but pass paper up and down to each other.

Another front line worker told me that, while they were constantly being told that money was short, Human Resources opened a suite of offices, which they could use for their endless, and fruitless meetings.

In my years as chairman of our office union, I encountered this non profession of HR, which converted personnel departments, who existed to assist staff, into an arm of management which rode roughshod over them, at the same time justifying their own existence by producing countless absurd policies which actually subverted the efficiency of the organisations involved.

The malignant effect of all this has been thrown into sharp relief by the fact that retired medical professionals had their applications to help out with vaccinations refused on the bureaucratic grounds that they may not have attended nonsensical courses on diversity, or even fire training. Bureaucrats put their preposterous concerns ahead of effective action. Many of these schemes arose because of the bureaucratic regulations emanating from Brussels, so are now no longer relevant.

In addition, in the past, nursing was a vocation, recruiting from a wide spectrum of society, yet now we are told that one must be a graduate to be employed. This is as ridiculous as is the need for policeman to have degrees. Fifty years ago a large number of professions were staffed by those who learnt through apprenticeships, and on the job training, yet now those who do not attend university are regarded as unfit for the very same jobs. When I was last in hospital in 1955 they were run efficiently by the matron and the ward sisters, but now they groan under the weight of useless jumped up clerks, while willing and capable nurses are lost due to unreasonable demands that they attend university.

We are all aware of the failures in basic hygiene in hospitals, which have led to the deaths, or serious illness of many people. One friend of mine went through six years of active service in the war without a scratch, but died a couple of years ago, when he caught MRSA in a ward, although he was otherwise recovering well. The manner in which fundamental tasks, such as cleaning wards, has been outsourced, has replaced those who were direct employees, taking a pride in their work, with frequently exploited casual staff, who are expected to do the minimum necessary for their employer to justify their fees.

I have personal experience of health care in Switzerland, which was exemplary, while I know from friends that the French system is also very efficient, and easy to access. No one wants the American system, where one’s treatment is based almost solely on one’s ability to pay. but the aforementioned systems are available on a sensible insurance basis, without excluding the poorest citizens.

To even venture the opinion that something is rotten in this particular State of Denmark is to invite opprobrium, but we cannot go on pouring more and more money into something that is not able to deliver. It is time that the whole NHS was reformed to meet the requirements of the 21st Century. However, given that the Left regard the organisation as a sacred cow, and that the Conservatives lack the courage to take action, no doubt it will continue just as before.

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Should I Start an Airbnb or Have a Rental Property?

When you first started to consider investing in rental property, you may have wondered whether you should aim for vacation, short-term, or long-term rentals. According to Airbnb's latest statistics, the website has over 5.6 million active listings with over 150 million people booking vacations through the site. Since the start of the website, over ...

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The Government Must Stop Weaponising the Obese to Wreck Free Markets and Curb Consumer Choice

 With more scandal and sleaze gushing out of Westminster than the Sussexes press office, one could be pardoned for glossing over the government's latest flirtation with the supercilious head of nanny statism. Last week, the Department of Health confirmed plans are going ahead to restrict paid junk food advertising, in order to curb childhood o...

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Stranger in a Strange Land

In Exodus Moses describes himself as a “Stranger in a Strange Land”, and, after nearly three quarters of a century living in England, I sometimes feel that way, as the country I was born into recedes into the past, and an ugly reality takes its place.

I am well aware that of the existence of many social problems in the England of the 1940s, and that the economic situation was dire, the struggle with the Axis powers having virtually bankrupted the country. Nevertheless, although we had the most left wing government in our history, it was led by men who were true democratic socialists. Among others of his colleagues the Prime Minister Clement Attlee had fought for the country, while his cabinet included patriots such as Ernest Bevin, who stood up for the working class, unlike the modern Labour Party, which represents a coalition of minorities, and social democrats, not workers. The national broadcaster was still basking in the glory it won during the war, and was unafraid to speak for Britain, a complete contrast to the modern BBC, most of whose commentators support anyone rather than their own nation. The recent advent of GB news, which seeks to put forward the views of ordinary people, not, as the BBC does, those of the metropolitan elite, is the target of a left wing pressure group “Stop Funding Hate”, which is attempting to undermine its finances by pressurising companies into withdrawing advertising. Some have done so, and I for one will never buy their products again, as I prefer to deal with those who believe in free speech, and thought, not censorship.

In the 1950s working class children, such as my wife and myself benefited from the schools system, which, via the grammar schools, provided a ladder to a decent education, and career. The universities were centres of excellence, unlike today, when even an inability to formulate grammatical sentences seems to be no bar to a degree, the latter obtained at a massive cost to youngsters who have been deceived into believing that they are receiving value for money. The education system is dominated by the Left and every day we see the evidence of cancel culture being applied at all levels. When I was a lad the churches were a centre of life for many, Sunday schools being well attended, while voluntary organisations such as the Boy’s Brigade, the Cadets, and of course the Scouts and Guides, gave young people both pleasure and the moral compass so sadly lacking now.

One issue which has been addressed over the years is of course greater equality for women, yet all the justifiable gains they made are now at risk. Thanks to the lunacy of so called sexual self identification women now face defeat across the whole sporting arena, as such men are being allowed to compete against them, when their previous physical development ensures that they will inevitably win. They are expected to tolerate the closure of toilets specifically designated for female use, and the absurd situation is arising whereby abusive men could gain access to women’s refuges merely by announcing that they have self identified as women. In addition feminine icons such as Germaine Greer and J K Rowling are subject to constant vilification for asserting that one cannot change sex merely by claiming that one has done so.

