July 25. A new US TV channel, The Right Network, fronted by Frasier
star Kelsey Grammer, challenges the idea that humour has to be leftwing.
The trailer for their comedy show Right 2 Laugh includes digs at
Barack Obama, anti-abortion routines and veteran stand-up Evan Sayet
cracking jokes about illegal immigrants. Cue predictable scoffing
here. In Britain, the comedy establishment dresses far to the Left.
BBC radio is institutionally right-on. ‘Topical’ radio series The
Now Show was still banging on about the Tories twelve years in to
a dying and discredited Labour government. BBC comedy shows regularly
feature Trot stand-ups Mark Steel and Jeremy Hardy – both funny,
incidentally, when they’re not regurgitating their dreary politics.
And to the delight of no-one, unfunny public school drop-out Marcus
Brigstocke continues to plague BBC radio and TV alike. Could there
be a market for rightwing comedians here too? That depends on what
we mean by rightwing. Old shows like The Comedians are routinely
referred to as “rightwing” but the Morning Star loved the series
when it launched because of its proletarian authenticity. What we’ve
actually seen in Britain over the last twenty years is a middle
class take-over of comedy. From Ben Elton to Jack Whitehall, if
you’re posh and left-leaning then trendy TV bosses want to make
you a star. Meantime, in the name of political correctness, working
class gag-tellers over-fifty have been driven off television. Great
comics like the late Benny Hill and Les Dawson were dropped for
offending PC sensibilities, and even Bob Monkhouse struggled to
get work in his last years. Left-Liberalism is now the reigning
orthodoxy; TV comedy is in the hands of posh boys, frumps and self-styled
intellectuals and as a result there are very few laughs left in
prime time. There’s no doubt that some comedians regarded as old
school are politically to the right – Johnnie Casson and Jethro
are UKIP supporters, while full-on Conservative Jim Davidson has
been banished from our screens. It’s hard to tell if they are denied
telly time because of their politics, their class origins, or both.
But there is certainly no excuse for the BBC – paid for by all of
us – to blacklist them. Trendy producers might think that they aren’t
funny; audiences all over the country would beg to differ. PC opinions
are the norm in TV circles but in the real world opinions vary.
July 24. Is our government a Brokeback Mountain Coalition, as
David Davis claims? We know they're both cowboys, and we can be
pretty who's giving and who is receiving. Next Dave and Nick star
in My Weird & Wonderful Cabinet - the first couple to have surrogate
ministers by AVF (alternative voting fiasco).
July 23. RIP Hurricane Higgins, snooker legend. Alex is credited
with developing new shots. Sometimes he did this on the snooker
table as well... I went on the razz with the Hurricane in Blackpool
once. I didn’t understand a thing he said, and don’t remember
a thing we did, but we seemed to have a whale of a time.
July 19. Government Minister Caroline Spelman (Con Meriden)
reckons wearing the burka is “empowering” for women. Yes, that’s
right Caroline. Just like chains were empowering to slaves and
those cute Yellow badges worked wonders for self-esteemin concentration
camps. Burkas are a way of treating women as second class citizens,
as the clerical fascists who impose them clearly intend. The best
argument for wearing the burka is that they piss off the French
who have just banned them. We won’t follow suit because a ban
would be “un-British”, says the Government. Almost as un-British
in fact as the burka itself. I’m all for freedom of choice. But
how much choice do women in strict Muslim communities have? The
liberal media is letting right-wing mullahs set the agenda, and
drowning out Muslims voices that aren’t trapped in the middle
ages. A ban would be Draconian but there can never be any integration
with the burka, the fatwah, Sharia law and book-burners. Why do
we pretend otherwise?
Insert the usual list of women who should always wear the burka
here: Spelman, Harman, Brand, Street-Porter etc etc
July 14. The papers are outraged by the developing cult of Raoul
Moat. How, they ask, can there be public sympathy for this murdering
psychopath? Why are Facebook feckwits treating him as a hero?
