A year or so back I wrote about the number of my liberal college friends who have by strange chance ended up in leafy, monocultural parts of the world.
I've been meaning for ages to write another one, about the number of intelligent, competent women of my generation who are childless (and by now will never have children). It distressed me to think that the many admirable qualities of these women would never be passed on to another generation, but would die with them.
Someone called Lionel Shriver has written it for me in the Guardian's book reviews. She writes with tremendous insight and honesty.
To be almost ridiculously sweeping: baby boomers and their offspring have shifted emphasis from the communal to the individual, from the future to the present, from virtue to personal satisfaction. Increasingly secular, we pledge allegiance to lower-case gods of our private devising. We are less concerned with leading a good life than the good life. We are less likely than our predecessors to ask ourselves whether we serve a greater social purpose; we are more likely to ask if we are happy. We shun values such as self-sacrifice and duty as the pitfalls of suckers. We give little thought to the perpetuation of lineage, culture or nation; we take our heritage for granted. We are ahistorical. We measure the value of our lives within the brackets of our own births and deaths, and don't especially care what happens once we're dead. As we age - oh, so reluctantly! - we are apt to look back on our pasts and ask not 'Did I serve family, God and country?' but 'Did I ever get to Cuba, or run a marathon? Did I take up landscape painting? Was I fat?' We will assess the success of our lives in accordance not with whether they were righteous, but with whether they were interesting and fun.
This is of course the other side of demographic change. It's not just high levels of immigration that cause 19% of English babies to be born to mothers who were born abroad. My forty and fifty-ish childless friends are of the age to become grandparents. The missing English babies are the offspring of the children that my generation never had.
Ms Shriver's article is lengthy, but read the whole thing.
Guessedworker has a long and interesting post on the article at Majority Rights, from whom I pinched the link. (Ignore the conspiracy mongers in the comments. It would actually be less scary if there WAS some liberal leftist conspiracy to destroy the Native Brits. What's really scary is that they don't really know what they're doing, although 7/7 probably woke one or two people in government up. For years the left have used immigration as a weapon in the war against the existing Brit culture - it's just starting to occur to them that the incomers might have ideas and agendas of their own).
UPDATE - Ms Shriver returns to the theme in this Sunday Times interview.
“Yes, there is something deeply wrong about this notion of living your life purely for its own sake. You could have one generation (without children) that has a wonderful time, going out to restaurants and holidays in France. Then the human race disappears.”
But of course that won't happen. Instead there will be people around who are not at all like Ms Shriver. It appears the feminist Western career woman indeed contains the (unfertilized) seeds of her own destruction. And ours.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
God And George Bush
When I heard the "God Told Me To Invade Iraq" story my crapometer went off the dial. When I heard that the source of the story was Palestinian the crapometer melted and is now in the bin.
The remark seemed too good to be true - almost designed for the place where it indeed ended up - the front pages of the Guardian and Indie (neither of whom get too excercised about people who claim God's sanction for blowing up school buses, or shooting mothers and their childen).
A Tory blogger previously unknown to me, one Daniel Lucraft, points out that the source of the story, one Nabil Shaath, has given the Guardian some good quotes before, too. He it was who revealed the hideous extent of the legendary Jenin Massacre.
A senior Palestinian, Nabil Shaath, accused Israel of carrying out summary executions and removing corpses in refrigerated trucks. He said close to 500 people had been killed.
The White House has denied the story.
And now Mr Shaath is beackpedalling furiously.
"Nabil Shaath said he and other world leaders at a Jordan summit two years ago did not believe Mr Bush thought God had given him a personal message."
But the story has got its own legs now. We'll see it on many a banner at demonstrations to come, along with the Jenin Massacre, the 100,000 dead and the Thanksgiving Plastic Turkey.
The remark seemed too good to be true - almost designed for the place where it indeed ended up - the front pages of the Guardian and Indie (neither of whom get too excercised about people who claim God's sanction for blowing up school buses, or shooting mothers and their childen).
A Tory blogger previously unknown to me, one Daniel Lucraft, points out that the source of the story, one Nabil Shaath, has given the Guardian some good quotes before, too. He it was who revealed the hideous extent of the legendary Jenin Massacre.
A senior Palestinian, Nabil Shaath, accused Israel of carrying out summary executions and removing corpses in refrigerated trucks. He said close to 500 people had been killed.
