Category Archives: Current Affairs

What do the English think?

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The Scottish referendum is only a few weeks off and in the midst of the usual reporting from the “Yes” and “No” camps came a report last week on English views on the future of the United Kingdom, the possibility of Scottish withdrawal and the position of England within the Union.

It appears that although the majority wish to preserve the Union many of those questioned by pollsters want the English to be more vocal on their wishes instead of perpetually remaining the silent majority. We have, of course, heard much of Scottish independence, even though the Scots already have their own Parliament, and some talk about further Welsh independence even though they too have separate representation in the form of their own Assembly.

By contrast, the English have no separate representation with neither their own parliament nor assembly despite the fact that they are by far and away the single largest entity within the Union and therefore the largest financial contributors. Instead, English MPs sit at the UK’s Parliament in Westminster alongside Scottish MPs who are all able to vote on English matters while the English cannot vote on theirs. This seems to be both unfair and anti-democratic.

A further grievance is the fact that English citizens pay the NHS £8.25 for their medical prescriptions whilst the Scots get theirs free of charge and Scottish children receive free university education whilst English children and their families pay thousands of pounds each year for theirs. All of this is despite the fact that England bears the lion’s share of the cost of running the Union. This cannot be right.

Even if Scotland decides to stay in the Union, and I hope they do, some English politicians are now talking of setting up their own Parliament just like that of their northern neighbours. And why not? After all, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Preventing Genocide

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The West, led by the USA, is surely right to provide aid and protection for the hundreds of thousands fleeing from Islamic extremists in the newly established Caliphate (Islamic State)in northern Iraq and Syria.

The extremists have made clear their desire to cleanse the world of all who fail to follow Islam and for them the slaughter of innocents is merely part of their Jihad, their holy war against non-believers. Over the last few months Christians and other minorities in northern Iraq have been given an ultimatum, convert to Islam or die and thousands have indeed been put to death for failing to convert. Such genocide is nothing new and it was only a hundred years ago that the Turks began the extermination of over 1.5 million Armenian Christians in what is still known as the Armenian massacre.

Few politicians in the West have the courage to speak out openly about the alarming spread of Islamic extremism since, of course, any criticism of a minority or foreign culture, no matter how heinous, usually leads to accusations of being racist or right wing. They should put those fears aside because the threat is real and the brutal beheading of the American journalist James Foley, evidently by one of several British Muslim extremists fighting alongside the ISIS terror group, was a stark reminder of how deep and close to home the problem is.

To take action against these fanatics is not to victimise Muslims since the majority want no more than to live in peace just like the rest of us. The fact is that many Muslims are equally concerned by the actions and policies of the extremists within their own religion but they are too frightened to do anything about it.

Islamic extremism is without doubt the single biggest threat to world peace and security and, quite frankly, anybody who doubts this is either living in denial or is away with the fairies. The threat is real and constant and we underestimate it at our peril. We must ensure that those who govern us do all that they can to protect us and that we also – preferably through the United Nations – do all we can to prevent further acts of genocide from occurring anywhere in the world.

Youth Club Closures

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Last week it was revealed that over the last 2 years some 350 youth community centres and youth clubs in Britain have been closed down through lack of funding. If this is true then it is surely a misguided and foolish policy by both central and local government.

Evidently one club in a rundown area of Manchester, the Hideaway Youth Project, Moss Side (which opens 5 days a week and has 900 members) is in danger of closing down if it doesn’t raise £50,000 by March of next year, the year it should be celebrating its 50th birthday.

How sad that so many youngsters from broken families in deprived areas, with little to do and little chance of finding jobs are going to lose one of the few areas of stability in their lives. These clubs mean so much to them and as one member said, when interviewed, they represent an escape and a refuge, a place that youngsters can call their own. Another said that the club keeps him and many others off the streets and out of trouble. It makes sense as any policeman, social worker or criminal lawyer will vouch.

Surely, it can’t be beyond the powers of government to raise the money to not only prevent the closure of the clubs but even to set up new ones? In the short term it can only benefit the youngsters and in the long term help to make them valuable members of society rather than just another statistic of social deprivation and decay.

Hello Sailor!

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There was quite a stir in the national newspapers following the suspension from duty of the first ever female commander of a Royal Navy warship who allegedly had an affair with one of her officers. Other than the obvious concerns over discipline and the morale of the rest of the crew I don’t see why anybody would be that bothered, let alone surprised.

