Thursday , March 28 2024

Tag Archives: UK Current Affairs

Unregulated, Unaccountable Corporate Megacharities Like Oxfam Are Not Fit For Purpose

I have refrained thus far from writing about the Oxfam prostitution/rape scandal as the fallout metastasises throughout the charity sector, but I’m sure that regular readers can already guess exactly what I think about a largely government-funded pseudo-charity staffed by overpaid mediocrities who seem to think that their primary job …

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Falcon Heavy Takes Flight, Rebooting Human Ambition

At a time when distracted Western governments and decaying institutions are incapable of providing visionary leadership, with society increasingly split along partisan lines, it took the vision of a private citizen to remind us what real ambition looks like “Ad astra per aspera”, reads one of several memorial plaques to the crew …

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Sam Gyimah’s Great Conservative Roadshow

It’s great that Universities Minister Sam Gyimah is embarking on a tour of university campuses to spread and defend the Conservative message in traditionally hostile territory. Now we just need the government to come up with a conservative platform that’s actually worth defending Sam Gyimah appears to be on manoeuvres. …

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The False Allure Of A Second EU Referendum

Beguiled by the irresistible prospect of overturning Brexit before it even happens, many Remainers are even more oblivious to the consequences of forcing and winning a second referendum than Brexiteers were to the fallout from victory in the first What would actually happen in the event that there was a …

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Are Technocrats To Blame For The Rise Of The Know-Nothing Celebrity Politician?

When unelected technocrats increasingly set policy and carry out the day-to-day business of governance we should not be surprised that electoral politics, castrated and less consequential than ever before, is becoming a circus freak show Michael Brendan Dougherty has a new piece in the National Review which so succinctly captures the state …

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The Age Of Perpetual Crisis

When every single issue is falsely portrayed as a burning crisis, none of our national challenges will receive the considered attention they deserve “We would rather be ruined than changed We would rather die in our dread Than climb the cross of the moment And let our illusions die.”  ― …

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The Story Of Hamilton Is Also The Story Of #Brexit

What do the latest imported smash hit musical from America and Britain’s historic vote for Brexit have in common? The answer, it turns out, is nearly everything. It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, …

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Heathrow Airport Expansion And Decision Paralysis, A Symbol Of British Political Failure

Government indecision and cowardice over the expansion of Heathrow Airport is just one tangible, high profile manifestation of the British political disease There is no better analogy for the broken, dysfunctional nature of British politics and strategic government planning than the ongoing saga over whether and how to expand London’s …

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Budget 2017 Reaction

This was a holding budget designed to buy the government some political breathing room, and so Philip Hammond kicked the can down the road on nearly all of the major fiscal and structural issues facing Britain I intended this piece to be just a few disjointed thoughts reflecting on Philip …

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The Two Brexits

Not everything of value can be measured or counted, and Remainers opposing Brexit purely on economic or materialistic terms are doomed to forever misunderstand half the country when they refuse to view Brexit through any other prism If we are to have any hope of knitting Britain back together after …

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Does Oxbridge Discriminate?

Oxbridge has every incentive to admit more students from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. If diversity has failed to improve then it is our fault as individuals, families, communities and voters for failing to provide elite universities with a bigger, better talent pool Another day, another tedious story about Oxbridge being …

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Resurrecting The Citizen Politician

After Brexit, attracting more exceptional citizen politicians and fewer mediocre career politicians is the next crucial step towards democratic renewal in Britain A worthwhile article by new Labour MP Laura Smith for LabourList underlines the urgent need for more politicians who look and sound like contemporary human beings rather than …

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Chasing Liberty

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 …

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Can Dual Citizens Be Good Citizens?

What does it mean to be a dual citizen in the Age of Brexit? Following my recent blog post lamenting our society’s devalued and transactional concept of citizenship in the Age of Brexit, I was asked by a reader to write a companion piece on the topic of dual citizenship, a …

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Like, Why Can’t British Politicians Talk Fancy No More?

Great political speeches are only possible when there are great ideas to be expressed, and great leaders to express them After watching the semi-famous video of former Labour minister Peter Shore arguing passionately against Britain’s membership of the EEC during a 1970s Oxford Union debate, Mark Wallace of Conservative Home …

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Women-Only Train Carriages: Identity Politics Leads To Calls For Segregation, Once Again

Is there any contemporary problem that the identity politics Left will not propose solving through the introduction of segregation? I see that the recurring debate about whether or not to introduce female-only train carriages has bubbled up again from the swamp of leftist thinking. Charlotte England tries to make the …

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