Self-interest

Click here for his "My generation betrayed the young generation."

In the above tweet 'mace grabbing' Lord Heseltine claims that "his generation betrayed the young generation" by voting to leave the EU. He talks of self-interest and is well placed to do so.

In 1996 when Deputy Prime Minister he faced considerable condemnation after admitting that as a businessman he had delayed the payment of bills, thus putting self-interest above the interests of his creditors.

At the time the Government was consulting on whether companies should be entitled to interest on unpaid invoices. Up to £20bn was owed to UK companies, some of them facing financial ruin.

An ardent Remainer who is campaigning for a second vote in the guise of a 'people's vote', Lord Heseltine complains that "those who are the Brexiteers" are driven by obsessions of yesteryear.

They are "ignorant of the wishes of generations yet to come", he said,  perhaps attempting to add seer to his list of  aspirations.

Self-interest is rampant in the Brexit debate. In politics it is to be expected that political parties will exploit a situation for their own advantage but the animosity generated between factions has reached a new low.

Democracy is the loser. If hardliners do not like a result they campaign until they get what they want, even if it puts the institution they claim to serve at peril. Witness the decline of Western Anglicanism after the feminist onslaught.

It is claimed that people who voted to leave the EU did not understand what they were voting for or those who did could not have foreseen the outcome of the negotiations so the people need to be consulted again even though the majority of voters in a massive turnout voted to leave, no ifs or buts.

Far from betraying future generations many Brexiteers were anxious to safeguard their British identity before it is subsumed into an EU political model nobody voted for.

The Pew Research Center (PRC) reported in 2016:  Immigration to the United Kingdom has been one of the most important issues driving the debate over whether or not the UK should remain a member of the European Union.

The Guardian reports that more than three years after Europe’s biggest influx of migrants and refugees since the second world war, tensions between EU member states over how to handle irregular immigration from outside the bloc – mainly from the Middle East and Africa – remain high.

Since 2014, 1.8 million refugees have arrived in Europe, more than 1 million of them in 2015 alone.

According to PRC figures, the UK’s immigrant population more than doubled from 3.7 million between 1990 and 2015. As of 2015, about 13% of the UK’s resident population was foreign-born resulting in multiculturalism rather than integration.

There are regular reports of migrants putting their lives at risk by crossing the English Channel in unsuitable inflatable vessels to gain illegal access to the UK illustrating the determination of people to settle in the UK by any means.

One of the founding principles of the EU is free movement of workers and their families among member states. Further uncontrolled immigration is unsustainable in the UK where the infrastructure is already under considerable pressure.

The EU attitude is take it or leave it. The option was clear.

Sense and nonsense

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York  

The Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Wales have both been in the news recently speaking about immigration. John Sentamu fled Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda for the UK in 1973 so unlike the Archbishop of Wales he has some experience in the matter. Dr Sentamu has taken the biblical view inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Dr Morgan's view is typically academic emphasising the popular political but partial view that EU migrants help sustain our economy and health service.

Of course immigration has benefited the UK but in a controlled manner. Evidence from Europe, particularly in Germany where opinion has changed sharply, shows that a huge influx of mainly young Muslim men has not been as rosy as Dr Morgan suggests. Had we not voted to leave the EU hundreds of thousands of migrants would have been eligible to move to the UK from Europe.

Dr Morgan is quoted as saying that "the Christian faith compels us to affirm the dignity of every human being and to offer help to anyone in need. Britain has always in the past shown generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency to those facing persecution, even at times of greater deprivation and difficulty than the present time" but unfortunately Muslims are not reading from the same book.

The Archbishop's words also sound very hollow to members of his own church who continue to believe in the authority of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They have been left in a spiritual vacuum without sacramental assurance and pastoral support since Dr Morgan refused to appoint a replacement after Bishop David Thomas retired as Provincial Assistant Bishop eight years ago.

Politics were in evidence when Dr Morgan was thanked at the last meeting of the Governing Body for his "extraordinary" service to the Church. The Chair of the Governing Body’s Standing Committee praised the Archbishop for his Presidential Addresses and the sermons on "church governance matters, women bishops, the Anglican Covenant, etc. You have explored devolution, climate change, Gaza, gender and sexuality, parenting, assisted dying, organ donation and much more, he said as if Dr Morgan were retiring from the Welsh Assembly. He went on, you use public media so effectively that on all these issues the imperatives of the gospel are heard. They are always carefully constructed, based on extensive reading and scholarship, and learning lightly worn. They are listened to with respect even by those expert in their own field." Not a view taken by others when Dr Morgan's 'scholarship' was queried following his last Presidential Address entitled ‘Biblical stories can reveal a new understanding of same-sex relationships’. It was widely ridiculed.

