Best Of

I was surprised to see anti-migrant protest are taking place in a town not far from where I grew up: Horley in Surrey. Surely the post boring place in human history. Even its name is just a dreary amalgamation of those of the two nearby towns Horsham and Crawley (not particularly exciting places in themselves).

The liberal consensus is breaking down. In real-time. I can even see aspects of it fraying amongst professional middle-class people, although more cautiously and with caveats.

I don't necessarily welcome this. I've considered myself pretty liberal in the past: a believer in openness, being reasonable, free debate, a supporter of moderate migration, sceptical of ID cards, hating detention without due cause, cherishing fair rights and responsibilities, open and free trade, and international rule of law.

However, this is all breaking down because of an absolute refusal of the governing elites to compromise, and an extraordinary level of resistance to any idea that there's even a problem - let alone that they should reform - to provide answers to the problems of today; their only response seemingly to be to clamp down on dissent and double-down on hyperliberalism.

In their determination to not give an inch anywhere, they risk losing everything. And plenty of them will never see it coming until it's far far too late, and then blame anyone but themselves.

What problem is who not recognising? You appear to be caught in some strange persecutory fantasy. The current Govt is very aware of many problems and are clearly trying to do something about them. Now, you may conclude that they're not doing a very good job, but the idea that they refuse to recognise problems and are doubling down on "hyperliberalism" is entirely at odds with reality. Indeed, part of Labour's polling woes is because they've lost the "hyperliberal" vote on their left, while not convincing those in the centre that they're delivering.

You are an absolutely perfect example of the phenomenon.

In fact, you encapsulate it.

But you can't give actual examples. Because it's in your head.

You're like a man with a fork in a world of soup.

You're like a man who still can't give actual examples.

Can you give me a concrete example of a problem facing the country where there is "an absolute refusal of the governing elites to compromise, and an extraordinary level of resistance to any idea that there's even a problem - let alone that they should reform"?

Come on, what problem? People coming over in boats? The government is very clear that this is a problem and they want to stop it happening. Asylum seekers in hotels? Government policy is to end this practice as soon as possible. Overall net immigration being high? The Government has committed to reducing it from the levels seen in the last few years of the previous administration.

As I said, you might well think the Government is shit at handling any of these. Fair enough. But they're not refusing to acknowledge that there is a problem.

I've really gotten under your skin, haven't I?

Got.

Shakespeare used "gotten", so I don't see why @Casino_Royale can't.

Shakespeare used it but doesn't change the fact it fell out of use in England for a long time.

The idea of ID 'cards' sounds rather quaint by now, surely?

I don't even carry my bank or credit cards with me, let alone my driving license. Adding a random extra card would be a pain in the arse for someone who doesn't own a wallet or card holder.

If anything, we should be moving to digital driving licenses. We already have digital bank cards.

In the US, a number of states have allowed Apple / Google Wallet to enable the ID to be added in the same way as you add your bank cards, so a copy of on your phone.

Having some sort of ID on a card, either physically or digitally, is not the core issue. It is who has access to the information and how safely it is kept by the government. For it to be much more useful for the government than your driving licence or passport, it would have to be that that information is much more widely shared. Which is where privacy campaigners highlight serious issues.

The bloody Scots keep on stealing from the English, this has been going on for centuries.

Scotland’s James VI ‘stole the English Crown’

Scans of contemporary reports suggest the Scottish monarch’s legitimacy may have been forged

James I stole the Crown of England, a new book has claimed.

The Scottish king James VI came to rule over England and his own lands as James I following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603.

But in a break from orthodoxy, historian and TV presenter Tracy Borman has claimed that he effectively seized the throne.

Contemporary reports of the crisis of the succession appear in William Camden’s Annals, which recounts a story of the dying Elizabeth agreeing that James would ascend to the throne.

Borman has argued that scans of Camden’s supposedly contemporary documents reveal this story was not his own and was added later.

She told The Times that undermined the idea that Elizabeth chose James, and that the story added after the fact was planted to boost the Scottish monarch’s claim to legitimacy.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/22/scotland-james-stole-english-crown/

Please, please have it back. Give it to Farage, anything. Just to stop me having to listen to the next 8 months of Westminster hacks opining about the Holyrood elections.

Happily the Guardian going on about visiting ****ing comedians at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will come to a natural end soon. It feels like as much page content as the entire totality of their other Scottish news over the year.

See also Radio 4. "And for todays episode of 'News of the River Tamar' we're brought to you from the Edinburgh Festival!"...

The bloody Scots keep on stealing from the English, this has been going on for centuries.

Scotland’s James VI ‘stole the English Crown’

Scans of contemporary reports suggest the Scottish monarch’s legitimacy may have been forged

James I stole the Crown of England, a new book has claimed.

The Scottish king James VI came to rule over England and his own lands as James I following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603.

But in a break from orthodoxy, historian and TV presenter Tracy Borman has claimed that he effectively seized the throne.

Contemporary reports of the crisis of the succession appear in William Camden’s Annals, which recounts a story of the dying Elizabeth agreeing that James would ascend to the throne.

Borman has argued that scans of Camden’s supposedly contemporary documents reveal this story was not his own and was added later.

She told The Times that undermined the idea that Elizabeth chose James, and that the story added after the fact was planted to boost the Scottish monarch’s claim to legitimacy.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/22/scotland-james-stole-english-crown/

Please, please have it back. Give it to Farage, anything. Just to stop me having to listen to the next 8 months of Westminster hacks opining about the Holyrood elections.

Doesn't work. We gave America back 249 years ago and the hacks keep going on about their obscure politicians and their arcane methods of rigging elections.

Siri, give me an example of "slavering":



Matt Goodwin
@GoodwinMJ

If you are not from the UK then you should know there are currently dozens of protests happening right now across the country against illegal migration, broken borders, the sexual assault of our children, and the fact our own government is using our own money to outbid our own people in our own housing market by bankrolling private firms to put illegal migrants into the heart of our communities with more favourable rental contracts, all while giving us a bill of £7 BILLION a year and calling us “far right” if we say anything about it.

https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1959288203027915233

Caught up with an Indian friend today. He came to England in his early 20s in the late 90s - he's an academic. Reportred that his sister was now voting Reform, amd went on a long diatribe about a) immigration (of the asylum seeker sort), b) people who fly Palestinian flags and c) Rachel Reeves. Entirely sympathetic to the England flags appearing around my home suburb.

That reads like an @Leon anecdote. Although you could have embellished the story with some Albanian taxi drivers.

I thought it interesting because it's a) not the position you expect of academics and b) emphasises that the sort of immigrants we do want are not necessarily sympathetic to those we do not.
If it helps, he was also dead against Britain getting involved in Ukraine, so he's clearly not just trying to report opinions he thinks I'll agree with.

I am not sure what your anecdote tells us other than your friend's attitude is one of " I'm already on the bus. Conductor please ring the bell".