Bringing Classical Liberalism to South London
Come and meet-up with likeminded freedom lovers, at our No Passport Required drinks at The George, Croydon on Wednesday 19th October, from 7pm.
We will hold these in association with Dick Delingpole’s #ThirdWednesday Libertarian drinks club.
Join us at The George. 17–21 George Street, Croydon. CR0 1LA on Wednesday 19th October, from 7pm.
Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1V3GmOcyn
We are joined by Chris Wilkinson, the founder of Blacklist Press and now a co-founder of a new political party – Choice, as we discuss Liz Truss’ new cabinet, the proposed energy price cap and Chris’ new party. We then chat with Chris about Blacklist Press and his soon to be published book about the late Labour Party leader John Smith.
Chris’ new book ‘John Smith: A Reappraisal: A critical analysis of the leadership of the Labour Party’s lost leader’ is now available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BGCXJKJ5.
In two articles from 2017 and 2018 Mike Swadling writes in the Croydon Citizen – What has Croydon’s Labour council actually achieved? and sets out his priorities for next year’s local elections.
“The Fairfield Halls redevelopment has closed off a major car park and our main cultural venue. This has resulted in a corner of the town that is covered in graffiti (sorry, ‘street art’), and in which businesses keep closing down”
“To top all of this, Westfield hasn’t discernibly progressed. As I have written before, trade in Surrey Street has dropped despite – or maybe because of – council investment”
“In Barcelona, they have been building the Sagrada Família for over one hundred years. Maybe Croydon will become the Barcelona of northern Europe with – at four years and counting – not a single house having been delivered by Brick by Brick”
“The Conservatives took steps to reduced stop and search in 2010, and are cutting police numbers. Labour supports reduced stop and search. Neither propose any action beyond soft words to stop knife crime”
“Both the Conservatives and Labour support green taxes on landfill. They have slowly reduced and made more complex our dustbin collections. Now you need permits to enter the council tips, and yet they all feign surprise we have rampant fly tipping across the borough”
“Stop this folly of green taxes reducing the quality or people’s lives. Locally asking for new refuse collection contracts to simplify the service”
Full article: https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20190509170115/https://thecroydoncitizen.com/politics-society/kind-croydon-want/
By Mike Swadling
“I don’t feel I would have this problem if I worked for the government. I mean for starters they don’t seem to have anything that works”
I have a habit of referring to things that work as Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain. Many of you will remember the 1990s advert that proclaimed that Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain, does exactly what it says on the tin.
One of the challenges with this and my many other 80s/90s British TV references is that in these increasingly interconnected times the person I’m speaking to either isn’t in the U.K. or doesn’t remember most of the 90s let alone the 80s.
I don’t feel I would have this problem if I worked for the government. I mean for starters they don’t seem to have anything that works and there is certainly nothing that does exactly what it says on the tin.
“Surely, they are driving the water companies to invest more and improve services. They must surely be imposing fines on water companies for reduced service to customers through hosepipe bans. No, quite the opposite”
The list is endless, as I write this, we have had a drought declared in some parts of the country. We have also seen many news stories lamenting the lack of any new reservoirs in a period the population has increased by about 10 million. Thames Water has a desalination plant they have never used, whilst at the same time they are imposing hosepipe bans.
With all this going on where are Ofwat the water regulator? Where is the Environment Agency? Surely, they are leading the fight to get people water. Surely, they are driving the water companies to invest more and improve services. They must surely be imposing fines on water companies for reduced service to customers through hosepipe bans. No, quite the opposite. Ofwat commissioned a 2018 paper “to analyse and present the options available for making deep reductions to per-capita consumption over a minimum fifty-year period”. Water companies are far from blameless for the failure to keep a plentiful supply of water flowing, but when Thames Water did try to build a new reservoir in Oxfordshire, the Environment Agency blocked it on the grounds there was apparently no need for it. This isn’t all that new, the 2014 flooding of the Somerset Levels, was widely blamed in part on the Environment Agency’s decision to stop dredging the rivers, something they were tasked with undertaking, for the purpose of reducing flooding.
