Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Today, we remember all those who died in war.Ā As we peer into the gaslit world of the great war or seek to look behind the blackout curtains of 1940s Britain, we realise that we follow two generations of giants.
Many families have fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, grandfathers and great grandfathers who died in battle that we might live in peace. They died in great fear of tyranny and their immediate circumstances that we might be free. They died for our country, so we can be proud of what they did. Some may seek to use powerful new search- lights of history to change the picture they want to seeĀ āor to play this down, but nothing can change who they were, what they did, nor the principles they carried to victory.
Today is a day for patriotism: that quiet, confident patriotism that characterises our country at its best; the patriotism that comes from being at peace with what those generations did and with the causes they fought. Our country does not go in for brash, aggressive nationalism, asserting ourselves by doing down others.
The unknown soldier was rightly honoured by king and country all those years ago in recognition that the world war was an immense strain on all, at home or at the front.
It required the most enormous super-human efforts of everyone. The whole country was at war, not just the armed forces and the politicians. The best way we can be true to their memory is to enjoy the freedoms they left us. We can best pursue the path of peace with vivid memories of how, after war ends, the talking begins to reconcile the differences. We must learn from the failure of the great war to end the European conflict. We can best uphold the sacred candle of free speech, turning conflicts into exchanges of passionate words, not bombs and bullets. We can best uphold the right of everyone to a vote and a voice in a democratic society and uphold the right of small as well as large states to self-determination.
So let us vow today that, in this precious debating Chamber we enjoy, we will work to ensure that we will seek to talk and vote our way through our differences. Let us pray our country is not called again to perform the heroic and brave tasks we remember today. Now that states have so much greater power to kill and harm people than they did even a century ago, let us trust in democracy and freedom.
We have had to fight far too many wars. Today, we need a strong defence to keep us safe and to increase the chances of peace. The great war did not turn out to be the war to end all wars, though that was the promise. That was the hope of many in our nation, so let us today vow to find a way to bring us nearer to that most crucial of ambitions.
November 13, 2020
Fine words and so true.. except about the “precious debating chamber” where certain aspects of human frailty are more than evident..
In that respect, Arthur Wellesley was surely right…
“I’ve never seen so many bad hats in my life”.
Polly
November 13, 2020
Group think sheep, virtue signalers, emotion over brain career politicians in the main. With about 50 honourable and sensible at best.
November 14, 2020
When the covid vaccine has eradicated the disease, just has the European Union has ended war between its member nations, will John be saying “let us today vow to find a way to bring us nearer to that most crucial of ambitions of ending the pandemic”?
Reply What about the wars in Eastern Europe with Bosnia/ Serbia etc. EU didnāt stop ear in Europe
November 14, 2020
As I said, between its member nations, John.
Those very countries’ tragedies support my point, far from refuting it.
November 14, 2020
No they don’t
The EU’s actions in those areas worsened those conflicts.
November 13, 2020
Good morning Sir John
Thankyou, well put. Although it now seems a loosing battle with todays knee jerk WOKE society and government.
November 13, 2020
Ironic.
You literally take offence about everything and accuse everyone else of being woke.
The real problem is that many of you are just backward.
November 13, 2020
And you incorrectly think you are superior.
November 13, 2020
Women gave out white feathers.
No difference.
November 13, 2020
Sadly true. But the root of cultural communism can be pulled out with patience, love and truth… time will uproot.
November 13, 2020
Remembrance day is a very emotional day for many of us when we reflect on sacrifices and the sheer hell many people endured for our freedom. We must never forget them.
Meanwhile there is a war going on in Downing Street which is the last thing needed at this time. Boris has to get a grip or else all will be lost. With some of the U turns abd decisions being made he really must get an experienced team behind him and for me that should include the likes of yourself John. His partner must be just that. Involved only in his personal life and not in the inner workings of the party. She is clearly not a Conservative and should have no involvement in party policy. Never have I been so disappointed in your party John. Not only are you losing the respect of the grass roots Conservative but also the respect of other nations. Boris must get a grip and start showing true leadership. If we had another period such as the 2 great wars again (God forbid) we would be sunk.
November 13, 2020
+1
November 13, 2020
We have though.
We do have a time like that! Now!
Look around.
Only difference…we the people, are behind barbed wire!
