If I am pessimistic about the future of liberty, it is because I am pessimistic about the strength of the English-speaking nations, which have, in profound ways, surrendered to forces at odds with their inheritance. “Declinism” is in the air, but some of us apocalyptic types are way beyond that. The United States is facing nothing so amiable and genteel as Continental-style “decline,” but something more like sliding off a cliff.Read the rest here.
In the days when I used to write for Fleet Street, a lot of readers and several of my editors accused me of being anti-British. I’m not. I’m extremely pro-British and, for that very reason, the present state of the United Kingdom is bound to cause distress. So, before I get to the bad stuff, let me just lay out the good. Insofar as the world functions at all, it’s due to the Britannic inheritance. Three-sevenths of the G7 economies are nations of British descent. Two-fifths of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are—and, by the way, it should be three-fifths: The rap against the Security Council is that it’s the Second World War victory parade preserved in aspic, but, if it were, Canada would have a greater claim to be there than either France or China. The reason Canada isn’t is because a third Anglosphere nation and a second realm of King George VI would have made too obvious a truth usually left unstated—that the Anglosphere was the all but lone defender of civilization and of liberty. In broader geopolitical terms, the key regional powers in almost every corner of the globe are British-derived—from Australia to South Africa to India—and, even among the lesser players, as a general rule you’re better off for having been exposed to British rule than not: Why is Haiti Haiti and Barbados Barbados? ...
Internecine civil wars are underway almost everywhere within the West, and most virulently in the United States of America. They are not yet kinetic wars, but wars of grinding prepositioning, the kind which lead to foregone conclusions without a shot being fired. They are wars of survival, nonetheless, because the basic architecture for national strength is being altered incrementally or dramatically. And, in many cases, consciously.
The USEconomy is bifurcated, with price inflation advancing on the cost side while price deflation harms on the asset side, to produce a nasty storm that is unlikely to abate. When high pressure zones clash with low pressure zones, hurricanes and tornadoes occur. Calling the resulting near 0% or low 2% price inflation on a net basis a good sign completely ignores the forces pulling the national economy apart. Economists prefer to view the landscape in aggregate, but they miss the picture composed of two important parts enduring very different forces. The financial sector has grotesquely grown, to an extreme. Global financial assets have more than tripled since 1980, relative to GDP. In just this past decade, the volume of Credit Swap Contracts (asset backed bond insurance) increased five-fold in a span of four years. The base value of equity derivatives (stock index contracts) increased almost five-fold in the same four years. Leverage has also grown. Tremendous flaws exist in the prevailing economic counsel that misguides the nation, into one phase of disaster after another. Crisis is indeed the norm.
THE FAILED EFFECT OF NEW DEBT
The maestros believe that new money or new debt (hard to tell the difference) can be created, and presto change-o, the USEconomy rebounds. The new money production line is disconnected from the tangible economy. The bankers can thus can tap federal liquidity facilities and ignore their borrowing customers. The banking authorities are resisting the solution, for the clear reason that many from their sector would be destroyed and their power eradicated. The US Federal Reserve has overseen vast money printing for years, and a continuous climax in the past two years. A crescendo awaits. A tipping point comes, when all the USGovt deficits, all the USTreasury Bond issuance, all the US bank failures lead to a economic recovery, as profound change comes in international sentiment toward the USDollar. They will exit, since the US markets are not permitted to clear, to liquidate, to enjoy the fresh breeze inherent to capitalism. Financial markets throughout the entire USEconomy are essentially frozen. A huge waiting game has emerged between the expectant beneficiaries of USFed efforts to stimulate inflation and economic participants. In the process, the USEconomy deteriorates further. ...
Academics have attacked a decision by a top university to scrap research into English history before 1700.
It was claimed that the move by Sussex University risked jeopardising the nation’s understanding of the subject and “entrenching the ignorance of the present”.
Under plans, research and in-depth teaching into periods such as the Tudors, the Middle-Ages, Norman Britain, the Viking invasion and the Anglo-Saxons will be scrapped, along with the Civil Wars.
The university will also end research into the history of continental Europe pre-1900, affecting the study of the Napoleonic wars and the Roman Empire.
The university said it was “reshaping” its curriculum and research following a £3m cut in Government funding. ...
Labour has introduced 14,300 new offences since taking office in 1997, with Gordon Brown's administration inventing crimes at a rate of more than one a day.