Of course the aberration of over forty years of membership of the undemocratic European union has damaged our democracy, as is obvious from the fact that, following the 2016 referendum, the establishment, backed by those who refuse to recognize that the losers of a democratic vote should accept the result, prevented the will of the people being implemented for five years. After winning the war the vast majority of the British people in the 1940s would never have believed that, within thirty years, the independence of their country would have been compromised by the politicians voluntarily handing the governance of the county over to unelected bureaucrats in a foreign country. The continuing refusal by Remainers to accept the verdict is disgusting, but now seems a normal reaction by so many.

The rise of self righteous protest groups, who claim the right to disrupt civic life regardless of the misery caused, is poisoning democratic debate. “Extinction Rebellion” activists block roads, interfere with the journeys of rail commuters, attack commercial buildings, and even attempt to censor our daily newspapers. Ostensibly they do this in the name of a theory that the planet is undergoing a dangerous episode of warming, brought about by the emissions emanating from human activity. They claim that they are either ‘drawing attention’ to the problem, something hardly required, given that we have all been exposed to their views ad nauseam, or that they are taking direct action aimed at stopping those activities which they deem unacceptable. However it is noticeable that these gestures are all directed at Western enterprises. While many of their supporters are gullible idealists, who think that they are responding to a higher moral imperative, the driving force behind this organisation, just as it is behind other such protest groups such as “Black Lives Matter”, and “Stop the War”, is an ingrained hatred of Western civilisation, arising from the anarchistic and nihilistic philosophies which have always inspired such people. I remember when, at a time when Labour was devoted to democratic socialism, it issued lists of proscribed undemocratic organisations, whose members sought to infiltrate the party in order to subvert its aims. I have no doubt that had groups such as these existed in those days, they would have been included in such lists.

However these people are a symptom of a deeper malaise, which is a threat to everything we hold dear, as the British public is largely unaware of the fact that the country is sleepwalking into the kind of dystopia described by Orwell in 1984. Left wing organisations are constantly promoting the idea that anyone who dares to suggest that they love their country, that they do not wish to see its history rewritten, that they do not admit guilt for the crime of being white, or heterosexual, or do not hang their heads in shame because they want to own cars, is committing a Thoughtcrime, and must be silenced. While for the moment individuals may be able to reject these accusations with the contempt they deserve, it is becoming clear that pusillanimous commercial enterprises are choosing to take the knee to these fascists, and change their policies accordingly. That these people are able to use social media platforms, which are dominated by technology giants run by those with similar views, is a disgrace, and yet another reason for closing down these vile cesspits of abuse and hate. If these vociferous extremists are able to achieve their aims then the day of the Thought Police will truly be with us.

Naturally the Covid pandemic has thrown everything up into the air, as, not merely Britain, but the world, have faced a threat requiring a massive response. Despite the constant carping by those such as the BBC, and ridiculous claims made by supporters of the Left, it is obvious than Bori and his ministers, when faced such an emergency have done as well as anyone could have done in the circumstances, particularly by implementing the successful vaccine programme.

Wash your hands; observe the speed limit; keep six feet apart; eat this, not that; don’t drink; wear a mask; get rid of your car, and walk; don’t smoke; keep off the grass; live in a cold home; oppose separate lavatories for the sexes; allow men self identifying as women to dominate female sports; don’t say that; don’t think that. As a reasonably intelligent, mature adult I try to take a responsible attitude to social norms, obeying sensible laws as I have always done, but I will not take a knee to those demanding that their every whim be satisfied, nor to climate change obsessives. However I am sick to death of being harassed, hectored, harangued and lectured by those who are determined to close down free speech, and force society into a straightjacket which conforms to their own views, and none other.

Many people are suffering the loss of reputation, employment, or even of liberty, for daring to stand against the tide of political correctness, indeed arrant nonsense, infesting our country. The persecution of academics, and students, at a number of universities, for daring to defy the fashionable dogmas is evidence enough of this.

It is this destruction of free speech, and thought, which, if allowed to continue, will truly tear this country away from its past, and will make it, for those of us who grew up believing in our basic freedoms for which millions died, an alien place. A fightback is being mounted by those such as the Free Speech Union, and Laurence Fox, but will it be enough? If not then it will be a Strange Land indeed.

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US Skyline

Why the United States Needs to Re-think Ideas Such as the Wolfowitz Doctrine When Thinking About Dealing with China

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Land of Hope and Glory

How the Commonwealth of Nations Can Become the Most Innovative Bloc in the World  By Alexander Flint Mitchell MSc Dissertation for Business Innovation with EntrepreneurshipBirkbeck, University of London2020 ABSTRACT Much has been written on the three topics of the literature review of this thesis: innovation, the Commonwealth of Nations' ...

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Waterloo Day Lecture - ‘The Future of the Union’

 Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Lord Dodds, former Westminster Leader of the DUP: On the recent resignation of Edwin Poots: resignation provides the opportunity to "move forward…in a more constructive way"The imposition of the NI protocol has been the main contributory factor to ...

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‘The Future of the Union’, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Barry Legg, Chairman of the Bruges Group: Our next speaker is Bernard Jenkin. Bernard is Chairman of the House of Commons Liaison Committee, on which all select committee chairmen sit. Previously, he was Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee,...

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Are Online Casinos Overcoming Land Casinos?

Land casinos have always been a go-to entertainment complex for many games-loving folks. These folks usually have different reasons why they go to casinos, whether to let off some steam, to relax and unwind, or they want to win huge sums of money. Nevertheless, whatever their reasons are, their visits to casinos made the gambling business thriving ...

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The rise of remote work has led to an increase in virtual assistant demand

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Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinchaft Conference, Berlin

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3 Benefits of Cloud Content Management Solutions for Nonprofits

3 Ways Your Nonprofit Can Benefit from Cloud Content Management  If you run a nonprofit in the digital age, there's a good chance you're already taking advantage of various cloud computing solutions. If you're not doing so yet, you likely will in the future. For example, you could leverage cloud content management solutions to help your nonpro...