Men and women working together away from home and for months at a time; is it really any wonder that it happened? After all boys will be boys and girls will be girls. Hasn’t it always been so in the navy? As Winston Churchill remarked, the Royal Navy was built on a tradition of “Rum, sodomy and the lash”! At least, this time, it wasn’t a case of the captain abusing the poor old cabin boy!

It seems to me that for as long as men and women work alongside one another affairs and sexual contact are as inevitable as a rainy day in Manchester. Perhaps the solution is to completely segregate the sexes and have ships for men and ships for women. Perhaps colour the ships differently, blue for boys and pink for girls! Maybe even blue and pink stripes for gays? Why not, it’s certainly a lot better than drab old grey!

Vote Winner

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Last week the Labour Party announced that, should it be returned to power after next year’s general election, it was considering the imposition of a financial levy on English football’s Premier League. Sport and politics are usually best kept apart but these proposals will, I’m sure, resonate with many of us.

Almost daily we read of the mind-blowing figures involved at the highest levels of sport and particularly football. For example the Premier League recently entered into a three season contract with the big television companies whereby the League will receive £3 billion in viewing rights. Add to this the fact that certain top players are receiving up to £250,000 a week just for playing the game it is easy to see why there is a certain (putting it very mildly!) disaffection with the game.

The backdrop to this is the continued sale of sports playing fields by local authorities, a distinct lack of funding, a lack of facilities throughout the land and a lack of emphasis on sport and personal fitness in many of our state schools. Indeed, it was estimated that last year a mere £5 million was spent by local authorities on the maintenance of football facilities nationwide – put another way, less than half of what some of the top Premier League footballers were paid in the same period.

So the Labour Party’s proposal to take some of the money from the top level of the game and spend it at grass-roots level appears to be a good one. In addition they are considering a further tax on the betting industry which evidently turns over in excess of £6 billion each year.

One doesn’t have to be a socialist to relish the thought of money being taken from fat capitalists to be spent not on fast cars and luxury yachts but on the construction of facilities for disadvantaged children in the poorer areas of our country. A vote winner, for sure.

Bigotry in the Classroom

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This week it was established beyond doubt that Birmingham City Council were complicit in the infiltration of the city’s schools by Muslim extremists. At best the councillors simply turned a blind eye to the overwhelming evidence that a substantial number of the city’s schools had been taken over by these fanatics (both school governors and teachers) who were bent on indoctrinating their pupils with bigotry and a hatred of all things western.

The Government-led inquiry revealed that children were taught, among other things, that–
– All non-Muslims will go to hell when they die.
– White children are lazy and white women have no morals.
– Women are inferior to men and wives are the property of their husbands to be used as their husbands see fit.
– Homosexuality is a crime against God and those who practice it should be jailed.
– The murder of the British soldier Lee Rigby and the Boston bombings last year were a fabrication of the truth by western governments.

In addition boys and girls were segregated in the classroom and some teachers insisted on teaching their classes Sharia Law insisting that it was superior to and should replace the law of the United Kingdom. Any teachers who objected to this indoctrination were paid off with sizeable severance cheques and made to sign non-disclosure agreements before leaving their employment.

Unsurprisingly, the nationwide response has been one of outrage that schoolchildren have not only been exposed to this blatant racism and bigotry but also anger that those who should protect them did nothing to prevent it whether through complicity, fear of the extremists or just through the muddled politically correctness of not wanting to offend a religious minority.

Perhaps the greatest irony in the whole sorry tale is that those councillors, who in a misguided attempt to show tolerance of the extremists and avoid claims of discrimination, will actually have achieved the opposite effect. The publicity generated by this scandal will not only add fuel to the fire of political parties on the extreme right but it will also have the effect of turning many previously mild and tolerant British people against Muslims. This would be unfortunate since no one doubts that the majority of Muslims are, like the rest of us, decent people who simply want to live in a climate of peace, tolerance and understanding.

Predictably, the Government has stated that this must never be allowed to happen again and that, in future, all schools throughout the land will be carefully monitored and regularly inspected. We must hope their actions are successful since no form of extremism, political, religious or otherwise, can have any part to play in the education of British children.

Unnecessary Interference?

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Most of us in the free west instinctively oppose any measures taken by government to interfere unnecessarily in our lives. Over regulation and micro management smack of Big Brother in George Orwell’s chilling novel “1984” and are abhorrent to free thinkers.

The key word in the preceding paragraph is “unnecessarily” and the question has to be asked is when is government interference necessary and therefore acceptable?

As I write these notes there is considerable controversy over the British government’s decision to force through legislation to increase surveillance of communications meaning, among other things, that our private emails will be private no longer – though I wonder, with all the technology at the government’s disposal, if they ever were private in the first place.

