We discuss the reopening of pubs and gyms, the Mini-Budget, Croydon Council job cuts, the Purley Skyscraper and the BBC’s latest antics. We then have an interview with Jayde Edwards, a local Conservative Party activist who stood in the Fairfield ward by-election last November. We chat with Jayde about her campaign, issues affecting young people in Croydon, the Black Lives Matter movement and how she is inspiring more young people to get involved in politics locally.
Looking back what are your thoughts on the treatment you received from real and social media?
You wanted to “inspire young people, I also want to bring something new to Croydon – a new passion and a new energy”. We saw large crowds out to campaign for you. What’s the lasting effect of their politically engagement?
In your campaign you focused on “Westfield and the promise that was given to residents”, and “Knife crime and the lack of opportunities”. What are your views on where we are now on both of these issues?
What are your thoughts on the General election win and the more recently the impact of the lockdown?
Looking at your Twitter, you hold a more nuanced view than many on the Black Lives Matter movement. How do you think we best move forward?
We recently hosted a podcast with people of faith talking about how their faith impacts their politics. How do you feel you faith impacts your political view?
We are joined by Dr Lee Jones, Reader in International Politics at Queen Mary University of London and founder of The Full Brexit, as we discuss the reopening of pubs, the Immigration Bill passing through the House of Commons, Boris’ “New Deal” and the situation in Hong Kong. We then chat with Lee about The Full Brexit and the left-wing case for leaving the EU, his career in Academia, the woke culture in universities and the challenges facing Higher Education. We also discuss Croydon Council and the potential for an elected mayor.
“It’s not just about hindsight, if we had been more bold and if the government had been willing to face down public opinion more,,kl not panicked into a total lockdown, then I think we could have had this calibrated policy from the beginning.”
“That was the advice they were getting from the scientific experts at the time that lockdown wouldn’t be effective, airport screening wouldn’t be effective, banning flight wouldn’t be effective. So when the government was saying it was being guided by the science it was true, people didn’t believe them but it was true….. then they abandoned that.”
“There will be political pressure on politicians to solve the underlying weaknesses in training and education, which there won’t be when there is a steady supply of unlimited immigration from the continent.”
“It was going to be a much more interventionist government, that was much more comfortable with state intervention in the economy and didn’t just want to leave everything to the market.”
“I also think tinkering with the planning system is not going to solve the housing crisis. If you look between 2011 and 2016 there were 280,000 homes that weren’t built despite having planning permission. So you have to ask why. Instead of trying to deregulate the planning system you have to say why were we giving planning permission when the homes don’t get built.”
“We need to stop trying to squeeze tiny flats onto every brownfield site we can find, round the back of the supermarket, and start thinking about expanding into new dormer settlements.”
“Migrants whether they’re economic migrants or refugees, tend to be better off on average. Because if you’re really dirt poor you can’t leave, you’re stuck. You don’t have any resources, you’ve got nothing to sell, you have no assets you can’t pay the people smugglers to get you out.”
Interview
“The EU is anti-democratic, not non democratic, it’s anti-democratic, it shifts policy making from spheres of domestic public political contestation like parliaments, into spaces of private interstate diplomacy and it locks in rules and laws that can’t be challenged or changed”
“Universities as institutions campaigned openly for remain, surveys suggest 90% of academics voted for Remain, and academics are a core part of the bitterest and most anti-democratic opposition to Brexit”
“Unfortunately there isn’t really very much of a principled commitment to free speech on University campuses, it’s a major problem. I think we’re quite likely to see government intervention around this at some point, but they’ll never be taken seriously as being committed on grounds of principle as well as prosecuting a culture war, until they also wind back Prevent.”
“it’s not a majority of people, it’s a very vocal minority who cower others into submission”
“if you want to make students happy when they are coming and spending a lot of money buying a degree, then the easiest thing to do here is to make sure they get a good mark. If you want to make sure you have a high value added score, also give them a good mark. This is why there is rampant grade inflation”
We are joined by Dan Liddicott, the Chairman of the Libertarian Party UK, as we discuss the impending easing of the lockdown restrictions, the end of Rory Stewart’s Mayoral campaign and the latest in the fiasco that is the Electoral Commission. We then chat with Dan about his role with the Libertarian Party and their plans for the future.
