The UK is borrowing so much money that the average person cannot comprehend it. We can understand the average house price which is a quarter of a million pounds in London, but anything above that figure is 'telephone numbers'. It was bad enough thinking in millions but we are now trying to think in billions and trillions. The human brain can't handle such vast sums, we just know that it's an awful lot of money.
The government has to spend billions of pounds to keep millions of workers on the dole during the recession. This particular recession was prompted by the Coronavirus pandemic but they happen every twenty or thirty years. Every time that the working man starts to enjoy a decent standard of living along comes a recession to put him back in his place.
The financial system used to rely on wars to keep things going but that is too risky now that we have nuclear weapons, Much better to shake things up with a good recession; inefficient firms are eliminated, wages are pegged back, and borrowing knows no bounds.
Photo credit - https://theimaginativeconservative.org/
So far, attempts to change the system have all ended in failure. The Jacobins thought that land was the key, but their revolution was washed away in a sea of blood. The massed ranks of reaction formed themselves into a coalition led by Britain to destroy liberty.
The Americans defied the madness of King George only to be recolonised by capitalism. And they fought a civil war to abolish slavery but then sold themselves to the moneylenders.
The Russian Revolution was really a coup by the middle class. The Imperial Guard was renamed the Red Army, the Imperial Bank became the State Bank, and when Bolshevism collapsed seventy years later the Russian Orthodox Church emerged intact, as though nothing had happened.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party fought for "freedom and for bread", but they abandoned socialism on the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 to run a conventional economy based on bond sales, rearmament, and confiscation.
John Tyndall - The Eleventh Hour
John Tyndall (1934-2005) started writing 'The Eleventh Hour' in Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1988 and finished it ten years later. He never used fewer words than he considered necessary so it runs to 549 pages.
There are few laughs in this book but one passage made me chuckle. When he did his national service in the army he was issued with a military driving permit which he swapped for a civilian licence on demobilisation. Soon afterwards he gave me a lift in Andrew Fountaine's Land Rover from our meeting place at Earls Court to my mother's house at Mitcham. He drove so furiously that I was glad when we got there. I always wondered where he got his licence from and now I know.
He covers his early political career, without dwelling on the unfortunate Francoise Dior affair. In fact, most of the book is taken up with his idea of 'Economic Nationalism'.
This turns out to be protectionism plus a revival of 'Imperial Preference'. He mentions the Ottowa Conference of 1932 but he doesn't accept that even then the dominions were going their own way and were not prepared to abandon industrialisation for the benefit of the Motherland. He envisaged a customs union comprised of Britain and the old dominions, but the trade figures don't support such a scheme.
Last year Australia exported 36% of her produce to China, 17% to Japan, 7.3 % to South Korea, 5% to India, and just 1.5% to the UK. Her main exports are iron ore, coal, gas, and gold.
Canada exported 76% to the USA, 3.9% to China, 2.1 to Japan, 1.2 to Mexico, and 1% to Germany. The UK is not even listed. Canada's main exports are cars, aircraft, aluminium, iron ore, gold, and copper.
New Zealand exported 24.3% to China, 15.4 to Australia, 9.54 to the USA, 2.73 to the UK, and 1.84 to Germany. Her main exports are dairy products, sheep, and timber.
The UK cannot provide a big enough market for the old dominions, we are no longer a major manufacturing nation and we don't need what they produce. We could import more New Zealand lamb and butter but that would damage our own producers.
Throughout his book John Tyndall refers to the 'British race'. Of course, he knew perfectly well that we Brits are Europeans. We are not a separate species of mankind ordained by the Almighty to rule over lesser breeds. But one suspects that is exactly what he believed.
If this book had been written just after the war we might have taken it seriously. In those days we churned out cars and motorcycles for the Commonwealth, and it would still have been possible to repatriate a few thousand West Indians who had been recruited by London Transport. But it was written almost fifty years later when we had drastically reduced our manufacturing industry and lacked the means, let alone the will, to round up millions of Blacks and Asians.
Mass migration from the Third World has affected most developed countries. The declining birth rates of Western countries resulted in labour shortages that economic refugees are eager to fill. But John Tyndall didn't accept this explanation. He believed in a conspiracy to undermine the white race in general and the British in particular:
"For, make no mistake about it, the darkening of our country is not taking place by accident. I have spoken in an earlier chapter of the existence of conspiratorial forces behind recent national and international events. Nowhere is the circumstantial evidence of this greater than in the case of the drive to eliminate the traditional racial character of the British Nation.
