Left Hand Ignorant of Right Hand's Deeds

Unco-ordinated Confusion 

International Flights Continue to Bring 100,000 Unchecked Travellers a Week to Britain

Oliver J J Lane
Breitbart London

Despite introducing severe lockdown on its own residents, the UK government has not enacted any incoming travel restrictions, leaving over 100,000 arrivals a week free to enter the country unscreened, the health secretary revealed.

Asked by UK television host — and self-proclaimed “friend” of U.S. President Donald Trump — Piers Morgan on how many people were being tested for coronavirus as they stepped off international flights arriving in the nation’s airports, health secretary Matt Hancock revealed there was no routine testing at Britain’s air borders going on at all.

Following up that admission with the number of people still arriving in the United Kingdom by air, despite much of the global flying industry working at minimum capacity, Mr Hancock said around 15,000 people a day were landing, reports London’s Times.

While this number is a fraction of the number of people normally arriving in the United Kingdom — Heathrow, the country’s largest airport, would typically see an aircraft land or take off every 45 seconds and 213,000 people move through it a day — it still means a significant 105,000 people coming to Britain every week without a health check. [Emphasis, ours.]

Will Traditional Orthodox Christianity Fill the Void?

Goodbye To the European Union


Peter Hitchens
First Things

Even when I was excited about the European Union, I was bored by it. It came into my life as an issue after the Cold War ended. Until then, I had rudely brushed aside a friend of mine who insisted, with the desperate passion of the ignored prophet, that it was important. When the U.S.S.R.’s Third Shock Army still sat in East Germany and lovely Prague was still frozen in despotism, it just didn’t seem to matter. Somebody recently unearthed a recording of me saying so as late as 1994, so I cannot claim, even if I wanted to, to be an ancient combatant in this controversy. You could see the Cold War as a material force, wrought in rough concrete and rusty steel, and I had done so. You could even smell it in the East Berlin perfume of brown coal and two-stroke exhaust. And you would have to be very slow to miss the U.S.S.R.’s morally simple challenge to the conscience, its abuse of psychiatry to torture and crush dissent being perhaps the most repulsive of its many crimes.

You couldn’t really see the European project. If you went to Brussels, it gave you a nice lunch and told you not to worry. You caught it at the end of a document, in a peevish speech by a German politician, in the fine print of life. It expressed itself quite often in absences, the abolished frontier posts that followed the Schengen Agreement, the disappearance of the national currencies of the continent.

Only once did I really see it spitting, oppressive, and harshly demanding—and that was over an issue that I was almost alone in caring about. I watched a British shopkeeper called Steve Thoburn be spitefully, relentlessly prosecuted for the crime of selling bananas to his customers in English pounds rather than continental kilograms.

A Reality Check

9 in 10 Young Britons Believe Their Lives Have No Purpose

Victoria Friedman
Breitbart News

A nationwide poll (in the UK) has revealed that 89 per cent of 16- to 29-year-olds believe that their lives have no meaning or purpose.  The poll, conducted by Japanese company Yakult and reported by The Sun, also found that 30 per cent of young people believe they are stuck in a rut with 84 per cent saying that they believe they are failing to “live their best life”.

Across all age groups, over half (51 per cent) of those surveyed believe they were put on the earth to be as happy as they can be, whilst 37 per cent believe that it is their role to make people around them happy, with 31 per cent believing humanity’s purpose should be to do good.

With religion being a major source of sense of purpose, a separate survey reported last month that those professing a Christian faith in the UK is at a record low at 38 per cent, with only one per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds identifying as belonging to the Church of England.

A Nation Going Gently Into the Night

The Star Chamber Makes a Comeback in the UK

A fundamental ethical principle that underscores freedom is:  not all sins are crimes.  Imagine if this were not observed and protected in a country.  Since sin is pervasive in all human communities the criminal code would expand to cover all areas of human life--leading to an extreme totalitarian state. 

To lie is to commit sin.  Imagine, however,  if all lies were criminalised.   Imagine a child lied to his parents about where he got the fifty cent coin that has been discovered in his pockets.  Off to court, guilty conviction, and a criminal sentence for the child.  Or, imagine an adult embellishing his employment record.  His "exaggeration" is discovered and he is arrested on the spot for the "crime" of lying.

But in the UK, things are even more extreme.  The definition of what constitutes a "sin" is entirely in the "eyes and ears" of the observer.  One female may regard a male's wolf whistle as harmless, and a bit of fun.  The next may regard it as and offensive hate crime because it demeans and degrades her.  That legitimately qualifies as both a sin and a crime in the United Kingdom--even if the "crime" is not written up in the statute book.

The only upshot possible from such legal abuse is an eventual tyranny over its citizens.   But the form in which this tyranny is unfolding is unique to our generation.  In the United Kingdom sins--and what constitutes a sin--are in the eye and ear of the observer.  Not only are sins crimes, but the definition of a sin lies entirely with the complainant. 