November 13, 2020
>he really must get an experienced team behind him and for me that should include the likes of yourself John
+1
November 13, 2020
Indeed.
November 13, 2020
Hysterical post i’m afraid!
November 13, 2020
Kevin perhaps you should look at the news. It’s far from good.
November 13, 2020
Indeed though the Heath, Major and May government were surely far worse.
November 13, 2020
Laudable words indeed but the difference between THEN and NOW is that the enemy and the threat to our freedoms and liberties are now on the inside
You reference ‘free speech’. Again, laudable and yet your party, your colleagues working with Labour pass laws that destroy open debate and freedom of expression for some while vocal activists are provided with inside assistance and political promotion
My voice has been targeted and silenced by laws passed by your party working with Labour
Other voices are given a platform because they enjoy political influence due to their party alliances
Your party has been in power since 2010 and it has deliberately for pure party interest smashed on this nation’s most fundamental freedoms and it has done it with the assistance of Labour
The law is being drafted, passed and then applied for political gain.
Stop pandering to vocal minority activists with their authoritarian intentions to crush the majority. It will only lead to further resentment down the line
If you dare to pass a blasphemy law as those slime have done in Scotland then you deserve eternal condemnation. The lives of every single person sacrificed will have been for NOTHING
November 13, 2020
Propaganda sends men to war.
And the powers who-have-no+right-to-be are soooo good at that.
November 13, 2020
Dom, I find your ceaseless invective rather tiresome but underneath this post is a sentiment I can share. Our freedoms have been curtailed in ways we would never have imagined by a useless Tory PM and supine party and yet we take time to honour those who died to try and preserve our liberty. If only this government could realise what a tragic irony this is
November 13, 2020
+1
We will remember them
November 13, 2020
+1
November 13, 2020
Well said DOM
November 13, 2020
Well said.
Quite frankly I find it an insult that any politician dare say we have ‘free speech’
Redwood himself must surely remember the days when we did.
A catch all of ‘hate speech’ for anything deemed politically incorrect and/or too close to the truth has left many fearing to speak freely at all.
November 13, 2020
BMW rejects Boris Johnson’s attempts to bring forward to 2030 the ban on the ICE.
What has the nation elected? Is this PM a complete puppet of the fascist green lobby and it seems every other activist lobby as well?
Is he really in control or is this PM being influenced by voices closer to home? One would think so.
I doubt Denis would have had so much influence on a nation’s future
Seriously, when we have unelected voices dictating the future direction of this nation in an illiberal nation then there’s only one inevitability and it won’t be pleasant
The British people don’t enjoy being told what we must do or what we must say
November 13, 2020
I don’t think Carrie has thought through the 2030 car ban. As I’ve noted before we’d need about 200+ extra charging stations just in my road to make it feasible and I don’t see anyone planning to install them.
November 14, 2020
Roy Grainger
When motor cars first appeared there were no garages and the rich owners had to carry their own petrol with them. It didn’t take long though before the country was swamped with petrol stations.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
November 14, 2020
Taking your own spare supply of petrol with you was a solution in the very early days of motoring.
But you cannot take your own spare supply of electricity with you.
Petroleum was and still is in plentiful supply.
Unlike electricity where demand is very near to capacity.
November 13, 2020
Indeed he seems to be a puppet of his rather deluded theatre studies graduate and the mother to his latest child. She seems to rule on downing street employment issues too. Trump for all his faults was exactly right on climate and energy.
November 13, 2020
DĆM
Very much in agreement with your comment. This leadership is totally out of its depth and control. The same can be said of the cabinet. Who the hell is going to take the helm and guide us to calmer waters. The senior , experienced back benchers have got to stand up as one as put pressure on Central Office to call all concerned to either accept the responsibility and be accountable. When the DM highlight that the power in No 10 is his political activist partner Carrie. Just get rid of the rot and do it now.
November 13, 2020
So how come they have allowed the erosion of our rights then?
Wrong voting habits!
November 13, 2020
It’s clear Mr Johnson is being guided and held to ransom by those who have been seduced by the lure of power. He’s the only person who could have given them this power and only he can remove/moderate it. It’s called leadership!
