Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Hope



I apologise to those who have visited this site only to find that I have been silent for a while.  To be truthful, I have rather had the stuffing knocked out of my usually positive outlook on life.  The prospect of a lingering EU purgatory after March next year, the lack of conviction in the Government, the prospect of Labour mayhem should they triumph at some stage, and the desperate battle for political survival at the expense of expediency by Germany’s political leadership, have all depressed my spirit, considerably.  I could have gone on, about Italy, Iran, China, Korea, and Macron but something I read in The Spectator rather cheered me up.

Douglas Murray, writing about Jordan Peterson observes that the Professor “sees the vacuum left not just by the withdrawal of Christian tradition, but by the moral relativism and self-abnegation that have flooded across the West in its wake. He sees a generation being urged to waste their lives waving placards about imaginary problems, or problems far beyond their (or anyone’s control) and urges them instead to cut through the lies, recognise the tragic and uncomfortable position we are in as humans and consider afresh what we might actually achieve with our lives.”

Sound advice, surely?  The BBC, our national broadcaster whose nightly News programme seems to have morphed into a sequel of Thought For The Day, tugging at our consciences with endless documentaries of disasters, may care to embrace this positive spirit of practical optimism? If they do, they should need to prepare rather better than the hapless Cathy Newman (Charterhouse and Oxford) in her recent interview with Professor Peterson!

Monday, 8 January 2018

May Conscience Rule




We are told that the Prime Minister is about to announce a Cabinet reshuffle – presumably a rearrangement of deck chairs in the hope of shoring up the brand image.  Meantime, I was struck by something Mrs May said on Saturday: “as Prime Minister my job isn’t just about what I think about something, it’s actually about looking at what the view of the country is.”  Sadly, having watched the decline of debate in politics, I assume looking at what the view of the country is means bobbing and weaving in virtuous response to the shrieking on the twittersphere?

All very well on issues like fox hunting but just what might we expect in response to an existential crisis requiring swift and decisive judgement?  I don’t think, with current day politicians in general, and Mrs May in particular, we have any idea what they might do!

As I have quoted before:

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Happy New Year!

Monday, 25 December 2017

Sunday, 24 December 2017

Christmas Irritant List - 2017



Another year to my accumulative calendar and I found fewer people really irritate me; perhaps growing older is making me tolerant?  I certainly notice that older correspondents from Northumberland wouldn’t say boo to a goose, even at Christmas, so perhaps I too shall mellow with time?  Not making the cut for technical non-compliance, Anna Soubry and her parliamentary cohort have move beyond the pale and, therefore, mere irritation.  Otherwise, awful Anna would have won outright which now leaves the bejewelled Lewis Hamilton the runaway winner! Lower in the list, it has been hard to separate the whole Channel 4 News team, so they will have to share the award for a second year.

Lewis Hamilton
Dominic Grieve
Nicky Morgan
Jon Snow and the entire C4 News Team except
Kristain Guru Murthy, (who remains in a class of his own)
Matthew Parris
Sam Allardyce
Jose Mourinho
Stephen Fry
Benedict Cumberbatch
Emma Thompson
Emma Watson
Claudia Winkleman
Sue Perkins
Any BBC reporter who ties his scarf “like that”