But it’s not just water management that doesn’t work in the UK. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy exists yet our island made of coal, with gas and oil reserves and an advanced nuclear power industry, is not expected to have enough power generation this winter. Of course, as is made clear in a March statement to Parliament, the department puts every barrier in the way to fracking. Not long before he became Deputy Prime Minister, that visionary Nick Clegg expressed his opposition to new nuclear power stations as they would take too long to come online. Of course, the prediction had they been commissioned then is they would have come online about now, right when we need them!
Net Zero and the green agenda are in large part behind these departments working towards grand environmental plans, rather than for the benefit of taxpayers. But it’s not just on the environment our government lacks the essence of doing what it says on the tin, take for example public health. Public Health England before they were dissolved had some 5,000 staff, who whilst very productive at telling us how to live our lives were woefully under prepared for Covid 19. Public Health didn’t protect the publics health, they did however lead to the shutdown of our economy and massive loss of freedom.
Failure is in all parts of our government. Paul Lincoln the disastrous Director General of the Border Force from 2017 to 2021, described ‘bloody borders’ as ‘just such a pain in the bloody a***’. Nationally the Police failed to solve a single theft in 84% of neighbourhoods in the past 3 years. 70% of Metropolitan Police officers didn’t make a single arrest in the past year and the RAF has seemingly stopped recruiting on ability but now recruit based on wokery. We have a Bank of England that is charged with keeping inflation at around 2%, yet no one is losing their well-paid jobs as inflation soars above 10%. None of these departments are Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain, they are not even close. The departments we pay taxes for, and the regulators we rely on, are consistently working against us.
“we need some desire from government to actually act to improve the lives of the citizens of the UK. Let’s assume for a moment the next Prime Minister ushers that in, and I’m not saying I expect them to, but it is a prerequisite”
What can be done about this? Firstly, we need some desire from government to actually act to improve the lives of the citizens of the UK. Let’s assume for a moment the next Prime Minister ushers that in, and I’m not saying I expect them to, but it is a prerequisite. We need to start with a requirement government departments and quangos act to improve the standard of living of law-abiding UK citizens.
The improvements they are planning to deliver needs to be codified, and for this all-government departments at all levels need published Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or targets. Much maligned as targets are, without them we simply have no measure of success, or even an indication of what a department is trying to achieve. There will be problems, some departments will focus on targets to the exclusion of other activity. Some may cook the books on the numbers, and if staff submit fraudulent data, then action should be taken. Others will set easily achieved goals, fine, better to achieve an easy goal that benefits us, than to actively work against our interests. We will be able to see what an area of government believes is its purpose, and what success it has in achieving that goal.
It seems as if nothing in government works. Let’s get back to first principles across the state, with for instance a Police force who police, a Border force who protect the borders, water regulators who believe in ensuring people have water. And with a costs of living crisis upon us, and a few troubled years ahead, lets hope someone in government apply the principles of Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain, to provide the services we pay for.
We are joined by Alasdair Stewart, the newly elected Conservative Party Councillor for Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown, as we discuss the latest in the Conservative Party Leadership campaign and Croydon’s Directly Elected Mayor, Jason Perry’s, first 100 Days in office. We then chat with Alasdair about his initial experiences as a Councillor on Croydon Council.
Come and meet-up with likeminded freedom lovers, at our No Passport Required drinks at The George, Croydon on Wednesday 21st September, from 7pm.
We will hold these in association with Dick Delingpole’s #ThirdWednesday Libertarian drinks club.
Join us at The George. 17–21 George Street, Croydon. CR0 1LA on Wednesday 21st September, from 7pm.
Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1zyu0o9fp
Image: By GodeNehler – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74650075
Join us on Wednesday 28th September for an evening talking about the climate, rational action, and affordability.
Our guests, Harry Wilkinson, Head of Policy at Net Zero Watch and Benjamin Elks of the Taxpayers’ Alliance will each present and hold a joint Q&A.