On the next election: “I’d like to get 30 odd candidates stand and I’d like to have them get more than a 1000 votes each. That’s what I’d like to see, at that point the press and the national attention starts to look at you.”
“We are the only ones that understand the importance of defending the smallest minority of all, which is you the individual”
On the Electoral Commission: “it’s incompetence or it is activism. Which one is it? Because it isn’t nether, and I’m very concerned, if it’s the later, if it’s activism, then we’ve got a serious problem in this country”
“We are under emergency powers, if policy is being decided by just 4 people, that’s not great is it? We need more scrutiny than that”
We are joined by Peter Sonnex of the Brexit Party, Maureen Martin of the Christian Peoples Alliance and Hoong-Wai Cheah of UKIP to discuss Christianity & UK Politics. We ask them:
Why Christianity is important to them?
How they think religion and politics should mix?
How Christianity should inform policy?
Should we have an established church, and how they think the CofE is performing?
What should we be doing about Christian persecution abroad?
What are their predictions for the future of Christianity in the UK?
We are joined by Alastair Donald, the Associate Director of the Academy of Ideas, as we discuss the latest on the COVID crisis, a potential new trade deal with Australia and the news that Oriel College Oxford have decided that Rhodes Must Fall. We then chat with Alastair about his role with the Academy of Ideas, the Cancellation Culture and the future for free speech and thought in the UK.
“There’s a kind of order to the whole situation of getting a drink, which is in some ways inimical to whole experience of actually going out and enjoying a beer”
“it’s the officious society where the busybody rules with a set of regulations and a set of licensing rules that dictate what’s permissible which I think is a real problem”
“It does seem indicative of a way that there’s more decisive leadership within society at large, from normal people and businesses who are suffering from this and have some commitment to getting us out, than there is from central government”
“You have to look at the amount of environmental regulation that swamps quite a lot of what companies do, and the constraints that puts on new innovative processes coming to the fore”
“There seems almost like a cultural war against our history, and I’m not so much protective of the statues as I am resistant to the forces of reaction that I think are driving this movement to tear them down”
From the interview
“quite often the people that are most concerned about reigning in free speech, are actually people who are concerned that they are not up to handling ideas that they disagree with”
“we’re still hoping that society will open enough that we can gather people, physically within the same space, and we’d love to have the battle of ideas festival in November”
We are joined by Bill Etheridge, the former UKIP, Libertarian Party & Brexit Party MEP, as we discuss the Taxpayers Alliance’s City Hall Rich List, a potential new trade deal with japan and the Cancellation Culture attacking our historic statues and even beloved TV shows & films. We then chat with Bill about his time in politics, the demise of UKIP and the future of Classical Liberalism in this country.
“over 10 years of supposedly Conservative government and I’m old enough to remember before they got in, they were going to sort all of this out and have bonfires of quangos… still more than a decade on these obscene salaries are being paid out”
“we’re still an enormous economy, we’re very important in terms of diplomatic links, we are a hugely important country and of course people want to do deals with us”
“all of these things they want to erase, so they can start a new narrative, start from year zero. This is a modern day version of a cultural revolution”
“there was a little game that the staff that worked with us as MEPs, used to sit down and do a bingo, and they would try and find the Thatcher or Reagan quotes that I slipped into my speeches”
“Nigel Farage is the most effective and inspiring politician for patriotic right of centre politics, that there has been for many years”
“partly I wanted to make a statement that Libertarianism is something people should look at. Because it’s not discussed, people don’t talk about Libertarianism”
“it’s a tough old game being in politics, especially when you’ve got a bit of a reputation behind you, you become a target for all sorts of things, and if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it for a party I actually believe in and it’s worth making the sacrifices”
“If you believe in something, don’t just sit in the pub with a couple of mates talking about it, don’t just type something on Twitter, or whatever. Actually actively pursue that interest and try to make a difference”
We discuss the introduction of compulsory face masks on public transport and the Taxpayers Alliance’s latest tax proposals to assist with a post COVID recovery. We then consider the Hong Kong protests and the CBI’s change of tune on Brexit.
“I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.”
