Nightmare

Every day seems to bring reasons to feel that we are living in a nightmare from which we cannot wake.

When I began working in my employer's new computer department in 1967 I estimate that at least ninety per cent of the population had very little idea of what a computer did, or how it was done. Now of course the vast majority have come to depend upon the latter, and many benefits have been generated by their use. However, due to the competitive nature of nations in the developed world we are going too far, in that, whatever advantages may result, the evolution of artificial intelligence threatens the very existence of the human race. Despite warnings from people well versed in the field the politicians are unwilling to call a halt, so that humanity may be creating its own successors. However the threat is not as immediate as many others.

Of far greater concern is the state of the defences of the Western world for, while America is big enough, and tough enough, to look after herself, should she retreat to that isolationism which always lies just beneath the surface, we, and our European allies would be in trouble. Our Navy is far too small, with half currently undergoing maintenance, the Army continues to shrink, and the air force could not sustain more than a brief campaign. Most of the blame lies at the door of the Conservative party, but Labour is unlikely to reverse the situation, as Sir Keir seems to be under the impression that our enemies will be prepared to wait until the economy permits money to be spent on increased defences, a very short sighted, and clearly unlikely, possibility.

Before turning to the probable negative effects the new government will have on the country it is only fair to look at the abominable record of the Tories over the past decade or more. Promise after promise was broken , and opportunities squandered, while they betrayed their natural supporters, and became nothing more than an ineffectual bunch of social democrats, lacking the courage of any convictions they may have had, and moved steadily towards the left liberal consensus which is destroying Britain. On issue after issue the Conservatives failed. Even a cursory look at immigration shows that it became increasingly obvious that they cared nothing for the ordinary people, particularly the working class. Even when making some efforts towards stopping the influx of illegal immigrants coming across the Channel they surrendered in the face of a combination of left wing lawyers, and woke charities, who managed to prevent anything worthwhile being accomplished. The real victims of this trade are not those seeking to leave a safe country, France, by avoiding checks on their status, but those in this country who are enduring a failing, already overloaded infrastructure, and for many, a lack of job opportunities, as posts available to the lowest paid are taken by those arriving. Clearly there was, and will be, no end to the flow of people from the third world illegally entering this country, and being allowed to stay.

Perhaps the greatest betrayal of all was the way in which the Tory MPs, the majority of whom never accepted the will of the people on Brexit, managed to prevent a real break with the EU, undermined Boris, and left us half in, and half out. Their affinity with the Brussels bureaucrats can be seen in the way they embraced, and added to, the regulatory burden, while taxing ordinary people to pay for the vast numbers of useless bureaucrats who infest everything, from incompetent NHS managers, to the army of HR consultants who hobble almost every organisation. They reduced the Armed Forces, neglected the provision of prisons, allowed the infrastructure to decay to the point where, for example, our roads are full of potholes, and did nothing to reform the NHS, which is sinking under the number of non clinical staff paid exorbitant wages, and delivering nothing worthwhile. Their acceptance of the ludicrous claims of the environmentalists that a policy to achieve net zero was essential leaves the country facing inevitable blackouts, while vital industries are undermined, all to reduce an already minuscule total of carbon emissions.

On social matters they have taken the knee to the extremists, absorbing the latter's critical race theory, accepting the most extreme demands regarding equality, and displaying a general refusal to vociferously oppose the lunatics of woke. The latter's stupidities are too numerous to list here, but one that arose recently was a so called advisory group on education telling schools that they should teach that the British Empire was an equivalent evil to the Nazis, with no redeeming features. That these scum should be listened to for one second, when it was Britain which led the way in the destruction of the Nazis, is beyond appalling. When I was a young man I knew men in their seventies who had endured the trenches of the First World War, and those of the generation before mine, who fought in the North African desert, in the air, at sea, and in the jungles of Burma in the Second, because of duty, and love of country. I wonder what they would have thought of descendants including mewling boys saying they were girls, adults rejecting human nature by lusting after members of the same sex, and many dishonouring Britain's great history, while being afraid to oppose enemies, or advocating the very sick ideas of the Nazis regarding Jewish people.

Interfering and opinionated bureaucrats now lecture us on every subject under the Sun. For many years my wife and I have spent the Christmas holiday in Eastbourne, and, when it is taking place, have enjoyed the free band concert at the bandstand on Boxing Day. This year we discovered to our annoyance that one required a ticket to the main section which, although free, were no longer available. On enquiring as to why this change had taken place we were told by locals that it was that old chestnut ‘health and safety'. It has also been recently reported that, in that hellhole of progressive politics, Brighton, people had been warned that bathing in the sea at Christmas was dangerous, despite the fact that enthusiasts had been doing it since Adam was a lad. As a youngster, living in a south London suburb just after the war, my friends and I used to play for hours on the local heath, including clambering all over an abandoned anti aircraft battery site, or exploring a local quarry, things which would give the modern day secular puritans seeking to regulate every aspect of our lives a fit of the vapours. Our forefathers would have rejected the increasing interference in people's' lives by arrogant bureaucrats with contempt, yet today it seems to be tolerated. These people might, although it is doubtful, have prevented the odd incident, but at the cost of reducing our freedom to choose our own actions. Unfortunately the advent of a left wing government will only make this impertinence worse.