Mr Johnson now has an obligation to the electorate and to his Party to fully separate his work from his personal life, or it will become a scab that his enemies can pick at to keep his “wounds” open. It would also be sensible for Mr Johnson to start paying attention to the successful strategies of Mr Cummings again, because his current batch of “woke advisers” have not brought him success on any level.
November 13, 2020
+1
November 13, 2020
DOM -‘The British people donāt enjoy being told what we must do or what we must say’.
and ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’.
It will be hard, merciless and condemn dozens, maybe hundreds of political figures to obscurity. They will have to be content with memoirs left on the shelves, a few rounds of guest speaking and the odd reference to their cowardly mistakes when ‘everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’. Warhol.
November 13, 2020
Sir John I’m becoming puzzled at your regular holding back of my posts.
I can only assume your rear guard action to defend this monstrous Government has taken over your common sense? Loyalty for a failed PM who appears swayed by contentious scientists, allowing lies in the broadcast national address and unrealistic green support close to home is a mission you might not survive. Don’t forget a sensible candidate against you in Wokingham may attract thousands of previous supporters or determine they must abstain.
November 13, 2020
Why on earth would you ban ICEs unless you want to damage the economy hugely? Electric car are expensive, very limited, have short battery lives and do not even save any C02 considered properly!
November 14, 2020
Lifelogic
“In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, electric streetcars (also known as trams, trolleys, or trolley-cars) were a ubiquitous form of public transportation throughout the United States. By 1920, almost all major American cities, and many towns, had one or more electric streetcar systems”
November 14, 2020
What point are you making exactly? A tram with electric supplied by rails or wires is rather different to a battery car.
November 14, 2020
Streetcar = fixed route. Car = flexibility/independence.
November 13, 2020
No, all but seventeen million of them probably won’t enjoy being stripped of a whole raft of far-reaching rights through your lamentable brexit.
Even some of those seem to be pretty astonished, that they will have to join the longer slower queues coming back from their holidays.
You didn’t tell them that, did you?
November 13, 2020
Is that your best negative Martin?
Slightly bigger queues coming back from our annual holidays?
Hilarious
November 13, 2020
You will find all this comes from his Green\ Woke girlfriend. Boris is not running the Country, he is a simple mouthpiece for his girlfriend. Time she was put in her place. Boris you are a big boy know, bring your missus in line or face the consequences.
November 13, 2020
Seems so. A shame she is so wrong on everything.
November 13, 2020
Not seen this 2030 news yet, but no surprise that Boris wants absolute chaos by 2030, I predicted it as soon as the 2035 date was set.
No problem with slowly moving forward to a more greener Country as long as it is not forcing total industrial/financial chaos.
Who in their right mind would now invest tens of thousands in a diesel, petrol or hybrid means of transport ?
Only those who are spending someone else’s money, that’s who.!
This will eventually all end in tears I am afraid.
Think we have a very long way to go before all commercial vehicles, buses, coaches, farming tractors and the like go electric, and are as capable as they are now.
November 13, 2020
Alas. You have learned precisely nothing from the European conflicts – except how to set ourselves on a path to another one.
November 13, 2020
I am sure most of your readers, Sir John, are aware of the many vicious wars now being waged across the Middle East and Africa, and the threats of violence between India/Pakistan/China, all for the usual reasons of territorial gain and religious/tribal conflict.
I would like to see all those who are so vocal about the sins of the past turn their attention to attempting to alleviate these current disasters, which also encourage people to flee their homeland and make for Europe, thus stirring up yet further serious problems.
November 13, 2020
Apparently Dominic Cummings really is going to leave.
He really is a diva – isnāt he?
He thinks heās some sort of God but the reality is that he has been chief adviser to the worst government we have ever had. His list of failures is exceptionally long.
Sure he is a good campaigner – but winning campaigns is easy when you lie and cheat.
I suspect Mr Cummings will not be out of the spotlight for long. The public inquiries will be hearing lots about him, none of it good.
November 13, 2020
“We can best uphold the sacred candle of free speech…in this precious debating Chamber”
On that note, I would like to quote the following warning delivered by James Maxton M.P., when the first Public Order Bill came before Parliament in 1936:
“I and my colleagues on these benches have very grave doubts and many misgivings about an Act of this kind coming on to the Statute Book. I do not want my politics vetted by the chief constable in a town or county in Great Britain that I know of, and certainly I do not want his local constable on the beat or his local sergeant to be the censor of what I am to do politically. It would be a very bad thing indeed if the Fascist regime came to power in this country and said that I was to do nothing at all. I do not know that I like the idea of the local constable telling me any more than I would like the idea of a dictator telling me. Sometimes in this House when we attempt to evade the evils of dictatorship we are just in danger of imposing upon ourselves all the essential evils of dictatorship.“
(Hansard House of Commons, 7 December 1936; Series 5, Vol. 318, c. 1764; emphases added.)
