Thoughts

Given the disparate nature of the issues we face I have divided these comments into separate sections, related only by the fact that they illustrate the insane chaos into which this country is descending.

Before I turn to the usual matters in the headlines I feel obliged to write something about an issue on which I know many readers will disagree with me, that of capital punishment. If you are unhappy about support for the latter then I suggest you skip this first section.

The fate of the little baby Jacob Crouch, a 10-month-old baby boy who, after repeated serious assaults, suffered injuries likened to those seen in car crash victims, and was finally murdered by his step father, while his mother looked on doing nothing, provokes in me feelings of intense pity, and anger. We have seen the pictures of a smiling little child published since, yet know that he was assaulted on a regular basis and made to eat his own vomit, finally dying alone in his cot, with fractures to most of his ribs, and a ruptured spleen.

This little boy never knew what it was to be loved, and was tormented, and tortured without pity. He will never know the joys of life, and died in great pain, yet the sub humans who did this to him will one day walk free. I cannot understand how anyone could object to them being put to death, in as painful a way as possible, yet, were they to be executed, there would be those who would be found crying outside the jail, distraught that they were receiving a just, and richly deserved, punishment for their crimes. There are those who say that capital punishment is no deterrent, a ludicrous claim, given human nature, but, even if that were so, these monsters deserve it as a matter of justice. Of course they are not alone, as there continues to be a litany of babies, children and innocent adults, killed by those who know that they will not pay the ultimate penalty for their crime, at least until, if there is any celestial justice, they end in hell.

Before the usual objections are made I know that many murders are not the same as this one, and that, for instance, a woman who kills an abusive husband is in a different category to the vile lowlifes like the above stepfather who kill babies, but, as the American system once had, there could be first and second degree charges, with only the first leading to capital punishment. In addition there could be an independent body set up to investigate the cases of those those convicted, to ensure that no vestige of doubt exists.

However nothing will be done, as the liberal establishment will prevent it.

The reaction of the liberal elite, and of their supporters in the media, to the disgraceful treatment of Nigel Farage, has not only lifted the lid on a can of worms, but also made clear that they are lacking in intelligence. To target a man who not only has his own programme on a TV channel, but also writes regularly in major newspapers, and is enthusiastically supported by large numbers of people outside the metropolitan ivory tower in which they live, was certain to end in tears for them. What they have been doing to thousands of innocent bank customers in secret has now been exposed for all to see, and even this weak kneed government has been spurred into taking action. If these people had any sense they would realise that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and that they are setting a precedent which could be followed by their opponents.

Of course it has long been clear that these acolytes of the religion of woke live in their own little world of groupthink, and have absolutely no idea about reality. They still support membership of that epitome of bureaucratic dictatorship, the European Union, refusing to recognize that it is fated to eventually collapse, as the normal instincts of populations for control of their own affairs reassert themselves, and patriotic desires to prevent their countries becoming provinces of a single European state drive the entire centre of political gravity in Europe to the right. Their advocacy of net zero carbon emissions is increasingly being challenged by those who can see that to pauperise ourselves in the name of an unproven theory, is insane, particularly when the UK could reduce such emissions to zero, and yet not make any meaningful difference to the global total, given the activities of those such as China, Russia and India.

Perhaps the most deranged policy of all is that which insists that biological fact is fiction, so that they end up with an Orwellian slogan of "Men are Women", and sacrifice the rights so hard won by feminists to accommodate the demands of a tiny minority. These people are arrogant, yet unfortunately currently possess the power to enforce their madness on an unwilling populace. We can only hope that the crusade initiated by Nigel will turn the tide, dethrone these elitists, and restore sanity to our affairs.

Millions support Nigel because they recognises that the latter, unlike most politicians, says what he means, and means what he says. Thirty years ago, I was a colleague of his, as we, and a small group of like minded allies, supported Dr Alan Sked to work to establish UKIP as a serious political party. We were, contrary to the assertions of Europhiles, motivated by a genuine belief that membership of the EU was bad for the UK on all levels, and a major threat to our democracy.

We were faced with a political establishment which, while each claiming to be presenting an alternative vision for the country, were actually agreed that EU membership was an immutable fact, supported by the British people. However, we believed that in reality the silent majority, once presented with the truth about the organisation, would reject its aims of forming a single European state, run by bureaucrats, not elected representatives, and we were right. Clearly creating a new party, capable of winning a general election, proved massively difficult, but we pressured the Conservatives into granting a referendum, which was then won by those who opposed following the path leading to the loss of our sovereignty. At no time were we concealing a malevolent agenda, as the Remainers asserted, but were straightforward and honest as to our beliefs. Since June 2016 we have seen the losers of that vote do everything they could to frustrate the will of the people, and now we have a political class that seems determined to press on with the nonsense of net zero, based on a dubious theory of climate change, ignore the anti democratic activities of the woke, and to fail to find any way of dealing with illegal immigration. An honest man would be the best choice lead the fight to reverse all this, but unfortunately the tragedy is that to overthrow the cosy establishment consensus is the work of decades, not the one year we have left before the next general election.

