Britain Archives | Page 7 of 46 | MelaniePhillips.com

Goodbye to the demoralised past. Hello, world

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 Melaniebrexit, eu, nation

At 11 pm this evening, the United Kingdom will have left the European Union. These are words that, throughout the nightmare of the past three and a half years, those of us who were solid Brexiteers feared we might never be able to say. From the moment in 2016 that Britain voted by 52-48 per cent to leave the EU, the political, intellectual and media Remainer establishment threw everything they had into stopping Brexit and reversing that people’s vote. The issue itself bitterly divided families and sundered friendships. The unprecedented…

Britain Global conflict

Will Boris fail his first big test over Huawei?

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 MelanieBoris Johnson, China, GCHQ, Huawei

Is Boris Johnson about to fail his first big test?* Reports suggest that he is about to give the Chinese technology company Huawei the contract to install at least parts of the UK’s upcoming 5G network. This would be an appalling decision. Huawei is not so much a company as an arm of the Chinese state. Its purpose in embedding itself in the communications systems of other countries is to extend the power of the Chinese communist party into those countries for the purposes of surveillance and possibly even sabotage.…

Britain

Can Britain recover the competence that rests on national cohesion and pride?

January 27, 2020January 30, 2020 Melanieeducation standards, HS2, migration, Wuhan

Faced with a coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan, the Chinese are building a 1,000-bed hospital from scratch. In one week. While the Chinese were starting to assemble a hospital in under seven days, a report commissioned by Manchester city council on the HS2 high-speed train plan for the city revealed that under present designs, which cost £570 million, some of the platforms will be facing the wrong way. The report, by the engineering company Bechtel, shows that passengers arriving at Manchester airport who want to get to Leeds…

Britain

1917 shows what courage and duty really mean

January 21, 2020January 23, 2020 Melanie1917, duty, Firs world War, Sam Mendes

The First World War was a catastrophe which altered Britain for ever and from which the country has never fully recovered. Now it has inspired yet another imaginative treatment in Sam Mendes’s brilliant and deeply original film, “1917”. This is a film about character. Specifically and perhaps most important, it’s about what it means to put duty — whether to your friends, your family or your country — before your own self-interest. In our era of narcissistic self-absorption, with identity politics and victim culture putting self-interest first at the expense…

Britain Culture wars

Laurence Fox faces down the idiot bullies of wokedom. Bravo!

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020 MelanieLaurence Fox, Martin Luther King, Question Time, racism

The day after I posted this blog explaining why virtue-signalling “anti-racists” were the real racists in our society, the actor Laurence Fox performed the astonishing feat of going on BBC Question Time and not behaving like an actor. That is to say, he expressed views which were sensible, reasoned and moderate – and thus brought the usual pitchfork-waving mob down on his head. In reply to audience member Rachael Boyle, a beyond-satire lecturer in woke studies who said criticism of Meghan Markle was racist and Fox was guilty of white…

Britain Culture wars

Why the “anti-racist” mob are the real racists

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 MelanieMeghan Markle, racism, Royal family

Like “fascist” and “Nazi”, the word “racist” has been so abused it has now lost its meaning. Actually, it lost its generally understood meaning when it was first coined decades back – after the mainstream left had ditched Methodism for Marxism – to replace the word “racialism”. Unlike that otherwise neutral term, “racism” is a Marxist-inspired dogma which ordains that the only people who can be held responsible for doing bad things are those with power, defined solely in terms of economics or politics, while those without such power can…

Britain Culture wars

Roger Scruton knew the precious value of freedom

January 14, 2020 MelanieConservatism, philosophy, Roger Scruton

The death of Sir Roger Scruton is a loss that our troubled culture can ill afford. He was Britain’s greatest contemporary philosopher and also its most lyrical. Much misrepresented and traduced, Sir Roger analysed, defended and embodied conservatism which he understood to a rare degree. He articulated and championed the deep connections between conservatism, the English countryside and national identity. He recognised that without a shared home and culture based on the inherited values, customs and laws of a nation state there can be no sense of “we”. Above all,…

Iranian protesters stepping round US and Israel flags

Britain Global conflict USA

Iran’s heroic protesters expose decadence and humbug among western liberals

January 12, 2020January 13, 2020 Melanieeu, Iran, Soleimani, trump

In the US, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have expressed their support for the heroic Iranian protesters who have returned to the streets calling for their ruling tyranny to be brought down. Trump tweeted: “To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I’ve stood with you since the beginning of my presidency, and my administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage”. He followed this with a warning to the Iranian regime that there must not…

Britain

TV’s Dracula strikes a chord in our post-modern age

January 7, 2020January 10, 2020 MelanieDracula, occult, post-Christian

The BBC’s new adaptation of Dracula, which finished last week, gave Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel a wry, ironic makeover that took huge liberties with the original. So far, so predictable; especially since the show’s creators, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, gave Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective similar treatment in their earlier TV hit Sherlock. Moffat and Gatiss, who describe themselves as “a couple of ageing atheists”, have said they made a conscious decision to respect the Christian themes of the book. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a kind of anti-Christ,…

Britain Israel

A Boris bear-hug against British antisemitism

December 27, 2019December 27, 2019 Melanieantisemitism, Boris Johnson, jews, Palestinians

Is the British government beginning to change its century-old attitude of ambiguity towards Israel and come out instead as its unequivocal friend? Don’t get too excited just yet. It’s certainly true that, fresh from his thumping election victory, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered an extraordinary Hanukkah message to the country’s antisemitism-beleaguered Jewish community. Going far beyond predictable seasonal bromides, he delivered a very pointed profession of heartfelt support. The festival of lights, he said, was a time to celebrate the Jews’ unique identity. “When the Maccabees drove the forces…