Those governing this nation in the post-1945 period have had clearly before them the long and unhappy historical panorama of the negro problem in America, and all the obvious warnings that it offers to other nations that might be contemplating setting out on the same road. To believe that the decision to open the gates of Britain to mass coloured immigration was made in ignorance of, and with eyes closed to, this tragic example is to extend the frontiers of human credulity beyond all logic."
John Tyndall lived in the past. He was like a character from one of Kipling's ripping tales of Empire, a gentleman and a patriot who defended the flag against the savage foe. John Maynard Keynes said that when things change he changes his mind, but John Tyndall clung to his beliefs to the bitter end.
His plans for a revived Empire and the mass deportation of immigrants are far-fetched and so is his solution to the Northern Ireland problem. He devoted an entire chapter to Northern Ireland before reaching his conclusion:
"Britain. if she is to be true to herself, could only consent to a United Ireland if it were a British Ireland - if it were achieved, not by Ulster leaving the Kingdom and joining the Republic, but by that part of Ireland now known as the Republic abandoning her separate existence and rejoining the United Kingdom."
And his solution to any other border disputes in Europe was just as hubristic:
"My proposal is that where territorial disputes remain in Europe, such as over Alsace-Lorraine or South Tyrol, they must be resolved by the conceding party being given extra African possessions as compensation."
John Tyndall and his supporters believed in Social Darwinism and they practiced it amongst themselves. According to this theory, the strong rule over the weak and the leader is always likely to be ousted by a younger and stronger contender. And so it was with JT, he was overthrown by the younger and stronger Nick Griffin in 1999 and prosecuted by an unforgiving state. In the end, wounded, rejected and facing imprisonment at the age of 71, he succumbed to a fatal heart attack.
The Eleventh Hour is available from Amazon.
Striking a Balance
(This article was posted in Nation Revisited # 10, June 2006. At that time the British National Party was doing well under their leader Nick Griffin (pictured), but things were soon to change).
The BNP claims to be a modern nationalist
movement situated half way between the civic nationalists of UKIP and the
neo-fascists of the British People's Party. Although they accept that these categories are inexact
and that there are good people on all sides. This stratification is the result
of being tied to a manifesto that covers every eventuality but has the
effect of alienating people. It would be impossible to draw up such a document
without courting controversy. Stopping immigration is the main issue and
virtually every right-thinking Briton agrees with it, but some of their
policies are nothing but bees in the bonnet of the leadership. These
include; flirting with Christianity, an obsessive antipathy to Islam, the
acceptance of American hegemony and continued opposition to the economic
alliance that has given the British people their highest ever standard of
living. It’s a case of too many policies.
Benito Mussolini, who knew a thing or two
about coming to power, replied to the newspaper “Il Mundo” when they demanded
to know what the fascists stood for:
“So the democrats of Il Mundo want to know
what our program is. It is to break the bones of the democrats of Il Mundo.
And the sooner, the better.”
The BNP are trying to attract
refugees from Dave Cameron’s reformed Conservative Party. Dave has drawn up a
candidate list comprised of ethnic minorities and gays. He thinks that this
will encourage people to vote Tory. But why any sensible gay or
black person would support him is a mystery known only to Dave and his spin doctors.
It’s all very well appealing to Conservatives but they want to conserve
things as they are. At the moment we have an increasing non-European population,
collapsing law and order and a political police force that stifles dissent. Who in their right mind wants to
conserve that? Nationalism must be revolutionary. We are
fighting for the survival of Britain as a European nation and for social
justice, not to preserve an obsolete class system based on inherited privilege
and inequality.
The trick will be to strike a balance
between what is respectable and what must be achieved if
Britain is to survive.
Lies and Statistics
Mark Twain said that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. The Coronavirus pandemic has proved him right. President Trump is congratulating himself on containing the virus when America had just about the worst outbreak in the world. The best result was achieved by Kim Jong-Il who kept North Korea completely free of the virus. Our own bumbling prime minister changed his mind daily as experts bombarded him with advice. Eventually, he fought the pandemic by throwing money at it.
People only know what they are told, even in a democracy. We were told that face masks were useless until that advice was reversed and we were told that they were essential.