This disgraceful treatment of Nigel, and many others, by the arrogant supporters of woke lurking in senior levels of banks, and other organisations, quite apart from the very obvious threats to democracy, has also highlighted just how much these members of the magic circle of self selected elitists are paying each other, while treating the ordinary people with contempt. The banks nearly crashed the economies of the West in 2008, and were only saved by taxpayers' money, yet now we learn that they consider it acceptable to pay CEOs over five million pounds per annum, often when these people seem to also hold other positions to which they allocate much of their time. No one can be worth that amount, particularly when they seem to regard enforcing woke opinions as more important than the primary function of their organisations to operate successfully in the financial sector, yet still they receive obscene bonuses.

Of course the arrogance of the middle class elites was most obvious during the Covid crisis, when the majority hid in their homes, while those they regard as working class serfs delivered their post, and food supplies, kept the transport links running, sorted out problems with vital infrastructure, and generally prevented societal collapse. Many have done their best to frustrate the will of the people over Brexit, no doubt so that they can still use their Polish plumbers, and have the least inconvenience to themselves when jetting off to villas in Italy. Unfortunately the Labour party is now dominated by such people, who, as they chat together in their metropolitan enclaves, no doubt regard the old supporters from the factories and industrial areas as beyond the Pale. The party of the working class is now one for crackpot wokists, and overpaid executives. That some of the shadow cabinet should actually defend the bankers who have been playing politics with peoples' accounts is utterly deplorable. The founders of Labour would reject the modern party with contempt.

In the past the organisation for which I worked for over forty two years had a policy of appointing all staff at the most junior level, and promoting based on ability, and in house experience, resulting in those in senior positions being fully conversant with its aims, responsibilities, and procedures. However in my later years things changed, as they have in many businesses, in that people were recruited at any level, particularly the highest. Although not all such officers are unworthy, often the result is that, where incoming managers ignore the advice of the experienced staff, major problems arise, while, if they do listen to the latter, then one must question why it was deemed preferable not to promote from within.

This sort of attitude has had a detrimental effect on bodies such as the police, where youngsters from universities, with no practical experience, are given accelerated promotions, while those who have actually learnt their trade in the real world are ignored. This kind of system is now everywhere, most egregiously in the upper echelons of major businesses, and public services. It is absurd to believe that individuals, because of some supposed great managerial ability, can merrily move around, running totally disparate organisations, without any knowledge of the latter, yet this happens all the time. One of the most atrocious results of these policies is that life long employees are frequently excluded from involvement in major decisions, so that, for example, railwaymen, with decades of experience in the industry, are deliberately ignored by these fly by night members of the privileged group of purported leaders. Of course, the validity of this objection assumes that those charged with running organisations have not changed their priorities to supporting a woke ideology, as has happened with the banks, where many long serving staff have abandoned corporate aims in favour of fashionable nonsense, although thankfully some of the latter, such as in Nat West, and Coutts, are now being removed.

The ridiculous idea that, as has happened, an individual may move from running a media outlet, or travel firm, to organising a water company, or some such utility, is one of the reasons so many organisations perform so badly. As politicians think that they are also qualified in this way, is it any surprise that the country is being failed by government.

I suggest that those who wax enthusiastic about proportional representation watch Borgen, the excellent Danish political drama. Their electoral system, including party lists, is shown to produce a plethora of parties, non capable of achieving a majority, whom must then negotiate with each other to arrive at a government. The result of this is that many policies supporters backed are jettisoned, while the parties in the final coalition endorse a number of those which their own members rejected. Any system other than first past the post hands the power to actually make policy to politicians, while the people must watch on as their wishes are ignored by parties who often have more in common with each other than with those whose votes they received. At least the former system permits governments with strong mandates to take power, whereas other systems ensure that small centrist parties are always wagging the dog, forcing the dilution of policy with the threat of resignation from the coalition.

