Reflections on a Day Out

Although I worked in central London for over 42 years I no longer go to town very often. However, as my wife was going for lunch with a friend in the Strand I decided to spend a few hours in the West End, so went for something to eat in Leicester Square, with the intention of then visiting the National Gallery, and walking around old haunts. What I found horrified me, as the London I once knew in the old days is almost unrecognisable today.

When strolling through Leicester Square I became aware that I, as a Caucasian, was in the minority. Although some of this is obviously due to tourists, nevertheless the majority around appeared to be local, from offices etc. It reminded me of Paris, as it now is, where my wife and I have frequently been the only white people in a crowded Metro carriage. Whether this is a matter about which to be concerned is a matter of opinion, but it is unquestionably something which would never have been the case for all of our history until recent years. When choosing a restaurant for lunch I checked the prices charged in quite a number, and found that all, including those from well known chains, were very expensive, far more than their equivalent, at home in the country, or on the coast. On coming to pay it was made clear that cash was not acceptable, cards or phone being the only acceptable method. Although this is possibly understandable in a restaurant, the refusal of cash has spread to pubs, where to buy drinks for others necessitates multiple uses of a card, and destroys the old concept of everyone putting into a common pool.

Having finished eating I walked down to Trafalgar Square, intending to sit by the fountains for a while before going into the National Gallery. What I found was almost beyond belief, and says much about what has happened to our society. The entire square was closed off by barriers, within which the so called 'Pride' movement had set up stalls etc. This in effect meant that people, wishing to visit the most iconic landmark in the capital, were unable to do so at the behest of a sexual minority. I have in the past been in the Square for celebrations of victory in war, and of Royal events, as well as political meetings, but never before did I find access blocked in this way. The overwhelming arrogance of activists, whether they be environmental, or sexual, is sickening. Incidentally it was quite amusing when the 'Just Stop Oil' mob, blocked the 'Pride' march in London.

I wonder if those liberals who threw open the borders for almost unlimited immigration from the Third World in the 1950s, and those who legalised homosexuality in 1967, realised what they were unleashing. At the time they were warned that it would be the thin edge of the wedge, a slippery slope which would open the floodgates for the future, but they, in their usual condescending way, derided those who dared to oppose their actions, with the results we now see. Ending the sort of harassment of those such as Alan Turing was right, but now it is the average person who is constantly harassed by accusations of prejudice, or merely because of the crime of being one of the vast majority who are heterosexuals.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the liberal establishment of this country cares nothing for the ordinary people, particularly the working class. Even when this ineffectual government makes some efforts towards stopping the influx of illegal immigrants coming across the Channel a combination of left wing lawyers, and woke charities manage to prevent anything worthwhile being accomplished. The real victims of this crime 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. Unless the selfish, virtue signalling elites are defeated there will be no end to the flow of people from the third world illegally entering this country, and being allowed to stay. No mainstream party will take the steps necessary to put an end to this scandal.

I was born just after this country had emerged from the greatest war the planet has yet seen, and from which we emerged victorious because of the courage of the British people, and those great allies who joined us in the fight against the most evil regime ever to have disfigured human history. In the years that followed we lived through the fear of a nuclear war, but did not allow ourselves to be seduced by the siren voices of those such as CND, whose policy was to get on their knees, and trust in the goodwill of the Soviet dictatorship. We knew that we were in peril, but had the will to stand firm, and again triumphed. Safe we were not, but neither were we cowed. Now we learn that twelve members of the Labour front bench want to abandon our nuclear weapons, which one, the Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament, describes as utterly useless. Perhaps he should ask Ukraine, who gave theirs up, based on promises to be left in peace, which have been ignored, and who now face annihilation by the Russian steamroller, whether they agree.

At my grammar school in the 1950s we were expected to treat teachers with respect, always referring to them as 'Sir' or 'Miss', and knew that any serious infringement of the rules would result in punishment, up to and including expulsion. Later, in our adult lives most of us abided by the norms of society, but were not afraid to confront those with whom we disagreed, and would not be reluctant to give offence, if that was what was justified, not accepting limitations on what we chose to think, say and believe. What a contrast we now see. A few schoolchildren, whether from a desire to mock their so called progressive teachers, or because of mental problems, are declaring that they self identify as something that they clearly are not, and in so doing are disrupting the education of the vast majority with their antics. In my day any child spouting this nonsense would have been very quickly disciplined, and if recalcitrant, would have been expelled. Today however, many teachers, who should clearly have never been allowed near a classroom, are not merely indulging this rubbish, but actually encouraging it. When fellow pupils refuse to humour these fantasies they are frequently insulted by the adults in charge, who clearly believe in this absurd ideology.