The praise heaped on the Archbishop made no mention of the steep decline in church attendance or of the divisions caused in the Church in Wales under Dr Morgan's leadership. He must have had his tongue in his cheek when the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon praised Dr Morgan for his "leadership" of the Church in Wales "at a time when significant changes in society have caused us to examine some of our own disciplines, some of our own opinions and practices". Bishop John said that Dr Morgan's approach to walking those paths, to examining possible changes, has been to "remind us of scripture, tradition and reason" and has done that "cogently, consistently and compassionately". A more accurate description would have been in the absence of scripture, tradition and reason as Dr Morgan pursued his political agenda thus secularising a diminished Church.

It is clear that the bench of bishops live in their own little bubble. Although they claim membership of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church they go their own way having ignored pleas of the Orthodox and Catholic churches and forged closer bonds with local Free (or non-conformist) Churches under the guise of Ecumenism.

The bench of bishops appear to have their heads in the sand unless it is their ultimate desire simply to be a tiny segment in the Uniting Church in Wales. In a tribute to the Bishop of St Davids as he prepares for retirement, Dr Morgan described Bishop Wyn as a "quintessential Dean and a rather reluctant bishop". That is true. Bishop Wyn is greatly admired for his extraordinary work as Dean of St Davids but in a video interview marking his retirement he sadly illustrates how the bishops of the Church in Wales all appear to become infected by 'Bazzeritis'.

Referring [@29 mins] to people who 'tend to slag the church off in terms of decline' Bishop Wyn highlights a small but stable congregation of 8, ignoring the massive decline in church attendance under Dr Morgan's leadership. If that had been his vision as Dean, his Cathedral would not be the jewel in the Church in Wales' crown that it is today, especially when compared with the sorry state of Dr Morgan's Llandaff Cathedral.

Is it any wonder that so many of us feel like refugees in our own Church?

Demonising

The great and the good (in their own eyes), the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, prominent among them, have taken to the moral high ground to condemn Brexit for demonising immigrants. In fact they are demonising Brexit voters for taking a reasoned look at the problem and the dangers for our children and grandchildren of uncontrolled immigration.

Some more facts. Brexit is FOR immigration but in a orderly, controlled manner. In stark contrast to the Prime  Minister whose failure to answer a direct question admits his own failures, when asked if he thought there should be an upper limit on immigration the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn frankly replied, ‘I don’t think you can have one while you have free movement of labour’.

Dr Morgan complains about the "language of fear" in apparent ignorance of the reality of what has been happening in the world while he has been promoting same sex marriage. If we remain in the EU our UK borders will be open to around half a million immigrants already waiting in Europe to qualify for Europen citizenship with many more to come.

According to leaked estimates from the German authorities, each person granted asylum is likely to be followed by between four and eight family members. Meanwhile Christians are assaulted by Muslims in refugee camps because they are Christians. Some have been thrown overboard by Muslim immigrants to drown before they reach the camps.

Many immigrants are young, unaccompanied males unaccustomed to the freedom of women in the West to dress as they please. This has been taken as an invitation to molest and even rape them while the authorities cover up many of the stories to avoid spreading alarm. A son of immigrants, Lawyer Nazir Afzal is so worried about the situation that he has expressed his concern that the influx of young, male migrants risks tipping the whole balance of European society.

Branded an extremist and banned from the UK for exposing the truth about Islamic ideology, the lead video shows Robert Spencer explaining that while there are moderate Muslims, there is no moderate Islam.

In another video 'moderate' Muslims all agreed that "the punishment described in the Quran and the Sunnah whether it is death, whether it is stoning for adultery, whatever it is, if it is from Allah and his Messenger, that is the best punishment ever possible for humankind and that is what we should apply in the world". These Muslims do not regard themselves as "radical extremists" and none of them liked "extreme Islam".

The irony in this situation is that while the Archbishop of Wales condemns people for demonising immigrants he is closing their eyes to the dangers we face. His latest pet theme is the furtherance of LGBT causes but the biggest threat to gays is Islam. What is more, Dr Morgan claims to stand up for minorities while he ignores minorities in his own church who oppose his secular notion of religion. He can't have it both ways.

We can not properly protect ourselves and our children unless our Sovereignty is restored.

Brexit: Facts Not Fear

A video by Toby Young Associate Editor of The Spectator.

Fear strengthens the resolve of the British people so listening to endless dire warnings against leaving the EU from the Prime Minister, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, it is not surprising that there is panic in the 'Remain' camp as Brexit voters show increasing determination not to be browbeaten into submission by guesswork.

The threat by George Osborne of a mini budget as a Brexit punishment has caused even more problems for the Remainers with 57 of his own colleagues threatening to rebel and rising.