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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory


The title of this posting is undoubtedly a cliche, but unfortunately, for those of us who fought for so long to free our nation from foreign dominance, to restore the ancient freedom of free speech we once enjoyed, and to put an end to the arrogance of the liberal elite, it appears it may prove only too true.

When the result of the 2016 EU referendum became clear we rejoiced that, despite being opposed by all the so called great and good, the politicians who treated the ordinary people with contempt, and a media, particularly the BBC, dominated by those who supported them, we, who had walked the streets, and never given up, had triumphed.

We had driven back the tide of bureaucratic control, emanating from Brussels, which promoted a massively growing increase in this country, restored our right to hold those who ruled the nation democratically accountable, making it impossible for the MPs to shuffle off responsibility by claiming that they could not oppose the Brussels bureaucrats, while putting the Civil Service once more firmly under the control of elected representatives.

And then. In Kipling’s famous poem “The Road to Mandalay” there is a line “An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!”, but this time it was not the dawn but a foul virus, originating, either by accident or design, in a Chinese laboratory, or one of their filthy wet markets, which crashed like thunder across the entire world, spreading a pandemic which disrupted the entire human race.

We are all aware of the effects this disease had had on the UK, but perhaps one of the most significant is due to the fact that our newly elected Prime Minister, an optimistic, patriotic man, who was immensely popular, nearly died. Although he survived it is obvious that he has been badly affected by his brush with death, the old Boris having been replaced by a man much more unsure of himself, and susceptible to being guided by those he would once have dismissed as weak wallies.

Many of us who fought for freedom from the EU over decades are a little ambivalent about Boris. He was not with us when we walked the streets delivering leaflets, or held meetings putting the case for leaving the EU at various by-elections over the years. However we were aware from the early years of UKIP that he had sympathy with our views, and eventually he did put his shoulder to the wheel. His position as a significant politician was immensely helpful, and he stuck to his guns through the referendum, and the subsequent elections so he does deserve our thanks.

Now however he is showing a timid side, which risks allowing the Remainer elite to reverse much of which Brexit has achieved, and will achieve, if the UK defies the nay sayers, and tells those such as Macron to get lost. Written in 1845 the poem by Robert Browning, ironically titled ”The Lost Leader” contains a famous line “Never glad confident morning again!”, and this is how many of us feel as we watch the promise of 2016 being undermined, and the irreconcilable Remainer bureaucracy seeking to force us back onto our knees to Brussels.

In the first days of the pandemic the government was operating without a clear map as to how to proceed, so it is understandable that they reacted in the way they did. Now however we have a population in which some eighty per cent have antibodies to the virus, and the daily death toll is less than the number killed on the roads. Covid is not the bubonic plague, the number having died is less than those who died in the 1957 flu epidemic, while the 1968 flu killed 80,000 in the UK without any lockdowns being considered.

However, as hopefully we near the end of the crisis, the choice of those supposedly advising the government, such as some of the members of SAGE, is questionable. One professor from UCL, who sits on this body, has been reported as saying that certain restrictions should be maintained indefinitely, yet this woman is a member of the Communist Party of Britain, which aims at “a revolutionary transformation of society to end capitalism, creating a socialist state of Britain”. She has also praised China, the cause of the pandemic, and the oppressors of the Tibetan and Uyghur peoples, as “a socialist, collective system, not an individualistic, consumer-oriented, profit-driven society badly damaged by twenty years of failed neoliberal economic policies”. As we know the idea of a totalitarian government, ordering the population about, is one which Communists love, so a desire to unnecessarily extend controls is something those like this professor would probably support for political reasons.

In addition, since the time of the Russian revolution Communism has been responsible for more than one hundred million deaths around the world, oppressed half of Europe for nearly fifty years, and created a slave state in North Korea, while reducing nations which tried it to penury. Only the wilfully blind could look at this record, and yet still support the system. All this must beg the question of why so many of those paid to advise the government, and to educate our young are quite happy to declare themselves Marxists, and allowed to hold positions as dons at all universities, but particularly Oxford and Cambridge. Did we not have enough of these people in the days of Philby and his accomplices?

Incidentally it is now obvious that those who naively believed that females are more moderate, and tolerant, than men, have been proved quite wrong. Many women in public life have shown themselves to be extremists, not least in the church where the female Bishop of St Davids was forced to apologise after she tweeted that readers should ‘Never, never, never trust a Tory’.

Those of us who worked so long to restore the country we knew before Covid, ‘woke’ lunatics, and climate change obsessives, one can only paraphrase Shakespeare’s Mercutio, and say "A plague on all your houses”.

The alternatives to Boris would be disastrous, either a Labour party dedicated to making us once again servants of Brussels, or a Conservative from that part of the party which took us into, and kept in, the EU in the first place. He must rediscover his optimism, and overrule the politically motivated scientific Cassandras who would never agree to restore full freedom to the people, while defying the EU over Northern Ireland, ideally pulling us out of the massively flawed withdrawal deal. If he does not then we shall indeed snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

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RC

The 'Build Back Better' Charter

The new Atlantic Charter, signed by the Prime Minister and President Biden as a 'reaffirmation' of the Special Relationship, is a somewhat mixed bag. The Atlantic Charter of 1941 envisioned a postwar world order we're all too familiar with, from respecting national sovereignty and democracy overseas to the aim of lowering tariffs. This 'New' Atlant...

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Reagan-Berlin

"Tear Down This Wall": How Reagan Changed the World

Today marks 34 years since one of the most memorable and historic speeches ever made by a US President, and one that changed the course of history, it is of course when President Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and told General Secretary Gorbachev to "tear down this wall". Now as we face today's challenges, our leaders shoul...