The White House has denied the story.
And now Mr Shaath is beackpedalling furiously.
"Nabil Shaath said he and other world leaders at a Jordan summit two years ago did not believe Mr Bush thought God had given him a personal message."
But the story has got its own legs now. We'll see it on many a banner at demonstrations to come, along with the Jenin Massacre, the 100,000 dead and the Thanksgiving Plastic Turkey.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Pass The Sick Bag ...
And next time I hear someone say:- "He'll come out of prison one day - it's us that are serving a life sentence", I shall throw up. - The Magistrate's Blog.
"When he gets out he will restart his life, but ours is a life sentence." - more emotional claptrap from Mrs Marlene Turner, whinging just because her husband of 50 years has suffered serious brain injuries.
Injuries inflicted by a 34-year old Paul Richards.
In a road rage incident.
Involving a broken wing mirror.
"When he gets out he will restart his life, but ours is a life sentence." - more emotional claptrap from Mrs Marlene Turner, whinging just because her husband of 50 years has suffered serious brain injuries.
Injuries inflicted by a 34-year old Paul Richards.
In a road rage incident.
Involving a broken wing mirror.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
New Links
I don't know what other people think. About anything, but particularly about the Truth Laid Bear ecosystem. The number of links to my blog fluctuates wildly, and the 'show all links' feature doesn't work.
Still, for one day I was a Large Mammal - a few months back. Yesterday I was ranked about 2,000-odd (Marauding Marsupial). Today, 5,000 (Adorable Wee Rodent aka Dirty Stinking Rat) and apparently only 10 sites link. Soon I'll be back where I started - an Insignificant Microbe.
I'm not sure how well the site is working. And it used to be so good (i.e. when I was ranked 1400-ish).
So it's thanks to Blogshares for information on a few newish sites which I ned to link back to.
I'll update this, but I'll start by saying that The Trouser Quandary Resolution is not usual. Highly unusual in fact. I don't know which bit of the West Midlands David Hadley comes from, but it makes him write things like this.
Or this :
"There was a time, but then, there usually is. Time gets everywhere. If you are not careful you can find a whole pile of unused days down the back of the sofa, with no idea how they got there, or what you intended to do with them.
But, you get a lot of that, these days. I blame that Common Market. There was none of that in my day, but occasionally some in the night."
Compared to this, Minstrel In The Gallery, Mensa Barbie and Kalahari Lighthouse are positive monstrosities of normality.
Oh - one more - and what a title. To The Tooting Station, comrades !
Still, for one day I was a Large Mammal - a few months back. Yesterday I was ranked about 2,000-odd (Marauding Marsupial). Today, 5,000 (Adorable Wee Rodent aka Dirty Stinking Rat) and apparently only 10 sites link. Soon I'll be back where I started - an Insignificant Microbe.
I'm not sure how well the site is working. And it used to be so good (i.e. when I was ranked 1400-ish).
So it's thanks to Blogshares for information on a few newish sites which I ned to link back to.
I'll update this, but I'll start by saying that The Trouser Quandary Resolution is not usual. Highly unusual in fact. I don't know which bit of the West Midlands David Hadley comes from, but it makes him write things like this.
Or this :
"There was a time, but then, there usually is. Time gets everywhere. If you are not careful you can find a whole pile of unused days down the back of the sofa, with no idea how they got there, or what you intended to do with them.
But, you get a lot of that, these days. I blame that Common Market. There was none of that in my day, but occasionally some in the night."
Compared to this, Minstrel In The Gallery, Mensa Barbie and Kalahari Lighthouse are positive monstrosities of normality.
Oh - one more - and what a title. To The Tooting Station, comrades !
Thanks To The Guardian ...
And the Dumb One, I've added the Fassit (Families Anti Social Services Enquiry Team) website to the sidebar, along with a few other pro-family organisations.
Mind you, I can see why social workers are so upset. The website accuses them of being unhappy people who harass ordinary families but steer clear of difficult cases.
"Remember, however, that if you come across a really brutal family where a child is being cruelly abused (like Victoria Climbié), just clear out in a hurry and leave them alone. Don't worry, no one will expect you to risk your own safety"
What an unjust accusation. As I recall, Victoria was saved and lived happily ever after.
And what have the social workers done to deserve this ? Just taken children away from their parents. Can't the parents just get over it and move on ? Honestly, some people.
