Tag Archives: Liberty

There are two world views on display in Yorkshire at the moment where there are demonstrations because a teacher showed a cartoon of the Muslim prophet. The first view is commonplace in most countries of the world and was common in Britain too until relatively recently. This is the view …

What’s the harm in feeding the poor? Why can’t we just print more money and make everyone a little bit richer? What’s the harm in feeding the poor? What’s the harm in regularly giving people money, with no strings attached? Have you heard of the saying “give a man a …

A Nation is an area of land where the people pray, send their children to school, meet in their towns and houses, work, share resources and create and enjoy local services and benefits.  A Nation needs a vision for its future. Without a vision the unity needed to construct the …

What could have been. Originally, Britain, led by a Prime Minister that called the mayor of Jaws his hero, intended to follow the “Swedish” strategy of trusting people’s common sense to tackle the coronavirus. However, the British government famously u-turned and decided instead to follow the extreme strategy of lockdown …

Our history tells us that gradual change is the answer, we should be proud of our history and not be derailed by those who think the history of this country lies in the long gone British Empire.  The British Empire is the province of upper class guilt, the guilt of …

In today’s world where political correctness is being pushed ahead of conservative constitutional values and the pillars upon which our world has been built upon are thoroughly disregarded by those on the left, it is important to trace the genesis of the one thing we all wish to protect, liberty. …

Before the United Kingdom instituted its lockdown, it was intent on following the Swedish model of “mitigation” i.e. trusting people to do the right thing to avert the spread of the virus, rather than instituting draconian lockdowns. The British’s government’s reasoning at the time was based on an understanding that …

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The phrase from the United States’ Declaration of Independence which states our natural rights and which the executive is designed to protect and defend. Most governments all over the world are pursuing, as they see it, the continuation of life to the detriment …

The EU Counter Terrorism Strategy was adopted by Member States in 2005.   “Prevent” and de-radicalisation are essential features of this strategy. The EU Counter Terrorism Strategy was based on the idea that the Political Establishment has correct beliefs and that serious deviations from these are effectively a form of mental illness.  This …

It has been evident for some time that the EU Referendum could be overturned.  This is still not certain but possible. Things looked bleak from the very beginning because the government that was to negotiate Leaving had a Remain Prime Minister and a Remain Chancellor.  This was not surprising because …

The below speech was made by the author in the House of Lords on 14 May 2019  Central to any debate looking at press freedom and the harassment of journalists is Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; …

Our media, especially advertising media, is full of what is right and what is good.  Being right and good are the moral high ground from which product sales are made. But what is right and good? Why not just steal a loaf of bread if you are hungry?  This question …

My opposition to the EU is essentially down to the fact that it works badly. Everything that the UK government does not do well at, the EU does even worse. Let me list some prominent examples… Single currency (Eurozone):Normally, an ailing economy’s currency depreciates, which encourages inward investment and domestic …

Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans were condemned by the both the medical experts and the UK courts. So their lives were taken away, by force of the court order. In Australia, Noah Wall was similarly condemned by medical experts for not having a brain. But his parents went with their heart. …

American conservatives and gun rights activists don’t like to talk about it, but at the heart of their opposition to increased gun control is an unspoken trade-off between defending against possible future tyranny and trying to reduce or prevent otherwise inevitable future deadly mass shootings. In the wake of the …

David Green, author of the upcoming “Inclusive Capitalism: He we can make independence work for everyone“, has a good piece in the Spectator about the extent to which the modern Conservative Party has abandoned the goal of maximising liberty. Bonus points to Green for quoting Michael Oakeshott, with whose work …

Renewed calls by leftists for a 100% inheritance tax force us to have the argument all over again – does the state exist to serve us, or do we exist to serve the state? I’m sure that many others have already published their own incredulous reactions, but I cannot let …

What has the world come to? Before the General Election, I incorrectly predicted that the Conservative Party would win hands-down, and to my own credit, so did many other commentators. Then democracy happened, and the great hand of uncertainty threw all my assumptions to the wind. Looking back at the …

“Those who sacrifice essential liberty for temporary safety are not deserving of either liberty or safety.” — Ben Franklin, 1776 In the wake of 9/11 and subsequent terrorist attacks around the world, there is a real temptation to allow the government to take away some of our most precious rights …

Not long ago, we heard the news that the management of the small, family-owned Ashers baking company in Northern Ireland had lost its appeal against a ruling that declared it had “directly” discriminated against a gentleman who requested a political cake. While same-sex marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland, …