The folks at Rottweiler Mansions have said just about everything I wanted to say about the not-very-Conservative Party’s new ‘national security is so 20th Century’ position. As obnoxious as it to find a supposed party of the Right that thinks that the defence of the realm is negotiable, let us not forget the equally obnoxious argument advanced by supposed champion of true Conservatism, David Davis.
Davis it was who claimed that Conservative MPs were justified in ignoring the massive public support for this measure because, hey, they just knew better than us. Is this guy sure he’s in the right party ? Sure, if you’re a Liberal, then you believe that all our nation’s problems are down to not having enough really smart people in government. Unemployment ? Obesity ? Stupidity ? All we need is a whole bunch of Oxbridge grads to pull an all-nighter, push a few levers and open a few valves, and everything will be cool. Conservatives are supposed to be the people who follow William F Buckley in preferring to be governed by the first hundred names in the Boston phone directory rather than the whole of the Harvard faculty.
Here we have a man with two highlights on his CV: he was born on a council estate and he was a part-time soldier. This is what constitutes an unusually full backstory in the Parliamentary Conservative Party. But these people are supposedly better qualified to make these judgements than Joe Public so everyone from airline pilots to zoologists can all shove it.
Wassdat ? Did someone point out that a large chunk of our population doesn’t fly or know the difference between a bactrian and a dromedary ? Alright, let’s wind the clock back to 1985. Who was better informed about the state of the real state of the USSR: a politburo member or a drunk tractor-factory worker in Kiev ? Lest the comparison between modern Britain and the USSR not be obvious, I would just point out that in July, despite years of planning, four bombers managed to slaughter huge numbers of people. More to the point, two weeks later, four more bombers would have been able to do the same, if only they’d passed GCSE Chemistry. Davis can say what he wants – the public know our defences are dysfunctional.
It would be better if we didn’t need 90 days. It would be better still if we had some kind of Jihadi-detecting rays. We don’t have either. We have to fight the war we’re in, not the one we wish we were in. The Great British Public has absorbed this lesson, while their supposed betters spend their time conjuring up polysyllabic explanations for burying their heads in the sand. Somebody remind me: just how exactly do you qualify for this elite ?
Davis it was who claimed that Conservative MPs were justified in ignoring the massive public support for this measure because, hey, they just knew better than us. Is this guy sure he’s in the right party ? Sure, if you’re a Liberal, then you believe that all our nation’s problems are down to not having enough really smart people in government. Unemployment ? Obesity ? Stupidity ? All we need is a whole bunch of Oxbridge grads to pull an all-nighter, push a few levers and open a few valves, and everything will be cool. Conservatives are supposed to be the people who follow William F Buckley in preferring to be governed by the first hundred names in the Boston phone directory rather than the whole of the Harvard faculty.
Here we have a man with two highlights on his CV: he was born on a council estate and he was a part-time soldier. This is what constitutes an unusually full backstory in the Parliamentary Conservative Party. But these people are supposedly better qualified to make these judgements than Joe Public so everyone from airline pilots to zoologists can all shove it.
Wassdat ? Did someone point out that a large chunk of our population doesn’t fly or know the difference between a bactrian and a dromedary ? Alright, let’s wind the clock back to 1985. Who was better informed about the state of the real state of the USSR: a politburo member or a drunk tractor-factory worker in Kiev ? Lest the comparison between modern Britain and the USSR not be obvious, I would just point out that in July, despite years of planning, four bombers managed to slaughter huge numbers of people. More to the point, two weeks later, four more bombers would have been able to do the same, if only they’d passed GCSE Chemistry. Davis can say what he wants – the public know our defences are dysfunctional.
It would be better if we didn’t need 90 days. It would be better still if we had some kind of Jihadi-detecting rays. We don’t have either. We have to fight the war we’re in, not the one we wish we were in. The Great British Public has absorbed this lesson, while their supposed betters spend their time conjuring up polysyllabic explanations for burying their heads in the sand. Somebody remind me: just how exactly do you qualify for this elite ?
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