There’s a simple answer. For decades now, our ruling elites have
sneered and belittled “old-fashioned” values. Family and faith
have been derided, the unions and Britain’s manufacturing base
smashed and ancient wisdom mocked, along with ‘outmoded’ concepts
like patriotism, self-improvement, British history, decency, thrift,
punishment, competitive sports and community. And when you trash
everything that generations have held dear, everything that glues
us together as a people, and ‘reward’ us with mass unemployment,
multiculturalism and anything-goes morality, is it any wonder
that anyone who fights the system, however flawed they may be,
is perceived by some as a rebel? All my sympathies are for Moat’s
victims. My contempt is reserved for the self-serving, morally
bankrupt ‘leaders’ who have sold England and the UK down the river.
July 13. Three Gurkhas have been killed and four wounded by
a soldier of the Afghan National Army. This has happened before
and it will happen again. Our role in the Sand Pit is increasingly
hard to justify. We are not welcome there. Britain was hated in
Kabul in the 19th century as the Russians were in the 20th, and
the US and their allies are today. Now that Obama has set a time
table for withdrawal the Taliban know they have won. This isn’t
defeatism, it’s realism. This war made no sense from the off.
The idea that our lads are dying out there to prevent terrorism
on British streets holds less water than a kitchen colander. There
was no link between the Taliban and 9/11. Newspapers and politicians
tell us that the corrupt Karzai regime which we are propping up
is the bedrock of a free Afghanistan. This is the biggest farce
of all. Karzai has lost all faith in the Allies and is dealing
with the enemy behind our backs. He knows that if he doesn’t he
will go the same way as Najibullah did when the Soviets sounded
the retreat. Eight years ago the Taliban seemed finished. Now
they are stronger than ever. Even McChrystal said they have fought
us to a draw. The global battle against Islamist terror is winnable,
but this is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No more British blood should be shed to perpetuate this politicians’
folly.
July 12. A former asylum seeker from Somalia was given a £2million
luxury townhouse, the Mail on Sunday reported yesterday. Abdi
Nur, his wife, and their seven kids were moved into the posh West
London residency because he didn’t like living “in a poor area.”
His £8,000 a month rent is paid directly through housing benefits.
How on earth can it be right that families on benefits are living
in dream pads most hard working folk could never afford? Why should
housing benefit (which costs tax-payers nearly £16billion a year)
reward unemployment? The only message that sends out is: Only
Mugs Work. As I’ve said before, the welfare system should be a
safety net, not a hammock to lounge about in. Benefits and rents
must be capped with immediate effect. If ex-bus conductor Mr Nur
wants a luxury life-style, I would suggest he tries working for
it.
July 10. At least we’ve learnt one thing from this farcical
week: there is no situation on earth so dark that it can’t be
cheered up by the arrival of a half-cut Gazza packing beer, a
fishing rod, a dressing gown and a chicken, rubber or otherwise.
The moral of this story? If you see Paul Gascoigne coming with
lager, you’re going to end up with a banging headache.
*The EU has blown £400million on secret aid donations. Think
tank Open Europe reveals that the cash went on “undisclosed schemes”
whose nature is hushed up for alleged “security reasons”. A lot
like my missus and the house-keeping money. Does any EU apologist
genuinely believe that it’s acceptable for mountains of tax-payers’
cash to carry on vanishing into the bureaucrats’ mysterious black
holes?
July 4. Nick Clegg has launched a website which asks people
to say which laws restrict civil liberties and should be scrapped.
Clegg says he wants to make Britain less intrusive and more open.
Hear, hear, to that. Decriminalising drugs, scrapping Big Brother
TV cameras in city centres and repealing the smoking ban were
among the first ideas proposed. But my own vote would go to axing
Racial and Religious Hatred Act, Labour’s Stasi-style attempt
to police our thoughts. We can’t have a free society without freedom
of speech.
July 3. BBC radio is to launch a ‘Men’s Hour’ show, which will
apparently “delve into uncharted emotional territory for men,
bringing real candour to the challenges of relationships and life”.
