In the age of narcissism, mass-consumerism and hyper-dependence All of a sudden, the streets of major European cities are full of impressionable virtue-signallers demanding immediate action against our modern way of life to save the planet from the spectre of man-made climate change. I instinctively sympathise with rebels, even if I don’t always share either
⋯Filtered by migration
Extinguishing Open Debate and Personal Freedom
capitalism, communism, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, limits to growth, migration
Language is more about Meaning than Words
I recently dived into an almighty row with a bunch of EU flag wavers replying to a message celebrating International Native Language Day. You see I’d like to celebrate it too, but the subtext implied EU citizens in the UK promote linguistic diversity. So let’s think this through. Once abroad mingling with the locals and
⋯All in the mind, human rights, Linguistics, migration
The Brexit Delusion and the End of Neoliberalism
I’ve long been critical of superstates and any extreme concentration of power, but only really from around 2014 did anti-EU feeling in the UK gain enough momentum to call into question Britain’s integration with the European project and to force a referendum, which the establishment hoped would endorse the status quo’s trajectory of ever-closer union.
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
We cannot stop wars unless we tackle their causes
How greed, distrust, decadence and unsustainability engender conflicts Most of us agree wars are best avoided, but we have long debated whether and when they can ever be justified. In theory at least, we can assert the right of all communities to self-defence against incursions and conquest, but in practice life is seldom that simple,
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, hegemony, migration
Going with the flow against the Old World Order
The affluent professional classes, along with their army of assorted victim groups and infantile self-righteous student types, have set it upon themselves to amplify the mainstream media’s disapproval of leading proponents of the old world order of nation states, two-parent families and cohesive communities with shared values. Three weeks ago we saw a large demonstration
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
Parallel Universes
When emotions trump logic Do you ever get the feeling that your political adversaries do not respond to the logic of your arguments, but merely to their cultural acceptability from their narrow ideological worldview? Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News believed she could rely on good old emotionalism to defeat the purportedly reactionary arguments of
⋯All in the mind, migration
Establishment Stitch-Up amid Shifting Alliances
Did you naively think the whole EU membership debate had something to do with Europe and its smörgåsbord of cultures, cuisines and intellectual enlightenment? No doubt some of those who voted to leave the EU reminisced simpler times and older ways where at least we had a sense of social cohesion based on shared values,
⋯capitalism, Computing, migration
The Emerging Age of Absolutisms
What do corporate globalism, Islamic fundamentalism, communist idealism and neo-fascist romanticism all have in common besides being abstract isms? If you look at their attitudes to the key ethical questions of our age, their notional position on the left-right spectrum or their virtuosity in the public mind, they may appear at variance or even diametric
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, migration
Just gimme some Truth
On the importance of intellectual freedom Hardly a week passes without a brand new high profile campaign against the Orwellian concept of hate speech, perceived public ignorance or the spectre of unofficial fake news. Naturally ignorance no longer denotes an absence of knowledge, but a failure to internalise a specific worldview or cultural attitude. By
⋯All in the mind, hegemony, migration
Disturbing Scenarios of the early 21st Century
Could globalisation trigger regressive ethnocentrism and religious hatred? In a paradigm shift over the last 30 to 40 years, the establishment media in most Western countries now openly embraces not just globalisation and the gradual dissolution of traditional national boundaries, but also rapid cultural change via social engineering. However, until recently most national leaderships pretended
⋯capitalism, immigration, migration
Sowing the Seeds of Discontent to Gain Power
The Grenfell Tower blaze shocked the world. How could a fire spread so quickly and kill so many in one of the wealthiest cities in the world? I won’t waste time investigating the details of flammable cladding or the absence of a sprinkler system. However, to the untrained eye these apartments seemed fine and could
⋯communism, migration
Another Day, Another Attack
How the British Foreign Policy Elite favoured its short-term commercial interests over the long-term security and wellbeing of its citizens. Just in case you haven’t read the news. Seven people were killed and 48 others injured in a van and knife attack on London Bridge and Borough Market, in which three suspects were shot dead
⋯corporatism, human rights, immigration, migration
Madonna vs Alex Jones
How the Virtue-Signalling Left Cares More About Affluent Jet-Setters Than Defenceless Goat Herders The faux outrage about Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban on citizens of 7 mainly Muslim countries reveals more about the priorities of the affluent infantile left than it does about any shift in US foreign policy. Most people in the world outside
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, human rights, immigration, migration
Is Oceania still at war with Eastasia?
How President Trump could signal the demise of the USA as a superpower and how the globalist elite may switch allegiance to other centres of power. In George Orwell’s 1984 Oceania appeared to be in a never-ending war against Eastasia. Airstrip One, the new name for Great Britain, belonged to Oceania with North America and
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, immigration, migration
Am I Left or Am I Right?