This, from The Federalist:

Radio NZ and Peter HItchens

Kim Hill talks to Peter Hitchens about Brexit

. . . And lots of other matters

https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2018/02/17/rnz-saturday-kim-hill-talks-to-peter-hitchens-about-brexit/


A fascinating and entertaining discussion. 

JT

Turning of the Tide in the UK

Militant Atheists Speak Hatefully

Franklin Graham is the son of Billy Graham, the celebrated Christian preacher and evangelist.  He is walking in his father's footsteps.  We well remember his father's evangelical crusades in New Zealand in 1969.  But times have changed.  Franklin Graham is scheduled to conduct some evangelical meetings in the United Kingdom this year.  Public calls have been issued for him to be banned from entering the country.

This stunning developing is a leading indicator of how pagan the UK has become.  Graham's father, Billy conducted many evangelical crusades in the UK in his lifetime.  Today it is doubtful that he would be permitted to enter the country.

Totalitarianism and Orwellianism in the UK

What’s Changed in Britain Since Same-Sex Marriage? 

David Sergeant
The Spectator, Australia

Four years ago, amid much uncertainty, 400 British members of parliament voted to redefine marriage in the United Kingdom.  Then prime minister David Cameron announced that, despite having made no mention of the issue in his party’s pre-election manifesto, it would be MP’s who decided the fate of marriage.

Now, it’s Australia’s turn to choose. There’s one key difference. Unlike in Britain, it will be the people who decide.  Everyone agrees, whether they admit it or not. This is a decision of enormous significance.  Therefore, it seems sensible to analyse the consequences of the potential change, within nations in which redefinition has previously been carried out.

In the United Kingdom, it has become abundantly clear that redefinition has affected many people, across many spheres. At first glance, these spheres appeared distinct from marriage redefinition. However, subsequent changes, have proved that they are entirely intertwined.

Gender: 

Current Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May, has revealed proposals to abolish the need for any medical consultation before gender reassignment.

The Growing Degradation of the West

Pharaoh Has Lost All Memory of Joseph

We live in a mad, mad world--at least in the West.  Homosexuality and gender-bending is tearing the social fabric apart.  We came across a recent case in the United Kingdom illustrating the madness of our condition.

A ‘transgendered’ convicted double rapist, who is biologically male, has been put in isolation in prison after being moved to an all-female jail, where it is claimed they made advances on female prisoners.  [Liam Deacon, Breitbart London]

Apparently this rapist is a particularly nasty piece of work.

Sarah Callaghan, 44, who fell pregnant with Winfield’s first child when she was just 15 (below the age of consent) and they were in their 20s, branded the sex attacker “a danger to everyone around him”.  She said: “It seems the only person who ever gets any help is Martin – not all the people who have suffered because of him.

Another one of their victims described the fact her attacker was given a free sex change as “diabolical”. She said: “There are not enough words to describe him and the evil he has done.  “It is diabolical they have allowed him to have a sex change and diabolical that he could be freed this year. He may have changed physically but his brain is still the same.” 

Yes, you read that right.

Pushback

Prime Minister In the Lead

There have been a couple of interesting developments in the UK over the past few days.  Firstly, the Anglican bishop of Leeds stood in the public square to call a spade a spade.

Christians are increasingly fearful to speak out about their faith in public due to the rise of an “intolerant liberalism” in the UK, a bishop has said.  Nick Baines, the Anglican Bishop of Leeds, said Christians feel “picked on” by some secularists who have a problem with religion being discussed outside of church.

“Clearly there are some Christians who are concerned about whether they are free to talk about their faith in a respectful and appropriate way in the workplace,” the bishop told the Press Association.  “Equally, there are plenty of people who are not Christians who think that Christians shouldn’t, or think there is an issue around it. I call it religious illiteracy.”

He added that people have been disciplined or threatened with discipline for talking about their faith in the workplace, even if they have been asked about it by colleague.  “Someone makes a complaint and says they have been inappropriate. This is absurd,” he said.  [Nick Hallett, Breitbart London]

This was preceded by another public declaration--this time from the Prime Minister, Theresa May.  Every now and again, May strikes a phrase or pose which reminds one of Maggie Thatcher--strong, emphatic, straightforward, traditional common sense.

Imperial Pretensions Withering On the Vine

Light Up Ahead

Ever since we read Bernard Connolly's The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War For Europe's Money [London: Faber and Faber, 1995] we have been anticipating the dissolution of the "European Project".  Therefore, when Brexit finally became mandatory by plebiscite, we saw brighter lights ahead.  It is possible that gradually the various Europe will eventually repent of their thraldome to idolatrous humanitarianism and humble themselves before God once more.

In the meantime, Brexit is having immediate consequences in the United Kingdom.  The teeth of the European Court of Human Rights have been summarily pulled out.  The extraction has meant that the growing restrictions upon Christian work and worship in that country are in the process of being removed.  It seems as if no longer will Christians standing on street corners preaching the Gospel be arrested and accused of "hate speech".  Free speech looks like it is making a gradual comeback.

