Many write into this blog to complain of policies they think have been foisted on them and the UK by virtue of international treaties, agreements, the views of global institutions and of a governing class of quango heads, senior officials, celebrities, big businessĀ and many politicians. The conspiracy theorists wish to attribute these views and policies to a handful of people they think are unduly influential. In practice it is much more complex than that. The truth is many of these bodies, governments and officials do think the same and do wish to impose a similar agenda on the countries or in the sectors they control. There has beenĀ a movement to world and to regional or bloc based government. The long campaign to get the UK to join the ill fated Exchange Rate Mechanism was part of this development. It led to boom, bust and the end of the government in the UK. it should warn us about accepting such future strong advice from these international sources.
It means that health policy looks to the World Health Organisation for responses to major public health challenges. Economic policy in recent years has beenĀ driven in the USA, UK, EU and Japan by the same mistaken belief that a Central bank can keep interest rates near zero and keep creating extra money without it being inflationary. Pandemic policy was driven by a common view that lockdowns were essential until vaccinations were widespread. Energy and environmental policy has been dominated by a general drive to net zero, leading to too much reliance on unreliable wind and solar electricity and to a shortage of gas. Erratic US policy towards military intervention especially in Afghanistan has accelerated a move to a two bloc world in geopolitics, with a US led group including NATO competing with a Chinese led group.
It is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies. That is easier in democracies than autocracies, though we have just seen a major change of policy towards covid in China following popular protest against lockdowns. In the USA Republican states take aĀ very different approach to net zero than Democrat ones. Republican states drill for more oil and gas, back the diesel and petrol vehicle industry, and see private vehicles as an important part of personal freedom, whilst Democrat statesĀ seek to move swiftly away from fossil fuels in every way possible. Sweden took a different line on covid restrictions than most other European countries. The Central Banks of China and Switzerland did not follow the other leading Central Banks with excessive Quantitative easing and high inflation. Some western countries follow a policy of neutrality rather than being part of the US led NATO framework.
Liz Truss’s problems resulted from an establishment that did not want her to change economic policy. They do not like tax cuts, denying that they can raise more money, and producing pessimistic assessments of their impact on growth. They claim to want to run the economy based around a falling deficit, yet the measures they recommend are about to boost the deficit which rises if you enter recession. Their policies will ensure recession. They resist proposals to improve and alter our regulatory frameworks for business now we are out of the EU, as they favour continued EU harmonisation. I will look at the tussle over economic policy at the heart of the brief Truss period in office in a later blog.
January 2, 2023
” it should warn us about accepting such future strong advice from these international sources”
The shortlived Truss/Kwarteng policies were obviously based on local advise and home-grown establishment, like the IEA and libertarian MPs. Shifting blame won’t wash internationally. It is widely viewed as a disaster.
January 2, 2023
Only by those who actually ensured it would not work.
January 2, 2023
JR, it requires a leader of independent thought, Trump, Thatcher. You are in a socialist pro EU remain party (277 MPs wanted vassalage and Sunak/Hunt currently implementing that agenda). Heaton-Harris not supporting DUP or act of union, he is punishing DUP to cave in to EU demands over N.Ireland protocol and to rub salt into the wounds gave building of our warships to EU when forcing a recession on GB!
Frost is correct your no longer conservatives but following a socialist Marxist agenda opposite to any conservative thinking. Another blame anyone or anything because your party is full of weak insipid lefty people seeking popularity with global institutions.
Just Get out.
January 2, 2023
Agreed.
January 2, 2023
Peter, you don’t seem to have considered who contrived the very short-term ‘disaster’ you refer to. It was designed to change government policy, like runs on the pound were, back in the days of Harold Wilson and the gnomes of Zurich. This was political, not economic.
January 2, 2023
Exactly, the economic market problems that Truss hit were all caused by Suankās tax, borrow, print and piss does the drain policies and surely contrived by the BoE, Sunak and similar. Not by the Kwasi āBudgetā which was very moderate given the vast tax increases we had already had from 12 years of āConservativeā government.
January 2, 2023
The Treasury, BoE and IMF deliberately destabilised the markets to cause turmoil. It calmed down in a matter of days, but by then Truss had been instructed to sack Kwarteng (whilst he was returning from an IMF meeting) and appoint Hunt as Chancellor …. which she did, presumably in a vain hope that it might save her job.
The installation of Sunak and Hunt was a bloodless coup.
January 2, 2023
The actions of the BOE before during and after mini budget caused the coup to get Sunak and Hunt in place. OBR also helped, a left wing quango of no value should be scrapped. As JR says little helpers. Bailey should have been toast for his actions against national interest and national financial security reasons.
Why is Bailey in place? Why was Hunt appointed, Truss owes us an explanation! Why has Sunak got Labour activists advising in No.10 economic policy unit?
January 2, 2023
+1 Sunak’s second one.
January 2, 2023
Only by channelling Mrs Thatcher can Rishi Sunak save the Tory party
In these torrid times, leading is not enough: one has to teach, too. The PM needs to be frank with us
Nick Timothy in the Telegraph today.
Well perhaps but to be āfrankā he would have to admit that his gross economic incompetence as Chancellor was the cause of the current appalling position. Not Putin or Covid but Net Zero and the governmentās absurd over reaction to Covid. The over tax, borrow, print and piss down the drain agenda, eat out to heat out, the net harm vaccines, test and trace, the corruption in PPE procurementā¦ Sunak still seems to be hiding his New Year Message was just pathetic lies he is hardly leading anything!
January 3, 2023
Daily Mail yesterday after a recent poll – “Poll gives hope for Conservatives as a senior Tory MP insists next election is still up for grabs” He thinks Sunak is doing an excellent job and that Conservatives under Liz Truss had made mistakes & people had been unhappy with his party. Unbelievable.
January 2, 2023
@Hat man: Are the financial markets “political”?
January 2, 2023
No but they are cynical, cyclical and reactionary
January 2, 2023
PVL :
I think they are as evidenced by PM Sunak, then Chancellor, at COP26 saying :
āSo our third action is to rewire the entire global financial system for Net Zero.ā
January 2, 2023
I find that statement chillingly frightening.
January 2, 2023
Peter, financial markets can be manipulated for political ends by the big players, especially asset management firms such as (names deleted as no evidence of this) which have shareholder control over large swathes of the global economy. Likwise, groupthink can be created by the leading players, via the small number of media corporations controlling a lot of the Western press and broadcast media.
Does this come as news?
reply Market manipulation is an offence and needs evidence to prove it.
January 2, 2023
Reply to Reply
I heartily wish you were right, Sir John. But that’s not what Nasdaq tells us: ‘Often legal, but sometimes illegal, financial market manipulation is rampant in today’s stock market.’
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/5-market-manipulation-tactics-and-how-avoid-them-2018-04-11
January 2, 2023
Indeed. It is my understanding that āacting in concertā is illegal. I am puzzled by certain well known web sites where you can invest money by following (automatically mimicking) someone elseās trades. And, as happened a while ago, a load of people clearly acted in concert to drive a share price up of a company that was being heavily shorted by hedge funds. Oddly there were no shouts of ācollusionā and āmanipulating the marketā.
Reply If you have evidence you can report these things. this site does not have the capacity to go into such cases.
January 2, 2023
GB news, interview by Farage on a gold dealer who informed proper authorities over gold manipulation in the markets. What action taken by authorities ought to be on the agenda of select committee and chancellors when it happened.
January 2, 2023
Hatman, you should report it to the Guardian if you have evidence, they seem quite keen to investigate market matters and like exposes.
January 2, 2023
I think the financial markets have their own interests at heart. They are political in as much as they seek to further their own interests by making demands on politicians. At the end of the day that is where lots of the politicians seem to earn their income when they leave office.
January 2, 2023
I think the financial world has been well and truly infected by Net Zero and BLM groupthink. That is political. Some CEOs believe in it and others not, but most go along with it now. If one speaks out of turn he is removed. HR have the power.
January 2, 2023
Rose, there are now too many people biting their tongues and not speaking out against this groupthink because they need their next promotion and have to stay in the clique to get it. These powerful people in the institutions are they the majority or just the most vocal majority? Will someone at sometime just call them out for having no clothes?
January 4, 2023
Since ESG, Yes. When are you going to get rid of your WEF prime minister and his helpers, who are going to close down your brilliant farming industry?
January 2, 2023
Quite – the overriding fact is that Parliament, where the Tories have a large majority, is supreme in the UK. The Court can’t touch its enactments, and it can go against international law if it chooses, whatever the consequences.
However, nothing is ever the Tories’ fault according to Sir John.
January 2, 2023
That is certainly not his position. Major’s ERM certainly was as was joining and burying us in the EU, over taxing and regulating the economy, the net zero insanity from May the road blocking lunacy…
January 2, 2023
Of course these were actions by āToryā governments but they were certainly not āTory actionsā.
All our problems arise from a lack of conservatism, not an excess of it.
āTwas ever thus.
January 2, 2023
I am surprised you’re so hostile to the “Tories” when they are socialists like yourself. Are you sure this is the blog for you?
January 2, 2023
So we finally have your admission that local advice isn’t to be taken into account. Good luck with that when the Chinese advise you how they might run your government and you say “okey-dokey”. The whole premise of this piece and of most commentators on here is that we look after ourselves rather than have China, Russia or the EU “look after” our interests. Slava Ukraini! Rule Britannia! Cave in Netherlands!
January 2, 2023
This is the element of globalism that does not seem to be taken into account – China will one day be supreme and driving the agenda.
UK joined the EEC (and then allowed the EU) believing it could influence it transpired that it could not.
Best to just influence locally and look after your own
January 2, 2023
Good article in con woman yesterday demonstrating how UK reliant on China for wind and solar panel quackery built by coal fired power stations!! Trump had summed it up correctly about Sherman reliance on a Russia energy and Chinese goods, global institutions and left wing leaders laughed at him. The problem is everything he said from 2017 onwards has proved to be correct!!
Sunak now buying More US fracked gas to sell on to Germany to boost its manufacturing industries!! He stopped fracking here!
Sunak giving away national security building of warships to EU while imposing a recession here!
Sunak raising taxes across the board to make GB business less competitive in the world. He falsely claims to build Britain back stronger!
Sunakās policies are in stark contrast to what he says. He is intelligent therefore I can only conclude he is lying against his claims to serve with integrity and implement 2019 manifesto.
January 2, 2023
It is unhelpful to spend a great deal of time on whether events are a āconspiracyā or not. That is a loaded word with perjorative associations now attached to those who use it.
A major point is āpolicies they think have been foisted on them and the UKā. Comments here show many hold that view.
A comparison of election manifestos with the subsequent actions of various Prime Ministers – May, Johnson and Sunak – reinforce those views. The rapid removal of the short-lived Prime Minister who bucked the trend and the emergence of a Prime Minister who was unwanted add weight to the notion of policy foisting.
The article states āIt is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies.ā
I think many readers would now find that idea unduly optimistic. Unless, of course, there is a major upheaval. It certainly wonāt happen with ābusiness as usualā. Readers may think we are played for fools and taken for a ride. The force of the Establishment now seems to constantly override the choices of the voting public.
