They Still Walk Around As If They Had Done Nothing Wrong

Tremendous Sums Are Squandered On Debt Interest.

Tax is a necessary nuisance, not a moral duty.
It is not, as the Leftists chant, ‘the price we pay for a civilised society’.
It is the price we pay for handing over too many of our responsibilities to the State.
A huge amount of it is wasted.
Tremendous sums are simply squandered on debt interest, in many cases paying for failed or useless schemes of long ago.

It does terrible damage to the economy, shrivelling the rewards for hard work and diverting wealth into the wrong hands.
It falls very heavily on the poor, especially in the form of indirect taxes such as VAT.
In my view, our whole attitude to it is wrong, and well summed up by the fact that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs seldom if ever say ‘please’ when they demand our money and never say ‘thank you’ when they get it.

And now there is this plan to let them seize money from private bank accounts without a court hearing.
These are the methods and attitudes of a haughty autocracy, not those of a public service in a free country.
( Peter Hitchens, 18.05.2014 )

Mosques Are About Money And Power.

Political leaders pay lip service to the Muslim community, turning up at religious events, usually when in need of votes.
They should go to mosques and look closer at what is going on.
Mosques are much more than a place of worship.
They are about money and power, too.
Most are wealthy and, unsurprisingly, the people with their hands on the purse strings wield much influence, meaning they have become power bases.
Mosques are run by what are known in Muslim communities as tribal elders.
No qualification is needed to become one.
It often has more to do with age or family connections than wisdom.
Sometimes elders appoint themselves and, once there, it is impossible to remove them, no matter how badly they perform.
( Lord Ahmed, Britain’s first Muslim Peer, 31.08.2014 )

They Still Walk Around As If They Had Done Nothing Wrong.

The Blair creature has taken to making speeches about doing good in the Middle East, where his Iraq policy helped to ruin the lives of millions for decades to come.
It also cost this country billions we could not afford, not to mention 179 British lives.
I still think the only way for him to regain our respect would be to take a vow of lifelong silence in a very austere monastery, where he could perhaps clean the lavatories.
But he still thinks he was right, and many of his accomplices also still walk around as if they had done nothing wrong.
( Peter Hitchens, 27.04.2014 )

Crime Figures Have Been Massaged.
The figures have been massaged.
Robbery is now classified as theft from a person.
Burglary is downgraded to criminal damage.
Cautions and reprimands are used to save police time.
But you ask the people who walk about the towns and cities at night if crime has gone down.
( Judge Richard Bray, April 2014 )

The EU Seeks To Expand Its Power.

We snatched Kosovo from Serbia.
They have snatched Crimea from Ukraine.
It would be wise to stop being so lofty about what the Russians are doing, and pretending that our side are the nice, law-abiding freedom-lovers.

We should ask instead what this conflict is really about.
I will tell you.
It is an old-style territorial clash over a very valuable piece of territory, in which the EU, as Germany used to do, seeks to expand its power and influence into areas long dominated by Moscow.

This can only be resolved through compromise.
Yet, on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War that almost ended civilisation, I am amazed by the partisan enthusiasm for conflict and confrontation that has infected so many politicians and journalists.

Why wait for future historians to tell you that you were rushed into stupid, ruinous war by crude, one-sided propaganda?
Tell these people now that you want no such thing.
( Peter Hitchens, 20.04.2014 )

The Dismantling Of Moral Barriers.
Shock fades into numb acceptance, as it has over and over again.
Much of what is normal now would have been deeply shocking to British people 50 years ago.
We got used to it.
How will we know where to stop?
Or will we just carry on for ever?
As the condom-wavers and the sex-educators advance into our primary schools, and the pornography seeps like slurry from millions of teenage bedroom computers, it seems clear there is no defence against this endless, sordid, dismantling of moral barriers.
( Peter Hitchens, September 2010 )

People Forget.

Gordon Brown is the best Labour Prime Minister we never gave a chance.
Against opposition not just from the Tories but from seditious Blairites, Big Gordie put in place the national minimum wage, tax credits for the working poor, ditto for pensioners and made massive investment in schools and the NHS.
He brought our boys home from Iraq.
People forget that it was Gordon Brown who saved the country from a complete collapse of the banking system.
The economy was on an upswing when he left office.
The NHS was in better shape.
Lying Tories have the cheek to call it ‘Brown’s recession’ when it was actually caused by the reckless, profit-crazed, corrupt City types who bankroll the Conservative Party.
( Paul Routledge, 28.11.2014 )

The Heir To The Throne Is Nobody’s Creature.
I have long predicted (and in a way hoped for) a clash between Prince Charles and the Government when he eventually comes to the throne.
When it arrives, many who now fashionably despise the Monarchy will find themselves unexpectedly siding with him.
The Prince is silly on some things but in most matters he is far closer to the nation’s heart and soul than the political class.
And he has just as much of a moral claim to speak for us.
Think about it.
It’s the party machines, not us, who actually choose MPs in safe seats, and then boss them around.
And it’s money from rather fishy billionaires that pays for their campaigns, and they expect their reward.
Whereas the heir to the throne is nobody’s creature, and hasn’t sold himself to the highest bidder.
( Peter Hitchens, 27.04.2014 )

Western media and politicians are full of praise for Turkey’s new and menacing President Erdogan, who is more repressive than Russia’s Putin and memorably once said, “Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.”
( Peter Hitchens, 17.08.2014 )

Old Etonians treat the Tory crown like a goblet being passed around at a Buller dinner.
( Kevin Maguire, 04.08.2014 )

Research shows that the poor have eight fewer teeth than the rich when they’re 65.
Is that because the poor are bred to have their teeth kicked in by the rich?
( Brian Reade, 22.11.2014 )

Private education is big business, hence predictable howls of rage from public school executives over Labour’s plans to curb their tax breaks if they don’t work more closely with the state sector.
Public schools are not charities.
They are the commercial incubators of the next generation of the ruling class, and should be taxed as such.
( Paul Routledge, 28.11.2014 )

Fewer rapists are being brought to justice because of cuts to police forces.
Despite a massive increase in the number of cases reported to police, fewer arrests are being made and both prosecution and conviction rates have fallen.
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that recorded rapes rose 30% between 2011 and 2014, but the number of arrests fell by 8%.
( Mail on Sunday, 28.12.2014 )

Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister, who called his Cabinet rebels ‘bastards’, says UKIP has taken over from his Tories as ‘the nasty party’.
That’s not quite how I see it.
From here, they just look like two packs of bastards each vying to be nastier than the other.
( Paul Routledge, 21.11.2014 )

The owners of a shuttle bus between Bath and Bristol airport, claim it is the country’s first vehicle to be powered by human poo.
The first?
I hope Richard Branson sues because I’m sure his Virgin trains already run that way.
Or am I mistaking the stench from the toilets?
( Brian Reade, 22.11.2014 )

I can only miss the true and I can only mourn the brave.
Cowards make it easy to let go because you’re not losing anything worth having.
( Donna Lynn Hope )

Being nasty doesn’t require intellect.
Any moron can be abusive.
The distinguishing factor of great wit is to be nasty with style.
( Kenneth Williams, 1926-1988 )

Darkness is the hiding place of lost souls.
( Florence Emily Hookins, 1892-1956 )