The sanctity of history | Dan Mikhaylov
What Britain so desperately requires is a stronger emphasis on national history – on producing a comprehensive and convincing historical narrative that would both reflect our civic values and transmit them from one generation to another. This undertaking is what the British philosopher Ernest Gellner would have considered a “nationalism-inducing situation”; in his renowned 1983 publication, Nations and Nationalism, he presents a strong argument that nationalism in the form we concatenate to the advent of European nation-states was a nineteenth-century phenomenon, which originated in something called the “national consciousness”. The latter in turn constituted a product of cultural homogenisation, linguistic standardisation, political centralisation, and the creation of a shared history.
Re-shoring Industry: A National Security Priority | Dominic Lawson
In short, re-shoring industrial development will have innumerate benefits for this country. Of course, it will grant us a degree of strategic autonomy from a hostile superpower, but it would also affirm our societal structure and slow down the environmental impact from the trading of cheap goods on global sea and air-lanes.
This is entirely possible, indeed, we have seen a slow trickle of organisations considering or actively moving their manufacturing bases out of Chinese territory
A Summary of Localism | Local Matters
A Localist is somebody who places the local community as the primary and most important political and economic entity. This ideological stance is therefore opposed to many notions of Modernity; a mindset which professes a linear view of historical progression, a notion of an 'end of history', individualism and universalism. In contrast, Localists see the world in plurality: there is no linear societal progression, nor is there any penultimate ideology or political structure.
The corporate and metropolitan assault on the British countryside | Adam James Pollock
While a sensible degree of competition is healthy and integral in capitalist societies, malicious intent is not; the CEO of Impossible Foods, Patrick Brown, has recently stated that his sole aim is to “put the animal agriculture industry out of business”.
Overdue tax reform in Britain for the common good | Laura Sánchez Pérez
If marginal tax rates are too high in the UK compared to other developed economies, investment is likely to go elsewhere, and economic growth is likely to suffer. This will have a detrimental effect on society. After all, investment brings employment opportunities and with that, economic growth for households up and down the country.
The conservative case for integrating British Muslims | Dan Mikhaylov
Conservatives have often abstained from this discussion, as carrying out this integration implies pragmatism and compromise, which might not necessarily resonate with their audiences to the extent that would justify them. The ill-founded custom of political teetotalism and our politicos’ predisposition to conniving at domestic radicalism and profuse integrational nihilism, observed in many Muslim communities in Britain, is turning many young Britons towards the wrong sort of orthodoxy – one that renounces patriotism and calls for violent action against the West. From this premise, our role in this brewing crisis is crystal clear: we must provide these disenchanted youths with a socially conservative alternative, in which they can strike a balance between their British and Muslim identities.
An analysis of support for disabled people from the State | Sam Hall
The question of ‘Do Disabled People receive enough support from the State?’ is unlikely to be satisfactorily answered by an abled-bodied man in anything less than a report from a Royal Commission. I would love to be able to say that being disabled in Britain doesn’t disadvantage you in any way — but statistically that isn’t the case. As we (hopefully!) wrangle our way out of this pandemic, there are takeaways from working from home. For some, it might mean less car travel, more time spent with the family because of skipping the commute, and a better environment with less air pollution. But for others, it might mean more employment opportunities in higher paid jobs where wrestling the logistics of public transport, the unavailability of disabled toilets or poorly adapted workplaces is less of an issue. I would hope that the government encourage this for at least part of the working week going forward.
COVID-19 and the abrogation of personal responsibility | Orthodox Conservatives
An article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) calls attention to the factors neglected by policymakers. To summarise, the economic consequences of lockdowns are projected to worsen inequality and disproportionately target lower socioeconomic brackets, while the repurposing of the medical system to counter COVID will leave patients with other pathologies at much greater risk.
The British countryside: our green and pleasant land | Adam James Pollock
When it comes to the countryside, people are growing weary of presenters such as Chris Packham presenting his own views as if they were mainstream in rural areas, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. In a fantastic recent article by the newly elevated Lord Ian Botham, Packham is derided as being utterly imprudent regarding all true rural issues… He could hardly represent rural communities less if he had spent his entire life in a Hackney estate.