The funny thing is that these are the people who call for understanding of terrorists - who major on empathy and emotional intelligence. Tragically it's beyond them to understand the instinct thet will make even a domestic hen attack anyone coming between her and her chicks.
PS - anyone wishing for an insight into what a social worker can convince herself of should take a look at the Broxtowe Files, where social workers found some remarkable abuse taking place on a Nottinghamshire council estate.
Mind you, I can see why social workers are so upset. The website accuses them of being unhappy people who harass ordinary families but steer clear of difficult cases.
"Remember, however, that if you come across a really brutal family where a child is being cruelly abused (like Victoria Climbié), just clear out in a hurry and leave them alone. Don't worry, no one will expect you to risk your own safety"
What an unjust accusation. As I recall, Victoria was saved and lived happily ever after.
And what have the social workers done to deserve this ? Just taken children away from their parents. Can't the parents just get over it and move on ? Honestly, some people.
The funny thing is that these are the people who call for understanding of terrorists - who major on empathy and emotional intelligence. Tragically it's beyond them to understand the instinct thet will make even a domestic hen attack anyone coming between her and her chicks.
PS - anyone wishing for an insight into what a social worker can convince herself of should take a look at the Broxtowe Files, where social workers found some remarkable abuse taking place on a Nottinghamshire council estate.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Bang !
Irene Adler on the mysterious suicide bombing outside an Oklahoma stadium packed with people. Did the poor chap, like many a young man in a hurry, go off prematurely ?
She also links to more classic Mark Steyn, on the Tory council who have banned pigs - including Piglet, Pooh's little friend.
"When every act that a culture makes communicates weakness and loss of self-belief, eventually you'll be taken at your word. In the long term, these trivial concessions are more significant victories than blowing up infidels on the Tube or in Bali beach restaurants. An act of murder demands at least the pretence of moral seriousness, even from the dopiest appeasers. But small acts of cultural vandalism corrode the fabric of freedom all but unseen."
And :
"It has been clear since July 7 that the state has no real idea what to do to reconcile the more disaffected elements of its fastest-growing demographic. But at some point Britons have to ask themselves - while they're still permitted to discuss the question more or less freely - how much of their country they're willing to lose. The Hundred-Acre Wood is not the terrain on which one would choose to make one's stand, but from here on in it is only going to become more difficult."
She also links to more classic Mark Steyn, on the Tory council who have banned pigs - including Piglet, Pooh's little friend.
"When every act that a culture makes communicates weakness and loss of self-belief, eventually you'll be taken at your word. In the long term, these trivial concessions are more significant victories than blowing up infidels on the Tube or in Bali beach restaurants. An act of murder demands at least the pretence of moral seriousness, even from the dopiest appeasers. But small acts of cultural vandalism corrode the fabric of freedom all but unseen."
And :
"It has been clear since July 7 that the state has no real idea what to do to reconcile the more disaffected elements of its fastest-growing demographic. But at some point Britons have to ask themselves - while they're still permitted to discuss the question more or less freely - how much of their country they're willing to lose. The Hundred-Acre Wood is not the terrain on which one would choose to make one's stand, but from here on in it is only going to become more difficult."
Bishop Bashing - In A Left Footed Stylee
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, a body who make the Church of England look like the League Of Empire Loyalists, have issued a new 'teaching document' pointing out that not all of the Bible is to be believed.
Peter Glover has issued what he calls a 'thinwa' ('like a fatwa, but with less calories') pointing out that not all documents produced by Catholic Bishops are to be believed.
Peter Glover has issued what he calls a 'thinwa' ('like a fatwa, but with less calories') pointing out that not all documents produced by Catholic Bishops are to be believed.
The Tories
I haven't had time to post on the Tory leadership shenanigans, though I see a Chris Dillow report that the great Aaronovitch has come out in favour of David Davis.
Mr Davis, for all his weekend warnings to the almost non-existent Religious Right, is a hanger, has voted against ending discrimination against gay people and has admitted that, though the father of three, he never changed a nappy. Individually these preferences would be only mildly disturbing. Together they almost amount to a persona.
Sounds like a good bloke to me.
Dumb Jon says most of what I'd have wanted to say, in a piece so good it could have come from Mark Steyn.
