Africa in the world to come | Dominic Lawson
Now, the Trans-Saharan trade routes are re-emerging in the modern world, and the pioneering groups who are forging them are international criminal syndicates. The new trade routes which run throughout the region link a vast informal economy of drugs and weaponry. After the toppling of Qaddafi and the transformation of Libya from relatively well functioning to “Somalia on the Mediterranean,” replete with terrorism, slavery and disorder, the region is also a major transit route of illegal mass migration into the European continent.
Tackling obesity: a cause for social conservatism | OC Comment
The obesity epidemic that has swept the West has received relatively little media attention despite the devastation it has wreaked. Causing an estimated 40,000 premature deaths and costing £27 billion to wider society, along with the innumerable accompanying long-term side effects, obesity is a serious public health risk that is strangely ignored. Compared to other long-term diseases like cancer or heart problems, obesity has been relegated to the sidelines. Most political figures maintain an embarrassed silence on the topic, while even our habitually outspoken Prime Minister has only intermittently commented on the issue. This is made all the more striking when one considered the degree to which this issue is dear to Boris Johnson’s heart; he blames his excess body weight for his extended hospitalisation after being infected with COVID-19.
The G7 has outlived its purpose | Orthodox Conservatives
The structural flaws would be enough to make many international organisations ineffective, but with the G7 this is only the tip of the accursed iceberg. The G7 has been used as a platform for progressive liberal policies for decades and seems to be far more effective at prosecuting these goals rather than carrying out any significant economic or diplomatic initiatives. For example, the Prime Minister called for a “more feminine and gender-neutral” recovery to the COVID pandemic at the most recent summit. Similarly, aid to the developing world has been a top priority of the group, even as members face declining living standards in the working class due to globalisation and production offshoring. For the average citizen of the US or UK, the tangible benefits of G7 membership are close to zero.
Social conservatism and the individual | OC Comment
Fortunately, social conservatism has the success and prosperity of the individual as key tenet that undergirds the ideological superstructure. However, instead of being at odds with each other, social conservatives believe that society and the individual are mutually reinforcing concepts. In many cases these two tenets are indistinguishable; a society is made up of individuals and individuals find meaning, happiness, and prosperity in society. It is this high regard for the individual in social conservatism that sets it apart from other ideologies. It is the only political structure that keeps the individual and their relation to society as the permanent focus of all political activity.
Levelling up our communities with post-Brexit investment | Ethan Thoburn
Post-Brexit investment and trading opportunities keep coming for Britain, although the government must be aware they cannot rely on putting all of their eggs in one basket and that they must ensure meaningful leveling up for the parts of the country that voted Conservative for the first time in December 2019, rather than ‘levelling up’ rhetoric.
It’s time to wage war on Woke | Ethan Thoburn
However, we cannot simply just stand by and watch so-called activists destroy our heritage. We conservatives must stand up to defend British history and culture from the pernicious and insipid individuals who wish to destroy our institutions. The government, especially the relevant Secretary of State, Oliver Dowden, must set out a plan to protect our values; our heritage; and our British culture. These are the things we cherish. These are things we will defend.
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.
What we can learn from the Duke of Edinburgh | OC Comment
Prince Phillip was a citizen who respected institutions and wider society by sacrificing personal gratifications in their service. He sacrificed innumerable evenings at home in front of the TV during his 22,191 solo public engagements and doubtlessly gave up far more in the course of his service to the nation. We can all hope to measure up, in some small way, to his example, and recognize our duty and commitment to those around us.
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).