The Remain side's concentration on the economy is understandable because the forecasts are based on what has been fed in whereas Brexit voters prefer facts to fear.

Toby Young explains how the British people were deceived in 1975 when we were give a guarantee that no law could be imposed upon us without the consent of our elected representatives. We now slavishly legislate based on laws thought up by unelected European bureaucrats.

Sovereignty and immigration are foremost in the minds of Brexit voters in wanting UK independence restored so that we can vote out our law makers if they make a mess of things.

Toby's video explains how we will be even worse off if we remain after David Cameron's failed negotiations. As for immigration most of us simply have to look around us to see the effects of mass uncontrolled immigration. It can only get worse if we remain.

Diluting the faith

"British citizens are right to fear mass migration"             Source: Express/Getty

Over the past week the media was full of the Archbishop of Canterbury's claim that "British citizens have a right to 'fear' the migrant crisis". The Telegraph put it more bluntly: "For the many millions of Britons who have seen their country changed irrevocably in recent years, his words are too little, too late".

Archbishop Justin Welby said that many Britons had a genuine and justified fear of mass immigration. In fragile communities particularly there was a genuine fear about housing, jobs and access to health services.

Important as these matters are there is a more fundamental concern, that of social cohesion which requires co-operation but for Muslim communities this is only on their terms. As they increase in strength they demand increasing privileges for themselves on religious grounds regardless of the impact on others. Immigrant Muslims do not leave the perils of their ideology behind them, they bring them with them, adding to the demands for special treatment.

Coverage of Archbishop Welby's intervention by the BBC included video clips of schools in which there were no indigenous white children in sight, confirming earlier reports that in more than 200 schools nine in ten pupils do not speak English as their mother tongue and that 14 different languages including Pahari, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Somali, Polish, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and Pashto, are spoken in some schools, increasing the pressure on scarce resources.

In another BBC video in which descendants of immigrant families featured, the problem of integration rather than immigration was identified without mentioning the biggest problem, the formation of Islamic enclaves where Muslims live according to their own imported laws. In January 2013, Manchester University statistician Ludi Simpson analyzed official data from the 2011 census and found that native white Britons are already a minority in Leicester (45%), Luton (45%) and Slough (35%). He also forecast that they would be a minority in Birmingham by 2019, nearly a decade earlier than the previous estimate.

Despite the glaring problem of integration, Church and State tend to regard Islam as just another religion which has been hijacked by a few fundamentalists. These 'terrorists', (Islamists) plan terror attacks around the world including attacks on those they regard as bad Muslims. Ironically the attackers are 'good' Muslims in their ideology because they are following their prophet's example, believing that slaughter of the innocent to be God's will. As they maim and kill their defenceless victims they cry 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greater).

Ignoring the facts that Christians and Jews are being specifically targeted, misguided clerics encourage the spread of Islam in this country. The evidence for the Muslim invasion is broadcast daily. Archbishop Welby says proclaiming the Gospel is “integral to being a Christian” so why the softly, softly approach to Islam when the only answer to the world's problem is to expose the ideology for what it is, one of supremacy regardless of the consequences.

"Western policies of multiculturalism are founded on the principle that immigration should not discriminate on the basis of nationality, creed, race or any other distinguishing feature among people. Yet such refusal to take account of the differences and oppositions that are essential to human nature mean that well-intentioned Western immigration programs are setting up the rivalries and conflicts of the future."

There are fundamental differences between Christians and Muslims which cannot be dismissed. Why, after the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, would the Angel Gabriel confide in Muhammad that it was all a load of baloney and that God's real purpose was to crush everyone who did not conform to a warlord's modus operandi?

Diluting the faith is not the answer, it is a matter of conversion. Doubting clerics should read 'Christ has revolutionised my life' here.

Postscript [16.03.2016]
THE GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS. Petition to recognise the genocide of Christians and other minorities. Please read and sign here.

Too little, too late?

Muslims now make up over 5% of the population of Britain                            Source: The Sun/ Alamy

Great Britain is now home to more than 3 million Muslims for the first time ever with more than half born outside the UK.

In most of Europe and the developed world birth rates are low among native-born women. Among Muslim immigrant populations birth rates are much higher.

While the Prime Minister is trying to convince us that he has achieved a remarkable victory (by watering down his demands) in Europe, the reality is staring us in the face.

Unlike most other immigrants Muslims want domination not integration. There lies the real problem.

UKIP if you want to, Dave, Ed and Nick are not for turning!

 Dave, Nick and Ed at Buckingham Palace in 2011                                                   Photo: Getty Images

In 1980 the Tory party faithful delighted in Mrs Thatcher's quip "The lady's not for turning". In 1981 David Steel delivered his even more memorable but fateful conference exhortation "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government". What led up to that exhortation is explained here.