If one really wishes political policy to represent the ordinary voter then the Swiss have the best system, whereby major issues are decided by referenda, once a sufficient number of people have asked that one be held. Of course our political elite will never agree to this, having had their fingers burned by that of the June 2016 EU referendum. The arrogant cosy consensus at the heart of British politics privately regards the populace as the great unwashed, unfit to make the sort of decisions the former consider their province alone. I suspect that, were the British people be given the opportunity of having such referenda, they would oppose the proposal to adopt net zero carbon emissions in the ridiculously short time frame suggested, demand that illegal immigration be stopped by firm action, insist that the woke be removed from positions they are using to limit free speech, and that the criminal justice system be based on making punishments fit the crime, replacing the pathetically weak treatment, of those battening on the law abiding, with deterrent sentences. I might be wrong about some, or all, opinion on these issues, but the politicians are too afraid that I am right to ever allow such an extension of democracy.

It is a matter of concern that youngsters are being reported as suffering from depression, and even in some cases feeling suicidal, because of the alarmist propaganda concerning climate change with which they are bombarded, both at school, and by the media.

From biblical times those who warned of the end of the world have always been with us, in the past based on religion, including those cults who convinced their followers to commit mass suicide, even as recently as 1997, when dozens of followers of Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, while the years of the Cold War also caused extreme reactions. One awful account from 1957 concerned parents who murdered their three children, and then killed themselves, in order to protect their offspring from dying in a nuclear war. If this couple had not allowed themselves to be panicked by the nonsense peddled by appeasers such as CND their children might still be alive, and now of pensionable age. By standing firm, and not listening to the Jeremiahs predicting destruction, the confrontation with the Soviet Union was won, without any nuclear exchange taking place.

The slogan adopted by the current doom mongers is "Save the Planet", which is completely preposterous, as, barring some cosmic catastrophe, Earth will continue to circle the Sun for at least another four billion years, yet the brainwashing being perpetuated by extreme environmentalists, and tacitly supported by many of the media, such as the BBC, is scaring people quite unnecessarily. Despite the claims of the latter it is quite possible that any warming may be temporary, as it was in the Middle Ages, and may anyway have nothing to do with human activity, while carbon dioxide is a minor component of Earth's atmosphere (about 0.04 per cent), much of it formed by photosynthesis, and is actually good for plant growth.

We sensibly ignored those obsessives who used to wave placards warning that "The End is Nigh", and we should treat the modern version with similar scepticism, not allow them to frighten children with their dire prophecies.

It is time that honesty and common sense was applied to the issue of the illegal immigration taking place via small boats crossing the Channel.

The Left constantly claims that those taking this route are impoverished, and desperate, people fleeing persecution in their own countries, and that to oppose its continuation is wrong. However the fact is that, whatever impelled their departure from their homes, those on the boats are fleeing France, a beautiful, prosperous, and democratic first world nation, which is based on the motto of "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite", and which is not intent on oppressing them, or depriving them of the means to live. As far as the financial issue is concerned the immigrants are able to pay traffickers thousands of pounds for their places.

Obviously they are intent on getting to the UK because they have been convinced that its streets are paved with gold, and it is also clear that boatloads of young, single men, are economic migrants, not political refugees. Those who are genuinely in fear for their lives could apply through legal channels, joining the many who do, and would almost certainly be granted permission to come. By taking to the boats they are like those who walk to the front of bus queues, expecting to be allowed to take precedence over those waiting, while often leaving their families at home to fend for themselves.

The deaths at sea are tragedies, but the responsibility lies with the traffickers. It seems unlikely that the British and French security services cannot infiltrate these organisers, making possible their arrest, and conviction, on charges including murder.

As far as the government is concerned it has proved unbelievably incompetent in taking action to close down the illegal crossings. It should be made clear that anyone arriving in the UK in this way would be taken to purpose built barracks, of the sort I slept in years ago on a RAF base, and which compare to the youth hostels found across Europe in the 1960s. They would be provided with sleeping accommodation, sufficient food, medical care, and education for any children involved, but all who were economic migrants would be permanently denied entry to the country, returning to their own being the only option.

By all means let us help the countries involved through foreign aid, but so called liberals refuse to accept any limit on the numbers to be allowed entry to the UK, despite there being hundreds of millions from the third world who wish to move to developed nations. If nothing is done beyond the wringing of hands then eventually voters, who are aware that our health system lacks sufficient doctors, the economy does not have enough jobs for unskilled workers, and the supply of houses is already insufficient, will reject politicians who refuse to deal with the matter, with unpredictable, but certainly radical, results.

This country is being betrayed by a left liberal establishment, wrong about almost every issue, yet dominant in the main political parties, and the media.

T. S. Eliot tells us at the end of his 1925 poem, 'The Hollow Men' "This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper" If nothing changes our long island story will have a similar epitaph.