We are joined by Alasdair Stewart, the former Chairman of the Croydon Conservative Federation, as we discuss the media’s reaction to the COVID crisis and in particular their recent treatment of Dominic Cummings.
We also consider the great news about the Nissan plant in Sunderland, Croydon Council’s dire financial position and some recent developments in the 2020 US Presidential campaign.
We then chat with Alasdair about his experiences in politics, his time as the Chairman of the Croydon Conservative Federation and his thoughts on politics in Croydon.
“I’m sure many people in Croydon can remember, the 23% increase in council tax that Croydon Labour had to push through the last time the council’s finances got into this kind of terrible state”
“in Croydon, is that when Labour win control of the council everyone feels they only listen to their voters in the north, that delivered them their seats, and similar complaints are leveled against the Conservatives when they were running the council when they would only focus on the south of the borough. Anything that motives the Elected Mayor to think of the whole borough would be good for local democracy”
Alasdair Stewart Interview
and from his interview:
“I’d seen the damage they had done to Scotland, whether it be the Heath Service, with Education or even with the government’s finances and I was quite frankly terrified of the idea of the SNP propping up a Labour administration in Westminster.”
“How disappointing it is when you’re speaking to people and they say how unhappy they are about how the council might be doing things, but then also say they aren’t going to vote”
“local members were not just incredibly positive for Brexit and wanting to leave, but also a proper Brexit”
“One of Croydon’s problems is the fact it is effectively a two party competition. It is incredibly partisan and entirely divided. With the Conservatives in the south primarily, Labour in the north and everyone fights over the centre”
“When they were in power the Conservatives, the Conservative Croydon administration built more council houses than this administration under Labour”
“We need some more voices for the ordinary British person, we know from recent elections the climate change warriors, and the lefty socialists are not representative of the country as a whole…. I would encourage more normal rational people to get involved, have a voice and share their voice”
We discuss the proposed COVID Border Controls, the Brexit Trade Talks & Labour’s flip-flopping along with the upcoming Lib Dem Leadership contest. We then consider Croydon Council’s financial woes and the potential political fallout.
We discuss the COVID posturing of various politicians, the TFL Bailout and the developing trade talks with the EU, Japan & the USA. We then have an interview with Jeet Bains, the Conservative Councillor for the Addiscombe East ward in Croydon. Jeet talks about his ward, his recent Parliamentary candidacy in Luton North, housing development in Croydon and how he believes the Tories can win back the Council. He also discusses the opportunities that Brexit can bring for Croydon.
Quotes from Councillor Bains. On the Election and government:
“Jeremy Corbyn for example, he in no way represented a thing called the centre ground”
“there are just certain things the British people will not countenance, for example Marxism. However you dress it up, nobody in Britain is interested in Marxism”
“quietly privately the British people will not put up with that kind of prejudice”
“from the LibDems it was clear you need a credible leader but also someone who is believable. For example Jo Swinson, who kept on calling herself the next Prime Minister, it just wasn’t credible it went beyond laughable”
“local action on the ground, there is no substitute for it. It’s still really, really crucial in elections”
“the public sector, there is a bias towards caution and inaction. That kind of thing at the best of times is not the best way to do things, but in the situation we have today could potentially be lethal”
On Croydon Council:
“contrast that with Labour. They are allowing residential homes to be converted into flats anywhere and everywhere, and not just allowing it they are positively encouraging it”
“if you live on a road there is every chance the house next door to you will be converted into a block of flats. We need to get that message across”
“being clear the existing folk are not monsters. They are very understanding folk who want to accommodate more housing provision, but we can do it in the right way and in a sensitive way”
“Why has Croydon signed-up pretty much unilaterally to a far higher housing target than Bromley and Sutton?”
On Brexit:
“it requires imagination, that was point, to simply keep on saying ‘Brexit equals threat, oh my god it’s so awful’. We’ve got to stop that, we’ve got to have, it’s an opportunity, the people have voted for it, it’s happening, stop it with the misery”
We are joined by Jeet Bains,the Conservative Councillor for the Addiscombe East ward in Croydon. Jeet talks about his ward, his recent Parliamentary candidacy in Luton North, housing development in Croydon and how he believes the Tories can win back the Council. He also discusses the opportunities that Brexit can bring for Croydon.