It could prove to be grim reading for Nigel Farage. The success of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) may not be all it appears. A majority of only one third of the electorate who bothered to vote does not necessarily extrapolate in the way he seems to think. People who simply decided not to vote as a protest cannot be counted as UKIP supporters and no doubt many who did will not necessarily vote the same way in a general election. But one thing is clear from conversations I have had with people which were borne out in media interviews after the elections. That is immigration and the blind eyes that are turned to the largely unspoken problem for fear of being branded racists:  "White Britons are now a minority in 4 towns and cities", read here.

Londoners did not follow the English pattern of voting UKIP but why would they when many white Britons have already left? (Read here).  As if to emphasise the lack of integration, in the London Borough of Newham it was being suggested in election leaflets that ‘Muslims should vote Tory’ with pledges: To listen to the Muslim community;  Two hours of free parking for all residents during Friday prayers; Respect for religious beliefs and needs when making planning decisions; To support the provision of a burial ground for Newham's Muslim community; Support for community Centres; ... oh, and Respect for all. No doubt any reference to the Respect party was purely coincidental! - Read here.

As with the gay marriage catastrophe the main political parties have been busy toadying to minorities for votes. The reckoning is nigh. Dave, Ed and Nick need to heed the message - quickly.

Failed priest fails again

Labour’s shadow immigration minister, Chris Bryant                        Photo: PHILIP HOLLIS

I don't recall his precise words but in reply to a questioner during the gay marriage debate the former Rev Chris Bryant MP said something to the effect that he had probably been the worst priest in the Church of England. On that I couldn't possibly comment but he has made a pig's ear out of his attack on "unscrupulous employers" for choosing cheaper foreign workers over local British candidates to save money. Cheap Labour!

Forgive me (former) Father but I feel a degree of satisfaction in your discomfiture after your performance in the gay marriage debate implying that there is something sadly lacking in the rest of us.

How has immigration changed Britain?

 From BBC News Politics 30 April 2013

"The BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson visits Peterborough to find out how immigration has changed Britain.

The former market town in Cambridgeshire, now a city, used to be "very English and very white", he says, but in the last decade 24,000 immigrants have arrived.

He meets a number of locals, including one man who had arrived in Peterborough only the day before.

Second generation immigrant, Karam, said his father - a Sikh who moved to Peterborough from the Punjab years ago - would be "shocked" by the city today and he claimed many new immigrants "don't mix in".

Nick Robinson's film is one of four in The Editors, BBC One at 23:25 BST on Monday 29 April and afterwards on the BBC iPlayer."

Politicians have suddenly woken up to the fact that people have legitimate concerns about immigration, succinctly expressed in this BBC News item. The subject is Peterborough where we are told that one in eight of the population is an immigrant, one fifth were born abroad and ten per cent of households speak no English. It could be any number of towns and cities where integration has failed and, as indicated in the film, indigenous populations feel like foreigners in their own land, especially the elderly who have seen their environment change completely. A 'Google Maps' image of English Street where part of the film was shot highlights a constant problem, that of parking where some appear to be above the law. Perhaps the motorists in this screen shot all have blue badges but that is not my experience as I struggle to find somewhere to park while others simply please themselves. 

Also mentioned in the film was the problem of schools where English is no longer the first language. Recently the Mail reported: "Anglican school where 75% of the pupils are Muslim drops Christian hymns from assemblies". Where is the sense in all this?  

Immigration gone mad

Though deprived of media links during my half-term retreat, much sad news reached me via another's mobile phone. Amongst stories of the tragic loss of life and destruction in the New Zealand earthquake and in the turmoil in the Middle East was a report that 3.2 million foreign migrants were added to the UK population during the Labour party’s 13 years in power (enough foreign nationals to fill Birmingham three times over) and that the level of net migration into the UK rose by 36 per cent last year. Regardless of party politics, this is a staggering figure which is devastating the lives of thousands of young people in the UK. Three-quarters of all new jobs have gone to foreigners according to a report in The Sun. Meanwhile employers complain about skill shortages!

It is hardly surprising therefore that a new poll found that almost half of those questioned were open to supporting a new non-violent, far-right anti-immigration party provided it eschewed 'fascist imagery'. Enoch Powell's prophetic 1968 speech angered many but in general what he had to say was spot on. Despite all the rubbish talked about Islamophobia, over half of respondents (52%) agreed with the proposition that "Muslims create problems in the UK". Meanwhile, lawyers continue to peddle their trade joining with big business adding to the Immigration figures while lining their pockets at our expense. As Mr Powell said, "we must be mad, literally mad".