Many critics have called the legislation a “Snoopers’ Charter” and have referred to the measures as draconian and an example of unnecessary (that word again) “State Control”.

I sympathise with that viewpoint and the last thing I want is for my life to be controlled by the State. However, I also want to stay safe and I want my loved ones, my friends and fellow citizens to stay safe too. On balance, if the government remains fully accountable (a prerequisite) to the electorate and its measures succeed in preventing lives being lost to terrorist acts won’t a loss of privacy be a reasonable – and necessary – price to pay?

Islamic Indoctrination

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There was outrage this week following revelations that a significant number of schools in Birmingham, run by Islamic extremists, have been teaching children what, in some cases, has been described as bigoted, misogynistic and violently anti-Christian propaganda.

In response the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Education Secretary, Michael Gove have, rather lamely, said that all schools should promote British values. Well, of course they should, but I wonder how they intend to ensure that this happens because so far little seems to have been done to prevent Islamic indoctrination in many of our inner city schools throughout the land.

Obviously, the Government has to tread carefully to avoid allegations of racism and prejudice, not least by our own politically correct liberals, but clearly something has to be done because the problem is certainly not going to go away. In fact, it can only get worse.

What is required is a calm, rational response by our Government based on a careful consideration of the facts and an avoidance of any rhetoric that could be deemed inflammatory. As the Prime Minister inferred, people are tired of the erosion of British values after decades of almost unlimited and uncontrolled immigration and the bending over backwards by the authorities to accommodate foreign cultures. Without doubt our tolerance has been abused by some who mistake British decency for weakness.

None of this is to say that immigrants are not welcome; far from it since clearly the majority of immigrants, Muslim or otherwise, are valuable members of society. Even a brief look at how many businesses are run by foreign born businessmen demonstrates how valuable their contribution is and has been to the United Kingdom.

The common sense approach has to be this, all legal immigrants whilst being made to feel welcome must be made aware that the United Kingdom has been built on a system of government, law and Christian principles that are enshrined in our society and as such are not negotiable.

If I were to move to Saudi Arabia I would not expect that country (irrespective of what I may think of its culture) to adapt and change to suit me.

If these principles are enforced firmly and fairly the problem may well diminish. The alternative is to do nothing and let these hate-filled Islamic extremists take advantage of our liberal culture and do whatever they want.

Ultimately, inaction will only force people who would not otherwise do so to seek redress via our own extremists on the far right. If that happens the late Enoch Powell’s prediction of “rivers of blood” back in the 1960’s could become a harsh reality.

Normandy Beaches

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Today is June 6th, the anniversary of the D-Day landings when the Allies (principally the British, Americans and Canadians) began the invasion of Normandy which, under a year later, would lead to ultimate victory in Europe and free large parts of the continent from over 5 years of German tyranny.

The price of victory was not cheap, as any visitor to the military cemeteries of Normandy will testify, though but for the meticulous planning of the operation (Operation Overlord) it could have been a lot worse.

This year’s anniversary has a special poignancy since it is exactly 70 years to the day that thousands of young soldiers began their voyage into the unknown by leaving the shores of southern England and crossing the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy.

A sizeable group of survivors, all of them now old men in their late 80s and beyond, are meeting today on those same beaches to commemorate the landings and to remember their fallen comrades.  We too will remember their sacrifice with respect and gratitude – and thank our lucky stars that we have been fortunate enough to escape anything like the horrors they suffered on our behalf.

European Backlash

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There is no doubt that the smug, complacent grandees of the European Union took a big hit earlier this week when the electorate in virtually all member states voted against their policies.

In Britain, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) won more seats than any other political party, leaving the big two parties shell-shocked and the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats on the verge of extinction.

Democracy doesn’t always work but the message sent out loud and clear by the people of Europe to the European Union is this; we don’t like your policies, we have had enough of being patronised and are tired of being told what is good for us by clueless and corrupt politicians. We are sick of policies based on idealism rather than common sense and if you don’t listen to us and give us what we want we will vote for those who will.

The unfortunate downside to all of this however is that people, almost in desperation, are turning towards extremist political parties, such as the far right in France, and that has to be a cause for concern. For example, control of mass immigration is acceptable and logical but racism and violence are not.

The pendulum needs to swing away from the idealistic and out of touch liberals who run the European Union but it must not swing too far the other way. Europe requires positive action, not reaction. There is a difference, as students of pre-war German history know only too well.