When the Axis forces surrendered to General Alexander in Tunisia in May 1943, no less than 275,000 men were taken prisoners of war. But there wasn't a word about it in the German newspapers.
News can be supressed and statistics can be made to mean whatever you like. In 1985 the doctors in Israel went on a four month strike in protest at their contracts. Because only doctors can sign death certificates it appeared that nobody died in Israel during those four months. So, statistically, the healthiest country to live in is one without doctors.
It's a similar situation with crime figures in the UK. The government has cut the police force to the bone and closed most of the police stations. If you try to report a crime by phone you are put in a queue until a robotic voice tells you to visit the police website. Because it's almost impossible to report a crime the figures are coming down nicely. In fact, they prove that we are better off with less cops.
Telling lies used to be a sin but it's now an industry. The mass media broadcasts mendacious nonsense day and night to eager recipients. Everyone has got a phone in his pocket to keep him in touch with the latest news. How much better informed we are than our parents and grandparents who had to read the morning papers to find out how many German ships we had sunk and how many aircraft we had shot down. At least, they knew that it was true because it had been verified by the Ministry of Information.
Governments of all persuasions tell lies. Bill Clinton was no exception but he did force the American military to share Satnav with the general public. We only remember him for the Monica Lewinski affair but he did mankind a great service by making Satnav available. He only denied having sex with Monica because fellatio doesn't count in Arkansas. The American public forgave him but they never showed any mercy to Richard Nixon and they are yet to judge Donald Trump.
Comments
Please use the facility at the end of this blog to leave your comments and see what others have to say. But don't post ad hominem attacks, we are interested in ideas not personalities.
European Outlook
Lies and Statistics
Mark Twain said that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. The Coronavirus pandemic has proved him right. President Trump is congratulating himself on containing the virus when America had just about the worst outbreak in the world. The best result was achieved by Kim Jong-Il who kept North Korea completely free of the virus. Our own bumbling prime minister changed his mind daily as experts bombarded him with advice. Eventually, he fought the pandemic by throwing money at it.
People only know what they are told, even in a democracy. We were told that face masks were useless until that advice was reversed and we were told that they were essential.
When the Axis forces surrendered to General Alexander in Tunisia in May 1943, no less than 275,000 men were taken prisoners of war. But there wasn't a word about it in the German newspapers.
News can be supressed and statistics can be made to mean whatever you like. In 1985 the doctors in Israel went on a four month strike in protest at their contracts. Because only doctors can sign death certificates it appeared that nobody died in Israel during those four months. So, statistically, the healthiest country to live in is one without doctors.
It's a similar situation with crime figures in the UK. The government has cut the police force to the bone and closed most of the police stations. If you try to report a crime by phone you are put in a queue until a robotic voice tells you to visit the police website. Because it's almost impossible to report a crime the figures are coming down nicely. In fact, they prove that we are better off with less cops.
Telling lies used to be a sin but it's now an industry. The mass media broadcasts mendacious nonsense day and night to eager recipients. Everyone has got a phone in his pocket to keep him in touch with the latest news. How much better informed we are than our parents and grandparents who had to read the morning papers to find out how many German ships we had sunk and how many aircraft we had shot down. At least, they knew that it was true because it had been verified by the Ministry of Information.
The exam results fiasco is the latest example of Tory deception. In the absence of exams, the Ministry of Education devised an algorithm that awarded university passes to the sons and daughters of the rich. There was such an outcry that they were forced to use to teacher assessments, but it showed that they can't be trusted
Governments of all persuasions tell lies. Bill Clinton was no exception but he did force the American military to share Satnav with the general public. We only remember him for the Monica Lewinski affair but he did mankind a great service by making Satnav available. He only denied having sex with Monica because fellatio doesn't count in Arkansas. The American public forgave him but they never showed any mercy to Richard Nixon and they are yet to judge Donald Trump.
Comments
Please use the facility at the end of this blog to leave your comments and see what others have to say. But don't post ad hominem attacks, we are interested in ideas not personalities.
European Outlook
All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. We seek reform by legal means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:
"We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people."
This blog will appear occasionally in support of Nation Revisited which is posted monthly.
So whilst I do not always agree with Bills thoughts I have to salute his dedication and commitment to "the cause". He puts those many decades younger than him to shame. WELL DONE BILL !
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