January 2, 2023
Peter
Your last paragraph sums it up very nicely. Real change has to come very quickly to halt the decent to the catastrophe waiting to happen.
January 2, 2023
descent
January 2, 2023
Directly after Trussās budget the IMF forecast growth in the U.K. economy! The Truss budget, in my view did not get the priorities right, but she was going in the right direction.
The minute Hunt intervened to āmaintain world orderā the U.K. economy shrank.
Those who saw the Truss approach as ādisastrousā need to review their opinions. Because reality proved them ALL WRONG!
January 2, 2023
The āshort-livedā ideas of Liz Truss are slowly being replaced by the āprofessionalā administration that replaced her āamateurā āsillyā one. How strange and what a coincidenceā¦
January 2, 2023
Truss’s failure was down to her own stupidity and nothing and nobody else. She was obsessed with cutting taxes for the rich rather than the average man (she had been promoting this policy for years, despite its political idiocy), she was too stupid to understand that a budget must balance tax cuts with spending cuts, she was too stupid to understand that industrial growth is driven by TARGETED business tax cuts which are focused on promoting investment (ie. a superdeduction on ALL capital investment and R&D spend), and she stupidly appointed a failed business secretary as chancellor (rather than John Redwood) merely because he was a friend, despite the fact that he had no understanding of the importance of ensuring the Bank of England implemented the right policies.
January 2, 2023
Perhaps people who live in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones. We look on with horror at the moves by the Dutch government to close down farming that will lead to real hunger for some, and to impose totalitarian control over spending of more than ā¬100. It is no surprise to see PVV polling level with Rutte’s VVD. The headlong rush to emulate Sri Lanka inspires no confidence.
January 2, 2023
Not true. The big problem with the Truss budget was the massive unfunded and uncapped handout to reduce energy bills. The IEA and right-wing economists specifically opposed this measure.
January 2, 2023
I agree with you, but the IEA aināt what it was. There is no Harris or anyone anything like him there now.
January 2, 2023
Widely: In Holland š
January 2, 2023
Truss/Kwarteng policies wera widely viewed as a disaster because the controlled media promoted them as such.
Read John’s article again Peter.
January 2, 2023
Good morning.
There has always been an Establishment and the general view was that it was a load of old men in men’s clubs deciding the future of the world etc. In truth it is nebulous consisting of corporations, governments, institutions, wealthy people and even celebrities. Some work together on common causes and some work against, but all have something in common, and that is to influence events.
I have no problem with on the whole but, where i draw the line is when lies are being peddles, money is to be made, and the direction in which the aforementioned wish us to go is contrary to our wishes (eg Net-Zero).
I was once of the opinion that the elected government of the day ran the show. But since the formation of the EU and the growing power and politicization of our institutions, QUANGO’s and such it seems it is they that are our masters now, and they in turn have masters elsewhere.
Back in the day, the Civil Service would perhaps advise / steer / influence a Minister to take this or that action. And I imagine that this is still the case but, I am of the increasing opinion that, said CS would he / she come under similar influence from elsewhere and, if a Minister did not heed such advice woe betide them.
One can see this in the numerous episodes of, Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. The word, ‘yes’ being used very often š in that TV Series ( I bet no one ever noticed that).
Sadly, we are trapped. We have become hostages to our own vices and unwillingness to pushback. Too many LL’s and Richard1 who will vote for the same expecting different and yet, will complain and carry on voting for them no matter how many times they are abuse.
January 2, 2023
Under our system the choice is a Conservative govt or a Labour govt. in just about every respect a Conservative govt is preferable, even if it is disappointing.
January 2, 2023
Until MPs such as our host determine to move en bloc, bringing with them some big hitters, media outlets etc. Then things would (have) change(d).
Somebody has to garner support and make a move. Until then plus ca change, I agree.
January 2, 2023
My preference. We cannot do without the Tory Giants and I hope they will ditch the deadwood and give us all the chance to vote for a very much better versions of the Truss Budget!
Even red-wall voters are quite keen on keeping their homes and businesses. If there was a true conservative option, I believe it would find favour in the country.
I would be prepared to knock on every door and give the reasons why the cross in the Conservative box is existential.
I told the Bishop of Durham on Christmas Day that they āwere losingā me because I was sticking to Christianity.
I tell the Tory Party that they have lost me because Iām sticking to Conservatism.
January 2, 2023
Agree – If it wasn’t for GB News would joe public even know about the illegal immigrant numbers
January 2, 2023
The UK Government released on Sunday that 45,756 migrants made it to these shores in 2022 (up to 18/12) compared to 28,526 in 2021.
Where do you think GBNews gets its numbers, from Farage with his binoculars?
http://www.gov.uk āMigrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boatsā.
Anybody interested has the choice between weekly and monthly data. Annual data for 2022 will be officially published on 03/01/2023.
January 2, 2023
Hefner, of course you’re right it isn’t just Farage and GB news. A Google search tells me the ‘45,756 migrants in 2022’ figure was reported in inews, North Norfolk News, the Guardian, Herald Scotland, the Telegraph, the Week, Ludlow Advertiser, Metro and msn news, plus other local papers.
However, I can’t find a report by the BBC. Maybe that’s what Glen had in mind.
January 2, 2023
The Westminster Uni-Party is like a 3-legged stool. It has very slightly different length legs so it wobbles slightly and that “wobble” is the policy difference which they argue about very loudly to pretend they are offering a choice.
Despite the wobble it is remarkably stable unless one of the legs is broken: then it CANNOT stand.
To effect real change one of the legs has to be broken, or (as Farage/UKIP demonstrated) one of the legs has to be at credible risk of being broken in order to force that leg to change policy in order to protect itself. Or do you seriously think Cameron would have held the EU Referendum if UKIP hadn’t been at 12% in the polls and rising?
All the time you vote for the Uni-Party, nothing will change.
January 2, 2023
Correct. We the electorate need to reassert OUR power with OUR votes. If you don’t give us what you have promised, you’re history !
January 2, 2023
Donna. Agree. If enough people did change the way they voted we could get change. What’s the point in voting for a party that’s delivering everything that’s bad for the country? If you give them your vote you are essentially saying you like what they’re doing and it gives them the mandate to carry on thinking it’s popular. Then of course you have the scenario where they tell you what they will do because they know it’s popular ( get Brexit done) ha, ha, but when voted in do exactly the opposite and align us further. I don’t trust any of the main parties so hence they will not get my vote. Voting for the lesser of two evils in not sensible. I’ll vote for a true Conservative party….Reform.
January 2, 2023
Mr. Redwood argues that it was simply Tory policy to listen to the people and nothin to do with UKIP and their becoming the biggest party from this country in the EU Parliament. Oooops! Just choked on my coffee.
Reply We did not threatened David but he was well aware that once a majority of Conservative MPs wanted one he could not stop us.
January 2, 2023
No MP, Tory or otherwise, who was in favour of staying in, wanted a referendum. Cameron simply acknowledged that UKIP support was so high that the Tory Party would lose the election unless he spiked their guns. Which worked. And it worked again in 2019 when Boris pretended he wanted to āget Brexit doneā. UKIP stood down – or the 2019 election would have had a very different result.
I do not believe for one minute that a majority of Tory MOs in that Parliament wanted a referendum. How many were in the ERG group. A hundred? Farage won us that referendum. Turned out to be completely pointless, thanks to the fact that a majority of Tory MPs wrrr appalled that Leave won the referendum.
Reply You are wrong. we built up the support, not by trading on UKIP. I always thought we would win for leave but most did not.A lot of MPs wanted a referendum as they thought it would improve the EU offer of better terms to stay in. they wanted a more narrowly focused trade based membership, rejecting political and monetary Union. The Euro was very unpopular .
January 2, 2023
A small-ish majority of Tory MPs in 2016 backed Remain, and it was the same after the 2017 election, according to the FT. That flipped after the 2019 GE, however, according to this piece:
https://conservativehome.com/2020/03/27/philip-lynch-we-may-not-have-seen-the-last-of-conservative-infighting-on-europe/
January 2, 2023
WRONG !
If everyone voted for party ‘x’ then party ‘x’ would win. That is the system – Winner takes all.
January 2, 2023
Heaton-Harris imposing legislation to force DUP to cave to EU demands over Protocol!! That is not an outside organisation but Sunak/Hunt govt!! Nor a conspiracy theory. The govt giving away N.Ireland is a scandal.
January 2, 2023
Richard1,
It may not be possible for a new party to get enough seats to become the Government at the next General Election, but local elections are happening in May. Then we can at least begin to bring about change for the better.
January 2, 2023
If a new party is to be successful it must win over hearts and minds of those who are thinking that voting Labour would be an escape from the present government and its quangos and multilateral agreements.
January 2, 2023
so give them a Standing Order vote? madness. Boot out to gain some level of control back.
January 2, 2023
Nonsense Richard, vote for what you believe in otherwise you sound like JR moaning there is nothing that can be done. If everyone wanted to vote for a Conservative party then a reform is the only choice. Lord a Frost made that clear in his article yesterday!! Lord Agnew resigned because of Sunakās school boy Ā£11.6 billion errors and his refusal to investigate it! Sunakās answer: raise taxes! Hunt lost Ā£34 billion to NHS IT system. Hunts answer: raise taxes and give NHS more!!
January 2, 2023
No it isn’t. We just need a viable alternative and a campaign to switch enough voters. If you keep believing the status quo nothing will ever change. We have seen in the past the rise of the Labour party when enough voters become disgruntled with the incumbent political parties.
January 2, 2023
Agreed, Christine, but the Labour party had the trade unions as a grassroots network to base its voting support on. I don’t see how Reform UK is going to do likewise.
Unless of course… no, this wouldn’t work, would it? Infiltrate the Conservative local associations all over the country, perhaps?
Might be worth a try.
January 2, 2023
NO – the Conservative Party is NOT preferable to Labour. They are EQUALLY as bad – and in any case I prefer to be stabbed in the front rather than in the back. The Tories are TRAITORS. I will never vote for a party that lies to me and betrays me and then spits on me. I will vote ReformUK. Yes, it might let Labour in, but so what, they will just openly do what the Tories are secretely doing. It will not make the couintry worse, and it may, just may, lead to a new Tory leader being appointed who is actually a patriot and a nationalist, rather than another sell-out and traitor.
January 2, 2023
I hope to live to see that day. But it seems unlikely.
January 2, 2023
X-Tory, +++++ I’m with you in your sentiments, outrage, and action
January 2, 2023
Then we need to break the system. We’ve had 12.5 years of Consocialists who have failed in every policy area. We need reform. So vote for that Party.
January 2, 2023
Timaction, +++ it has to be Reform, certainly not the traitorous Tories.
January 2, 2023
Richard 1, If they’re the same, there’s something to be said for out and out Socialists who are elected on their policies, as opposed to Conservatives who are elected under false pretences and proceed to cheat their electorate.
January 2, 2023
There are 408 registered political parties in the U.K. the British people, wisely, want to elect a government outright with the threat of replacing it should they fail.
