I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

A Quote To Leave 2020 On.....

Just before Christmas I finished reading Paul Embery's 'Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class'.

It is very good, although I fear that the people who need to read it, and to learn from it, will not. Embery risks that cruellest of fates, being a Prophet in his own land, destined only to be heard from those outside his own tribe.

These are some of the lines on which he finishes the book:

We have learned that any drive to create an 'open' 'diverse' and 'progressive' nation will alienate a large part of the populace if it is forced upon them too rapidly, violates their sense of order and belonging, and comes at the expense of social solidarity and stability.
The British working class has found its voice. Politics in our country is realigning at speed as the old tribalisms crumble. The Left, if it is to halt the slide towards irrelevance, had better start listening.

I suspect this overstates the extent to which life may be breathed into a corpse. But that politics is realigning, is self-evident. And it is genuinely exciting.

Is Macron's Stance Against Islamism Applicable in Other Countries?

On Tuesday 22nd December I will be chairing an online event at 1500 for the Henry Jackson Society entitled 'President Macron's Response to Islamism and Jihadist Terror: Lessons for Other Nations'.

The discussion should last for about an hour, with three leading researchers in the field - Liam Duffy, Dr Tommaso Virgili and Simone Rodan-Benzaquen. There will also be a Q and A session. Sadly, as the event is online, the anticipated mince pies and glasses of sherry will have to wait until next year.

To attend, all you need to do is register online with HJS, and you will receive an emailed link to join the event as it starts.

Where Covid19 Leaves Us

It seems likely the Oxford Covid vaccine will be rolled out across the UK in January.

I was one of over 600 people to take part in the trials for this in Corby, Northamptonshire. Finishing off the tests on Thursday, I was told only 5 people had negative reactions to the jabs, none serious. That is less than 1 percent.

It seems appropriate to be deeply pessimistic about the future. The economic hit we have suffered from Covid has not been fully grasped. The gap between the security and status of public and private sector workers is deepening, and may get worse. The civil liberties lost at times this year, and the cultural revolution that piggy backed on top of the George Floyd protests in America, disastrous. There is not much point having a parliament full of human rights lawyers if, as I found, the police stop you playing football in the park with your children. On race, Britain is not the United States, no matter how much our woke warriors wish it to be.

Internationally, China is greatly strengthened by the events of 2020, the west economically weakened and culturally divided. Those cultural divisions will accelerate in 2021.

But this vaccine is a sign of progress, in the middle of reaction. It is green shoots sticking out of the concrete, and for that we should be grateful.

Is the Tamil Tiger Free to Roam Britain's Streets?

One of the issues in the in-tray of Home Secretary Priti Patel, is the question of whether to revoke the ban on the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers organisation.

In the page of the Indian newspaper the Sunday Guardian, I argue strongly against this. It would be a poor way to treat our allies, but would also send a dangerous message to other militant exiled groups who are, regrettably, exiled here in the UK.

Remembering 26/11: Mumbai and State Sponsored Jihadist Terrorism

Bridge India has now published on its You Tube page the discussion marking the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, which I participated in last Friday.

You can listen below to

involving Burzine Waghmar of SOAS University of London, the author Priyajit Debsarkar, and myself.