Well, it is Sunday today! So that makes it right, fitting and proper for me to introduce a bit of Christian news. Regular readers will have noticed that religion, by which I mean a belief in God - any God! - does not figure heavily in these unholy columns for the simple reason that I do not believe in a God. Even so, I have some sympathy towards Christianity if only because I think Jesus Christ, if he ever existed, had some sensible suggestions on how to conduct one's life. Thus, it has been painful over recent years, particularly those years in which that total prat, Justin Welby, has been running the Church of England, to see it decline and fall into a slough of useless inanity. Obviously, I am not qualified to offer knowledgeable insight into its failings but I 'know' a man who does. He is Mr. Dennis Lennox over at The Coffee House who spells out the miserable details.
Now the 'peacenik' doves are coming home to roost: The Iranians have ripped the gossamer cloaks of duplicity off the shivering weakling that is the British armed forces. Decade after decade, irrespective of which government was in power, all three services have been put on 'starvation rations' as their ranking in the political list of priorities has fallen steadily lower and lower. Of course, none of that has stopped our politicians 'strutting their stuff' on the world stage as though we were still in possession of an empire. Today, the Iranians have well and truly humiliated us. It can only be a matter of time before the Argentinians do the same!
Dammit! Peter Hitchens had already pulled the trigger: And, of course, his aim was infinitely better than mine! No sooner had I scribbled the 'rumble' above than I clicked on to his article in today's Mail on Sunday:
Having wrecked the schools, the police, the courts and the Civil Service, destroyed the married family and debauched the economy, the slow-motion British Revolution now plans to ruin the Armed Forces, the last truly conservative institutions left standing after 60 years of upheaval.
At the end of this process, the Army, Navy and Air Force will still exist in outward form, but they will be useless for the purpose for which we have them – fighting the enemy.
Instead, they will produce plenty of annual reports showing how sexually equal and inclusive they are.
Yes, that about sums it up!
Yes, it stuck in my craw, too: In the past week I have waxed lyrical on the subject of the 'American' effort to put a man on the moon. It was an epic effort but whilst watching the old newsreels showing the Apollo teams pursuing their mission, there was one constant irritation - the fat, smug face of Wernher von Braun who, by rights, should have been strung up as a war criminal, as should most of the other despicable Nazi engineers who were smuggled out of Germany to help the Americans in their determination to design and build rockets to reach space. As usual, the indefatigable Tom Bower tells the whole sordid story in The Mail on Sunday.
Not all bad, that Phillip Hammond: Of course, he deserves an eternity in Hell or Liverpool, whichever is worst, for his pro-EU views but he has earned a 'merit badge' for doing what few Chancellors ever do, that is, reducing both debt and the deficit and thus making the Brit economy fitter for the purpose of getting out of Europe. Not that he intended it for that purpose, of course!
This is disgraceful, where are the diversity police? Below, courtesy of The American Thinker site, I give you a photo of the American team at the International Mathematical Olympiad which shared top place with China:
Yes, indeed, five of them are of Asian stock and so it's obvious that the white guy is a 'stat whitey' only inserted to provide a veneer of racial fairness! This racial inequality must be corrected and more 'Whiteys' plus, of course, the odd 'stat black', along with a Native American, must be included in the next team of mathematical wizards. Of course, that might result in America finishing equal 75th in the competition alongside Somalia but - dammit! - we must have racial equality! To be serious you can read more about this competition if you click on this link. I didn't dare ask where Britain came!
No more rumbles today
Maybe the C of E needs a massive infusion of Baptists?
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 11:28
'Dunno', Whiters, I am not qualified to say!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 11:46
Just maybe the Mad Mullahs have made a big mistake.
It is not the Brit Armed Services that are the problem but the politicians. Britain could do much more harm to Iran in many ways than t'other way round.
We live in interesting times.
Posted by: AussieD | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 11:53
Well David, what I figure you could use about now is a PM name of Boris.
Hear tell he's something of a Navy enthusiast.