When youngsters reach university they are then immersed in a milieu which claims that the principle of free speech must be overruled by the requirement to prevent ideas contrary to the received wisdom of the ideologues being discussed, with a demand for 'safe spaces', or in other words that debate should be suppressed. Later, in the world of employment, arrogant officials from that non profession HR are allowed by too many organisations to impose the idea that nothing must ever be said that might offend even the tiniest minority, while ignoring the vast majority of sane people. How have we as a society allowed all these pusillanimous, and pathetic, snowflakes to gain so much power? Normal, decent people should call an end to this preposterous posing, and restore common sense to centre stage.

Various recent events prove that we have truly passed through the looking glass, and are well on our way to Orwell's dystopia of 1984.

The Chichester Festival Theatre has issued a trigger warning for that joyful film The Sound of Music, in which good triumphs over evil, ostensibly because it portrays the threat of Nazi Germany and the annexation of Austria. Are we to ignore the realities of history because they might upset snowflakes? The second most senior prelate of the Church of England, the Archbishop of York, has described the Lord's prayer as problematical, despite the fact that it was given to us by Jesus himself. Should two thousand years of Christianity be ignored in order to abide by the latest cultural absurdity? The current Chancellor of the Exchequer confirms that he is among multiple politicians to have accounts denied, and cards cancelled, because of disproportionate money laundering rules, derived from EU regulations which should have been abolished as part of Brexit.

Disgustingly, at a trans pride march, a trans activist, who served 30 years in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder, called for protesters to punch gender critical people in the face. London Trans Pride has defended the comments saying, while it does not condone violence, many speakers at the event hold a lot of rage which they have the right to express through words. A spokeswoman for Conservatives for Women said that while this person has a history of serious violence, and was freely inciting others to commit violence against women, in full view and hearing of police officers, women are told they are bigots if they express concerns about sharing spaces, where they are undressed or vulnerable, with trans women. The police at first refused to take action, but are now 'investigating'. Can anyone imagine that, if a normal man were to advocate hitting feminists, the liberal establishment would not erupt, and criminal charges would follow? How much longer are the vast majority of the British people going to tolerate the complete inversion of common sense by the woke minority. What would once has seemed almost amusing is now a deadly serious attack on our society, which must be confronted if we are not to descend into a nightmare where ordinary people will be persecuted by a Thought Police, and law abiding citizens subjected to cancellation, in imitation of Orwell's description of the process of making them unpersons?

The vast majority of normal people depending on their race, gender, or sexual orientation, must be sick and tired of being called racist, sexist or homophobic, just because they may not subscribe to every jot and tittle of the various ideologies currently distorting our society, and will wonder what is behind it all. The obvious culprits for all this nonsense are the virtue signalling, self hating metropolitan liberals, who dominate so much of the media, and the establishment, determined to suppress any opinions other than their own by trying to demonise opponents. These people are doing immense damage to what was a free society. However there is actually another factor, which lies behind this distortion of the truth, one that has beavered away for 175 years, seeking to undermine our democratic ideals. I am not one who gives credence to conspiracy theories, most of which tend to be deranged, but this concerns what has been the most long lasting conspiracy to have afflicted the world, and caused endless misery, Marxism.

The Nazis were a barbaric, nihilistic regime, which in just twelve years, caused immense human suffering, yet Marxism is a slow motion copy of the former. In the time since the Communist Manifesto was published in 1848 Marxist regimes have been responsible for millions of deaths, and have oppressed nations around the globe, but have managed to convince the naive and gullible that their intentions were egalitarian. They claim to represent the economically oppressed, but in reality have made the latter's lives worse, as those who dominate these parties are seeking power for themselves, rejecting democratic socialism in favour of their system which elevates the party to be the only arbiter of how society should be organised. Much of the blame attaches to the leaders of the Bolsheviks. Stalin was a cynical despot, but both Lenin and Trotsky approved of dictatorship, and their model of Marxism is the one which is copied. In order to achieve power Marxists seek to bring down democratic societies, and they are behind most of the disruption we have seen. Karl Marx himself recognised how the ideal had been corrupted, and proclaimed towards the end of his life “I am not a Marxist”. Their 'long march through the institutions' is bearing fruit as our education system becomes more a propaganda machine, than a means of teaching youngsters. They are the real enemy we should be fighting if we are to preserve our nation.

A shibboleth of the left liberals is the worship of diversity, as if this was an unquestioned good, yet it often proves to be the exact opposite. While, as a devotee of Star Trek, I remember Mr Spock's advocacy of IDIC, in other words Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, I also recognize that in fact the characters, of whatever origin, shared a disciplined, and basically recognisable, view of how society should be organised, thus undermining the infinite parameter. Do those who remember the homogeneous nature of the British society which won the World Wars really think that the diverse society we now have is better? No one who has endured race riots in our streets would be likely to agree.

The political class has wrecked this country, and only the unlikely success of an alternative party, based on the principles which once animated the nation, could save us now. This seems unlikely.