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Amazon Faces Potential EU Privacy Fine of $425 Million

Amazon could lose $425 million in fines after allegations of violation of EU data-protection laws according to Luxemburg's data-protection commission, CNDP.  For many large tech companies, user data is their bread and butter. Not only do they store and catalogue it, they use it to improve how their site is perceived by users. As harmless as it...

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The King’s Suit of Clothes

All socially aware people know of the political, and cultural, nonsense peddled by the intelligentsia, whose loyalties lie anywhere but with their own country, or the interests of ordinary people, but who like to regard themselves as so superior to those they regard as plebs. Show them a union flag, and they sneer, the National Anthem gives them a fit of the vapours, dare to suggest that perhaps this country is already too crowded to accommodate the millions of the third world who would like to move here, and they cry racism, while a male merely expressing a healthy interest in a member of the opposite sex, invites being treated as some sort of predator.

Of course these people do not limit themselves to the above but also infest the world of the arts, and it is this aspect of their malign influence which I would like to address, as it illustrates both their perverted view of the world, and also offers a hope that they are finally being rumbled by normal, sane people.

During the course of our holidays my wife and I have visited numerous galleries, inter alia the Uffizi in Florence, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Louvre, and Musee d’Orsay in Paris, the Belvedere in Vienna, the Frick Collection in New York, cultural icons such as the Vatican, and of course our own National Gallery, Tate Britain, the Queen’s Gallery, plus many others. We have stood in awe before such masterpieces as Michelangelo’s David, his Pieta, and the Sistine Chapel, the great works of the Neo Classicists and the Romantics in Paris, the Impressionists, and the beautiful pictures of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Probably unwisely we have also visited the galleries at the Arch at La Defence, and the Pompidou Centre, in Paris, MOMA in New York, Tate Modern and several other similar institutions, which specialise in modern, and abstract art. This is where one encounters what I can only describe as pretentious rubbish, produced by those who only talents are to think up absurd titles, and to write the utterly idiotic descriptions attached to the pieces. For the most part the nearer to our time one approaches, the worse the pictures on offer become. I know that it is often said that in the past the public in some of the totalitarian states states ignored their masters in order to visit such galleries in preference to those containing Soviet realism, or Nazi propaganda, but I suspect it was more an act of political defiance than any great interest in the actual exhibitions.

I have seen visitors discussing the great significance of what is no more than a blob in the centre of the paper, one rectangle on top of another, or one looking like which that my cat produces when disposing of a fur ball. The output of Jackson Pollock, who considered using a technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto the canvases a valid means of creation, are known as Pollocks, but my assessment would replace the ‘P’ with a ‘B’. We are asked to believe that unmade beds, piles of bricks, and elephant dung are great art. Nevertheless I know that those such as myself would be dismissed as philistines by the great and the good of the art world, whose livelihoods depend on offering positive comments on such nonsense.

The same affectations infest the world of opera. My wife has worked both for the ENO and the ROH, and we have attended performances at both houses, in Vienna, Prague, even Glyndebourne, seeing such iconic performers as Domingo, Carreras, Pavarotti and Kaufman live, as they appeared in great operas by those composers such as Verdi, Puccini and Wagner. However we have also endured, and in fact walked out of, insults to the paying public perpetrated by arrogant directors, who think that their insane concepts add to the performances, rather than ruining them. Beds halfway up the wall, scenes set on the M25, conductors accessing the orchestra pit by climbing over the dividing wall, and at least one Glyndebourne production which I can only describe as repulsive. Once again the so called experts wax lyrical over these aberrations, brushing off those who point out that the ‘King Has No Clothes’ as vulgarians, who are incapable of understanding the real value of such offerings.

The point of all this is that the sort of people who help to inflict these perversions of art upon us are part of that wider intelligentsia who think themselves so superior, not realising that the reaction of many normal earthy types is ‘you’re having a laugh’. Common-sense is a good guide to detecting what is no more than a confidence trick. Unfortunately for the country this elite does not limit itself to matters of taste, but also hold antithetical views to those held by the majority on such matters as patriotism, even democracy. They have become accustomed to their opinions on cultural and political issues being treated as holy writ, so were astounded when the vote on Brexit went against them. It is my hope that the fact that so many ordinary people having gradually had their eyes opened to the malign influence of these self important and opinionated snobs will cause their removal from sensible public debate. Their have enjoyed many years of receiving approbation, but their arrogance may now lead to their downfall. After all nemesis follows hubris.

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Why Studying Alone May Not Be Enough

Reasons Why You Should Study With a Group  In anticipation of major exams, many people are tempted to study exclusively by themselves so they have more control and autonomy over their work. Certainly, there are advantages to this approach. You may be less distracted and more comfortable during your studying – and more capable of absorbing info...

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What Does It Take to Run a Profitable Airbnb?

Tips for Starting Out as an Airbnb Investor  Airbnb has allowed millions of amateur real estate investors to become successful in creating a side stream of revenue – and sometimes, in running their own full-time business. But if you're just getting started, Airbnb investing might seem intimidating. So what does it take to run a profitable, suc...

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Unmanned Aerial Systems: What They Are And What They Bring To The Table

Unmanned Aerial Systems, or UAS, are gaining traction in various domains due to their ability to retrieve information and provide top-notch surveillance, especially in airspace and military applications. In the past, these systems were solely used for military and surveillance purposes. However, the accuracy and phenomenal results displayed by UAS ...

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Own Lottery Website – One of The Best Online Business Ideas

Of all the great business ideas, which one would you go for if you were to start a business today? This is a question that most people would not have an answer to because many people don't know how to evaluate businesses. Well, the online lottery business is one of the best businesses that you can run. Owning a Lottery Website This is the first ste...