84 years, and one World War later, I would be interested to know how well well you think the “precious debating chamber” has heeded Mr. Maxton’s warning.
November 13, 2020
Good morning.
Wars nowadays are not fought with bombs and bullets, they are fought through economics and regulations. The world is more interconnected than ever before and if you want to send over an invading army you do not need to plan an Overlord 2.0. Just give them a mobile number and an inflatable dinghy, and let our useful idiots do the rest š
Every year since the Cenotaph was unveiled 100 years ago this year. And throughout that time, through depressions, wars and political and social strife, this nation came together on every occasion to pay its respects to those that had fallen and whose graves remain unknown. That is, until this year. This year, because and PM and government took fright, this solemn ceremony was not just missed, but hijacked by scum. They used the dead to push a political message.
2020 is the year that I look upon the majority of the inhabitants of my country, and indeed the world, with contempt, disgust and amazement. Never in all history as a wretched creatures such as ourselves never deserved to walk the earth.
November 13, 2020
Mark B yes the stunt pulled at the cenotaph was truly disgusting. It should not have happened or been tolerated. Thankfully they did a diservice to their own cause. Less people have time for them and rightly so. Scum!
November 15, 2020
+1
November 13, 2020
I think we have less to fear from the “searchlight of history” than from those who would judge historic figures and events using the false standards forced upon this safe and cosseted demos, usually by the minority.
November 13, 2020
An excellent speech. We have indeed had to fight far too many wars.
We have alas, even recently, started pointless and counterproductive wars so poor have most recent PMs been.
November 13, 2020
Most PMs and governments and the mainly āgroup thinkā, sheep like MPs.
November 13, 2020
People follow orders.
Like they are doing now.
November 13, 2020
So are the government, Hancock and their āexpertsā going to adjust the vaccine priority list to give it to men at a lower age than women as logic clearly dictates. Thus saving hundreds or even thousands of lives? The silence and list so far suggest not.
It would be gross negligence, perhaps even mass manslaughter to ignore the covid gender (and perhaps other blood group etc.) risk profile in this way. It is also the best way to āprotect the NHSā from new cases given the limited vaccine in the early roll out.
November 13, 2020
I have not even heard any journalist ask any ministers or sage experts this obvious question? Van-Tam introduced his āMum Testā but a āDad testā would have been more applicable – given they are nearly two time more vulnerable.
November 13, 2020
Thank you for your speech, Sir John.
There is a voice of ‘one among a thousand’, concerning ‘a ransom found’.
Longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’
I ask this one thing only: why did the apostle John ‘Weep Much’?
And who was it that prevailed?
All human history is revealed therein.
Job 33: 23-30; Revelation 5:3-5
November 13, 2020
These people died for democracy.
The behaviour of those in government is tantamount to a desecration of the graves of the fallen.
More widely, at present neither of the Houses are fit for purpose, having failed to serve the people as the bodies conceived to do so, believing themselves superior.
November 14, 2020
No, in WWI they died because of undertakings made amongst the royal families of Europe, within one big family, that is.
November 14, 2020
Nothing to do with Germany was a newly formed and growing nation in the period before 1914. It pursued expansionist policies, led by Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm, which contributed to the causes of the First World War. German unification had been led by the Kingdom of Prussia, which was the largest, richest and most powerful of the 25 states which came together to form the new German Empire in 1871. As a result, Prussian influence remained strong after unification. From 1898 onwards Germany massively expanded its navy. There was a policy designed to turn Germany into a world power by building an overseas empire, growing its world trade and increasing its naval power. Royal families were ignored.
November 13, 2020
Quite right, and the sheer scale of both conflicts puts all subsequent disasters, including the current pandemic, very severely into context. If the wartime Governments had allowed their ‘Advisers’ to get so totally out of control as the present one has, we should not have stood a chance.