As energy prices rocket and everything from driving your car to changing your boiler becomes more restricted, Ben and Harry will be giving their thoughts on the government’s Net Zero measures.
Come along 7pm, upstairs at Elliott’s Bar, 5 High St, Purley CR8 2AF.
Benjamin Elks worked in pension prior to moving to the TPA last year working in Fundraising, Operations and Events. Ben supported our recent action day with the TPA in Purley questioning executive pay at Croydon Council. Ben has a degree in Politics and War Studies from the University of Wolverhampton and plays for a local rugby team in his spare time. Ben can be found on Twitter at @elksy91.
Harry Wilkinson is the Head of Policy at Net Zero Watch. Net Zero Watch aims to is highlight and discuss the serious implications of expensive and poorly considered climate change policies. Harry has regularly written for the Conservative Woman and has appeared with us on our Podcast. Harry can be found on Twitter at @HarryWilkinsonn.
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1119759738961387
My tuppenceworth speech by Zachary Stiling
“I propose, from observation, that beauty is an objective truth. Those of us with notions of beauty will agree on what is beautiful. Sunsets, fertile valleys, swallows in flight—who will refute it?”
In post-Renaissance Europe, there can be no excuse for ugliness, and yet it abounds. Some people see no problem; many things which are ugly happen to be cheap and convenient, and perversely popular. This points to one thing: that some people are not receptive to beauty.
It does not point towards one of the most irritating, hackneyed and untruthful phrases in circulation: that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, which implies subjectivity. I propose, from observation, that beauty is an objective truth. Those of us with notions of beauty will agree on what is beautiful. Sunsets, fertile valleys, swallows in flight—who will refute it? If the matter was subjective, would someone not wish to assert that the warm glow of dusk is an aesthetic abomination?
We may quibble over minutiae because beauty is metaphysical, its laws written not in numbers as the language of physics, but perceived through feeling rather than deciphered through equations. But as it exists objectively, we perceive it in broadly the same way.
I now speak only for myself, but as one who feels exalted by beauty, you may imagine how the opposite effect is induced by its absence. A while ago, standing on the platform of East Croydon station, it occurred to me that I could see nothing beautiful, and it occasioned a sadness which was profound enough to be memorable.
“Edridge Road, off the Croydon Flyover. Face south and bask in a sense of homeliness as you look past the modest Victorian bricks and mortar to the spire of St. Peter’s Church. Then have your cosy contentment shattered as you about-turn 180 degrees”
Take also the example of Edridge Road, off the Croydon Flyover. Face south and bask in a sense of homeliness as you look past the modest Victorian bricks and mortar to the spire of St. Peter’s Church. Then have your cosy contentment shattered as you about-turn 180 degrees and look north to the hard, jackbooted tower blocks of the town centre, mocking you with their indomitable girth.
But I am fortunate. I am not entirely cut off from beauty as long so long as I live in leafy suburbia and travel the country for work. Consider the person raised on an inadequate housing estate, forced to drive every day along an anonymous dual carriageway to work in a post-war town centre designed by accountants. What nourishment does their soul get? What lifts their minds higher?
“far from being elitist, anyone may be touched by beauty, and its benefits are limitless. It gives the aimless aspiration, brings joy to the depressed and is something to he who has nothing”
It is common today that certain egalitarians should denigrate true beauty as elitist, because it takes time, money and effort to create, and some people have little aptitude for it. But far from being elitist, anyone may be touched by beauty, and its benefits are limitless. It gives the aimless aspiration, brings joy to the depressed and is something to he who has nothing.
Let us reject the weasel words which justify bad art and architecture — ‘innovative’, ‘diverse’, ‘inclusive’, ‘subversive’, ‘empowering’ and ‘progressive’ — and make planning authorities, developers, the Arts Council and other organisations responsible for the physical and cultural landscape work towards a beautiful world, for everyone’s sake.