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How COVID-19 is Impacting the Packaging Industry

How the Coronavirus Pandemic is Impacting the Packaging Industry  Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have been hit hard. Initially, many businesses were forced to close their doors because of the shutdowns. Since then, only a handful of businesses have recovered. Although the economy has opened back up, many industries ar...

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Westminster The Mother of All Parliaments - sovereign once more? Photograph by author, all rights reserved.

Taking back control?

"Take back control." This was the mantra which propelled the leave camp to victory in 2016 - the singular battlecry of Brexiteers across the land ahead of the historic referendum on our membership of the European Union. Simple and effective, it communicated in three short words the primary benefit of extricating ourselves from Brussels's grip - nam...

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When Does Working From Home Lead to Burnout?

 Factors That Lead to Burnout When Working From Home It's easy to understand how burnout manifests in a traditional office. If you have a long commute, a stuffy cubicle, and coworkers who constantly interrupt you, your stress will be off the charts. If your work is repetitive and unfulfilling on top of these problems, it's only a matter of tim...

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A Timeline to Prepare for Study Abroad

Having the chance to study abroad is often a once in a lifetime experience, but with that can also come with a lot of stress. There are many deadlines and applications to make, so you might find that things slip between the cracks a lot. And you may not realize you have forgotten something until it has become a big issue. Paying attention to when y...

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P1014488 The freedom to travel has been restricted for too long. Photograph by author, all rights reserved.

Freedom lost

Three years before she became Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher addressed a meeting of the Exeter Conservatives. During her speech, she set out what freedom means. Among other things, she noted that it "is the right to move freely within a country - or to leave it."* It is not for me to presume what the great lady's opinion would have been on ...

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4 Benefits of Fleet Management

Effective fleet management is essential for all transport and logistics companies. Not only does it keep down costs, it also improves customer satisfaction, which increases the sustainability and profitability of your business. Modern technology and telematics allow for real-time methods of keeping track of your fleet, employees and the increasing ...

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studentlife

5 Tips for Starting Student Life in the UK

Attending university helps students get one step closer to their dream job. Starting university is an exciting chapter for students, but it is also very daunting for some. University life is very different from high school life as you become independent and start living on your own. University life has pros and cons. It is different, so many studen...

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How Technology Endowed Us With A Better Quality Lifestyle

Technology influences our daily lifestyle, and no one can escape from the absolute need for technology, starting from driving a car, or using a computer; it has its impact on every aspect of our day-to-day tasks. Technology has made work easier for us, including household chores or education, transportation, and medicine. The faster the world is mo...

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Covid Has Worsened the Crisis In UK Dentistry

The dental problem in the United Kingdom is becoming worse by the day. The Association of Dental Groups is starting a nationwide campaign to push ministers to act quickly. Many dentists are excited to witness the full extent of the lockdown's effect on the nation. The concern is that as the epidemic spreads, more sweet foods, fizzy beverages, and a...

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4 Smart Retirement Income Strategies

How to Generate Income in Retirement (Without Going Back to Work!)  When it comes to retirement, there's something to be said for saving money over time. But it's not enough to save money. You also need to think about how you're going to generate income in retirement. The Two Biggest Retirement StrugglesRetirement is supposed to be the time in...

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Politics the Public and the Environment - Pest Management

Politics the public and the environment – Pest ManagementGovernment policies may have a substantial impact on insect pest management in a variety of ways. They can influence the availability of money for research and extension, as well as product price and subsidies, as well as their implementation and acceptance. The general idea of IPM will only ...

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Woke versus Bloke

For most of our history the ruling class was variously referred to as the nobility, or the aristocracy, selected by birth, not merit. Although lacking what we would call self awareness, or any concern for the views of the ordinary people (actually peasantry), it was normally, although not always, patriotic, and, particularly in the early days, quite prepared to enforce its will by clumping a mace around the head of any dissenters. This somewhat basic method of control was later replaced by less violent, although similarly uncompromising means of enforcing obedience.

Eventually the people decided that they had had enough of this, embraced democracy, and the old aristocracy lost power, although they usually retained their titles, and wealth. Our American cousins went further, and rejected the entire shebang, replacing the old constitutional system with a written constitution.

However, as is the way with such things (really everything), nature abhors a vacuum, and things did not go as hoped, and a new ruling class developed, not as thuggish as the old barons, but, for those who love liberty, equally abhorrent. In the USA the reliance on a legal document gave rise to a pestilence of lawyers, who now dominant much of American life, replacing common-sense with the sort of quibbles comparable to Saint Thomas Aquinas apocryphal questioning of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, while in the UK we have replaced Lords and Ladies with a layer of parasitic, condescending, arrogant, pretentious, narcissistic, know-it-alls (I am sure other adjectives could be added as required). These people know each other, generally go to the same universities to study the same fashionable, some would say, poncy, subjects, migrate to the top positions in all fields of life, largely by appointing their mates to them, and have only contempt for ordinary people who reject their stupid ideas. They lack patriotism, regarding those who love their country as deluded imbeciles. Even as I write this I can hear, from where my wife is watching the BBC downstairs, an interview with some superannuated ex Ambassador or the like, who is deriding the idea of a new Royal yacht, describing it as outmoded, old fashioned, and jingoistic. This is just the sort of person who hate the Last Night of the Proms. Those who can watch the band of the Royal marines play the Queen on board without feeling a swell of pride in Britain have no soul. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that almost all such people are Remainers, or Rejoiners, as they now like to be known. I have a different name for them but I will forbear to utter it.