At periods of history when a nation turns away from the Living God, whom it once feared and loved, the road to redemption and restoration can appear overwhelming.  Faithful Christians, sons of the prophets--if you will--can be downcast at the sheer size of the task.  Where to begin?  What to do?  In such times, we have been often reminded of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

There appeared no prospect for rest ahead.   Then, when something like the Brexit vote occurs, prospects are immediately brighter and the journey does not appear so long and unending.  That is not to imply that the task of national Reformation is any small matter.  It will take several, if not more, generations of faithful preaching, teaching, and action.

But the challenges and issues are now local.  It was not the gnomes of Zurich but the gargoyles of Brussels and Strasbourg we feared, issuing dicta and promulgating judgements, so far removed, so untouchable, yet so sweeping and destructive.  How could the ordinary citizens of the UK redress and resist such imperial pretensions?  Now, all that has gone--at least in principle.

The ramifications stretch even way down to the Antipodes.  We read recently--with a merry chuckle--of the plans already being made for the UK and New Zealand to enter into a bilateral free trade agreement.

(REUTERS) – Britain and New Zealand agreed on Monday to set up regular trade policy talks to help push for greater global trade liberalisation and reform as Britain leaves the European Union, trade minister Liam Fox said.  Britain, which voted to leave the bloc in June, is keen to court countries outside the EU on trade, but cannot formally agree any deals until it has left the bloc, a process which will take at least two years from when it starts divorce talks.

“In leaving the EU, we have the opportunity to drive even greater openness and put Britain at the forefront of global trade,” Fox said in a statement after meeting New Zealand’s minister of trade, Todd McClay.  “This new trade policy dialogue reflects a strong political commitment from New Zealand and the UK to take the lead in pushing for greater global trade liberalisation and reform and I look forward to working closely with them.” [Breitbart London]

In some ways, a little thing.  In others, a harbinger of the magnum of the Brexit plebiscite.  Maybe, historians will eventually come to cast Brexit as the Second Glorious Revolution.

Precious Petals Seen Wilting in the UK

UK Universities Are Now Officially Dangerous Places

Bilbo once advised his nephew, Frodo that it was a dangerous thing to take a step outside the front door.  Who knows where you would end up?  The fashion these days on too many university campuses is to make sure all doors, not just the front door, remain firmly shut at all times.

The anti-free speech trend amongst American universities has recently taken the form of students demanding "free spaces" where their beliefs, ideas, and prejudices will not be challenged.  It has been an entertaining development.  "Speech should be free only if it affirms my beliefs and confirms my prejudices"--at least according to lots of students on lots of US campuses.  We note, in passing, that the sensitivities of the precious petals are being earnestly protected by faculties up and down the country.

Thankfully, for the moment, the UK is not going to be subjected to official, governmental support for such idiotic contradictions.  This exchange took place recently in the UK House of Commons:

Flickering Sparks

Decline in UK Christianity 'Halts'

Sun 07 Aug 2016
By Antony Bushfield
Premier

The decline in the number of people calling themselves Christians has halted, new figures suggest.  A small increase in the percentage of Brits who classify themselves as followers of Christ has been found in the British Social Attitudes Survey.

The report, which is published every year, has not been official released but the Sunday Telegraph has reported some of its findings.  The amount of Brits who say they are Christian has increase in the past year from 42 per cent to 43 per cent, it says.  Such a small change is within the margin of error in surveys but if it is to be believed it shows a decade long decline in Christianity has levelled off.

Most of the increase in Christian numbers appears to have come from the 'nones' category, which includes people who had no faith. The number choosing that option fell from 49 per cent to 48 per cent.

Figures in the survey also suggest the number of young people with no belief is falling. Last year 65 per cent of under 25s identified themselves as not having a religion. Now it is 62 per cent.  The number of people saying they are Christian is now back at the same level it was in the survey seven years ago.

Au Contraire

Contrarian Peter Hitchens Confirms What The Wise Already Know

The United States Has Always Been Self-Interested

The Daily Mail

Now will we grasp that the United States is not our friend, but a foreign country whose interests are often different from ours?  President Obama’s blatant intervention in our internal affairs is not a sudden breach of a soppy ‘special relationship’. The USA’s only real special relationship is with Saudi Arabia, a 70-year-old hard pact of oil, money and power, welded together with such cynicism it ought to make us gasp.

Barack Obama’s open desire for us to stay inside the EU is by no means the first or worst example of White House meddling here in these islands. Bill Clinton forced us to cave in to the Provisional IRA in 1998 and his successor, George W. Bush, continued the policy by making us do Sinn Fein’s bidding afterwards.

Washington came close to scuppering our recapture of the Falklands in 1982. And with the current state of our Armed Forces, which can nowadays do nothing without American support, I often wonder how the White House and the Pentagon would behave if Argentina once again seized Port Stanley.  If anyone thinks Hillary Clinton is a great friend of Britain, they’re in for a big surprise.

But surely the Americans fought with us shoulder to shoulder against the Kaiser and Hitler? Not exactly.