Once again we return to the superseded left vs right spectrum or is it good vs bad, collectivism vs individualism, state control vs private enterprise, equality vs meritocracy or ecological responsibility vs economic growth? Few real world issues can be simplified on a one-dimensional scale. Some would now describe some of my opinions as embarrassingly
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, hegemony, migration
On the Brink of War
As we stand on the brink of World War Three over Russian involvement in the Syrian quagmire, our mainstream media feeds us with a steady diet of disinformation about the true causes of death and destruction in the Middle East while entertaining us with juicy stories of sexual misconduct of US presidential candidates. In one
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, immigration, migration
Labour has lost the plot
The British Labour Party could soon split into a pale imitation of Tony Blair’s New Labour and an economically illiterate student protest movement. Jeremy Corbyn’s transition from a lifelong backbench rebel to leader of Her Majesty’s opposition surprised me. I had admittedly underestimated the popularity of the new wave of leftwing activism. For a short
⋯capitalism, corporatism, hegemony, migration
Shifting Alliances
For a long time Britain’s political parties have failed to represent the views and aspirations of ordinary people. Politicians have become mere implementors of policies devised elsewhere by a maze of global organisations. Labour, Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and even the SNP have all converged on a variant of Blairism, broadly speaking a form of
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, migration
Forget Europe, Brexit was really a peasants revolt against smug elitists
Oddly this referendum has restored my faith in humanity Just over a week ago the global establishment and their cheerleaders in the liberal intelligentsia got the fright of their lives. They had failed to persuade the British electorate to vote remain in the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. When Labour
⋯All in the mind, corporatism, hegemony, immigration, migration
Does the Trendy Left trust you to do anything?
If you listen to the debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union you could be forgiven for believing that it’s a clash between progressive philanthropists and selfish Little Englanders determined to restore Britain to Victorian values. To the likes of Caroline Lucas the EU represents green fields with solar panels and wind turbines interspersed
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, migration
Does Mass Immigration Help the Economy?
As net migration to the UK hits record levels, many opinion leaders, especially in the Labour and Green parties, claim this is no bad thing. Don’t worry about the numbers. They are just a sign of our interconnected times. We get to go on holiday or retire in Southern Europe and they come here to
⋯migration
7 Reasons why you should vote #Remain
You love French wine, German beer, Dutch cheese, Italian recipes, Spanish beaches, Austrian ski resorts, Czech castles, Swedish furniture, Finnish saunas and, did I forget, Belgian chocolate. Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, Verdi and Mozart may also be music to your ears. Modern philosophy would not be complete without Voltaire, Descartes, Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Plato and Aristotle?
⋯capitalism, migration
In Defence of Red Ken
Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London and Labour MP, is back in the news for having allegedly misinterpreted a politically sensitive chapter of the 20th century. John Mann MP, an avid supporter of all recent US-led wars in the Middle East and Central Asia, accused Mr Livingstone of rewriting history by suggesting Hitler’s National Socialist
⋯immigration, migration
On admitting you're wrong
Intellectual Dishonesty and Cognitive Dissonance Is it better to be wrong for the right reasons or coincidentally right for the wrong reasons? For sake of argument, let us imagine a school teacher asks you to write an essay on the origin of the human species and let us also assume the teacher has a strong
⋯capitalism, hegemony, limits to growth, migration
Meet the new Universalist Establishment
Trendy leftwingers are the new ultra-conformists Many observers still tend to simplify political analysis on a one-dimensional left / right spectrum. We might use many other scales such as state ownership vs private enterprise, libertarian vs authoritarian, individualism vs collectivism, local vs national, national vs international or environmental friendliness vs economic growth, equality vs meritocracy
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, immigration, migration
Out-of-touch Euro-phobic Elites
I love Europe, its peoples, its cuisines, its landscapes, its architecture, its music, its literature, its languages and its philosophers. Call me a nostalgic but I don’t want the French to become German, the Germans to become English, the English to become Polish, the Italians to be Swedish or the Swedes to become Moroccan. I’m
⋯capitalism, corporatism, hegemony, immigration, migration
Destabilisation on the eve of WW3
Opinion leaders in the West seem to take four positions on the fast-moving Middle East quagmire: Some favour more proactive military intervention against our purported enemies and welcome more refugees and economic migrants from the wartorn region allegedly to boost the economy. This group clearly believes not only in the concept of humanitarian wars, but
⋯capitalism, corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
Bursting at the Seams
Europe faces an unprecedented stream of human traffic from Africa, the Middle East, Southern and Central Asia. As wars rage from Afghanistan to Yemen and Darfur while deserts expand and arable land available for each inhabitant shrinks, this crisis shows few signs of abating. The heart-wrenching scenes of refugees huddling together on makeshift rafts in
⋯capitalism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
Surprise: The Big Business Party won
I predicted a hung parliament that would ditch any manifesto promises at the behest of corporate lobbyists. A weak government is arguably more malleable than a strong one, unless the strong government does exactly what its true masters want. I suspect the new Conservative administration will disappoint many traditional small-c conservatives as it pursues a
⋯capitalism, Computing, corporatism, human rights, immigration, migration
Question Time on Rise of UKIP
How would members of the panel deal with the rise in UKIP support among working class whites?
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, migration
Extreme Labour Mobility
Rethinking the Migration Debate Were we to debate the ethics of racial prejudice, the relative merits of other societies or the wonders of humanity’s rich cultural diversity, I would not hesitate for a moment both to stand against all forms of xenophobia and to celebrate true cultural diversity. However, as soon as someone suggests the
⋯capitalism, human rights, immigration, limits to growth, migration
11 million empty homes, in the wrong places
The Guardian newspaper has just revealed to its credulous readers that EU-wide no fewer than 11 million dwellings stand empty. This apparent news has been endlessly recycled by various well-funded lobbies and think-tanks to suggest there is no housing crisis in the regions that have recently attracted most inward migration. Meanwhile to accommodate 4 million
⋯corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration