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.
We have squandered our inheritance. We have forgotten what is good and true and pursued instead those things that we wish to be good and true but are not.
Through the internet we have lost control of who and what influences our young, and exposed millions to abuse, exploitation, and addiction.
Our task must be to establish a bridgehead: a potentially small but resilient collection of schools that can hold out, and continue to make the case for rigorous education, until such a time as the state sector may be restored once more.
The habits that have masqueraded as it in this century – economic and social liberalism, a fondness for international conventions and squeamish refusal to fight cultural battles – are in no small way responsible for many of the problems Britain face.
If the Conservative Party continues to act as if the Faragists are a minor irritation, pride will be maintained but the election lost.
It is estimated that, across the globe, 300 million children are the victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse each year.
Technology may have ‘moved on’ but the optimal conditions for human flourishing haven’t changed. The best answer to online chaos is a deeply conservative one – the rediscovery of personal responsibility.
As this country has socialised the cost of old age, we have privatised the costs of having children. This is philosophically inconsistent and economically incoherent.
Nigel Farage is right – this is the immigration election .But it’s not all small boats. Plenty of local issues come up too.
MPs habitually underestimate the ability of the electorate to understand complex issues. But the people I speak to on the doorstep are generally well-informed, rational, and understand the trade-offs.
How did we arrive at the point where Conservative ministers – who are now speaking up – are being forced to mount a rearguard action against our own public sector organisations?
Join me in Hall 6 at 4pm on Sunday for a ConservativeHome panel on how Tories should approach the critical question of gender and safeguarding children.