Posted by: JK | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 12:32
Dennis Lennox deserves great credit for using the word "antidisestablishmentarianism" and for having an iron grip on the obvious. I have met two ex-Brit clerics who moved here to head up churches because they couldn't find a job in the UK and churches here are short on young blood. A large majority of Americans are still religious, but the non-religious are now over 23% and growing rapidly. There is now a sexual predator scandal among Baptist clergy similar to that of the Catholics' that will probably accelerate the trend:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/investigations/abuse-of-faith/?fbclid=IwAR16a8rwctO8XvVN35BfF22X-FU2FzyZD_tjX-TGvKfIfjDviWu_OutVZVc
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 14:08
"It is not the Brit Armed Services that are the problem but the politicians."
Now yer talkin', OzD.
Blighty is spending the same percentage of GDP on defence as it did during the age of empire circa 1815 to 1914 when the sun didn't set on the blood soaked lands of Blighty's conquests ...
https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/08/ourworldindata_uk-defence-spending-as-a-percentage-of-gdp-750x524.png
There is no amount of money that Blighty could spend on defence at the moment and not still end up outfoxed and humiliated by an enemy. Blighty hasn't won a war since 1982. It's actually been Lions lead by donkeys since about 1914, with allies doing the Lions share of any achievements. Best to not bother trying. Flick the Yanks 2% of GDP and leave it to them. Let them hire Brit troops.
In the mean time fix the core problem: Blighty's outdated, dysfunctional, operational political constitution.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 15:42
Seems like we're all Bolton's men now anyway ...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/20/britain-lured-into-deadly-trap-on-iran-by-trump-hawk-john-bolton
He might as well have the 2% of GDP.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 16:01
Here's another example of the hypocrisy of Boing-Boing, in this case regarding May's deal, he criticised : -
"Under no circumstances, whatever happens, will I allow the EU or anyone else to create any kind of division down the Irish Sea or attenuate our Union," Mr Johnson said.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2019/0702/1059626-johnson-hunt-belfast/
And yet Boing-Boing is in favour of no less than 6 "Freeports" in the UK, including Belfast ...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/02/boris-johnson-jeremy-hunt-accused-of-trying-to-turn-uk-into-tax-haven-freeports
Freeports require tax to be paid at the border when goods of services exit the Freeport and enter Blighty.
No-one in the MSM or Bloggersphere has spotted that one yet, I guess coz they're busy with all the others.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 16:21
Well SoD,
Its sort of the Guardian's take on the Iran Imbroglio that'd do for the UK and the US that's my 'sly point' neither the GAP nor the GBP, the majority at any rate, want to get embroiled in a mess the likes of Cameron, Sarkozy, and Clinton, pushed Obama into doing in Libya.
I'm figuring should Boris occupy 10 he'n Donald'll be so worked up "doing deals" screwing around on the brink of WWIII will get back-burnered.
Posted by: JK | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 17:56
On balance, JK, being screwed by the Don is marginally better than WWIII, I grant you.
But you take my point though: being a citizen of a state that is about to do a deal(s) with a guy who telegraphs his philosophy in advance as being "I win, you lose", when the rest of the world - even the lowest of the lowest of pond-life - has the common sense to say "Sorry, we're washing our hair on that day", is somewhat frustrating, even if it does indeed prevent Armageddon.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 21 July 2019 at 18:31
Whitewall, my Church was the Bethany Congregational and we were not fundamentalists. My Granda was an Irishman and did like a wee bevvy. He was a good man who helped in his community especially the elderly. He died 1953 and is not forgotten.
Posted by: Glesga | Monday, 22 July 2019 at 01:02
Diversity police? Maybe this is what quality looks like as opposed to equality?
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 22 July 2019 at 03:02
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us70004qwn/map
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 23 July 2019 at 03:57
So much for your NBF Spreadsheet Phil and his fiscal competence ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/07/22/boris-johnson-prepared-turn-spending-taps-tax-break-help-squeezed/
Boing-Boing is going to blow it all away on a spending spree.
And btw, Spreadsheet Phil was good but he didn't reduce the debt. He reduced the deficit, but since he didn't reduce the deficit to a surplus the debt was and is still rising.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Tuesday, 23 July 2019 at 08:32