David Cameron has only one thing going for him: he isn’t Ed Miliband. Miliband’s speech at the Labour conference proved yet again that he has learned nothing from the disasters his socialist predecessors have perpetrated with predictable regularity. Clearly, this Eddie is not for learning. Dave isn’t a particularly fastRead More

Our country is at war. Historically, that’s what the RAF flying bombing sorties has meant. If this fact now calls for a different interpretation, I’d like to hear what it is. Until I do I’ll be repeating the same old thing: Britain is at war. And I hope you’ll joinRead More

If, like me, you aren’t plugged into popular culture, Robson Green is some kind of TV actor, a rather good one by general consent. That makes him a celebrity, a status that confers on its proud possessor the authority to enlarge on any subject under the sun and have hisRead More

Lord Hailsham’s explanation of conservatism is correct, but only as far as it goes: “Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself.”Read More

“Another fine mess you’ve got us into!” The line comes from a short 1930s film by those slapstick clowns Laurel and Hardy. For Laurel and Hardy, substitute our two modern comedians Cameron and Obama and apply it to their foreign policy. How’s this for joined up thinking? Just a yearRead More

Ed Miliband is asking for 10 years in power to “turn Britain around”. He’s being uncharacteristically modest. Socialists have never needed years to destroy a country when they take over. Depending on their radicalism, this feat may take them days to achieve (Lenin) or perhaps weeks (Hollande). Never years. WritingRead More

It’s hard not to notice the semantic confusion arriving in the slipstream of the Scottish referendum. No one seems to be any longer sure of anything: nationhood, home rule for Scotland, England or possibly Merseyside, democracy, constitution, why the chicken crosses the road or whether or not it comes beforeRead More

One can observe two things about modern tyrants: first, they can’t resist divulging their plans; second, the world never listens. Marx, for example, laid down the blueprint for a modern totalitarian state, complete with genocide, democide, concentration camps, suppression of every liberty, dictatorship of a small elite, confiscation of allRead More

It was the current American VP Joe Biden who set the precedent. During his 1988 presidential campaign Biden repeated word for word Neil Kinnock’s speech on being the first in his family to go to university. Sorry, it wasn’t quite word for word: Joe did replace ‘the first Kinnock’ withRead More

Most historians agree that the Second World War started on 1 September, 1939. Some will argue that the real date was 23 August, when Molotov and Ribbentrop signed the pact whose secret protocol divided Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. Some others will pick an even earlier date, suchRead More