We analyse and comment on political and social issues, primarily those which affect the United Kingdom (UK). Our findings and opinions are backed up, wherever possible, by facts, evidence and data. We specialize in exposing hidden, hard to find or unappreciated information to public view.
We reside in the United Kingdom (UK) and treasure its national heritage and culture. Britons can take pride in knowing that the UK has given more to the world than it has taken, with our society still underpinned by the values of Christianity despite its decline as a practised faith. We wish to continue living in this free and fair society with generally well-educated and considerate citizens. But we are dismayed at how our security and hard-won freedoms are rapidly being eroded by the very people who should be protecting them most. Regressive and undemocratic political movements threaten our nation; the defence of the realm is no longer assured; and our resources and magnanimity are constantly abused. We sense that much of the public, whether through ignorance, complacency or denial, are underestimating the severity of the situation.
These are examples of the areas which currently concern us most:
Political correctness (PC) - the excessive desire not to offend or disadvantage any particular group of people - has infected our public servants and institutions to the point where much of their language has become gibberish, with common sense and natural justice regularly being turned on their head. To PC practitioners, avoiding being labelled as some sort of politically incorrect "ist" has become more important than plain speaking and upholding the fundamental principle of free speech. Even worse, many indulge in 'virtue signalling' to parade how supposedly good and moral they are.
Multiculturalism is failing badly in the UK and Europe: excessive immigration from incompatible cultures without sufficient assimilation has eroded social cohesion, undermined our national identity and traditions, strained resources, and triggered serious threats to our safety and security. Potential benefits to society from an appropriate degree of diversity and new blood are being swamped by the many drawbacks of mass, uncontrolled immigration. In particular, women and girls are suffering a greatly increased risk of inequality, abuse and sexual assault in European countries with high Muslim immigrant populations. We are comfortable saying that some cultures are better than others, and confident that, despite its flaws, the West is still best.
Political Islam, as it affects unbelievers, and its intrinsic sharia legal system are fundamentally incompatible with the UK's democracy, Christian-based values, rights and legal systems. Unlike all other major religions, Islam does not have the ethical 'Golden Rule' that we should treat others as we would like others to treat us; Muslims are taught that they have supremacy over unbelievers. Yet, our politicians and authorities continually kowtow to strident Islamic demands, and for too long we have tolerated the threatening and peevish attitude of Muslim extremists who are blatantly seditious. There are valid concerns that, de facto, the blasphemy provisions of sharia are creeping into British life via contrivances such as 'Islamophobia' and the inappropriate application of 'hate speech' laws.
Human rights legislation is regularly exploited, inverting morality and sacrificing the rights and safety of the vast majority for a vexatious few. All too often the victims of crime are stigmatized and distressed more than perpetrators are punished. A compensation culture grows with 'ambulance chasing' lawyers, and UK legal aid spending per capita is arguably among the highest in the world. Military personnel who risk their lives in the line of duty have been harried by lawyers and bureaucrats and sued by enemy fighters claiming their 'human rights' have been breached.
The European Union (EU) is fast realizing its ambition of being the "United States of Europe" by subsuming the sovereignty of each of its member states. But the EU is an obscenely bloated and over-complex juggernaut, ruled by a haughty elite with only a weak degree of democratic accountability. The continuing eurozone and migrant crises prove that the EU is not fit for purpose: it is financially and politically unstable, and it remains utterly dominated by Germany. Although the UK has democratically made the historic decision to leave the EU, we must ensure that powerful vested interests are not allowed to thwart the full return of sovereignty and democracy to the UK.
In recent years the Scottish National Party (SNP) has come to dominate Scottish politics with its populist policies and fervour for independence. But its tendencies to continually foster grievances with England, centralize power, and obsess about "the next independence referendum" have diminished its ability to govern effectively and heal political divisions for the greater good. Scottish government is failing in many key areas: educational standards have plummeted; business confidence is damaged; the economy falls behind that of the UK; and too many scandals have engulfed SNP politicians and activists. The SNP's new-found love for the EU following the Brexit vote has little to do with true independence but everything to do with raw political opportunism.
Of course we accept that politicians and others in authority are only human and will make mistakes, but we expect a convincing degree of congruence between their pronouncements and actual behaviour. To the detriment of our democracy, politics and public service have been brought into much disrepute by those powerful figures who have been "economical with the truth", hypocritical, greedy, self-serving, complacent, lazy or so short-sighted that the long term good of the country is sacrificed for today's sound bite or ego trip.
Despite burgeoning technology, the quality of information disseminated to the public and the extent of critical debate have diminished. The UK's television news and current affairs programmes have been steadily dumbed down (for example, with the overuse of vox pops), while the press remains a "mixed bag", at best. The BBC, a once-great national broadcaster, has been damaged by rising political correctness, the worship of multiculturalism, investigative timidity, reporting bias and selectivity. Although the grip of the mainstream media has been loosened by alternative and social media, the latter with its low signal-to-noise ratio and volatile nature is no substitute for cogent professional journalism.
Please note we retain absolute editorial independence. We are not affiliated with, or sponsored by, any political party, pressure group or business.
The centuries-old three wise monkeys were said to "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil", which has come to mean that wrongdoing or impropriety is best dealt with by turning a blind eye. But individual acts of cowardly avoidance or fear of retribution progressively corrode our society, leaving it prey to the abusive, the illiberal, the immoral, the corrupt, the criminal, the cruel, the dictatorial and the fanatical. Such willful blindness has caused many of the worst predicaments our country finds itself in today.
As optimists, we like to think that the three monkeys would now take a much more enlightened view: that improper or wicked behaviour should be identified and exposed for what it really is. If we can be wiser monkeys and "see evil, hear evil, and speak about evil" instead, society will thrive and our lives will be more satisfying and secure. Freedom of speech (or more generally, freedom of expression) is the right to communicate one's opinions and ideas without fear of state retaliation or censorship. It is the most powerful civil defence against evil that we have in a democracy.
The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it. Albert Einstein
We analyse and comment on political and social issues, primarily those which affect the United Kingdom (UK). Our findings and opinions are backed up, wherever possible, by facts, evidence and data. We specialize in exposing hidden, hard to find or unappreciated information to public view.
We reside in the United Kingdom (UK) and treasure its national heritage and culture. Britons can take pride in knowing that the UK has given more to the world than it has taken, with our society still underpinned by the values of Christianity despite its decline as a practised faith. We wish to continue living in this free and fair society with generally well-educated and considerate citizens. But we are dismayed at how our security and hard-won freedoms are rapidly being eroded by the very people who should be protecting them most. Regressive and undemocratic political movements threaten our nation; the defence of the realm is no longer assured; and our resources and magnanimity are constantly abused. We sense that much of the public, whether through ignorance, complacency or denial, are underestimating the severity of the situation.