But there's one other factor the Tories need to think about. I don't expect to see a public debate of even a fringe meeting discussing it. You can only talk in code about 'do we look like modern Britain ?'
Approximately 10% of the "ethnic minority" vote goes to the Tories.
That fact alone accounts for most of the 2% vote share gap between Labour and the Conservatives.
It also accounts for their disappearance from urban constituencies in England.
Around 25-30% of babies born in England are born to ethnic minorities or recent immigrants.
So on current trends the Tories will have even fewer votes in the future, as their voters die and are replaced on the roll by young Africans, Bangladeshis, Indians, Poles.
There are therefore three choices open to the Tories.
a) embrace multiculturalism in a half-hearted fashion as done currently, with the conspicuous success described above, in the hope that the wheels will come off Gordon Brown's bus in spectacular fashion.
b) embrace it and really mean it - go beyond Teresa May's wildest dreams. Major on self-help and education (thank you Hindu voters) and family values (add the Muslim vote). Problems ? Most competent potential Indian/Hindu leaders are too busy making money to bother with politics, Muslim leaders care about politics, but it's intimately linked with religion. The other great risk is that you'll shed party members like autumn leaves, some of whom, perfectly decent people, will find a home in the BNP.
c) accept the fact that these votes are unattainable and all that springs therefrom. Become the political voice of the Native Brits, grab what remains of the white working class vote, campaign strongly against further immmigration while retaining a strictly One Nation approach (i.e. no discrimination of any kind, judging on content of character rather than skin colour etc) to those immigrants already here and their descendants. Risk - a sad farewell to the Letwins and Camerons of this world. Plus no prospect of power for the foreseeable. On the plus side, the BNP will wither away like the State in an ideal Socialist society.
None of these look terribly palatable choices. But major demographic change is already with us. Its first political fruits were seen in Bethnal Green earlier this year. There'll be more - I imagine rather a lot more.
Mr Davis, for all his weekend warnings to the almost non-existent Religious Right, is a hanger, has voted against ending discrimination against gay people and has admitted that, though the father of three, he never changed a nappy. Individually these preferences would be only mildly disturbing. Together they almost amount to a persona.
Sounds like a good bloke to me.
Dumb Jon says most of what I'd have wanted to say, in a piece so good it could have come from Mark Steyn.
But there's one other factor the Tories need to think about. I don't expect to see a public debate of even a fringe meeting discussing it. You can only talk in code about 'do we look like modern Britain ?'
Approximately 10% of the "ethnic minority" vote goes to the Tories.
That fact alone accounts for most of the 2% vote share gap between Labour and the Conservatives.
It also accounts for their disappearance from urban constituencies in England.
Around 25-30% of babies born in England are born to ethnic minorities or recent immigrants.
So on current trends the Tories will have even fewer votes in the future, as their voters die and are replaced on the roll by young Africans, Bangladeshis, Indians, Poles.
There are therefore three choices open to the Tories.
a) embrace multiculturalism in a half-hearted fashion as done currently, with the conspicuous success described above, in the hope that the wheels will come off Gordon Brown's bus in spectacular fashion.
b) embrace it and really mean it - go beyond Teresa May's wildest dreams. Major on self-help and education (thank you Hindu voters) and family values (add the Muslim vote). Problems ? Most competent potential Indian/Hindu leaders are too busy making money to bother with politics, Muslim leaders care about politics, but it's intimately linked with religion. The other great risk is that you'll shed party members like autumn leaves, some of whom, perfectly decent people, will find a home in the BNP.
c) accept the fact that these votes are unattainable and all that springs therefrom. Become the political voice of the Native Brits, grab what remains of the white working class vote, campaign strongly against further immmigration while retaining a strictly One Nation approach (i.e. no discrimination of any kind, judging on content of character rather than skin colour etc) to those immigrants already here and their descendants. Risk - a sad farewell to the Letwins and Camerons of this world. Plus no prospect of power for the foreseeable. On the plus side, the BNP will wither away like the State in an ideal Socialist society.
None of these look terribly palatable choices. But major demographic change is already with us. Its first political fruits were seen in Bethnal Green earlier this year. There'll be more - I imagine rather a lot more.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
NHS News
Me no understand doctor. Gordon Brown has increased health spending to record levels. And all the NHS primary care trusts are running out of money.
Remember the joke about the out-of-hours call to the doctor always resulting in the prescription "take two aspirins and see me on Monday if it's not better" ?