Does anyone at the Beeb know any normal men? Proper blokes would
rather rip their own heads off than “delve into uncharted emotional
territory.” Areas we do delve into include: women, sport, women,
comedy, women, cars, women, politics, women, rock, women, sci-fi
and barmaids. Yet apparently the Beeb think they can capture “the
spirit of when good mates sit around nowadays” by booking Louie
Spence. Yeah, thanks for that. One trip to my local would turn
Auntie’s hair grey.
July
2. Why has Cameron chosen May 5th for the referendum on the AV
electoral system? The PM claims to oppose it, yet having the referendum
on this date will pretty much ensure the change will go through.
Why? Because it's the council elections day in England, which
means a low turn-out is guaranteed, and it's the Assembly elections
in Scotland and Wales where a pro-change vote will be sold as
England-bashing. So effectively this is Cameron making sure Clegg
gets his way on voting reform and keeping the Coalition government
in place for at least another year - and possibly for decades
to come. I've got nothing against AV (although PR would be better),
but I do have plenty against sneaky politicians who aren't as
bright as they think they are. This and the proposed House of
Lords shake-up are huge constitutional changes, which come with
the European Union's blessing. They will cement the UK ever further
into the EU and make our liberal ruling elite unsinkable. They
should be properly debated and the implications fully understood.
June 29. Ten people have been nicked in the USA for allegedly
spying for Russia. It was an easy arrest – all ten agents were
found hiding inside each other... The spies had to fit in with
American life; they did this by putting on fifteen stone apiece
and pretending to enjoy Glee. Apparently the Ruskies wanted to
steal America’s secrets, like the latest weapons technology and
how the Colonel makes his fried chicken so finger-lickin’ tasty.
In turn, Yank spies have been in Moscow working out secret appeal
of polonium umbrellas, 80s rock and 90s fashions.
June 28. We're told today that getting shot of Fabio Capello
would be "a knee-jerk response" to England's shocking display
yesterday. On the contrary, some of us have been saying Capello
should go since the tournament started. Most of England's mistakes
can be laid firmly at his door. It was Capello who stuck rigidly
to the 4-4-2 formation, playing either the wrong players or good
players in the wrong positions. Even yesterday he sent on That
Donkey Heskey when the game was crying out for strikers. It's
undoubtedly true that FIFA need to introduce video technology,
but that one goal wasn't the reason we are out of this World Cup.
He is. Capello's strength turned out to be stubbornness. The puppet-faced
clod can barely speak the language and is completely out of touch
with both his team and the modern game. He must go, whatever the
expense, and be replaced by Rednapp or Hodgson; and in truth most
of the players should go as well. Yesterday's under-performers
- Johnson, Barry and even Upson - should never wear an England
shirt again. Rooney needs a long break from the weight of expectation
too. Now would be a good time to drop the older players, and start
afresh. Bring on the young Lions. We'll win in 2014.
June 26. Saw Jim Davidson at Gravesend last night. He was funny,
often outrageous and at times genuinely shocking. A refreshing
change. Comedy, especially BBC comedy, is so achingly PC and right-on
that nowadays Nick-Nick Jim feels like the one true revolutionary.
My pal Dave Lee opened for him. Dave’s gentle, gag-based set was
a complete contrast and much more entertaining than the Woodville
Hall bar where three over-worked souls were trying to serve half
the house in the intermission. Many thanks to the Invicta Club
regulars who took pity on two thirsty strangers.
June 24. How smart was Obama to fire his best fighting general?
McChrystal was wrong to give Rolling Stone access, but there is
obviously a lot of truth in what he said. And this knee-jerk sacking,
making an odrama out of a crisis, helps no-one but the enemy.
It certainly won’t help the President. Because if/when McChrystal’s
Afghan strategy fails, Obama will take the full blame.