November 13, 2020
One of the greater challenges of science and genetics would be to positively identify, after conception, those who consider war and the slaughter of millions as a justifiable means to their corrupt ends. No more Po Pots, Hitler or Stalin who the innocents have to sacrifice their lives to stop. I too pay homage to those who did in the past, let them never be forgotten.
November 13, 2020
Please let me post just this.
Very interesting news re COVID.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8945123/Elon-Musk-says-tested-positive-negative-twice-COVID-19-one-day.html
November 13, 2020
When we elected the current government we did not include a civil service who remained in place as advisors, the librarians of law and process to facilitate government policy. That was their permanent job irrespective of who won. We did most certainly not elect a coterie of advisors or female partners to direct government from the shadows. Some of those we elect are expected to know the direction of policy and be sufficiently placed in government to carry it out. Sub letting or sub contracting was not part of the contract with the people, whether it be in Number 10 or some outlying quango. A system that grew under the premiership of Blair has no part in democratic politics, drain the swamp.
November 13, 2020
The proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax would do huge damage to the economy and would not even raise more tax overall. Can we have something on this please.
The Office of Tax Simplification published a report requested by Sunak into CGT that concluded current rules were ācounter-intuitiveā and created āodd incentivesā in several areas.
Indeed they do. The incentive is perhaps to invest and live elsewhere than the hugely overtaxed and over regulated (already) UK. Raising tax rates from the current position would do far more damage than good. Get real Sunak let’s have a report into how to cut out the endless government waste start with HS2 and the incompetent (and possible corrupt) virus response.
November 13, 2020
Also the absurd zero net carbon agenda again incompetent (and almost certainly hugely corrupt).
November 13, 2020
I find it very odd, and worrying, that we have a government body telling another government body how to do its job.
November 13, 2020
Great article in Conservative Woman this morning
What Carrie wants Carrie gets
Surely itās not possible for a government to fall any lower in peopleās estimation š¤š¤š¤
So thereās the explanation for all the governmentās green agenda, Iām delighted that weāve managed to save a zillion square miles of ocean, would that so much effort had been put into saving Great Britain
November 13, 2020
Hopefully, we remember not to hound ex-servicemen and women through the courts for spurious war crimes.
November 13, 2020
What about the genuine ones?
November 13, 2020
Look up spurious in a dictionary
November 13, 2020
Sir John
We have forgotten them, we cancelled all military parades, we cancelled all church and social services, our state funded TV didnāt show many programmes. I also understand that not many schools and universities stopped and reflect for 2 minutes at 11 oāclock
All could have been achieved within the guidelines of covid-19 social distancing rules
November 13, 2020
Agreed.
I earlier in the week asked at work whether or not there would be a minutes silence. I did not get a reply but an email did do the rounds. At the appointed time I drifted off to be alone as I knew others would not pay their respects.
A small act in respect of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Not hard really.
November 13, 2020
Strictly speaking, Remembrance Sunday is about remembering those killed in war and on operations. 11 November is Armistice Day, and is about marking the armistice. A little pedantic, perhaps, but it would be sad to lose sight of the unique nature of the Great War and its consequences and almost āre-runā Remembrance Sunday only a few days before or after.
November 13, 2020
HOW ON EARTH CAN WE HAVE FAITH IN BORIS WHEN HE IS SO ONE SIDED?
Johnson on virus vaccine: āanti-vaxā argument is ātotal nonsenseā
…WHEN HE IS SIMPLY MOUTHING THE ‘ADVICE’ FROM THOSE WHO ARE PUSHING THE VACCINATION AS A CURE-ALL.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-54903497
November 13, 2020
One should be for some vaccines and against others. Is is like almost everything a risk reward calculation depends on the circumstances. To stop one Covid death in an under 50 years old with a 90% effective vaccine you might need to vaccinate 10,ooo of them. Are we sure adverse reactions to the 10,000 vaccinations will not do more harm than good in adverse reactions to it?
November 13, 2020
No, it’s not a curative.
It’s a preventative.
And there’s a proverb.
November 13, 2020
This is a most profound subject indeed as Britain and her Allies suffered terribly in human cost alone.
We will remember them -And more importantly – their ultimate sacrifice for our today and tomorrows.
Sadly many battles had to be fought for so little gain.