Unfortunately in recent years these people have become acolytes of the extreme politically correct philosophy which goes under the name of ‘woke’. For a long time I disliked the articles written by Julie Birchall, but somewhere along the line she seems to have had a Road to Damascus, and now writes almost nothing but good sense. She recently coined the phrase ‘Woke versus Bloke’, which I believe sums up the division we now see in our society, provided of course that we are good little supporters of gender fluidity, and include females as blokes, much as we now seem to include them under the general heading guys.

Norman Tebbitt produced his famous cricket test, but a have a more pertinent proposal. Once football crowds are back to normal I suggest that we select one hundred at random from a combination of the Den (Millwall), and the Shed (Chelsea), and ask them to vote upon the basic tenets of the woke movement.

I might be wrong but I suspect that, when asked if they would give up their affordable cars, and heated homes, because the child saint Greta tells them to, or take a knee as an apology for their ethnicity, due to the actions of a foreign police force, the answer would be a resounding No. If expected to restrict their language so as not to offend some vanishingly small sexual minority, using only gender free conveniences, I imagine the response would be in the negative, as Sir Humphrey might have said. They probably would not even have heard of the high priestesses of woke such as that queen of condescension the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee, or the homosexual group Stonewall’s Nancy Kelley, although they will in all likelihood know of the patroniser-in-chief Dianne Abbott, but let us say I doubt that these ladies would be at the top of the list for the next dinner party they throw.

In particular I doubt that the ordinary working person realises just how much of the taxes they pay goes towards the obscene salaries paid to the wokists (crazy name, even crazier people) who infest so much of public life. While workers may get up at unearthly hours to drive trains, staff hospitals or respond to emergencies, often for very poor wages, this army of parasites rake in enormous salaries for sitting in nice offices, producing directives and policies, written in impenetrable bureaucratese. The diversity consultants, human resource advisors and vociferous, paid climate change obsessives, rely upon the nonsense promoted by the politically correct to feather their own nests.

The absolute rubbish being inflicted upon us would be laughable, were it not also so serious, as it is exacerbating divides in society, which were not previously significant, costing the economy billions, and undermining future hopes for prosperity, as they put their absurd philosophy above any other consideration.

It is hard to see how this tide of gibberish can be reversed, given that these drones and leeches have inveigled themselves into so many areas of influence. It is not possible to overthrow this new ruling class in the manner previous autocrats have been disposed of, as we do not have the equivalent of marching from Paris to Versailles, or storming the Bastille, when the despots now are an oligarchy, rather than a few identifiable, albeit royal, individuals. However we must do so if we are to have a bearable future. This should be the aim of all decent people who believe in democracy, and the battle can be won, just as we won freedom from the bureaucrats of Brussels.

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Aurora - A New Dawn for Sterling with Benefits for All

A major City group has just published a report calling for an immediate development of an e-pound Britain could create a Western alternative to a Chinese digital/e-currency It is not generally appreciated that over 98% of UK transactional banking (by value) takes place in what is known as 'the wholesale market'. Less than 2% takes place in the reta...

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4 Precautions for CCW Americans Traveling to Europe

 4 Precautions for Americans Traveling to Europe With a Concealed Carry Permit Americans with concealed carry permits need to exercise caution when traveling to European countries. Gun laws in the United States are strict, but they're extremely loose compared to other countries. While the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees th...

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EV

A Mission Impossible

 I have become seriously concerned about green issues. No, I have not suddenly become a tree hugging greenie wishing to revert back to the days of horse and carts and candles to light our homes, my concern is with the measures coming our way to enforce a Stasi like, totalitarian green regime upon us. Many people are living in ignorant bliss of...

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Royal-Court

A Sad and Sorry Page for British Justice

Alexander Adamescu is to be extradited from the UK to Romania, on an accusation of having, with his late father Dan Adamescu, bribed judges in Romania in 2013, in a case concerning a construction company. He asserts that the real reason is political - that his father and he controlled an opposition newspaper, Romania Libera, and Romanian Prosecutor...

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Newcastle-uni

In Defence of Free Speech at British Universities

A Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate. The three degrees which are considered a must have for a career in academia. Any person who knows the hard work and discipline it takes to receive a degree, will acknowledge how intense it is to gain all three. I am myself in my seventh year of university and in the second year of my doctorate. It really hasn't b...

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Shut up and stop nagging us

Recently I bought a new car which came with all the contemporary bells and whistles concerning safety. However it nags so badly that, had it been a wife in the middle ages, it would have been a candidate for the ducking stool. It is petulant to the point that, unless I confirm every time I turn it on that I accept responsibility for driving, it won’t let me access the radio. I know that without being told, as I didn’t think it was the cat.

I can turn off most of the inconsequential complaints, but unfortunately that is not the case when it comes to the barrage of whingeing daily afflicting us from the combination of busybodies, scaremongers and politically correct fanatics, many of whom would have been willing Stasi informants in the old days of the GDR. They call themselves liberals, and spend their time virtue signalling, but in reality they are either stupid, or malign, or both. There are so many fields in which we encounter these imbeciles, whether it be sexual politics, historical facts, race or merely in our choice of words, or thoughts.

I am tired of those of us who are heterosexual being treated as giving offence if saying that we find the opposite sex attractive, while vanishingly small minorities are permitted to dominate debate. In many organisations these latter have succeeded in forcing the abolition of single sex toilets, completely against the wishes of women, although thankfully the government has declared that his process will not be permitted in public buildings. Those of us who have faith have been attacked for daring to say that marriage is between a man and a woman, while insane claims of there being over one hundred genders are allowed to pass unchallenged by a pusillanimous media.

Those such as myself who regard Winston Churchill as the greatest ever Englishman, and look upon our history with pride, are treated as being some sort of closet supporters of slavery, and while much is made of the reprehensible involvement of Western nations in the latter, no credit is given to the Royal Navy, which lost thousands of men driving the trade off the high seas. It seems to have passed these activists by that slavery has been a feature of human society for thousands of years, that its practice was never restricted to just white races, or that no one today with any intelligence would defend it.