We do not want 1 MP from each of the 408 parties, that leads to horse trading and finger pointing, and the electorate will not know who failed to deliver.
Itās the people who was 2 parties rather than a minority party holding the balance of power.
If democracy does not give the majority what they want, itās a perversion of the system.
January 2, 2023
As ever, the Right stand the generally accepted meaning of “the establishment” on its head yet again.
In the UK that is: the Landed, the Church, the military/intelligence/security seniors, the Diplomacy, the board of the BBC, bankers and financiers, the senior judiciary, and like figures in prominent positions.
Sir John appears to assert that rather, it is anyone who might disagree with the absolutist position of the ERG on a given matter, such as the teaching profession, the young, trade unions, a few journalists etc.
It’s worn very thin.
January 2, 2023
Well it is perhaps mainly a division between the senior ones in the 20% who work in state sector rather than the 80% who pay for it all. They are generally pro EURO/ERM, pro EU, pro climate alarmism and the net zero insanity, anti-car, pro ever higher taxes, pro monopoly/communist NHS, educationā¦ so all totally misguided.
So are the government going to address the hundreds of excess weekly deaths caused by NHS delays, vaccine damage or long covid. Or at least breakdown the causes, Why on earth are they still pushing these net harm vaccines?
January 2, 2023
Is this like Osborneās 80% cuts to 20% tax rises!! Exact opposite resulting in highest tact action in memorable history. Percentages and basic maths are not a Tory party strong point.
January 2, 2023
The BBC was at it again this morning at 9am with a discussion programme about climate change with “experts” that had all attended COP summits. Of course, there was nobody allowed on the panel to put a counter-argument about anything.
I was just about to throw a book at the radio in disgust, when I heard one contributor say that within 29 years the world will have to double food production just to feed the growing population.
That is about as un-green as it is possible to be, yet not one contributor made any comment about the need to keep population growth under control !
Of course, David Attenborough famously made a speech a few years ago in support of the animal kingdom about the danger of human population growth, and was universally howled down from all directions. Strangely, he now only makes the case for restricting emissions, no mention of the “Bleedin’ Obvious” case to restrict human population because that would upset India and all the other countries where population growth is totally out of control.
January 2, 2023
The world will only have to double food production if it cuts it substantially meanwhile, as they are aiming to do in the Netherlands and also in the UK. Population projections show a peak of 11 billion compared with the present 8 billion, most of whom are now well nourished. A 40% increase in food should suffice.
January 2, 2023
Chris Primatologist Dame Jane Goodall has warned that human population growth is damaging the planet’s future. .
They are telling us people arenāt listening.
Then the UK is told youāre not having enough children lets bring in 3 million from elsewhere! All going to plan.
January 2, 2023
We say this with Prince Charles lauding (our generally dire) public services while failing even to mention the 80% eho duffer the higher taxes for 70 year yet received such dysfunction and inept public services. The NHS has about 500 excess death a week due to delays, errors, vaccine damage…
January 2, 2023
We saw this…
January 2, 2023
The 8o% who suffer the highest taxes ā¦
January 2, 2023
I’m sure the same, lad, could have been said about Vichy France. Its ministers were drawn very much from the social levels you mention, the traditional French establishment. But it was still the vassal of a foreign power.
January 2, 2023
The UK should make sensible decisions in its own interests without being so docile as to follow others for some irrational sake of uniformity. Many of those others have bad intent or are opposed to the UK. Some are in UK govt or in positions they use to exert control toward failure and should be removed. Success can flow when well-meaning individuals proceed without obstruction from others with sinister intent.
January 2, 2023
Good grief Martin, is this your New Year resolution? To stop speculating twaddle and write good sense.
Bring it on!
January 2, 2023
+++1
January 2, 2023
Good points Mark. You and Sir J have captured and described the problem accurately. It isn’t a mysterious Elite pulling strings, simply an example of those with power all using the same set of instructions.
Of course, the irony is that all the current attention on diversity in office translates to diversity of race, sex, gender, disability. The most important area of diversity required when in power is the capacity to THINK differently.
Where are the new ideas on changing models for healthcare, benefits, business incentivisation, food production, etc… that could move the UK forward?
January 2, 2023
Mark B
Well said Mark.
But is not a big part of the problem in the lack of ability, knowledge, life experiences in industry and commerce of our so called elected Parliament.
Less than 10% are worthy of the position they hold.
Too many trying to operate way above their limits of incompetence. They just go with the flow and keep their heads below the parapet. Witness the place this country finds itself in , sleep walking from disaster to disaster in all the main areas of public concern.
January 2, 2023
Good Morning
Sir J, consider this; is it any wonder that conspiracy theories abound when our elected leaders so clearly fail to deliver on their written promises, for which we cannot see good cause? You last paragraph acknowledges this. Further, of recent years we have been systematically lied to, had freedoms removed, our money wasted in vast quantity, and then told it’s someone else’s fault.
Dig deep with your analysis Sir J, you’ll uncover some unsavoury facts.
January 2, 2023
PW, ++++, I endorse what you have posted
January 2, 2023
What you say makes excellent sense to me, Sir John – but I think that the modern actions of humans you have accurately described is really no different to those of the last 3 or 4 thousand years. Because of the speed and size of modern communications, we all know far more about these (often crazy/selfish/impossibly idealistic/downright corrupt) behaviour patterns, but we can do nothing about them.
I have always read a great deal of (non-fiction) history, and I read today’s papers and political websites – and I have learned that there is perennial conflict between ‘MY ideas which are right’ and ‘YOUR ideas which are patently stupid/selfish/irrational’.
January 2, 2023
Either advisors advise and deciders decide.
The ONLY issue here is why are unelected technocrats deciding.
It SHOULD be gross misconduct for a civil servant to resist Government policy, with instant dismissal on the spot.
Choose a perpetrator and drag them through the courts.
January 2, 2023
Javelin
Agreed
Politicians are transient. The electorate makes sure of that.
Civil servants are generally not transient. They have no skin in the game. They sometimes even have “Permanent” in their job title. This should change. Senior civil servants should change every time there is a change in governnment. Maybe this will help form a common purpose within the UK establishment.
January 2, 2023
Canāt change the civil servants with every new Govt, but they should be held personally accountable for the quality of their work. If itās not up to scratch ā¦
And no more Honours! They have excellent wages and unaffordable pensions. They donāt need a title too.
January 2, 2023
+1
David Davis MP claimed on TV civil servants acted behind his back over Brexit against civil service code. If true what investigation took place and what discipline action did he or his party invoke against May?
January 2, 2023
Javelin
Change SHOULD to MUST
Responsibility brings accountability not only for CS’s but also politicians.
January 2, 2023
Well, China had no politicians, just a āCivil Serviceā.
Trudeau in on record stating his āhuge admiration for Chinaā.
Biden also admires their unfettered power.
Our western politicians need to wear our chains (obey our Constitution which constrains all politicians) because it is we who are sovereign in a democracy.
January 2, 2023
wanting absolute power, which corrupts.
January 2, 2023
Thank you Sir John, very well put, an excellent assessment of how I and many more see it, but what to do to combat it? Until our alleged ‘Conservative Party’ drags itself back to where it should be, it has lost my and my family’s vote.
A Happy New Year to you and yours, more power to your elbow. Keep up the good work.
January 2, 2023
The conspiracies evolve from when those establishment taxpayer employees and others in the Country that wish to influence direction of the lives of us all actually turn up to international events that now openly spout extreme left wing views of what must be seen as dictators in waiting.
Having a free exchange of ideas is one thing, but getting whipped up in the moment by the passion of those that canāt get democratically elected is something entirely different. Then returning home and in unison try stymie the direction of the elected by what to most seems behind the scenes pressure, seemingly via briefing the media in a cloak & dagger way. That’s not a conspiracy when it becomes reality.
The UK is supposed to be a democracy, a real democracy, but it has morphed by contamination into something else. The UK Parliament now is more akin to the EU Parliament, were representatives get to debate the dictates passed down by unelected, unaccountable officials but cannot decline, change or repeal their decisions. Parliament is ruled by not the electorate but by other seemingly greater powers.
Simply, the conspiracies are bourne out by Governments refusal to Manage the UK for the benefit of the UK People. The Government refuses to even Manage in accordance with their own Parties doctrines. They have either found an alternate doctrine or are just plain incompetent.
January 2, 2023
Ian B
ā The conspiracies evolve from when those establishment taxpayer employees and others in the Country that wish to influence direction of the lives of us all actually turn up to international events that now openly spout extreme left wing views of what must be seen as dictators in waiting.
Having a free exchange of ideas is one thing, but getting whipped up in the moment by the passion of those that canāt get democratically elected is something entirely different. Then returning home and in unison try stymie the direction of the elected by what to most seems behind the scenes pressure, seemingly via briefing the media in a cloak & dagger way. Thatās not a conspiracy when it becomes reality.ā
Absolutely, this is what we are seeingā¦!
January 2, 2023
Yes !!!!!! The truth is starting to appear Sharon. Maybe we have a bit of progress towards true democracy
January 2, 2023
Nothing will change until the faux tories are obliterated and a true right wing party rises from the ashes.
Appointing hunt as chancellor was a massive feat of self harm and having fishy in charge is suicidal.
That’s what tge blob wanted and that’s what they got.
Then of course we have gove, enough said.
January 2, 2023
++++ well said sir! Honesty always wins in the end, it may take a long time but it wins.
January 2, 2023
+1
January 2, 2023
In the US a right of centre party won in 2016. For various reasons imho it was hobbled by internal actions within its ‘own'(RINO’s) and also by admin/exec agencies. What we see in the UK is similar but we are not as open as the US with FOIA etc.
conspiracy theory:
a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators
Only theories until proven later by facts. That’s why you never get the facts. So some remain unproven but probable.
I have read Heysham and Hartlepool may need to close, because of UK tax rules. Sounds like a threat to me, from an EU state backed company. Nationalise them.
January 2, 2023
A great article on the ‘Top 10 Conspiracy Theories that will be validated in 2023’ US centric, but realise that is where democracy will stand or fall.
January 2, 2023
The āestablishment ā needs a radical overhaul. First we need to stop electing stupid people to Parliament. We need to elect people who have actually āworkedā for a living, and who have what used to be called ācommon sense ā. We then need them to implement āgoodā as opposed to ābadā economic policies. A big ask. These things do however move in waves, and such a wave is due in shortly.
January 2, 2023
So a government of Nick Clegg, George Osborne, Emily Thornberry, Sir Keir Starmer, and Jeremy Hunt (all very successful people in the world outside politics) led by Rishi Sunak who was a whizz kid at Goldman Sachs – after a stellar educational record?
January 2, 2023
what an awful prospect.
January 2, 2023
Sunak was not a whizz kid, quite the reverse. The others worked for about 5 minutes except perhaps Starmer… who was a disaster (Saville, Rotherham etc).
January 2, 2023
Yes!
But he married well and for some unbelievable reason whosoever has money, no matter how they came by it, gets ārespectā.