What we have left is to be cherished.
The lessons of 100 years ago at Versailles have been ignored by Brussels EU as Lord Keynes advocated not to punish but rehabilitate Germany who responded to France and USA later sadly.
November 13, 2020
‘Some may seek to use powerful new searchlights of history to change the picture they want to see āor to play this down,’
Some demagogues may try to play up the current crisis in similar terms/language for their own ends too. We must be wary of them. Fundamental freedoms must never be put in doubt or danger. Period.
zorro
November 13, 2020
Boris has already cancelled our fundamental free speech, fundamental liberties, our right to see our loved ones. He has turned the United Kingdom into a Stazi state, he has turned nieghbors into turncoats and colluded with others to frighten people into obeying him. This is basically 1984. Fortunately there are some who will be willing to fight these crimes against humanity as time will show.
November 13, 2020
Withdrawing from ECHR would do exactly that of which your last sentence warns.
November 13, 2020
The sacrifices of our forefathers were real; the reasons they were taken to war were not. Where we are now is a direct consequence of that; the enemy within the gate holds sway and we are not a free people to say what we believe and act on our beliefs.
November 13, 2020
The sacrifices were not only confined to our ancestors but to the country as a whole. By the end of the last war we were bankrupt and dependent on the US (who did well out of the war) – a debt which we have only recently paid off, but, something that’s forgotten, we half ruined our countryside by putting much of our (flowered) meadows to the plough. And which process continued long after the war was over.
November 13, 2020
All this while the country is under a repressive regime which is attempting to track, surveil and interfere with us as never before.
November 13, 2020
Beautifully and wisely said. Praying we as a country adhere to it, all of it. Amen.
November 13, 2020
Good speech but “this precious debating Chamber we enjoy”.
What is Boris doing then allowing the ‘reported’ Cummings, Carrie and Rashford to dictate policy rather than the government and people we elect?
What are we to believe? Boris has allowed the narrative the Conservative MPs have to be over-ridden into providing free school meals outside of school (even though UC was increased by Ā£1000 and the rates increased). Why has Boris given Rashford all the credit for this?
What was in the Tory manifesto about climate change, green policies and the like, what has Boris agreed to different to what was in that? We are told by the media that Carrie is so powerful she is writing/dictating the policy, why are you and your fellow MPs allowing this narrative to continue John are you really all not debating these matters?
We have heard nothing but “vote leave fraud” since 2016 [its ironic that these same people are condemning Trump for this whilst continuing four years without proof later/remember people this is new opposition technique you are teaching] – “Cummings this, cummings that”, has anything been proven? Cadwalladr is on twitter again today – no twitter warning on her statements that: “! This claim about election fraud is disputed” or !This claim about 2016 election fraud is not proven”. Does Boris, Gove and your government really think you can say this was all Cummings doing come January, are things agreed in the debating chamber or with Cummings?
November 13, 2020
Can I just say there is FAR, FAR, FAR too much knocking of politicians (I am not talking about this site – but about in society in general). Putting them down. Being cynical about them.
Yes, it’s right and proper to challenge politicians when they get things wrong and to do better. But it’s even more important to PRAY FOR POLITICIANS. This is what The Holy Bible says at least:
‘I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people ā for kings and all those in authority’ (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
If we don’t pray more for politicians and politics, then we simply won’t get the politicians we need and deserve – they simply won’t want to go into politics and will instead do something else – and the ones we do have simply won’t be able to do as well as they could.
God bless ALL members of The House of Commons and The House of Lords. May they do the best they can for this country. May we please be blessed with the best possible politicians in the new intake of politicians in the years to come.
God bless Her Majesty The Queen.
November 13, 2020
Ed – well said! Much truth there. I have also heard it said a people gets the politicians it deserves. The Bible also speaks of a great apostasy in the last days, and what we are seeing reflects just that. There are many good and faithful men and women in politics in this and other comparable nations, civil servants, too. The task before them is now so difficult, even compared to the monumental upheavals of the 20th century. We should indeed, ‘pray without ceasing’.