The mere fact of being Caucasian is regarded as being a crime, and we must all be patronised by so called training in unconscious bias, again thankfully now rejected by the government. This is not to say that I would ever be deliberately unkind, or rude, to anyone because of their race, sex etc. as such behaviour is not part of my makeup, or of that of the vast majority of ordinary people.

The imposition of the left liberal version of Newspeak is intended to limit our use of our own language, and to regulate our thoughts, to accord with the wishes of these pseudo fascists, as if using the English language we have known for our whole lives is meant to indicate some hidden antipathy towards others. The lunatics of the environmental movement are seeking to deprive us of our cars, of our heated homes and of so many of the things that our forefathers spent so much effort to create, in the name of an unproven theory, supported for the most part by idiots whose scientific credentials are non existent.

I am not going to limit my use of language, apologise for my race or sexual preference, cease to express my love of Britain and her history, forgo the simple pleasure of driving the family to the coast, sit in a freezing house, nor ‘take the knee’ to a Marxist organisation because of the deplorable behaviour of a foreign police force, however much these various activists may complain. The late, great, Tony Hancock had the perfect answer when confronted by similar cretins, which was ‘Get Knotted”, while Sid James would have bopped them one. I trust any left liberal reading the last sentence will realise that it is intended humorously, not as an incentive to violence, but as they seem to lack any sense of humour one has to spell it out for them!

It is time we fought back against these extremists. On truism attributed to Churchill among others is that “a fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”, which describes so many of those bossing us about these days. When told that, in relation to some inoffensive remark, “you can’t say that”, we should respond “I can, and I will”, while the demand that we police ourselves concerning our innermost thoughts should be dismissed with contempt. Just tell these boneheaded nitwits to shut up. Finally leave the morons of social media to shout at each other, and lead our lives as adults, not the infantilised victims of arrogant know it all bigots. Those of us who have spent years on the football terraces can respond to those trolls who think that they can win by abusing opponents by replying in kind, without backing down like pathetic snowflakes. Perhaps not the course of action recommended in “Debrett's New Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners”, but much more effective. Stop nagging us!

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Wind

Fish, Vaccines and Wind

By Professor James Blyth The Fishing Saga The story of the UK's fishing rights scarcely needs re-telling, but it is well worth remembering. They are part of the internationally agreed economic resources of the UK, and are located primarily within the North Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. They fall within the UK's exclusive economic zone (EEZ),...

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Billy-Vunipola-BLM

Why There's No Room for Politics in Sport

There are some things in life that should never mix, pineapple and pizza, baking soda and vinegar, but perhaps more than both of those examples is sport and politics! This last year has emphasised that more than anything, from taking the knee before every single sporting event to the supposedly controversial opinion of male athletes competing in wo...

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Irexit

Coughlan Hollowing Out

The hollowing out of Irish independence: how the Irish people were made citizens of an EU Federation, by Anthony Coughlan, pamphlet, 16 pages, The National Platform, January 2021. The indefatigable Anthony Coughlan has produced another fine contribution to the debates about Brexit, Irexit and the EU. He is a lifelong campaigner for Irish independen...

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Bitcoin

Biden, Cryptocurrencies, and the American State

 In recent days, the internet has been abuzz with the news of Joe Biden's proposed hike of federal capital gains tax to 43.4% for the highest earners. However, unsubstantiated rumours swirl of another, far more significant reform to American taxation: an 80% tax on cryptocurrency transactions. If true, it must be conceded that such a reform ha...

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An historic opportunity

Looking at the contemporary disposition of the main parties in the USA it may seem incredible to those who know little of the history of American politics that, at the time of the Civil War, the Republicans were the dominant section of the radical party led by Lincoln, while the Congress of the Confederate States was dominated by former Democratic politicians. However we may now be seeing a similar reversal in position in the UK, opening up an historic opportunity for the Conservative party.

The result of the Hartlepool by-election, indicates that we are moving in the direction of the Conservatives becoming the party which actually supports the interests of the working class, while Labour joins the other left wing parties in only speaking for the metropolitan liberal, pro EU elite. By doing so it is following a road which could result in its oblivion as a serious political force.

It is unsurprising that the massively Leave supporting working class electorate in Teesside, who have endured decades of neglect by London politicians, should reject a party that had the arrogance to choose a pro EU candidate, at a time when the Conservative government is also actively taking steps to bring jobs and economic prosperity to the area.

Coming from a working class home, and born under Attlee as Prime Minister, I was raised reading the Daily Mirror, and, as a youngster, knew that the majority of my community regarded the Conservatives as the party of the privileged, and prosperous, while Labour was speaking for the ordinary people.

However the party of Attlee was very different to that which claims to be its descendent, the latter having rejected the kind of policies which ordinary working class people supported, and still support. I believe that grammar schools, introduced by Attlee when he implemented the 1944 Education Act, provided a means for any bright child, regardless of background, to climb the educational ladder, while it was his government that first created the independent nuclear deterrent, something I believe necessary for our safety. After centuries of persecution, and in particular the Holocaust, I think it only right that the Jewish people should have their own state, itself established with Labour support under Attlee. It was also the latter, later followed by another great Labour figure Hugh Gaitskill, who rejected involvement with what later evolved into the European Union. These policies make clear that so much of what the current left would no doubt describe as Tory, was in fact enacted, or at least endorsed by the most successful Labour government in history.

The Conservative party of those days was still very much one which favoured the interests of the moneyed few, while lacking an understanding that the ordinary person was instinctively patriotic, and wanted to possess the respect due to those who made a living through work, not state handouts. However Boris, despite his background as an old Etonian, and graduate of Oxford, seems to understand, and encourage, the aspirations of the working class in a way that the alleged egalitarians of the metropolitan elitists who dominate Labour dismiss with contempt, while nevertheless claiming to represent the underprivileged.

The main risk to the Conservatives is that the education system, both in schools and universities, is dominated by the liberal left, with the result that youngsters are being brainwashed into supporting the policies of the latter, while the BBC can be relied upon to present a totally biased view, favouring such ideas. The current influence being exercised by the so called ‘woke’, including the extremist agenda of the environmentalists, also presents a danger to common-sense policies, although the fact that the Green candidate only gained just over one per cent of the vote in Hartlepool makes clear that ordinary people do not support the ridiculous demands made by these obsessives.

The latter is one area where Boris needs to rethink policy, as conceivably there is not actually a sustained change in climate, but merely a variation, such as have occurred in historic times, for instance the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, followed by the Little Ice Age. Maybe there is a more long term change, but it could have nothing to do with homo sapiens, but be the result of subtle variations in the Sun's output, while perhaps there is indeed an effect resulting from our activities. If the latter is true then we need to do what we as a species has always done, adapt, but not to react in a way with a cure which is worse than the disease.

This does not mean that it is not a good idea to take measures to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, as these are finite on a human timescale, whereas energy from the Sun, tides and wind are only vulnerable on a geological timeframe. However this can be done over a sensible period, taking advantage of technological advances, without throwing the baby out with bathwater, as we can make huge changes over the coming decades which will put our industrial civilisation on a more permanent basis.

It is regrettable that governments, including our own, have shown themselves willing to take the alarmist statements of the green lobby at face value, when the latter would only be satisfied if we were all back in the caves, rubbing sticks together for warmth, as they falsely regard humanity of being guilty of a disregard for the environment for purely selfish reasons. Many, although not all, are in fact beholden to the usual self hating ideologies of the Left.

Boris has chosen excellent people to implement policy, with Priti Patel speaking for those who, in imitation of the Mikado, wish punishments to fit the crime, while Rishi Sunak is a popular and effective Chancellor, and Dominic Raab a good Foreign Secretary. It is also clear that the ethnic makeup of the Cabinet makes it impossible for the left to credibly claim that this Conservative government is in anyway racially biased. Those who arrogantly describe themselves as ‘one nation’ Conservatives, are in fact just the sort of complacent, hubristic elitists certain to lose the support of those Boris has now gained for the party.

If the party holds its nerve, and does not revert to its old position of merely representing the well off, it can secure its place as the governing party for many years to come. It is an historic opportunity, which may never come again.

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Reasons Why Gamblers Return to Casinos for More

Gambling can be pretty addictive, and it has become even more difficult to overcome the addiction with the dawn of online gambling. Winning or losing on a bet can have adverse effects on the brain, leading to unreasonable motivation to place more bets. Scientists are still researching why gamblers' returns may vary from one individual to another. H...

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Online Casino and Software Developers in 2021

Online casino software is growing even more significantly in 2021, even though regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic are loosening up in Norway. Internationally, casino games are being played at a greater rate and are obtaining new publicity. Popular Twitch streamers have started streaming slots and video poker online, earning more money than they ...

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The Summer After Quarantine Makes Online Casinos Even More Popular

Since March 2020, most of the world has been in quarantine in an effort to curb the pandemic. Norway is no exception, shutting down shortly after the first confirmed case. Now, people are trying to find the norske bettingsider for gambling. Casino games are an excellent way to keep yourself entertained while stuck inside. Many people decided to spe...

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Historical Events in the Evolution of Slots

Ever wonder how slots came to be as popular as they are today? The first slot machine gave the impression of being a large and cumbersome machine accessed in land-based casinos. Today, we can play slot games with a plethora of themes available at our fingertips. All it takes is downloading an app. Players can even try multiple slot games at once. W...

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Business insurance trends and predictions all organizations should know

For organizations across the USA, and not only, 2020 has been more than a challenging year. It's safe to say that no brand was ready to face a pandemic. But despite the challenging situation, companies have been resilient, pivoting and adapting their business models to face unprecedented conditions. Now that 2021 is here, businesses have to take ad...

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The Top 10 Best Casinos Bonuses in 2021

Looking for the best casino bonuses this year? Well, look no further. We've gathered the top 10 best casino bonuses all together so you do not have to! Whether you are searching for poker games or slot machines, the best games are all here and ready for you to have a look at and start your play! Casino bonuses are a great way to increase the amount...

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Useful Tips for Building an Off-Grid House

Best Practices for Off-Grid Home Building  Whether it's a full-time residence, weekend getaway, or summer vacation home, building an off-grid house gives you more flexibility and independence. And as you start to dream and plan, it's helpful to have a little direction. In this article, we'll discuss a few tips that will ensure your off-grid ho...

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Does Your Landscaping Business Trim Trees? 5 Reasons You Can’t Skip Insurance

Most homeowners need some kind of landscaping services, whether it's weed-eating, mowing, or tree-trimming. Weeds and other intrusive plants can grow exceptionally tall in a short period of time, and this becomes overwhelming on a large property. Trees can also become problematic when branches keep getting bushier when left untrimmed. Most landscap...

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Contact us

Director : Robert Oulds
Tel: 020 7287 4414
Chairman: Barry Legg
 
The Bruges Group
246 Linen Hall, 162-168 Regent Street
London W1B 5TB
United Kingdom
KEY PERSONNEL
 
Founder President :
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG, OM, FRS 
Vice-President : The Rt Hon. the Lord Lamont of Lerwick,
Chairman: Barry Legg
Director : Robert Oulds MA, FRSA
Washington D.C. Representative : John O'Sullivan CBE
Founder Chairman : Lord Harris of High Cross
Head of Media: Jack Soames