It's actually two paracetamol. And it's not funny.
"A grieving father broke down in tears yesterday as he listened to a tape of his daughter pleading for a doctor to visit her, hours before she died of meningitis.
The first day of the hearing was told that when Miss Miah first called, she was told to take a couple of paracetamols and call back if her condition worsened.
In the middle of the night she began vomiting, complaining she had pins and needles in her arms and legs and saying her neck and legs were sore. Miss Miah, in another phone call to the helpline, was told that doctors only did home visits "if it is an emergency".
When a doctor eventually arrived at the family home, Miss Miah was screaming in pain and unable to speak. She was rushed to hospital by ambulance where she died later in the day."
Remember the joke about the out-of-hours call to the doctor always resulting in the prescription "take two aspirins and see me on Monday if it's not better" ?
It's actually two paracetamol. And it's not funny.
"A grieving father broke down in tears yesterday as he listened to a tape of his daughter pleading for a doctor to visit her, hours before she died of meningitis.
The first day of the hearing was told that when Miss Miah first called, she was told to take a couple of paracetamols and call back if her condition worsened.
In the middle of the night she began vomiting, complaining she had pins and needles in her arms and legs and saying her neck and legs were sore. Miss Miah, in another phone call to the helpline, was told that doctors only did home visits "if it is an emergency".
When a doctor eventually arrived at the family home, Miss Miah was screaming in pain and unable to speak. She was rushed to hospital by ambulance where she died later in the day."
Did You Know ...
... that slavery in Saudi Arabia was only abolished in 1962 ?
(info from Bernard Lewis' fascinating book 'The Crisis of Islam', which I devoured over the weekend - and very tasty it was, too)
(info from Bernard Lewis' fascinating book 'The Crisis of Islam', which I devoured over the weekend - and very tasty it was, too)
The Guardian vs Scott Burgess Round II
Either the anonymous Observer hack who penned this doesn't know what he's talking about, or it's another dig at the great man (who, remember, "spends his time indoors posting repeated attacks on the Guardian") from the Guardian/Observer combine.
"It was Harry who revealed that Dilpazier Aslam, a trainee reporter at the Guardian, was a member of Hizb'ut Tahrir, a radical Islamic group, under the memorable headline: 'Why is the Guardian employing an extremist Islamist?'
Aslam's contract was subsequently ended. A rare example of a British blogger doing what his US counterparts do so well - shaping the news agenda rather than merely commenting on it."
Now Harry is a great blogger. But he would be the first to admit, as the Guardian has previously done, that Scott Burgess did the research and broke the story.
"It was Harry who revealed that Dilpazier Aslam, a trainee reporter at the Guardian, was a member of Hizb'ut Tahrir, a radical Islamic group, under the memorable headline: 'Why is the Guardian employing an extremist Islamist?'
Aslam's contract was subsequently ended. A rare example of a British blogger doing what his US counterparts do so well - shaping the news agenda rather than merely commenting on it."
Now Harry is a great blogger. But he would be the first to admit, as the Guardian has previously done, that Scott Burgess did the research and broke the story.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Light Blogging ...
As ever, take a look at the Dumb One's stuff.
Just a wee thought, as Turkey's potential EU entry is all ove the broadsheets and BBC. I'm getting a flavour of 'they're really nice - but if we don't let them in they'll be our enemies forever' from the usual suspects. Would you let someone into a party with a pitch like that ?
You do have to wonder what dark fears lurk in the hearts of liberals. General de Gaulle put a ten-year block on Britain's membership of the EU - yet I don't recall any sense of a 'clash of civilisations'.
Ther's a bit of a parallel with the BBC's view of British Muslims, spun in this report as 'nice guys - and if you say different watch out for riots'.
Just a wee thought, as Turkey's potential EU entry is all ove the broadsheets and BBC. I'm getting a flavour of 'they're really nice - but if we don't let them in they'll be our enemies forever' from the usual suspects. Would you let someone into a party with a pitch like that ?
You do have to wonder what dark fears lurk in the hearts of liberals. General de Gaulle put a ten-year block on Britain's membership of the EU - yet I don't recall any sense of a 'clash of civilisations'.
Ther's a bit of a parallel with the BBC's view of British Muslims, spun in this report as 'nice guys - and if you say different watch out for riots'.
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