November 15, 2020
@Norman,
Traditional Christianity teaches world could end today or in a billion years time. Ultimately only The Father knows – but we must be prepared everyday – and with GOOD CHEER! (‘Be joyful at all times’ – Thessolians). The medieval, Persian mystic and poet Rumi said that Death is like the Wedding Night (the spirit of The Bible’s Song of Song) as long as of course we’re properly prepared. And we should be trying to imbue the romantic spirit of ‘The Wedding Night’ into our world – building beautiful romantic buildings like Venice, composing wonderful romantic music like that of Mozart, of more love and romance in marriage and more families and stronger family life – and patriotism!
The Bible says that all it takes is a few fervent, loving (please God), humble (please God), prayerful, Christians to begin bring change to the world – God said Sodom and Gomorrah would have been saved if there had been a faithful person in it praying for it – and look at how the disciples transformed the world.
We just have to do our bit – stay firm, cheerful etc, praying for our queen, politicians, people in the arts, armed forces, in business, education — and so on. Our country in general, praying for what is best about this great country and its history. And of course praying for our families. And above all ourselves. And doing our bit to bring Heaven onto Earth (like the Quakers in business with their work ethic, like the great faith of Joan of Arc winning sovereignty for her country, like the beautiful, divine poetic writing of Shakespeare’s in particular in The Tempest).
God bless this great country
November 15, 2020
And praying and trying to help and love all – the physically poor but also the spiritually poor – as in The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son … Praying for Her Majesty The Queen to the tramp in the ditch.
How happy our country would be.
November 15, 2020
‘Her Majesty The Queen’ – not saying the Queen is spiritually poor. I think she’s a good, Christian woman.
November 13, 2020
When you are elected or, hand over a decision to the electorate and then ignore them, I think one is entitled to be a bit critical.
November 13, 2020
Not sure many of the combatants would have been much impressed by a return to raging populist Nationalism – what could possibly go wrong with that eh ?
On the subject of National effort it is clear that for the country to bounce back the vaccine must have coverage . Why not make it mandatory , I am sick of free loaders , and web-nuts – Why should the responsible amongst us endlessly suffer by carrying the dim superstitious and selfish ?
November 13, 2020
Long before my dad (served 1938 to 1946. Royal Engineers, Dunkirk, Africa, Burma) died, disgusted by our politicians he (like many soldiers) – when I pressed him to to talk about the war (he never spoke about it) responded by saying āwhat was the bloody pointā?
And, on that note, what was the bloody point of the Brexit referendum. Cummings is out and the capitulation we never considered in the wars will now happen courtesy of Boris Johnson.
The only plus point will be Johnsonās legacy of destroying the Tory Party. When we leave in name only I imagine 20% of Tory voters will never. It Tory again. That said, most of you on here will always vote Tory no matter how badly they sell this country out.
November 13, 2020
Not me.
November 13, 2020
Is this latest reshuffle-kerfuffle from the Prime Ministerial :::::: in some way supposed to suddenly change how we voted in the Brexit referendum some YEARS ago now?
To use a Trumpism, I call upon our host to either move to drain the Conservative swamp or distance himself from what remains of his shapeless blob of a party before his good name is dragged under with it.
November 13, 2020
“We have had to fight far too many wars. Today, we need a strong defence to keep us safe and to increase the chances of peace. ”
I salute that sentiment.
It is sad that so many politicians now see defence as something to be cut while welfare in all its forms increases.
It seems important to bring society back to a self-dependency approach to life, while government only helps people to do that.
November 13, 2020
Well said Sir John sadly you are spreading yourself very thin
Your party is no more , the vast majority of them, are not only ignoring The Party, but a majority of the people of this once proud Nation.
The same goes for those who are un elected, it has been going on for decades.
The whole lot must be true to the people who put them there or face the consequences of betrayal, a punishment must be made so these ghastly people can not get away with Treacherous behaviour every day, I include the so call PM. No one should be Above the law.
Non of these people should be allowed into The Lords or the Commons, they should be banned from working for the Government in any way or form for the rest of there lives
There has to be a deterrent for suchlike behaviour.
Further those who have retired , all old PMs should also be taken to account, there will then be a proper Parliament, and a proud Nation once again, they will also loose any gongs they have been given, an example should be made of these disgraceful criminals,they should be made an example of that will follow them to there grave
November 13, 2020
”We have had to fight far too many wars.”
Indeed we have. And the world should brace itself for fighting even more if Harris/Biden get their paws on the levers of power.
Or will their mates the Chinese prevent such folly?