June 22. You know the trouble with this budget? It’s too negative,
too shallow, too timid. The best way out of the slump would be
to pull out of the EU (saving £65 billion a year), genuinely slash
state spending (the coalition’s cuts aren’t much different from
Darling’s plans) and encourage production growth. That means lowering
taxes and slashing business costs. Welfare bills would plummet
if more real jobs were being created in a vibrant private sector.
Georgie’s plan - increasing taxes and pumping up public spending
- will not resurrect the national economy. The alternative to
Austerity Britain is Enterprise Britain.
June 21. A man was nicked for wandering into the England changing
room yesterday. Apparently he had no right to be there. So was
it Fabio or Emile Heskey?
June 18. Well I'm clearly as psychic as Mystic Meg. England
couldn't even score against Algeria. I've never seen us play so
badly. Our passing is shocking, we can't keep possession... Remind
me again why we're paying £6million a year for a man who can't
pick and motivate a decent squad.
June
17. Are the new calls to reduce the drink-driving limit about
safety or about bossing us about and curbing our freedoms even
more? Our drink-drive laws are tough and British roads are already
safe - the latest stats show that traffic related casualties and
deaths are dropping while mileage goes up. This isn't about safety,
it's about control. I always said that once the puritans had done
for the smokers they'd come for the drinkers.
June 16. It was hard not to be moved at the obvious joy of relatives
of the protestors cleared of wrong-doing by the Saville Inquiry.
Thirteen died, seven of them teenagers, after soldiers returned
fire indiscriminately in January 1972. Another died from his wounds
six months later. It's always shocking when innocent people are
killed. But Bloody Sunday was not an isolated incident. Let's
not forget the soldiers and policemen shot and killed before that
Londonderry riot, and after. Let's not forget that the Provos
used the Civil Rights movement as a cover for their murderous
activities or that McGuinness was 'probably' running around with
a sub machine gun on the day. Let's not forget the innocent Catholics
killed by the IRA or the innocent Brits slaughtered indiscriminately
for decades - those atrocities remain unexplored by expensive
lawyers. There has yet to be a heart-rending TV docudrama about
Enniskillen, the July day in 1972 when 22 IRA bombs exploded in
Belfast in the space of 75 minutes, killing nine people. The price
of the peace process was the release of hundreds of bombers, killers,
drug-dealers and gun-runners. It's hard not to suspect that the
politically motivated Saville Inquiry, and its outcome, was also
part of the deal. It would be unacceptable to the British people
if a single Para faced trial and jail to keep McGuinness and Adams
happy.
June
12. A bloke came up to me in Tesco’s car park today and asked
what I reckoned the score would be. A draw, I replied. He looked
at me like I’d just said I was a child molester. I didn’t want
it to be a draw, but the USA had been good enough to whip Spain
and we hadn’t looked great in the friendlies. In the event, we
played better tonight only for Rob Green to throw it away with
a schoolboy error. It was one British spill Obama won’t be moaning
about. The frustrating 1-1 draw didn’t reflect the game but it
does raise questions that otherwise might not have been asked,
such as why Milner, why Carragher, and why Heskey who couldn’t
score with a soap opera slapper. Lennon wasn’t that hot either.
We’ll beat Algeria on Friday, but we’re going to need a lot more
than this to stand a chance against Spain or Brazil.
June
11. British paras may be prosecuted after the Saville report is
published next week. As the vast majority of Northern Irish terrorists
are now at liberty, this would be an outrage. If our boys are
dragged through the courts for Bloody Sunday to appease Republicans,
then the British are fully entitled to ask what about those responsible
for Bloody Birmingham, Bloody Woolwich, Bloody Omagh, Bloody Enniskillen
and the rest? We should also ask when Martin McGuinness will take
his turn in the dock. Widgery’s enquiry heard that McGuinness
had admitted that he’d personally fired the first shot on Bloody
Sunday (Jan 30, 1971). The riot didn’t happen in a vacuum. Three
days before two RUC officers had been slaughtered by the IRA in
Londonderry. One was a Catholic, the other Protestant. The murders
of constables Gilgunn and Montgomery would not have happened without
the consent of the IRA’s C.O. in Bogside, Martin McGuinness. So
far there has been no £190million inquiry into the evil men responsible
for the deaths of those brave young cops.
June 10. A stowaway flew from Vienna to London hiding in the undercarriage
of a jumbo jet. It was -41C, oxygen was scarce, and he could have
been crushed by the wheels on take-off. EasyJet are thinking of
introducing this as their business class.
May
16. Today, to no-one's great surprise, it is revealed that rather
than being reluctantly forced into compromises with the Lib Dems,
Cameron's Tories eagerly ditched many pre-election promises. The
Conservative-Lib Dem pact suits Cameron just fine. It will allow
his government to carry on New Labour's 'tax 'em high and sell-out
quick' strategy. The three parties are just three heads of the
new management class, with precious little differences between
them. They're the Daddy now and we're all being screwed. They
all have the same objective: the subjugation of Britain and our
hard-fought freedoms to the wasteful, incompetent, bureaucratic,
freedom-hating EU. Remember the old anarchist gag, no matter who
you vote for the government always win? Well it's never been truer.
The time is surely right for the creation of a new just and radical
party with a commitment to liberty, to a smaller less meddlesome
state, and to national independence. There are good people in
all the main parties who must see and hate what the elitist boss
class is up to. They must also know that the old politics is played
out and that we've been left with just the threadbare pretence
of choice. There are good people in UKIP, and the English Democrats
too. Well now is the time for all good folk to rally to a new
cause, and rebuild our country on rocks of hope, tolerance, self-reliance
and self-improvement. The alternative is the death of Britain,
the end of freedom, and the triumph of the new Soviet Union Lite.
May 9. In the post election mess there is much
talk of constitutional reform, but no-one is discussing the elephant
in the room: the need for a properly devolved English parliament.
Brown has been decisively rejected by English voters yet Labour
could still cling to power. Scottish Labour MPs vote on English
laws, but English MPs can’t vote on Scottish ones. The Scots
have a Parliament, the English do not. English taxpayers have
no say on how our money is spent subsidising public spending in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s as unbalanced
as the Chelsea-Wigan score and it needs sorting.
March
21. Some friends have been checking out Soldiers Off The Streets.
The organisation, which seeks to help ex-soldiers in hard times,
is accused of being a BNP front. But as far as we can tell, it
is not. On the contrary the guy running it, Bill Murray is absolutely
up front about his former membership of that party. He insists
he is not a racist and that he has turned down BNP donations to
keep SOTS untarnished by unsavoury associations. I hope this is
true as his group is much needed and long over-due. The lads injured
in Afghanistan and the latest Iraq War have charities looking
out for them, but the men who served in the first Gulf conflict
are told “off the record you were in the wrong war”
and little is done for Falkland veterans who have fallen on hard
times. I hate bigotry – the only colour I care about is
British khaki, so we will look into this some more, but Bill Murray
appears to be sincere and there is no doubt that the work he is
doing is important. The way politicians treat our former servicemen
is a national disgrace,
March 17. The charity Soldiers Off The Streets is alleged to have
suspect links. I have asked them to remove my name as patron until
these allegations can be properly investigated, and SOTS disassociate
themselves publically from the far-Right. Any decent person would
sympathise with the organisation’s stated aims. No decent
person would wish to associate with covert extremists.
Feb
27. This blog page is temporarily suspended while I finish my
memoirs. If you know me, have worked with me or slept with me,
be afraid. Be very afraid.
Feb
11. Tremendous quote about Gordon Brown from a Downing Street
staffer in today’s Independent. One told Lance Price - who
was Labour’s Director of Communications - that the Prime
Minister is “psychologically and emotionally incapable of
leadership of any kind.” Other Number Ten workers recall
horror stories of MacNutter’s bad-tempered attacks on chairs,
tables, phones and anything else that comes to hand. They brand
the PM “pathetic” and accuse him of indulging in self
pity. No one has a good word to say for poor old Shrek at all.
Apart, presumably from his office supply company.
Feb
10. Why should the EU bail out the Bubbles? Greece can’t
pay her way now, so how would she pay back a loan? Let them go
cap in hand to the IMF instead, and cope with the ball-crunching
conditions they’d impose (and the EU wouldn’t). There
is a lesson here for all of us: Western governments are too big
and too bloated and none of them can carry on like this. In Britain
state spending is now nearly half the national product, we’ve
been nobbled by Labour’s criminally irresponsible immigration
open door, and tax rates are rising across the board. The main
reason Cameron is floundering is that he won’t spell out
the harsh truth: the country needs deep budget cuts today. We
need to hack back the state and lift the burden of unfair taxation
from the backs of the few million who are left in productive employment.
And if the Tories won’t do it, a tax revolt is the only
answer.
PS.
In the meantime, I'm panic buying feta cheese and Metaxa.
*
Everybody's happy about Wayne Rooney's baby. John Terry rang to
say "That's my boy."
Feb
9. Harriet Harman has been nominated for Rear of the Year. It’d
certainly be a pleasure to see the back of her.
Feb
2. Funny how Gordon Brown wants to change the first-past-the-post
voting system just months before he’s about to come second.
You don’t have to be a cynic to know this stinks. Public
confidence in Parliament has been chipped away by the expenses
scandal, the illegal Iraq war, endless broken promises and other
self-inflicted wounds. There are plenty of ways to turn this around
but the ‘Alternate Vote’ isn't one of them. Why not
make politics interesting and relevant again? Introduce US style
primaries and regular referendums on major issues. Give Governments
fixed four year terms. Scrap the ludicrous Barnett Formula. Cut
back on the total number of MPs. Restrict “whipping”
to votes of confidence. Pay MPs less so they fight for Joe Public
more. Make them wear the logos of any company they take money
from. And make 'em recallable if enough people in their constituency
object to their performance.
Of
course people might give a toss if there was more than an ounce
of difference in policies between the major parties.
Jan
27. Priceless. Thirteen years of New Labour has widened the gap
between rich and poor. All their social engineering, preaching
and po-faced dogma has made life worse for what’s left of
the working class. (And the grammar schools - which did open doors
for the poor and bright - were largely abolished by Labour...)
The comrades, who are mostly privately educated themselves, know
nothing of human nature; they distrust self-reliance and loathe
aspiration. Their legacy is mediocrity and failure.
Jan
23. David Cameron used the horrific Edlington case to attack broken
Britain. Unfortunately for him (and us), Tory politicians are
as much to blame for the UK’s social meltdown as New Labour.
The Conservatives destroyed our manufacturing base, consigning
whole communities to the dole queue, and they started the immigration
flood which Labour deliberately and insanely turned into a tsunami.
As a society we’ve become rudderless. We’re led by
people who brazenly cheat and feather their own nests. Our young
men are sent to die in foreign wars which make no sense. We discriminate
against those who want to get on. Education is dumbed down, the
justice system is a bad joke, drug dependency is rife, we’ve
given away our sovereignty to Eurocrats and generations have been
brought up believing they have no need to take responsibility
for their own lives. Britain needs a sense of purpose. Our kids
should be taught that rights come with responsibilities, and that
self-improvement and civic duty need not be mutually exclusive.
We could do with five – ten years of strong principled government
taking emergency steps to reverse our social and moral decline.
Measures to include, real punishment for crime, including the
re-introduction of the death penalty for killers, baby-rapists
and other scum; a massive job creation scheme, including building
affordable housing stock; tax breaks for small businesses and
workers’ cooperatives; a simplified tax system; compulsory
national or civic service; abolish quangos; throttle bureaucracy;
enforce a vigorous low immigration policy; re-nationalize the
rail network; restore grammar schools; debate the EU properly
and give voters that long-promised referendum on continued membership;
restrict the rights of foreign corporations to run British industry
(including the media); endorse British values (tolerance, democracy,
free speech), end the democratic imbalance caused by devolution;
replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber; end
any wars that aren’t in Britain’s national interest;
crack down on hard drugs and hardcore porn; end the state-enforced
creed of multiculturalism; repatriate foreign nationals who hate
our way of life; stop discriminating against marriage; teach kids
right from wrong...and start by jailing MPs (and PMs) who tell
us lies.
Jan
22. I QUITE like this Italian bird who grabbed Beckham’s
groin to see if his pants were padded for his Armani ad. Talk
about unfair tackle. She's got more balls than he has, by all
accounts...
Jan
20. What is it about posh, gay, liberal Stephen Fry that appeals
so much to TV execs....?
Jan
19. Kraft has taken over Cadbury. How long before the workforce
is fun-size?
Jan
5. Is this Anjem clown for real? I’m starting to think he’s
an Ali G style comic creation. Either that or he’s just
ramping up the ‘outrage’ in the hope of a future reality
TV show. You wait, by Xmas old JimJams will be on C4 giving the
alternative Queen’s Speech.
Jan
3. The proposed Islam4UK March through Wootton Bassett is despicable,
deliberately provocative and completely wrong-headed. The Afghan
campaign is not a war on Islam, but on Islamist terror which is
another thing all together. These nutters are entitled to their
point of view of course - this country, unlike most Islamic states
is a democracy; but there will clearly be a threat to public order
if they are allowed to march in the town itself. If I were the
Chief Constable I would re-route their protest; there must be
a deserted industrial estate near-by that they could besmirch.
Although it'd be more tempting to let it go ahead without police
protection. Failing that, let’s hope all decent people in
the area rallies for a peaceful counter-protest, tens of thousands
strong, and that the town is immediately renamed Royal Wootton
Bassett to show how the Great British public feel about the sterling
job the locals do on behalf of all of us.
There
are bigger, more deep-rooted issues involved here, not least the
self-destructive madness of enforced multi-culturalism and the
PC pretence that we're ALL a threat to national security etc etc.
How seriously does our joke of a government actually take the
Islamist threat? If we and our Allies are engaged in an all-out
war on global terror, why are we fighting it so indifferently?
Why aren’t we operating on a war-footing? (Could you imagine
Nazi sympathizers being allowed to parade down British streets
and preach hatred in their places of worship during WWII? Of course
not. They'd be interned. As this lot, and the filthy traitor Anjem
Choudary should be. Of course, we should stop importing people
who hate us and start exporting them with immediate effect. But
we have to acknowledge that many of the worst offenders are home-grown.
The real rot lies in our self-loathing liberal elite.) If Afghanistan
is so vital why are Obama and Brown already sounding the retreat?
(See earlier entry)? And above all, why are our bravest and our
best losing their lives in a war that no politician can adequately
justify?
Jan
1st. So that was the Noughties. How will cultural historians remember
us? Between 1600 and 1610, Shakespeare wrote his best plays, Rubens
was painting masterpieces and Monteverdi wrote the first great
opera. A century later, Christopher Wren was transforming London
and Bach and Handel were the rising stars of classical music.
1800-1810: Britain had Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake. Germany
had Beethoven and Spain had Goya. 1900-1910: Elgar, Mahler, Puccini,
Henry James, Shaw, Wilde, the Music Hall, Rachmaninov; Kipling
published his Just So stories, and a young South Londoner called
Chaplin was about to tour the USA for the first time with Fred
Karno. 2000 – 2010: Simon Cowell, Dan Brown, Damien Hirst,
Davina McCall and Jedward...and to think people say Western culture
is going downhill.
It’s
hard to say who or what will be remembered as significant in a
100 years time, but my money would be on HBO, Tom Wolfe, Manga/anime
and Wong Kar-Wai.
*
Last night, a soldier from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance
Disposal), Royal Engineers, was killed in Afghanistan. This brings
the total British deaths last year to 245. Happy New Year to all,
but please keep our troops in your thoughts. And please keep asking
why after all this time, our Government has yet to come up with
a single convincing reason why we are out there.