I have no doubt that Rishi Sunak is a decent family man, but he was a terrible politician. He was only in parliament for nine years, but in that time, even though he himself was a supporter of Brexit, he turned on the man who won the 2019 general election for the Conservatives, and had promoted him beyond his abilities. Since becoming Prime Minister he has presided over an administration which has made endless promises, that have been left unfulfilled, and launched numerous policies that were either constantly postponed, or abandoned altogether. He called a general election months before he needed to, at a time when his party was vastly behind in the polls, thus losing the possibility of benefiting from either an improving economic position, or the advent of what was attributed incorrectly to Harold MacMillan, as "Events, dear boy, Events". Sunak's privileged background, and wealth, means that he did not understand the British working class, and this, combined with a lack of experience in parliament, and his own political ambition, led to him being out of touch with those he needed to vote Conservative. His reliance on advisors, which led him into committing the major blunder of leaving the D Day memorial events to give a campaign interview, made it extremely unlikely that he could have retrieved the situation. Those Conservative MPs who abandoned their greatest vote winner over a matter of cake, then threw out Liz Truss, elected by their own members, in favour of Sunak, will reap the fruits of their actions on July 4th.

Sunak produced, like a rabbit out of a hat, his idea on national service, but his proposals were half baked, and never likely to make any difference to the country. What is needed is a new organisation for all young people, to bring order to their lives, teach them patriotism, and the need to defend the country, and the democracy we have, and to eschew the shallow lifestyle so many now live, while providing them with communal healthy exercise, and a sense of comradeship, and mutual dependency. To turn their backs on being dependent on technology, especially social media, and to live in the real world. We used to have this with the scouts and guides, together with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, and the cadet forces, but, apart from the latter, the woke have been allowed to corrupt them. For such a thing to be successful it would have to be mandatory. However none of the political elites in this country would even contemplate such a thing, so it's just will never happen.

The results of the election were not, as claimed by the Left, support by the electorate for their policies. Starmer obtained less votes than Corbyn did in 2019, while Reform won more than the Liberal Democrats, and almost caught the Tories. It was the fact that the latter lost half of the support garnered by Boris that resulted in the Labour majority, not a great love for Labour. I can only hope that the warnings about the policies of the Left I and many others have given over the past few years do not come to pass. If they do not I shall be surprised, and relieved, but I suspect that in fact they will. Inter alia, an insistence on a ridiculously short timescale to achieve net zero will lead to blackouts, and massive restrictions on transport, the appeasement of the woke will see many of the recent advances in rights for women being undermined, and toleration of virtually unrestricted immigration will see a large number of British workers being unable to obtain employment, as incomers will accept inferior pay and conditions, while our infrastructure continues to totter.

Now, the disgusting attempt on the life of Donald Trump, when considered in conjunction with the physical intimidation experienced by a number of candidates in our recent general election, makes clear how far the practice of democracy in our two countries is under threat. It is fortunate that we do not have a gun culture as exists in the USA, as we would certainly have seen fatalities during the run up to the vote here. While there are always lunatics at both extremes of the political spectrum, as proved by the attacks on Jo Cox, and Sir David Amess, it is apparent that the most worrying threats are coming from those on the Left, largely from different cultures, who do not recognize any limits on political debate. One may disagree profoundly with opponents, but to use force in an effort to silence them is something which has not disfigured debate here since the days of Oswald Mosley, but which does frequently occur in other, less developed nations. It is particularly deplorable that some so called celebrities, and comedians, have been prepared to make light of such actions, provided of course that their targets are opposed to the prevailing liberal consensus. At the end of that road lies anarchy.

Of course we Jeremiahs being proved correct will be a pyrrhic victory, as we, together with the rest of the electorate, will be forced to endure the implementation of the nonsensical dogmas beloved of the Left. All that will be left will be the empty opportunity to say "I told you so". Looking back to the days of my youth in the 1950s, despite there obviously being many problems then, the thought of living in a stable community, where the police actively pursued real criminals, there were effective deterrents, the roads were not a wreck, villages had a green, with a church, a post office, often a bank branch, at least one pub, and local shops, doctors would come out to visit the sick, we could say almost anything we liked without being ‘cancelled', and we had confidence that our Armed Forces could protect the realm, it all seems like an unobtainable dream. What we have now is rapidly becoming a nightmare.