Stop hedging, start marrying | Mary Harrington
It’s easy to blame this, as conservative tabloids often do, on "selfish career women"—but the reality is more complex and more endemic. Gestation is something like a state of symbiosis, and the way it concretises the limits to individual human freedom so radically contradicts the liberal narrative that motherhood as such has to be swept under the carpet, or treated at best as a punishment, or a problem to be solved. We can only be good mothers by failing as atomised subjects. So inasmuch as the wider culture encourages us to be atomised subjects, it can’t help but discourage us from being mothers.
The Ulsterisation of Scotland | Michael Fraser
The SNP has managed to dominate Scottish politics despite its poor record in government, and its embroilment in various scandals. When given a choice between a party committed to independence and numerous parties committed to retaining Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom, there can only be one winner.
Conservative cuts to Defence disaster: Go on home British Army | George Marsden
Apparently, the foreign secretary believes the best to way make good on this promise is to shrink the army to its smallest size since 1714. He would probably respond that the reason for the cuts is the opportunity it provides for a more appropriate prioritisation of resources; that the real way to combat the Russian menace is through a more advanced long-distance strike capability and a vamped up Royal Marines Corps, alongside an American style “Ranger Regiment” (there’s the dog and tail again).
Saki’s 1913 When William Came is the best guide to a Britain transformed overnight. | Daniel Hardaker
How adrift we are to be wrestling with something which, especially in England, none of our forebearers has ever had to deal with. As there is absolutely no precedent for a medical-Stakhanovite England steaming into the horror of perma-biosecurity panopticon living, let me, then, suggest Saki’s 1913 When William Came. It is not perfectly suited – one has to compromise here –, but its tale of a Britain under the thumb of Imperial Germany has many remarkable parallels with the events of the last year.
The novel’s focus is the absurdity of a handful of Britons as they simultaneously attempt to adapt and to resist. I hope the tragicomic resemblance to our own behaviours and thought patterns offer at least a little release. It did for me.
Cumbrian coal mine scandal does not expose conservative environmental hypocrisy | Charlie Goulbourne
When activists speak of leaving behind “dirty jobs” of coal mining, they have never really proposed to eliminate these industries, but rather export them to poorer countries with weaker environmental regulations. Despite the cries of “environmental injustice” that are now compelled to accompany any discussion regarding climate change, many seem happy to continue to shift the burden of industrial emissions to developing nations, import their goods (releasing yet more emissions) and then proudly declare themselves carbon neutral …
I am afraid that there is a conflict between utopia and reality happening here. Whatever becomes of the Cumbria coal mine, it does not represent the choice between an enlightened green future and a regressive industrialism. If it does go ahead, it is due to a pragmatism that understands that mining coal in order to produce steel closer to the point of use, instead of shipping it halfway across the globe, is environmentally sensible, never mind that it will finally re-shore some industry to our ailing economy.
An American looks at the self-debasement of the British Establishment | William Franklin
British high society subconsciously seems to think that if they continue to degrade and debase themselves in public enough, eventually a New Man will emerge as if by magic. The ‘stuffy’ past will fade into the night and a new Cool Britannia will emerge in a flash of light. But that is not going to happen. The past has already happened. It cannot be destroyed. Therefore, the British elite will continue in this cycle from now until they reconnect with this past. Over and over again, the political operatives will instruct the leaders to dance like chimps and over an over again they will do it, thereby acting out this desperate attempt to purify themselves of their history and their character.
The life and legacy of the Duke of Edinburgh | Adam James Pollock
At his golden wedding anniversary celebrations, the Queen Elizabeth celebrated the importance he had played in supporting her role as monarch, noting that “he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”
Competency-based learning | Dan Mikhaylov
In sum, one of Britain’s foremost brands and selling points- our cherished system of education- has quietly been hijacked by the neoliberal misconception that people amount to little more than assets, whose value is contingent on how much one invests and which are constantly traded in the labour market.
Protecting women | OC Comment
Though we all wish women and children could walk the streets without fear, that is not the world we live in. Though progressives would have us believe utopia was around the corner, necessitating only a bit of social engineering here and radical ideology there, social conservatism requires a recognition of reality.