Thanks to Labour, it is now illegal to swim in the wreck of the Titanic or to sell game birds killed on a Sunday or Christmas Day – eventualities overlooked by previous governments.
Labour has made 4,289 activities illegal since the 1997 election, at a rate of about one a day – twice the speed with which the previous Conservative government created crimes.
Gordon Brown was the worst offender, with his government inventing 33 new crimes a month. Tony Blair's administration made 27 new offences each month.
Some of the more inventive crimes dreamt up by Labour include "disturbing a pack of eggs when directed not to by an authorised officer" and reporting the door of a merchant ship to be closed and locked when it isn't. ...
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt."
A householder is attacked by a violent burglar every 30 minutes.
The shocking statistic exposes for the first time the epidemic of terrifying intruder confrontations taking place in Britain.
It will intensify demands for householders to be given greater protection if they use force to protect themselves and their family against a burglar.
In the wake of the case of Munir Hussain, who was jailed and later freed for beating a raider, ministers insisted it was extremely rare for a person to find themselves in trouble with the police for fighting back against a burglar.
But with householders suffering violence on 23,000 occasions last year, campaigners say the case for a change to the law is growing ever stronger. ...
The next time you dine out you might want to take your dental floss with you.
For it seems the toothpick has become the latest victim of the health and safety police - leaving disgruntled diners with food stuck between their molars.
Staff at a luxury hotel chain are refusing to provide customers with the post-meal dental sticks - because they are 'potentially dangerous'.
However, sharp metal cutlery on the table is - for now - still acceptable.
But when Mr Freeman asked the waiter for assistance, he was astonished by the response.
'He apologised but said he was not allowed to give me a toothpick for health and safety reasons,' said the 63-year-old. 'I asked him if he was joking, but he said it wasn't April 1 and there weren't any in the hotel.
'I told him it was nonsense and asked to speak to the manager for an explanation, indicating there were 14 very dangerous metal knives and forks on my table that had been unsupervised for at least two hours.
'The manager agreed it was ludicrous, but assured me there had been a directive from head office not to provide toothpicks because they are potentially dangerous.' ...
Some cash-strapped British pensioners are buying books from charity shops and burn them to keep warm as freezing temperatures gripped the UK, a London newspaper reported Tuesday.
Workers at a charity shop in Swansea, in south Wales, told London newspaper Metro that pensioners were looking for thick books such as encyclopedias — which are sold for a few pennies second hand — as a cheaper alternative to coal.
"Book-burning seems terribly wrong but we have to get rid of unsold stock for pennies and some of the pensioners say the books make ideal slow-burning fuel for fires and stoves," the paper quoted one shop assistant as saying.
"A lot of them buy up large hardback volumes so they can stick them in the fire to last all night."
Energy prices have soared in Britain in the past years, with some estimates showing gas prices up by around 40 percent since January 2008, and electricity tariffs rising by about 20 percent. ...
The motto of the Canadian Mounties is that they always get their man. The motto of the British police is that they always get you. Frankly, it's a lot easier:The TV presenter and Marks & Spencer model Myleene Klass has been warned by police for waving a knife at teenagers who were peering into a window of her house late at night.
Klass was in the kitchen with her daughter upstairs when she spotted the youths in her garden just after midnight on Friday. She grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away.
Hertfordshire police warned her she should not have used a knife to scare off the youths because carrying an "offensive weapon", even in her own home, was illegal. [emphasis added]
Klass's spokesman, Jonathan Shalit, said the former Hear'Say singer was "utterly terrified" by the intruders and "aghast" at the police warning. "All she did was scream loudly and wave the knife to try and frighten them off," he told the Sunday Telegraph.
Is screaming loudly still legal? Or is that in breach of Health & Safety regulations? ...
Up to 1,000 stranded motorists had to be rescued by the Army today after some of the heaviest snowfalls in 20 years left drivers trapped in their cars overnight. [emphasis added]
Among those stranded without food and water on the A3 in Hampshire was a heavily-pregnant woman and her baby daughter.
Millions of people across Britain were unable to get to work this morning as snowstorms caused massive disruptions on the roads and railways.
Thousands of schools remain closed, while major airports have been forced to ground flights as snow ploughs try desperately to clear runways of snow and ice.
More than 16 inches (40cm) of snow has fallen in the hills of north east England and the Scottish borders, while 12 inches (30.5cm) was recorded in Berkshire. Parts of the Northern Highlands recorded 18.5 inches (47cm).
The Met Office said southern England could see another six inches (15cm) this afternoon, with the 'treacherous' weather lasting for up to ten more days. ...
More than 80 people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions.
At least 42 people have frozen to death in Poland over the last three days and another 27 in Ukraine.
Another 13 people died in car accidents in Austria, Finland and Germany, where temperatures fell to -33C (-27F).
Air, rail and road transport links were disrupted across northern Europe where more snow was expected in coming days. ...
A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".
Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.
The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon.
In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: "I didn't think for one moment I would be arrested.
"I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets."
The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.
In his statement, he said: "I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.
"I didn't know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.
"At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall."
Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells. ...
Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.
Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.
...
Judge Christopher Critchlow said: "This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.
"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant." [emphasis added]
Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge, the soldier dubbed ''Combat Barbie'' after being crowned Miss England, is joining fellow beauties to launch the Miss World 2009 Festival.
L/Cpl Hodge, who was drafted in to compete in the Miss World contest after Rachel Christie relinquished her title following her arrest over an alleged nightclub brawl, said she planned to join comrades on the frontline in Afghanistan.
The 22-year-old soldier has already served in Iraq but said she was hoping to join the effort in Afghanistan after stepping down as Miss England in July next year.
She said: ''It is something I want to do'', adding: ''People just do not appreciate the Army enough.''
L/Cpl Hodge said she thought of ''everybody involved'' after marking Remembrance Sunday with two minutes' silence alongside some of the 119 other contestants vying to become Miss World.
She told how she hoped her role as an all-action beauty queen would be positive for young people who only saw digitally-enhanced models in the media.
L/Cpl Hodge, whose parents live in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, added: ''We are taught in training that we are first and foremost a soldier. When I am a soldier I have my hair scraped back and no make-up.
''I hope it bodes well that I am seen as a more natural beauty. Me having one day to get ready for this role shows that.''
She said her comrades were delighted for her, adding: ''They all love it and think it's fantastic.''
She added: ''It's been an absolute whirlwind - in 24 hours my life has changed.
''It's been weird but fantastic weird, because I really want this opportunity.''
L/Cpl Hodge added that she had been due to be sent out to Afghanistan before she was crowned Miss England.
She was previously given an award by her unit in the Royal Anglian Regiment for her actions during a posting in Basra and has earned the nickname ''Combat Barbie''.
She said she would be ready when called upon, adding: ''I am not leaving the army. I will still be going to work - I have just got promoted.''
She said she hoped her title as Miss England would help raise funds for various military charities, including Help for Heroes. ...
Armed police are to carry out routine patrols in London to combat gun carrying drug gangs.
In an unprecedented move for British policing a team of 18 constables armed with sub-machineguns, led by an inspector and two sergeants, will operate permanently in “hotspots” in Brixton, Haringey and Tottenham.
The officers, from the Met's Specialist Firearm Command SO19, will patrol estates and streets to prevent shootings and stabbings.
The move, which follows a 30 per cent surge in gun crime in London this year, will be the first time in Britain that armed officers have been put on permanent patrol. [emphasis added]
The officers — some on motorbikes — will be armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machineguns capable of firing up to 800 rounds per minute and Glock semi-automatic pistols.
... There were 9,974 gun crimes in 2001-2, including 97 fatalities and 558 serious injuries. Of these gun crimes, 4,192 took place in the capital.
Handguns were used in 5,871 crimes and robberies involving firearms increased by 34 per cent. In most cases, the guns were used simply to threaten and were not fired. Talks hosted by Home Secretary David Blunkettare to take place tomorrow on combating gun crime. The figures are all the more alarming because they show that the use of handguns has more than doubled since the weapons were outlawed in 1997 after Dunblane. [emphasis added]
Police recorded 5.79 million offences in the year to September 2002, compared to an annual figure of 5.3 million in the previous 12 months.
Home Office statisticians say "the trend in overall crime continues to be flat" when the new counting rules are taken into account. But the latest national figures showed violence against the person up 19 per cent, sex offences up 18.2 per cent, robbery up 14.5 per cent and drug offences up 12.3 per cent on the previous 12 months. ...
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