My tuppenceworth speech by Zachary Stiling
“We cannot expect anything good to come from a Chamber stuffed with the scientifically, historically and economically illiterate, or a load of self-serving sociopaths”
There is only one course of action – to totally and utterly reform the government, clearing out every amoral politician and stringently regulating future elections to ensure only those who are demonstrably learned, wise and possessed of a genuine concern for the welfare of individuals are able to enter Parliament. We cannot expect anything good to come from a Chamber stuffed with the scientifically, historically and economically illiterate, or a load of self-serving sociopaths.
Ordinary people have two ways of influencing government policy, persuasion, and force, and both were tried and failed. Scientists and medical professionals, business owners, religious leaders and philosophers all made well-substantiated rational arguments to no avail. Protests were a display of force but achieved little. To dissent was to be ridiculed or suppressed, or even criminalised and brutalised by police.
“The underlying fact is that lockdown is a form of tyranny and must be treated as such”
The underlying fact is that lockdown is a form of tyranny and must be treated as such. Past tyrannies have only fallen with the help of external powers. The Nazi tyranny ended after a war in which millions died. The Soviet tyranny collapsed through weakened governance which Western efforts worked to undermine. The Chinese Communist tyranny has never collapsed because nobody has stood up to China.
Of course, overthrowing the status quo and completely starting again is pure fantasy; it isn’t workable, so I will alter the question because there can be no guarantee against future lockdowns, and instead ask: what should we do in the event of another?
The first thing is to defy it entirely, and maintain normality as far as we are able, hardening ourselves against the threats from government and the frowns of fuzzy-brained neighbours. We must forge connections with those who are of a like mind for the sake of mutual support.
“our next imperative is to become evangelists. We will be mistreated by the media and censored on line, so commence pamphleteering and try to bring one person to reason at a time. It worked well for Martin Luther and Thomas Paine”
If we can thus sustain ourselves, our next imperative is to become evangelists. We will be mistreated by the media and censored on line, so commence pamphleteering and try to bring one person to reason at a time. It worked well for Martin Luther and Thomas Paine. A child will consent to being locked down in his bedroom to avoid the bogeyman until, daring to step outside and goad it, he discovers it does not exist. In the same way, it must take courage and reason to expose the fearful superstition on which lockdowns depend.
Image from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/soil-health-mask-protection-corona-5935148/
My tuppenceworth summary by District Councillor George Pender
“I was pleased to see the group’s commitment to resistance; to acting against such policies, if they were ever implemented again“
District Councillor George Pender (who represents Ash and New Ash Green in the District of Sevenoaks, Kent) gave a speech about mass surveillance and argued for the removal of Chinese Hik Vision security cameras from public space. George spoke from notes, so we can’t publish a text here, but he has written about the issue (with a greater reference to his own local area) here: https://georgepender.co.uk/articles/2022-07-parliamentarians-call-for-removal-of-hikvision-cameras/
Councillor Pender also spoke on Lockdown and wrote: I was greatly heartened by the first half of the event, focusing on how we can ensure that the kind of coercive polices we saw for two years following March 2020, can be firmly consigned to Britain’s past. I was pleased to see the group’s commitment to resistance; to acting against such policies, if they were ever implemented again.
” It was lovely to hear a beautifully constructed speech on the importance of beauty itself, particularly in art and architecture”
He also wrote in summary of the event as follows: It was great to hear the diverse range topics people addressed in the second half. I was pleased to be reminded of much of the deeper reasoning for, and benefit brought about by, the right to buy policy of the 1980s, which extended far beyond merely the leg up it gave to the individuals exercising the right. It was lovely to hear a beautifully constructed speech on the importance of beauty itself, particularly in art and architecture. I found myself being drawn into further agreement on the need for new UK nuclear, something which we see Government will remain in firm agreement on whoever wins the current Conservative Leadership election.
Mike’s speech on the importance of maintaining humility in local government was very convincing. This humility should lead us to prioritise the core functions of a local authority, while “getting out of the way” in many other areas. This was well illustrated by numerous convincing examples from Croydon, under Labour.
