As a classicist Boris Johnson must be familiar with the fall of the Roman Empire, which was brought about in part by collapsing fertility rates. Yet he fails to recognise a parallel impending catastrophe of our own times. In fact, Johnson says that falling populations are a “blessing” and a “ray of hope”, because of the “crippling burden” human beings place on nature. But are people not part of the natural world?
The pensions triple lock is a policy that everyone in Westminster knows is unaffordable. The delusion is so potent that it has led some to claim that those calling for pension spending restraint are ‘far left’. We really are flying upside down.
Polling saturation is turning our politicians from leaders into followers. Polls can tell us what voters think about a particular issue, but they cannot tell us if those voters are correct. The public’s views are often contradictory
That two prime ministers of such different characters, in different parties and under different circumstances, can face such similar situations may indicate that this state of affairs has more to do with our political system than their specific weaknesses.
The squeamishness of our mainstream political right tells us everything we need to know about Britain’s failure to conserve itself.
Whatever the final outcome, there is only one way to prevent further Russian aggression: Europe must re-arm, diverting spending from our bloated welfare states into industry, weapons and manpower.
The problem is that, like children, socialists believe that inequality is not an inescapable reality of life but a societal fault that can be fixed, and that the state should assume the role of ‘parent’ in order to fix it.
The state pension was never meant to be a cash transfer from the (generally poorer) working age people to the (generally richer) over-65s, but that is what it has become.
Of course members should treat each other with honour and respect, but genuine political disagreements are not a betrayal – especially when they are in the national interest.
Reclaiming our great British tradition of decency and dignity for all should be the goal of all conservatives – and it will be popular with the public too.
At present, they have no desire to make themselves and their families figures of public hate and are uninterested in the ‘super councillor’ role of a modern MP.
Given the fact that demographic collapse is the single biggest long-term threat facing this country, it is inevitable that sooner or later the question of how to raise birth rates will begin to dominate our political discourse.
The unaffordable pensions triple lock has been sacralised, while the young were penalised by fiscal drag, the removal of universal child benefits, the two-child benefit limit, competition from immigrants, a failure to build enough homes and rising student loan costs.