January 2, 2023
Very few of our “here today, gone tomorrow” MPs are part of the Establishment. They are there to give the impression that this country is a Democracy and your vote counts, but they are selected BY the Establishment to ensure that they will do as they are told, conform to the Agenda and not rock the boat.
Most of those who display some independence of thought will never progress into Ministerial jobs or, like Sir John, became Ministers in a different time when their views were acceptable and are now left languishing on the backbenches where they can do “little harm.”
The Establishment is un-elected. The Monarch; the House of Frauds; the Supreme Court/Judiciary; the Civil Service; the BBC. All of these – post Blair – are now almost entirely left-wing.
January 2, 2023
…..and all senior positions in our Councils, quangos, Home Office, Treasury, Health, Police, etc etc all left of centre wokists. Unchallenged selection processes by the Consocialists after 12.5 years. Enough said. Vote for Reform.
January 2, 2023
Sir John
You have yet again hit on one of those subjects were brevity in response is difficult.
By implication the question is the UK a Democracy? One of the āmanyā instances that says it is not is the bowing down to the ECHR. That says many things the main one being is the UK Government and Parliament is powerless or incapable of making its own laws. No other Country in the World that calls itself a democracy(let alone a free democracy) is bound by a system were its own people through their own representatives, cannot create, amend or repeal the Laws that pertain to how they operate in their own domain.
The other thing, that type of Law making comes from the EU Style of law. To give someone a right you first have to decree they didnāt have that right or any other rights in the first place. That’s not freedom or democracy. Similar to what I stated earlier no other free democracy in the World works on that basis. It not even a left or right question, its a question of does Parliament or Government have real powers? Or is just ruled internally by external sources?
When you roll up all the elements of our daily life were simply the Government ārefusesā to manage the Country in they way it is paid to, you can only ask were do they assume they get their authority? It is not the electorate
January 2, 2023
The ECHR is used to prove cover for them not wanting to do anything. Where were our Human Rights when people were told to stay at home (self imposed house arrest), not meet relatives (the right to family life) etc ? Funny how no one ever thought of the ECHR back then !
January 2, 2023
+1
No health or security checks of any substance. Despite Manchester bomber coming in and out of France at will! May should be toast for that alone.
January 2, 2023
Several murder cases committed by these illegal aliens and this Government refuses to deport them. Can kicking for years. They just lie and deceive. They’ve had years to sort it. They just choose not to and tax us more to pay for their socialism.
January 2, 2023
Correct and it’s why they refuse to leave it. Because if they did, their justification for flooding the country with criminal migrants and refusing to deport them would evaporate.
January 2, 2023
@IanB: the only one of the 47 European countries not “bowing down” to the ECHR is Belarus, because as a dictatorship it is not welcome. Would you like the UK to be in it’s company? I hope that sane minds (establishment of not) will prevail!
I have too much family in the UK not to care about this.
@Mark B:
You could have sued your government and appeal up to the ECHR. You apparently did not!
January 2, 2023
@Peter VAN LEEUWEN I would like the UK to join the rest of the Worlds free sovereign democracies. The ECHR is anti democracy and anti freedom, it first has to remove peoples rights so it can then suggest people have the right to them ā strange idea. In a Proper Democracy a Parliament can only remove rights with the will off the people, it can also amend and repeal if the people so desire. A subtle but meaningful difference between Government by the People for the People, and the EU alternative, interoperated Democracy.
January 2, 2023
@IAN B:
“The ECHR is anti democracy and anti freedom”
The ECHR is an international court which the UK was instrumental in establishing.
It doesn’t remove people’s rights. Who ever told you such nonsense ?
I suggest you read up about it.
January 2, 2023
Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe and the ECHR six months ago.
January 2, 2023
@Mark: Russia – resembles another dictatorship, next to Belarus. You want to join them?
January 2, 2023
Trying to smear opponents of the ECHR using guilt by association is a poor argument, Peter. As pointed out in SJR’s post today, Sweden was one of the few European countries not to impose lockdowns. Belarus was another. (They both fared no worse than this country, and better in some respects.) It doesn’t matter that they have completely different political systems, what matters is that they chose a policy on Covid which I am sure they do not now regret.
January 2, 2023
@MARK B: People from other countries have taken corona issues to the ECHR
January 2, 2023
Peter you say Russia is a dictatorship! They have elections and indeed recently held 4 internationally verified referenda.
When did the EU submit its ācommissionā to a vote?
As only the Commission can propose laws which are deemed to have been passed unless voted down by a majority (the inverse of our democratic system) and as Holland is subject to its dictate, I donāt believe it lies in your mouth to criticise the way the Russians run their country.
January 2, 2023
@IanB: the only one of the 47 European countries not “bowing down” to the ECHR is Belarus, because as a dictatorship it is not welcome. Would you like the UK to be in it’s company? I hope that sane minds (establishment of not) will prevail!
I have too much family in the UK not to care about this.
January 2, 2023
@Peter VAN LEEUWEN – I would like the UK to take on proper Democratic Principles by not removing rights so as to give them back. The UK is should not be subjected to a Dictatorship. Some one else’s Laws and Rules being imposed, removes the proper meaning of Democracy. I donāt get the Belarus comparison, the greater majority of the Worlds Democracies, by number and population do not have to submit themselves to laws that have not been created by the democratic process.
January 2, 2023
PVL,
GB does not have to be in ECHR to treat people properly! We have a long history of good law much better than an unqualified unaccountable non qualified political judges! EU is a corrupt organisation where the politicians put he selves first as we recently note with the hordes of cash in their homes!!
January 2, 2023
We treated people very much better before we submitted to the ECHR. We need to revert to our own higher standards in a number of spheres. Drinking water from the tap would be a good start!
January 2, 2023
I donāt think we can say simply that Liz Truss was thwarted by a hostile establishment. She rushed out, completely unnecessarily, a half-baked budget with no mention of spending controls, had a Johnsonesque level of hubris as to the cost of the massive energy subsidy she proposed and was alarmingly wooden and inarticulate. It is true the actions of the BoE were unhelpful but she shattered the confidence of the financial markets and took support for the Conservative Party down to 20%. She was in retrospect obviously unsuitable to be leader and PM, though she did make some good free market arguments. I am opposed to the dwindling number of Conservative members having a say in the leadership. I would rather MPs, who know the candidates, made the choice precisely so we donāt end up with this kind of a disaster.
January 2, 2023
She is a very good local MP – very much like Mrs May actually.
January 2, 2023
Yes, and suddenly, as if by magic, a new candidate appeared ! Strange thing though, he was the man who got us into this mess in the first place. š
January 2, 2023
Your use of the phrase “conspiracy theorists” is interesting.
As Gore Vidal so correctly said “I am not a conspiracy theorist; I am a conspiracy analyst”.
January 2, 2023
MickC +1
January 2, 2023
+++
Legend has it that the term āConspiracy theoryā was coined specifically to throw people off the scent by means of denigration and ridicule.
There are things however that we see and hearā¦.like leaders of all countries acting/thinking/pronouncing in lockstep.
Oh dear! Why would that be?
January 2, 2023
Mickc, ++++++
January 2, 2023
I agree with much of your blog Sir John, but I think their is more at play.
The old saying, follow the money. The land owners that make fortunes out of subsidies from so called renewables. The ( financial Ed)institutions like (x and y)that made vast amounts of money out of closed economies. The pharmaceuticals whose profits rocketed with the universal, usually coerced use of untested “vaccinations”.
Then there is unfettered power with governments giving themselves unprecedented powers to allegedly fight and control a virus! They now wish to keep these draconian powers.
No longer in the background, are the unelected world bodies and foundations infiltrating leadership to change policies to conform to Marxist ideology. The Chinese model.
It is all about command and control and unfortunately, a great deal more to come.
January 2, 2023
+1
January 2, 2023
Correct.
The Globalists have been talking about a New World Order for decades and have been steadily putting in place the Supra-National Institutions intended to deliver it. They use a “crisis” or perceived threat to advance their plans.
For example: The Covid Plandemic has led to demands for a new WHO Treaty, which will give that organisation the ability to dictate the global response to future pandemics and in due course other health issues including public health-justified surveillance of populations, “vaccine” passports; and compulsory medical interventions.
January 2, 2023
The advantage of having all these large Supranational bodies like the UN, WHO and EU is, and has been in the news recently with regard to the EU, that there are fewer palms to grease.
January 2, 2023
+1
January 2, 2023
Reply to Ed.
Those financial institutions must wield enormous power, that their names may not be mentioned?!
January 2, 2023
Of course they do. Would you like to be sued by one of them? They have deeper pockets than us.
January 2, 2023
You reach a point when you have so much money that it is no longer the driver. Then you want to do something significant – and thatās when personality is pivotal.
Musk has used his money much of which he does not need, to expose the American crime families.
The man has passed the personality test.
Trump lost money while giving his attention to sorting out the US economy.
The man passed the personality test.
These are the sort of personalities we are looking for in parliamentary candidates.
January 2, 2023
+1
January 2, 2023
It seems to me that both Twitter and Tesla are worth far far less than people seem to think. He has done very well to persuade investors otherwise but how long will this continue?
January 2, 2023
He’s no King Midas.
January 2, 2023
No man of substance is remembered for the amount of money he had. There are very many more important things to achieve than collecting money – especially after the first million.
Rhodes was by far the richest man in the world, but he is remembered for his personal achievements in introducing voting to non-whites in South Africa (later reversed by the Nat Govt.)
For establishing Rhodesia as a peaceful prosperous breadbasket of Africa.
Etc.
Think of Enoch. He could have achieved anything, but he chose to serve those of us less talented rather than accumulate more than he needed. The same can be said for Redwood, and thank God, many other substantial men. Musk proving that he is in that number.
Iām surprised I can tell you, and delighted!
January 2, 2023
Lynn, the cost to Trump personally and his family especially Ivanka was too great. They donāt just want to stop him, they want to destroy.
NLH gave themselves away the other day with their – if everyone wanted to belong to the EU wouldnāt you want the UK to belong. A One World order with whom? A Biden clone in charge, donāt make me laugh. These grand families earning normal wages suddenly end up richer than Croesus . No-one on NLH side seems to ask who makes them the new God, why do they believe they are so right and everyone else who doesnāt think like them are so wrong. There isnāt enough money to keep stuffing in the mouths of the poor to keep them quiet its going to hit the buffers.
Weāve seen what happens when things suddenly donāt suit the Germans any more or the French, they change the rules, but they refused to change a few simple rules that Cameron knew would calm masses here watching millions disappear out of the UK whilst people were here struggling to make ends meet on two wages. Notice I say there earning two full time wages not the scroungers they get too much!
January 2, 2023
May I say that I, for one, absolutely do NOT want anyone even vaguely similar to Donald Trump to become an MP for any British political party!
January 2, 2023
BOF, +++++. I agree with your comments
January 2, 2023
This Conservative wants to see the government disengage completely from the WEF – an organisation that is now morphing into Spectre.
January 2, 2023
++++
Yes.
Agree absolutely!
January 2, 2023
Fat chance of that when the new King is a supporter of the WEF and the policy to ensure we are colder, poorer, live restricted lives and “own nothing.”
Schwab boasts that the WEF has infiltrated the Cabinets of all Western Governments. It’s pretty obvious who selected Sunak and Hunt ….. it certainly wasn’t Tory Party members!
January 2, 2023
Donna
The big worry is, who has infiltrated the likes of the WEF ?
I’ll give you a clue. They just lay off the coast of Taiwan š
January 2, 2023
“China is a ārole modelā for many countries, according to World Economic Forum (WEF) boss Klaus Schwab, in a recent interview with Chinese state media.”
I wonder if the interview with Chinese State Media was organised by Hunt, who expressed similar admiration for the Chinese Government’s authoritarian response to Covid, or his wife who works for it.
January 2, 2023
+1
January 2, 2023
S W
What do you mean morphing into SPECTRE?
It’s already done that has it not?
Who would ever have thought people who pay many thousands of pounds to follow their leaders demands to drive electric, end up slugging it out toe to toe at EV charging points and have to queue for up to 3 hours to get the battery topped up.
It is literally falling into place quite nicely
January 2, 2023
+1 S-W
Any person paid by the state attending Davos, should be immediately dismissed.
January 2, 2023
“It is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies.”
You are doing what you can against terrible odds, so good on you for that.
I do what I can in my own small way to stay informed, counter the establishment narrative and advocate for conservative policies (small “c”). It’s surprising how many people out there increasingly have similar views on lots of these issues. If our political system wasn’t dysfunctional, we’d get positive change a lot sooner.
January 2, 2023
Iām not sure whether I feel better knowing (now) for certain that we have been negatively impacted by our own government rather than by international forces.
But things like the global Compact on Refugees HAVE been signed and have impacted hugely ā¦just like us being secretly entrenched in the EU.
Or are these global agreements just a useful smokescreen?
It is very scary having oneās world turned upside down.
January 2, 2023
You need to find the link between the financial markets’ reaction (the Pound did drop) and the the establishment causing this. It had the sniff of being orchestrated… but having a budget one day after a BOE interest rate meeting was a bit stupid. Supposing the BOE had plotted a completely different course on interest rates, say increased or decreased them by say 2%? Would Kwarteng still have stood up and said the same thing? Also the fact that he didn’t announce spending cuts was clearly his and Truss’s fault. Again, either naive, a bit stupid or both.
It just all smacks of a lack of common sense. Sunak the same, but he has the cover of the establishment. Truss didn’t.
January 2, 2023
You have described a ruling class entirely at odds with the wishes of most people. They are unable to learn from history, arrogant and unresponsive. To claim that we can shift policies in a “democracy” easier is laughable and contrary to our experience in the last few years where every single politician has supported harmful, wasteful and destructive policies constantly. You and your fellow politicians do not act as representatives but more like jailors and overseers.
January 2, 2023
Post Mrs Thatcher, Ministers and MPs have been selected on the basis that they will conform and NOT rock the Establishment’s boat.
They don’t represent their Constituents in Parliament: they represent their Party/the Establishment in their Constituency.
January 2, 2023
There needs to be ‘trouble at mill’!
January 2, 2023
There is! Big trouble!
January 2, 2023
Paul, its not just politicians acting as jailers and overseers.
The Union masters are jailing people – stopping people travelling for work or pleasure, controlling our movement for their own purposes and their own personal gain. The vast majority of people in this Country donāt get the business they work for subsidised in order to pay them full sick pay or more than 28 days holiday, those businesses donāt get bailed out by taxpayers all the time like the unionised sector does. If private business doesnāt work customers leave and they would fail. They donāt top up falling pensions with ratepayers money Ā£8m here, Ā£10m there per council/ha while no-one is watching.
Basically we are all being asked to pay strikers more in-work benefits and pay and overtime enhancements on threat of dying in the case of the NHS, being unable to get to work ourselves if dependent on buses this summer, not being able to see family this Christmas being isolated and kept alone by a small group of people who decided they personally want much more – 19%, two extra days holiday this year, its as though it never happened – that cost a FORTUNE.
Who is going to come to the rescue of private nest pensions to give a defined benefit return – no-one. They have made everyone 8% poorer on the promise of wellā¦nothing its the biggest scam going, whilst protecting the union workforce pensions, why arenāt they in nest if its so good?
The State Pension should not be called a benefit for anyone that has paid in (most for over 50 years from the age of 16 to 18). It should only be classed as a benefit when paid as Pension credits thats the pension they pay everyone who hasnāt contributed often at a higher rate than the plebs getting a basic pension. We should be told the difference in outgoings, how much is paid in Pension credits to people who havenāt paid NI.
January 2, 2023
When my government ( and I trusted Boris) actually, really imposed COVID19 restrictions on the countryā¦
And remember that truthfully HAPPENED ( I think)ā¦.Masksā¦* āCover her face. Mine eyes dazzleāā¦
And healthcare was SHUT and businesses were CLOSEDā¦
I truly could have believed that aliens had landed and taken overā¦never mind conspiracy.
And now the left ( or whoever) is pushā¦pushā¦pushing againā¦ā¦..
* Webster āDuchess of Malfiā.
January 2, 2023
Super thoughts, Sir John. You seem to be the only blog that I read where such matters are even raised.
Only now, years after the British lockdown, are people allowed to question. The Great Barrington Declaration was suppressed by the “establishment”, for just one example (recent Spectator article on Matt Hancock by Isabel Oakeshott).
Recently there was a declaration about Global Warming by a lot of scientists which also was suppressed.
The Ukraine War, too, was supported without much debate, although the right decision in that case was taken.
We desperately need an opposition. Mr Sunak is an excellent, thoughtful, unflappable Prime Minister who understands money. But we need a real opposition, not a lot of lawyers and middle aged, middle class ladies with “causes” pretending to be working class (short “a” please). An opposition who will think, who will question obvious truths like the Global Warming which is wrecking our country. Like providing more stuff to Ukraine. Like actually making sure the billions given recently to the NHS gets through to the people who deal with the patients.
January 2, 2023
“. . . Prime Minister who understands money. ”
If our kind host allows.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/10/rishi-sunak-wasted-11bn-by-paying-too-much-interest-on-uk-debt
And
https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/24/dramatic-moment-minister-quits-with-furious-speech-blasting-covid-fraud-15978190/
And
https://www.itv.com/news/2022-11-07/rishi-sunak-to-call-for-global-clean-growth-mission-at-cop27
He understands money alright. Especially when it is not his.
January 2, 2023
Anselm, you’ve realised that the truth about Covid and lockdowns was suppressed, and that alternative interpretations of climate data are suppressed. Do you really believe you’re getting the truth about Ukraine ‘without much debate’, from the same media sources that have tried to impose a single view of Covid or climate also without much debate? You might want to look into what UN resolution 2202 (2015) was about, and why it was adopted. Then you might wonder why you haven’t heard much about it from your preferred media.
January 2, 2023
How do you know the āright decisionā was taken regarding the Ukraine war if you have not heard the opposing argument?
What we lost complete during Covid, was the right to debate.
January 2, 2023
My feeling is that there is a widespread brainwashing affect that comes from 2 sources: (i) the mediaās (understandable) tenancy to over-report unusual (bad) events and under-report common events thus leading many people to take an upside-down view of the world and (ii) the more recent trend towards isolation and loneliness brought on by the atomisation of the family and society.
The good news (imho) is that this affects a (large) minority. The majority of people do not follow the news that closely and do not live far away from their community and family. They remain unaffected.
People who have taken further education are the most susceptible to this brainwashing because they are more likely to follow media stories and have less exposure to those who are not affected. In fact, they spend most of the time with others who are also affected, thus magnifying the problem. These people are more likely to be in positions of power later in life and therefore able to re-enforce the deception and impose their minority will on others (usually through undemocratic means).
I think the solutions are (i) to allow media to be plural and competitive; (ii) ensure that further education is available closer to home; (iii) drastically reduce immigration.
January 2, 2023
The MSM is already losing its grip. The big worry is, universities. This is where a lot of this nonsense is coming from.
January 2, 2023
Kenneth : āPeople who have taken further education are the most susceptible to this brainwashing because they are more likely to follow media stories and have less exposure to those who are not affected.ā
The universities have been financially captured by the 120,000 Chinese āstudentsā and students having been subjected to 3 years of Marxist ideology, including Net Zero, end up with unaffordable debts, worthless degrees, unable to think for themselves and with insufficient knowledge to know when they are being conned.
January 2, 2023
My understanding is that Marxist idealogy includes the abolition/weakening of the family. We have seen the State attempting to be our parents. We have seen families scattered across the globe. The result is more loneliness, unhapiness and lawlessness.
Families are the building blocks of society and the main source of policing and good behaviour.
Weakening the family is deadly imho.
January 2, 2023
Group think, media not reportingā¦
We often say, āFollow the Money!ā
But we should ask, ā whoās threatening the withdrawal of their money?ā
January 2, 2023
JR “There has been a movement to world and to regional or bloc based government.”
When were we consulted about whether we wanted that? I for one don’t want world government. I want government that recognises that it is there to serve the people not vice versa. The events of the past 3 years would have been described as “conspiracy theories”, if predicted just that many years ago, by those who are determined to control every aspect of our lives, in order to dismiss in the minds of many the very suggestion that they are acting against the people they purport to serve.
January 2, 2023
John
Thank you so much for your clear and precise explanation of the situation. We on the outside of government truly appreciate everything you say and try to do for us. Please continue to keep us informed and let us know what we can do to help in whatever small way we can.
January 2, 2023
While discussing the establishment – how much money does the NHS need before it works for the patients?
500 deaths caused by delays, people urged not to go for long runs just in case.
When will the establishment accept that “free at the point of delivery” is an expectation too far. There must be a small charge for use commensurate with income (including those on benefits) and procedure.
January 2, 2023
The NHS receives Ā£200bn per annum of taxpayers’ money but is probably one of the worst managed organisations in the country. The whole senior management need to be dismissed and people who care about patient outcomes recruited instead of woke empire builders.
January 2, 2023
the managers are essentially ‘done nothing’ Civil Servants – NHS the biggest and most expensive employer needs business people to organise and run it, trim it, set KPI, create a budget and report on outcomes….
Sorry about my daydreams.
January 2, 2023
NS , there already is, they call it National Insurance. It really is free for those who pat no NI.
January 2, 2023
Government is expecting illegal migration to double and legal migration to rise. Yet this is the opposite of what the public want. Yet they can shutdown the whole country if they want to. The truth is they do not want to stop mass migration.
THIS IS A CONSPIRACY FACT not conspiracy theory.
When a political party cannot be trusted people cannot vote for it.
January 2, 2023
Funnily enough the “conspiracy theories” suggested at the start of the Scamdemic all appear to be Government policy now. The timescale between “conspiracy theory” and implementation seems to be down to about 6 months.
The Globalists have been planning a New World Order and supra-national governance by a cadre of International Elite for decades. That is what we are witnessing: the likes of the UN, WHO and WEF have seized control of democracies through international treaties and are working steadily towards creating a one world government.
Of course the names of some of the International Elite are better known than others: etc ed They are highly influential, but it’s the network of Supra-national organisations which are tying the hands of democratically-elected Parliaments with the approval of the un-elected Establishment.
January 2, 2023
Dear Sir John, if only there were just a few Mr or Mrs Bigs we could send James Bond after to stop their evil planning. But your excellent summery of the real world situation shows it is much much worse.
You do provide some suggestion that it is easier to challenge an authoritarian system than a “Democratic” one and get things changed.
Be careful, you will have the Establishment saying you are advocating wide scale uprisings in the UK š
reply Not what I wrote and I do not propose uprisings but democratic challenge
January 2, 2023
Reply to reply
Democratic challenge can only come from the ballot box and major electoral reform. And for the latter I mean, Direct Democracy ! We can not longer trust those we elect to act in our best interests. If we the people were given a referendum on things such as Net Zero, and / or remaining part of the ECHR, and the result legally enforceable, we would have neither. But we are not a Direct Democracy, just Sham of one.
January 2, 2023
reply to reply ….and what form or shape of ‘democratic challenge’ to you imagine or recommend?
If there were 200 of ‘you’ in the House it might stand a chance, however slim, – but there aren’t, are there!
January 2, 2023
“It is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies. That is easier in democracies than autocracies, though we have just seen a major change of policy towards covid in China following popular protest against lockdowns. ”
There is no explicit statement against against this approach in your words Sir John. Just the sort of thing the elite Spin Doctors jump on.
We all know you are not suggesting that widespread demonstration is a way to get attention. But Democracy is clearly failing in the UK.
Other respondents have identified the various ways in which Democracy and more importantly free speech (and thought) has been undermined in the UK. This elite liberalism has become more a matter of faith rather than reason. In reality it combines the worst aspects of Capitalism and Communism. At it’s centre is that the rights of the individual are more important than the society as a whole. Put another way the individual has no responsibility to/for society. The tail wagging the Dog
January 2, 2023
Reply to Reply:
How can democratic challenge be achieved when it has already been shown to be futile?
When the right of the Conservative Party finally took power, the will of its membership was clearly thwarted by the cabal of Lib Dems who have infiltrated it due to CCHQ parachuting candidates for a number of years.
No-one now believes that the Conservative Party is a solution to any of these problems – they have shown that in defenstrating Truss. So where does this *realistic* “democratic challenge” come from now?
Or should we see a new government bring in its own administration, US-style? Get rid of the career civil servant leadership and replace it with each election – including the Governor of the BoE?
Or perhaps just vote Reform UK?
January 2, 2023
Exactly. There is no hope for Britain if trusted MPs, a) Do not recognise the problem correctly, and b) Do not have the correct strategy.
Both a) and b) apply at present.
January 2, 2023
Reply to Reply.
But John your party got the democratic mandate with a thumping majority. We chose Boris and your manifesto and he got booted out by you guys over a clear set up by the people inside Downing Street. But Boris is a fake too, otherwise heād be heading up Reform although he knows now just how much say and sway a PM has in actuality.
Your MPs forced Sunak on us and Liz was forced (how?) into putting Hunt a serial loser in as Chancellor to follow the EU policies to the letter and then she was sent packing to Coventry. Raising corporation tax 6% to stay friends with his G7 buddies how was Liz supposed to know that had already been agreed in blood with Sunak when Chancellor. Now theyāre talking about not removing the EU laws. Weāre just ticking over until 2024 until they can reset us all and say the socialists have a mandate to align with the EU (not rejoin they donāt want even the fake facade that the EU parliament get any say). Just 400 betrayed us thats all it takes. Millions and millions gave your party the mandate to get us out and free us up and your party, your democratically elected party shape shifted on us. Now the media is spinning, we can see it, you can see it.
Youāre not going to like this – you may want to cut the word – but the majority of elected MPs are charlatans.
Reply I supported Boris until he resigned. I did not vote for Rishi.
January 2, 2023
reply to reply …..ah but did you actively vote/campaign for Johnson prior to him being elected? Once a PM is selected you are all expected to ‘support’ – hence having whips. ‘Support’ defines nothing.
January 2, 2023
That approach wasn’t adopted with Liz …even the whips stabbed her in the back
January 3, 2023
just goes to show how far the Party has morphed into an unrecognisable beast.
January 2, 2023
To have any meaningful democratic challenge in Parliament, you first have to live in a democracy.
We don’t; We live in a Pretend-ocracy. The only trapping of democracy is a General Election held every 4/5 years but the manifestos aren’t binding and promised policies are ditched the minute they become inconvenient; the candidates and electoral system are completely stitched up to ensure that only one of the Westminster Uni-Party can win and if – by some process a candidate is elected against the Establishment’s wishes – they are ditched in favour of the undemocratic appointment of their preferred candidate. Meanwhile the MSM deliberately stifles any genuine debate and ignores any insurgent parties which might offer a serious challenge to the Westminster Uni-Party.
The only way we can exert any kind of democratic challenge is to stop voting for one of the Westminster Uni-Party …. and we have to do that in the knowledge that it will mean the election of a Party which may well do even MORE damage because it is a tad loonier than the “approved” alternative.
The only truly democratic vote held in this country throughout my adult lifetime (I was too young to vote in 1975) was the EU Referendum and when that went against the Establishment’s wishes they did everything they possibly could to first try and overturn it and secondly to ensure that if it had to go ahead, it would be so stitched up as to be virtually meaningless.
January 2, 2023
Our energy policy is the real, long term disaster which will dominate our economic outcomes for decades.
The JSO fringe has actually succeeded in stopping all oil and gas exploration (using Starmerās policy) by imposing a short time gain windfall tax on energy producers.
That this was done by a āConservativeā government is a true measure of the elite conversion to the new pseudo religion of extreme green i.e Greta world.
We are now doomed to have high energy prices and near total dependency of our energy on tyrants, our industry will evaporate due to the high energy price, our agriculture will depend on imported fertilisers.
January 2, 2023
True, a disaster kicked off by the Clegg when given a sniff of power.
January 2, 2023
I read somewhere recently that the EU have declared that high energy costs need to be in place for ten more years to force people to stop using it. I thought Iād flipped my lid when I read that. (Iām sorry, I canāt remember where I saw it.)
January 2, 2023
@Elli Ron. +1.
Countries that will happily get their energy from hydrocarbons in the next few decades (particularly those that will buy at a discount from Russia) will do well, making products that we used to make here.
January 2, 2023
There are those of wealth and influence who operate beyond the constraints of democracy, witness the Bildedberg grouping and Davos. They are beyond democracy because to the best of my knowledge they publish little in terms of guidance to the 8+ billion other members of the human race. Delegates no doubt return with instructions for their ministers and institutions.
Then from the time we spent in the EU our democracy became an increasing farce. We handed power to UK civil servants to collude with EU civil servants, and through the legislation they created we were ruled. Our own elected representatives had no involvement in this as is the case for all EU member states. The EU even had its sham parliament that merely emphasised its lack of democratic accountability.
Our civil servants and accolites in our own establishment are now extremely reluctant to hand back power to a democratically elected government comprising parties who are barely democratic themselves. Witness the ousting of Liz Truss.
We urgently need to have a re-defining of what our UK democracy is and then build on it. You mention two democratic countries, Sweden and Switzerland who have not always bowed to the herd instinct in World politics, with good outcomes. We should ask ourselves why and learn. As citizens we need direct involvement in the choice of candidates for Parliament, and on big issues, referendums of the electorate. Civil Servants should revert to their role as scribes and the lobbying activities of vested interests be severely restricted to a sheet of A4. That would be a start.
Reply Delegates do not return with instructions.They go or are invited b3cause they share the views of events. I have never been invited to either as clearly they do not want to hear my different analyses.
January 2, 2023
Reply to Reply
Do they go merely to confirm their own prejudices or to apply other delegates prejudices to whatever line of activity they are involved in. If these gatherings have no purpose and are not meant to guide the world outside them, why does anyone go. I liken them to the pharmaceutical, exotically located, so called seminars which were an opportunity to sell the latest wonder drug and a freebee holiday for the consultants invited. For sure somebody in Bilderburg and Davos is intent on selling something, and remember there is no such thing as a free lunch.
January 2, 2023
Liz Truss like to compare herself with Margaret Thatcher, but what she overlooked was the quite incredible determination and singleness of purpose that Margaret Thatcher needed to make any sort of change, and even she did not manage any significant reforms of the NHS. She should have read Charles Moore’s biography with far greater care, that is to say, if she read it at all.
Liz Truss should have thought much more deeply than she apparently did, about what the changes she wanted were going to require in terms of winning consent, and just straight pigheadedness. She should have been prepared to face a vote of confidence, and a General Election rather than backing down; I do not think many Conservative MPs would have been willing do vote for that, and she would have called their bluff.
Unfortunately the writing was always on the wall, given the number of times she backed away from apparently unpopular policies in leadership campaigns.
January 2, 2023
All true.
I have come to the belief that ‘energy’ is the new currency of the 21st Century. Look at Russia, the Middle Eastern countries and the USA. All using energy as a means of asserting their political influence on us. China too, but with not petro carbons but useless wind turbines and solar panels.
Those the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad.
January 3, 2023
I think that’s been the case since the late 19th century,with the start of the move from coal to oil.No-one was much interested in the Middle East,for instance,before oil.
January 2, 2023
It doesn’t really matter if it is a handful of people doing the directing or hundreds,, the point is that too many in power have been converted to the perverted thinking of those that pull the strings for globalism.
This suggests that our political leaders and establishment are either lemmings or of a traitorous nature – in any case they had no permission from those they are supposed to serve to pursue a new course.
No, the current PM follows their rules and stays in office. Truss challenged their rules and was bullied out of her democratically elected post.
Unless our political class comes to realise where they are blindly taking us then there is no future for democracy, nor us.
January 2, 2023
Can I suggest a very radical move to reset Conservatism in the UK. You know better than me who the remaining Conservatives are within the conservative party. A party, I would submitt that, is no longer fit for the purpose of carrying out Conservative policy for the benefit of the country. Collectively after discussion with Reform and then with relevant constituency organisations move as one body to Reform. A move timed for one year hence. A year in which your thinking is deaf to the leadership. I see no value to the honest conduct of politics or to the integrity of true Conservative MPs to perpetuate their relationship with the current consocialist party. Loyalty should be to a set of tenets not to a name that has divested itself of its credo.
January 2, 2023
Iām am interested to learn whether there was indeed a tussle. Frankly it looked like a walkover.
The enormous power and authority of a department civil servants is substantial and you, as an individual are pitted against them . Most MPs donāt understand that. Most citizens donāt understand that, Farage etc certainly donāt understand that and thatās why they would fail! Getting elected and standing up in the EU Parliament being cheeky for 2 minutes is no preparation for the battle against Leviathan that is the everyday job of Ministers.
When we choose a parliamentary candidate we are not looking for a āniceā or a āhandsomeā person. We are looking for a Champion to throw into the ring WHO WILL WIN FOR US. They need to be clever, tenacious, committed to achieving the best possible results for our country, and they need to be bomb-proof (no skeletons in the cupboard which the party machines which are now part and parcel of the civil service, can use to ācontrolā them).
The job of all MPs and especially the Government, is to ensure that the power of the State, wielded by the Civil Service, is not used to crush the citizen.
January 2, 2023
People don’t like the term conspiracy but that’s certainly what it feels like when a government gushes out statements like Build Back Better and it’s all for the good of the country. Really? I can’t see anything happening where my life is going to be made better and I certainly can’t see how the present policies are good for the country. I’m going to be poor paying for net zero, I’m going to have my movements curtailed, I’m going to pay a fortune to keep warm, I’m going to pay a fortune for the privilege of driving, I’m going to pay for half the blooming world to live here, I’m going to pay for more handouts to those who sit around all day and I’ve got to pay more for my health care and for that of foreigners. I may also be unforunate enough to get into a punch up while waiting for the next EV charging point when im made to drive an EV. Build Back Better? You’re having a laugh.
January 2, 2023
Well said and very true.
January 2, 2023
You’re making the fundamental mistake of thinking that when they say “Build Back Better” they mean build back better for you and me.
They don’t. They mean Build Back Better for THEM.
You will own nothing. Because they will own everything.
January 2, 2023
Here’s an interesting article from the anti-Brexit establishment:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-64141430
“Brexit: The scorecard two years on”
And as always the government’s response is feeble, feeble, feeble, reinforcing the longstanding suspicion that like its predecessors it is part of the anti-Brexit establishment.
Well, what’s new about that? From November 2018:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/11/13/the-pound-bounces-around/#comment-972913
“… it is becoming increasingly clear that our Prime Minister Theresa May does not see her role in the Brexit negotiations as being on our side working for our national interests, but more to act as a kind of intermediary to strike compromises between the interests of the UK and those of the EU.
And especially the national interests of the Irish Republic, which stands to lose a greater fraction of its GDP from a badly managed Brexit than any other country, including the UK …”
January 2, 2023
Not true Denis – “The badly managed brexit” referred to is already here and against the odds Ireland is coping well. Also it seems NI is doing OK too with the new arangement ie. a border in the sea that nobody can see and then another border on land that can’t be seen either? How bad?
January 3, 2023
Thanks to Boris Johnson Ireland has escaped tariffs on its exports to the UK, so from their point of view that has been well managed, while we have left Northern Ireland behind as an EU vassal statelet which cannot endure.
January 2, 2023
Notwithstanding the previous comments, it is what it is. The government needs to get itās act together and show some progress. If progress is happening in certain areas, then tell us. Conservatives need some hope, the alternative does not bear thinking about. Sunak itās yours to lose.
January 2, 2023
How on earth do you work that out. His to lose? Are you under the illusion that he is favourite to win? More realistic is:
Sunak – you have no chance of winning.
I predict that Mr. Redwood will lose his seat at the next election.
Reply I will indeed because my current seat is being abolished! I aim to be fighting a new one locally
January 2, 2023
in football parlance it will be ‘squeaky bum time’ at the next GE.
January 2, 2023
Certainly not under any illusion but there is time and a chance to thwart the polls.
Labour have no policy just hot air.
January 2, 2023
There are pluses and minuses in any international agreement system ; as one of the more significant countries we are obliged to stick to what we have signed up to . On the other hand I consider it ridiculous that Russia can impose a veto in some UN efforts ; this makes a mockery of agreements .
January 2, 2023
āIt is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies.ā
Let us hope so because CAGW/Net Zero will destroy our economy with meagre, expensive and intermittent energy and make us totally dependent upon China for this energy and the raw materials, if not the goods themselves for batteries, generators and motors and the UN Global Compact for Migration, signed by Mrs May without even a vote in Parliament, will destroy our social cohesion, culture and stability as the country breaks down into different and separate tribal communities.
But such alternative policies will clearly not emerge from the existing Parliamentary uniparty.
January 2, 2023
Dear Mr. Redwood,
Does the Conservative Party see private vehicles as an important part of personal freedom? The ban it has imposed on internal combustion engines from 2030 before electric vehicles are generally affordable might suggest it does not.
Against a backdrop of potential shortages of rare-earth metals and lithium for batteries, it is to be hoped that the cost of electric vehicles comes down dramatically in the next seven years or there will be a lot of people who can no longer afford a car. And for those who intend to run their petrol/diesel/hybrid vehicles beyond 2030, the ‘establishment’ government of the day could always engineer a petrol shortage or a large tax increase on its way to achieving Net Zero. Vehicle manufacturers may well decide to cut all production of petrol/diesel cars before 2030 as it could be prohibitively expensive for them to have production lines running at scale for both electric and fossil fuel-powered cars. This assumes, of course, that governments between now and then provide sufficient generating capacity for a vast increase in electric car usage which at the moment looks unlikely.
A conspiracy theorist might suggest the Parliamentary Conservative Party (with notable exceptions) does not wish everyone to have the personal freedom that the motor car affords and is thus now part of the ‘establishment’ itself!
January 2, 2023
The ‘notable exceptions’ are just like the others because whatever the Conservative party does they will stay with it.
It is a dream to imagine that discussions by them will be anything other than limp-wristed talk. Nothing else will be done as loyalty prevails.
They are so loyal they will tolerate anything, and the UK is insolvent and bankrupt because of them, and they have happily been selling our assets to foreign ownership for years.
Reply Itās been the private sector selling their assets to foreigners. i5 will continue until we make and grow more for ourselves to bring down the trade deficit
January 2, 2023
I cannot let you say that without comment.
As usual you claim to have no responsibilty. You have been promoting ‘open for business’ and ‘inward investment’ and you know pefectly well that is an encouragement to buy our assets.
It now means we have nothing much of our own. The French are now threatening for example to close down a large part of power generation which they control. And it is your responsibility. You clearly are unable take the truth. Tory party above the country is your life.
January 2, 2023
SirJ you talk and sound like a Tory, but maybe the last Tory in the HoCs, and your narrative sounds like someone commenting in opposition
Each and every cabinet minister blames the international treaties, when interviewed by the media, for not stopping immigration or implementing net-zero targets ā¦its not a political conspiracy itās a political choice
January 2, 2023
He keeps up a fairly convincing outward facade, but I don’t believe he is happy with where the Party has gone, its MPs, recent Cabinets and certainly not chosen PMs.
January 2, 2023
Surely there is a sweet spot in the middle that all the people of the UK agree with on both sides of our natural divided opinion [ { } ] that could be enacted, trialled.
What about loans for immigrants to pay for their keep that if they stay they have to pay back an extra 5% tax from Ā£12,570 the personal allowance, just tot up every p spent whilst waiting for approval, they do it to English adolescents to pay back their higher education, 9% from Ā£16,000 my eldest had to pay back, I didnāt hear any gasps about expecting that payback whilst he was living in a rented house share trying to get established in his first job.
Single parents could perform work for the state sector for their housing and other benefits, we are short of carers, many like looking after children, childcare solutions to put the two together in local care training schemes so the parents are trained too. If parents donāt want to work outside the home the partner keeps them without top up benefits as our fathers did. We need local carers to help people to get up and dressed, help in care homes, we need some new solutions to how we are failing right now. The NLW increase, the corporation tax increase from April is going to cause a dip, we need to fill the gap with more productive hours of people taking but not giving right now.
January 2, 2023
Ever since 2016 the UK has, broadly, continued to follow the same h9igh tax, state regulation, economic, and net zero policies of the EU. We can see the EU failing before our eyes. It is no wonder, then, that the UK fails too. The short lived Liz Truss government attempted to edge us away from the high tax and high spend cul de sac. As JR intimates, the (international) establishment was behind the collapse of the Truss government.
January 2, 2023
It’s been a WEF/Remainiac coup, after the “anyone but Rishi” member vote caused an inexperienced PM and poor choice of Chancellor (selected as friend not merit/experience) to screw things up badly, as you/others have said.
We are still substantially aligned to EU rules, no Brexit benefits yet, so frustrating, but I feel it’s deliberate to nudge folk to think it was wrong to leave and want to rejoin.
Until and unless we have cheaper energy, especially compared to the EU, then energy intensive businesses may well close or shift overseas imho. Drill/mine/frack and nuclear must come from our our resources, not imported, how many times does this need to be said. Get this right and lower inflation will follow, incl no further need for gov handouts.
January 2, 2023
“The conspiracy theorists wish to attribute these views and policies to a handful of people they think are unduly influential. In practice it is much more complex than that. The truth is many of these bodies, governments and officials do think the same and do wish to impose a similar agenda on the countries or in the sectors they control.”
They think the same and they are acting in lock step as a result, whether with planned co-ordination or a de facto co-ordination it amounts to the same thing.
Oscar Wilde said “I could never be a socialist, I couldn’t spare that many afternoons”. That’s a witty way of noting that socialists devote a massive amount of their time to politics, even their working lives – they infiltrate institutions and they express and permeate their group think throughout.
The key individuals are are high positions of power and make the important decisions, such as delivering a Budget. The lesser lights allow lots of immigrants in, thwart attempts to enact and apply legislation to stem the flow or they have the police force they run look the other way when protesters topple statues.
It all adds up to the same effect, no matter how it is organised (or not formally organised or led), no matter who is in the lead roles.
January 2, 2023
Not a word wrong – just right!
January 2, 2023
Perhaps we should break this down and see just what is being foisted on us by those that don’t have our best interests at heart:
For a start Why does anybody take any notice of celebrities – only because they are famous and the media thinks it has a good story. Most of the time these people just show their ignorance although they do influence weak minds.
International organisations have far too much power, ceded by our governments. The IMF interfered directly in attacking Truss, when it was none of their business. The UN, with its myriad of sub organisations rules our thinking on everything from health to the weather – we still pay for them to provide invalid and biased information which the media takes to heart. The UN has proven itself totally unfit for purpose in so many ways and times, yet our politicians do nothing to reign them in.
The WHO now has total authority to lock the country down if they want it, for any medical reason.
Nobody rocks the boat any more because they’d get punished in some way, but it’s time we were honest enough to recognize that the global organisations we helped create are now more powerful than us and get their way. THIS is not democracy!
January 2, 2023
JR on twitter – āThe Central Bank and Treasury economic establishment has delivered a big inflation to be followed by recession. So why are they not challenged about wrong forecasts and bad outcomes,ā
Neglect of duty, neglect of responsibility and accountable. Failure to do the job they were appointed too. In any other Business/Industry heads would have rolled long ago. Who am I talking about, those charged with carrying out the work or those that manage them? In the end it is the UK taxpayer and the electorate that have paid this Government to manage these entities on our behalf – is it failure, reluctance or refusal to do ones job that we are seeing here?
January 2, 2023
@Ian B – In basic terms along with some of the other outlandish costs dumped on the taxpayer the BoE has missed it reference point in its management of the UK inflation by some 500%. Causing Great hardship and increased costs on the majority of the people of this Country. What other industry would such highly paid individuals be allowed to get away with that?
Then you have to ask why are the managers of UK PLC(the Government) permitting such neglect of duty, are they just as reckless?
January 2, 2023
Whoever collectively gave the decision about windfall taxes maybe should have thought the whole process through maybe? Where is common sense? But as they are French owned it hardly comes as suprising
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/12/31/nuclear-plants-face-shutdown-tax-windfalls/
January 3, 2023
The madness continues Turbo. This seems like deliberate damage to me. It’s like someone wants this country to fail.
January 2, 2023
Sir John I absolutely agree with your assessment, meanwhile Henry Haslam is concerned about flawed GDP reporting which doesn’t really pick up on the “managed decline” of the UK. Since 1961 UK GDP has not actually risen so I would say GDP as a measure of progress is seriously flawed. How can unelected bodies run everything while successive elected MPs fiddle around the fringes while in the meantime allowing the UK economy to actually decline. When MP’s push through a vote do they ever ask what the economic impact on GDP will be?
!00 years ago Great Britain had the largest flee of “dreadnoughts” battleships and the US, Germany and Japan were very envious. Now we are not called Great Britain any more and we are not a United Kingdom.
Reply UK GDP has risen in cash and real terms since 1961, as has GDP per head by a lesser amount.
January 2, 2023
We will always be called Great Britain because we are the greater of the British isles.
January 2, 2023
A good factual blog by Sir John Redwood.
He writes-‘It is still possible to challenge these views and to follow alternative policies’. What concerns me is that with the special exception of NATO for mutual defence we should not as a country be a member of international organisations (such as the E.U. or the European Court of Human Rights) where it is not possible to follow alternative policies as membership of such organisations overrides democracy in our country.
January 2, 2023
Sir John, I continually find myself agreeing with almost every word of your “Diaries”. I have been a Member of the Conservative Party for decades but resigned when Boris became PM because I considered him a man of no morals or truthfulness. I was excited by the real Conservative ideas of Liz Truss but was pretty sure that the neo-socialist rump of the Parliamentary Party would be out to “get” her and, regrettably, I was right. Your true Conservative views align pretty much with those of the Reform Party who I will be voting for, along with many ex-Conservative on my own road, at the next General Election. The weakness of the Reform Party at the moment is that they have nobody who can compare with your political intelligence and gravitas, and until they do, it will take a long time for them to develop widespread political influence. It will take “crossings the floor” of some big, true Conservative “beasts” to make the difference. In my opinion, Reform is now the only real Conservative Party.
Reply It would be easier if Reform supporters would join the Conservatives and back MPs like me pursuing a Conservative agenda. An MP or two joining Reform will not do what you want. 2 Conservative MPs joined UKIP, but UKIP never won a seat in a General election other than holding one of those 2 gifted seats from Conservatives.
January 2, 2023
But UKIP did get you the EU referendum you wanted. No UKIP, no referendum.
UKIP publicity probably also secured the Leave result.
Reply Not so. I and a few other MPs secured the referendum through meetings with PM Cameron and getting to the point where we had a majority in the governing party for one. David and I always agreed UKIP would not win a single seat in the forthcoming General election. That was not the reason for the referendum.The referendum was needed as a majority of Conservatives wanted it and we elected the PM. We were out by 1 on MPs as it transpired.
January 2, 2023
Surely the reason why David Cameron and many other Conservative MPs wanted the EU referendum was because they thought they would win it for Remain, and because UKIP was taking votes away from the Conservatives leaving them vulnerable to Labour in some constituencies? Thereby terminating any possibility of leaving the EU for a generation and similarly eliminating UKIP as a threat.
Although you no doubt thought you had a good chance to win for Leave, it’s very hard to imagine David Cameron wanting the EU referendum because he thought Leave would win. Quite the reverse, sealing the deal for the EU and sinking UKIP was surely his motivation. Isn’t that supported by David Cameron’s sudden resignation? He had no plan and no desire at all to take Britain out of the EU himself.
Reply Yes he thought we could win but was advised by his best ally tge Chancellor not to take the risk. He took the risk because he did not want 150 Conservative MPs thinking of removing him if he did not grant a referendum.
January 2, 2023
reply to reply…You fool nobody. UKIP pulled votes away fromTory PPC, and caused voters to reflect on ‘NO REF’ – without caving in your Party was dead in the water.
January 2, 2023
and when LEAVE won Cameron took it personally – SULKED and threw toys out of the pram.
Couldn’t cope with being rejected and even abandoned his constituency.
January 2, 2023
Some observers believe there was another reason.
January 2, 2023
No, David Cameron was right to resign rather than attempt to negotiate the terms of a withdrawal he did not agree with.
The pity was Theresa May, a Remainer, was made Prime Minister to negotiate a withdrawal she didn’t agree with, doubly so as she was incompetent as a negotiator. Any sensible or skilled negotiator would not unilaterally give preliminary concessions (e.g. payments to the E.U.) but would insist nothing at all is agreed until everything is satisfactorily agreed. Boris Johnson should have been made Prime Minister in 2016 instead of having to pick up and be handicapped by May’s negotiating mess in 2019. Better still we should just have left in 2016 without an agreement as then President Hollande of France and some other E.U. leaders urged us to do then.
January 2, 2023
Then we got a half-baked āin name onlyā brexit, not worth the paper it was written on
January 2, 2023
Sorry Sir John, your reply is somewhat lacking.
I, like most contributors, have a “remain” MP – hence our squawks.
We haven’t had a Conservative Government since Mrs. T was defenestrated, we don’t get to choose MPs, and when we do vote (Truss) we get sidelined.
January 2, 2023
I’m sorry Sir John but for once your logic fails you. I reckon there are, at the most, 50-60 decent Conservative MPs. Even if every ReformUK supporter in their constituencies switched to supporting these MPs and ensured their re-election, they would still be a small minority with ZERO influence on the party’s leadership or policies. So how would we be any better off???
No, much better would be if these 50-60 MPs ALL switched to ReformUK. The publicity would create a political earthquake, the government would fall (simply by virtue of losing their parliamentary majority) and ReformUK would have a realistic chance of either winning the next election or at least gaining more seats than the Conservative Party rump and thus, over the course of the next few years, replacing it.
The Conservative Party, led as it is by anti-British traitors, is the main obstacle to a decent, patriotic, nationalistic, traditionalist, conservative government. As there is NO prospect of improving the leadership, the party has to die.
January 3, 2023
Reply to reply. But John, there aren’t enough Conservative MP’S to vote for with your opinions. This is what’s wrong with the party. Not enough of you fight back against the destructive policies of Sunak and Hunt. Our MP is useless and when we write to him he tells us what a great job Sunak doing. No way am I voting for him. Too many of you are sitting on the back benches watching the carnage unfold
January 3, 2023
The Tory party ‘building’ is rocked to its very foundations. The walls have holes where once there were windows with views, the roof blew off several years ago, the inhabitants gaze into space expecting the tourists staring in wonder at it to bring tools and repair it. But they keep walking by shaking heads in disbelief. Just a matter of time before the walls cave inwards, despatching many with small numbers escaping damaged for many years until a health service can be summoned.
January 2, 2023
Two corrections
1. The Republicans do not have a “different” approach to net zero. They deny its importance, even though it is obvious to anyone with a brain.
2. Truss’s problems stemmed from her bizarre adherence to the IFA’s Hayekian economics, an approach that has never succeeded in delivering on its promises whenever it has been implemented. Of course, that doesn’t matter to those who make money by manipulating money rather than doing any useful work because they are the one group that is better off.
January 2, 2023
In what way was a universal uncapped free money energy subsidy handout to every household in the country which could have cost Ā£200bn Hayekian ?
Net Zero in the UK or USA even is of literally no importance at all given India/China have no interest in it as a target.
January 2, 2023
A late comment today. The Conservative Party must find a compelling case for their own existence. That means listening to the people & responding with real action. Illegal immigration is a toxic issue that needs action, not words. If that means coming out of international agreements/treaties & pushing the boats back to France, do it or die as a party. Cut the cost of government by at least 250,000 Civil servants, cut all Quango budgets by 50%, stop all the waste on non jobs in government & the NHS, & stop constantly living beyond our means. That would enable action on reducing taxes, both personal & business, & if the conservatives don’t do that, then what is the point of them? Reducing taxes will stimulate real growth, which we need. Bring in the laws on stopping essential workers striking now, not in 6 months’ time, again a situation which needs action, not words! Is Sir John our only conservative MP?
January 2, 2023
I see Sunak has announced via the FT (rather than Parliament) that the Truss investment zones policy is to be scrapped and separately that the Truss childcare policy (to aid growth) is also to be scrapped. The former to ensure alignment with the EU I suspect ? The latter for no good reason at all other than to make Labourās announced childcare policy look attractive. As Sunak seems set on losing the next election by a massive majority (rather than just by a smaller one) why not have the election now ?
January 2, 2023
Sir John.
What part of the establishment has kept it from the taxpaying public about the Ā£275m paid out in bonuses to railway workers just announced on GB News? They are on strike? Somebody somewhere is having a laugh. at our expense. No wonder the companies want driverless trains or no guards. Were figures like this available when they negotiated their subsidies? There seems to be a heck of no real attention to detail applied to the negotiating process. How can such incompetence be allowed to just happen by the companies and the ministers?
January 2, 2023
What I would REALLY like to know is why a country intent on annihilating itself for net zero is quite happy to allow the noise and pollution of constant fireworks?
January 2, 2023
Not to mention the planet-threatening (šµāš«), driverless, EXTREMELY awful noise creating car idling that I thought was supposed to be illegal!
Twin joys of New Year celebrations here.
January 2, 2023
āIt means that health policy looks to the World Health Organisation for responses to major public health challenges.ā
UK public health officials downgraded Covid-19 from being considered a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) on 19 March 2020, four days before the first lockdown.
Was the PM and MPs made aware of this, and if so, why did they go ahead with lockdowns, masking, and experimental vaccine coercion for a disease with recognised low overall mortality rate?
Why was there no pushback against the World Health Organization (WHO) view that Covid-19 was still a public health emergency needing a coordinated response?
The government’s decisions to follow the WHO have come at enormous cost to the health and well-being of the British people and the economy. We need to know why, and to be assured this cannot happen again.
The following three paragraphs are lifted from the government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid
āStatus of COVID-19
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK. There are many diseases which can cause serious illness which are not classified as HCIDs.
The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, overall more information is available about mortality rates (low), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.
The ACDP is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to consider COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), therefore the need to have a national, coordinated response remains and this is being met by the governmentās COVID-19 response.ā
January 2, 2023
GB News reporting more illegals crossing the channel today ….strange that no other media outlets are reporting this news
January 3, 2023
well its not ‘news’ is it? The country is bored to death with the almost ‘invasion’ going on between the Calais coast and Dover coast. The Government has shown disinterest and sometimes lies to try to kid the offended that it will all get sorted out and the 46,000 including the landlocked 12,000 Albanians will be sent back. There are so many other things the media can attack on, the illegals pale into almost insignificance.
January 2, 2023
excess deaths higher than any time over the last few years
1,600 per week extra over and above what should be expected
why is this not top of the news agenda
our health leaders have completely let us down
January 2, 2023
The Conspiracy Theories narrative which is promoted by the Globalists are proving to be correct. Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING.