The Dukes of the North
A few weeks ago, I went down a rabbit hole of researching my local duke and his family. And I started noticing a pattern. they would regularly have to inherit in ways other than father to son. Today, I will be cataloguing the story.....of the Duchy of Northumberland.
Marching Sheepishly: How the British wool industry helped the French to win the War of the First Coalition
They wore this wool at Lodi, at Milan, at Mantua, and at Arcole. It would have been difficult to persuade these soldiers to go into battle without uniforms, and as such it is perfectly reasonable to make the claim that without British wool, France would never have won the War of the First Coalition.
6 min read
22/04/2023
Why did Britain oppose the French Revolution?
This may seem an odd question with the gift of hindsight. When the French Revolution exploded into an international crisis, no country fought harder to suppress France than Great Britain (United Kingdom from 1801). Britain would not only act as financiers against the French Revolution, funding the multiple coalition wars, but the British Empire would also play an important military role both on land and at sea. It may come across as odd, perhaps, to ask why Britain would be opposed to the French Revolution.
9 min read
15/04/2023
Articles
The time Britain funded an invasion of itself... twice!
One of the more famous real estate sales in human history was the Louisiana Purchase. Not only was it an enormous sale, but also all sides involved got what they wanted from the deal. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte sold the French colonies of Louisiana to the young United States for a sum of $15 million (estimated to be roughly $309 million today). This purchase would, interestingly enough, come in large part from British financiers... and would end up funding and providing justification for two separate invasions of Britain and its territories.
7 min read
08/04/2023
One better than Alexander - The remarkable story of how Britain conquered India
Many believe that Britain’s conquest of India was a forgone conclusion. Images may arise of a technologically superior wealthy British empire taking on an India totally unprepared for European imperialism - in the same vein as the Scramble for Africa or the colonisation of the New World. Nothing could be further from the truth.
7 min read
01/04/2023
The Problem with the Public Order Bill
To give its full title, the Public Order Bill is “A Bill to make provision for new offences relating to public order; to make provision about stop and search powers; to make provision about the exercise of police functions relating to public order; to make provision about proceedings by the Secretary of State relating to protest-related activities; to make provision about serious disruption prevention orders; and for connected purposes.”
11 min read
05/02/2023
The Pros and Cons of Political Labels
A short look into the pros and cons of political labels.
4 min read
28/01/2023
A Resolution's Worth of Words
At the end of last year I made public my resolutions, not only for the coming year, but also the next half decade. I went through a little of the history and tradition around the setting of resolutions at the New Year and also outlined the 10 (or 11) things that I had determined I ought to do to improve myself and my life. One of them was to re-embrace reading.
16 min read
24/12/2022
Making the Case for Capitalism
Last week I was at a Conservative Policy Forum making the case for capitalism. I will lay out my arguments for capitalism in this article as it will allow me to expand more on my arguments that I put forward in the forum. I am unapologetic about being an activist in promoting a free-market system and I will be laying out many arguments in detail about how a free-market system is superior for a countries success.
20 min read
20/12/2022
Publish and Be Damned - The Stoics
Four months ago we started series one of Publish and Be Damned by posing the question: is stoicism only fit for those who have never done anything courageous or powerful in their lives?
4 min read
10/12/2022
Learning from Blair
What can conservatives learn from Tony Blair and his Labour Party? As opposed to what the Conservative Party learned from them.
4 min read
26/11/2022
The War to End Empires
At the centre of the village in which I grew up, like so many others, there is a 9 foot stone pillar bearing the names of the five young men of the village who were killed during the Great War. At the last census, the village population was a grand total of 161 people, although with half of the houses in the village having been built in the 1960s, this would have been an appreciable percentage of the people living there in 1914.
6 min read
10/11/2022
Now That Tavistock Is Closing, Where Are the Other Groomers?
Excellent news for those concerned about the state experimenting on children! The Tavistock Gender Clinic, the only NHS clinic specifically for ‘trans’ children is to be shut down! This is a huge win. The NHS has been ordered to close down the Tavistock clinic after a report had found that the clinic was failing to adequately care for children under 18, some as young as four.
8 min read
29/07/2022
The Curious Case of Kemi and the Conservative Leadership Contest
Most people hear politics and groan. Given the state of people’s finances this year and the pressing global issues we have faced, and continue to face, over the last few years, the last thing people want to hear about is more uncertainty in British politics. Yet here we are. After less than 3 years in office the Conservative Party are in the process of turfing out another leader. Need I remind you all that the previous incumbent was also turfed out by the Parliamentary party after only 3 years?
12 min read
16/07/2022
The Membership should decide the next Conservative Leader
A number of conservative organisations have been making the argument that it is unfair for the Conservative MPs to effectively decide who the next leader of the Conservative party will be.
7 min read
08/07/2022
Visions, Objectives and the Mysterious "We"
What I would like to explore here is a trend that I have observed in conversations of a political nature. I have noticed a way in which many that occupy all corners of the political compass state problems that they see, and any solutions that they have come up with. Now that I have seen it, it has become impossible for me to un-see, and I would also like to make it impossible for the reader here to un-see.
6 min read
01/06/2022
The Leftist Crusade Against the Ghost Of The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade was bad, I know this is a popular opinion that almost everyone in the United Kingdom agrees with and has agreed with since the 19th century. It is an issue we solved nearly two centuries ago and have spent most of those two centuries paying off the debt incurred to end it. Not only did Britain stop their own participation in the trade themselves, they made it completely impossible for every other Trans-Atlantic empire to take part in it. There’s good reason to mention this, since there is a relentless demoralisation of Britain's history and empire because Britain was involved in the industrialised trade of human lives. We see it in the Guardian where they wrote about toppling Nelson’s Column. We see it when the National trust conducts politically motivated assessments into their statues and estates to see just how linked to the Slave Trade our historical figures were and either remove them or install information to call them evil.
6 min read
25/05/2022
The Trad Tax
I call on any conservative government worthy of the name to reflect upon the way in which it currently favours total employment, at any cost, over and above the traditional family unit. I ask that if they are not willing to actively incentivise these traditional family units, then they at least remove some of the disincentives which currently exist as a result of our ‘progressive’ system.
16 min read
11/05/2022
What is Paleolibertarianism?
Explaining the history and beliefs of paleolibertarianism from the perspective of an English anarcho-capitalist and paleolibertarian.
4 min read
27/04/2022
The Present and Future of Energy in the United Kingdom
As I’m sure everyone in the UK has seen at this point, there has been a spike in not only our energy bills but the cost of filling our cars up! There are many reasons for the prices of energy to rise which I will touch on, since to understand where the future lies we need to understand the present.
22 min read
13/04/2022
Influence, Institution and Incrementalism
Originally written by John for publication by the Mallard in their January 2022 Issue
3 min read
06/04/2022
The English Language, Antecedence and Adaptation
The English language is a complex beast, full of rules and anomalies. It is something which has evolved over the space of more than a millenia and a half and over that time it has incorporated Latin, French and Old Norse (among other influences). It has grown and developed almost like an organism, with it's usage being adapted by the user over generations with elements being changed, added, or disposed of to suit regional tastes and catastrophic events.
11 min read
23/03/2022
The Marginal Return of the King
Understanding the feudal and corporate worlds
16 min read
09/03/2022
On the Making of Ruins
Yesterday and Tomorrow.
14 min read
23/02/2022
Solutions Without Hysteria
After what has seemed like a period of stagnation, the space industry appears to currently be on steroids and the theme of space exploration appears to have re-acquainted itself with mainstream culture. There are now frequent news headlines and articles demonstrating progress with rocket technology and capabilities. The idea of sending manned missions further and further out into space for the benefit of humanity is exciting and fantastic, however during this nascent phase in space exploration it is important to maintain a steady focus on what is happening on this planet. With a potential decline in living standards and political instability featuring in several credible future scenarios this century, it is important for all members in society to contribute where they can to mitigate these risks. However, what is being presented in mainstream media as inevitable sacrifices, including the switch to bug protein as a staple food source, colder showers and pod-life is unpalatable and depressing. Whilst constraints on resources do risk causing declines to living standards and political instability, the aim of this article is to point out who should be removing these constraints. Due to the way the human brain works, anyone who is hysterical or in panic mode, cannot be also in problem solving mode and should be excluded from debate up front. This especially includes teary eyed celebrities broadcasting their emotions through the media.
7 min read
11/02/2022
The Transformation of Power: A Cynical Critique
“I have written this as part of a reflection of my own experience in life and in history; in part I wrote this piece as an Ode to our long suffering ancestors from time immemorial. They perhaps suffered so we may not have to, yet like Cassandra their spirits are doomed to watch as their warnings go unheeded, as their own kin repeat the same errors and mistakes as their forebears and their long passed lives did. I write this not fully knowing the complete experience of these forebears other than limited quips and excerpts from their lives, and to that only but few in number, but as my Thirty-Six Generations past Great Grandfather Alfred the Great once said: “I embrace the purpose of God and the doom assigned. It becomes no man to nurse despair, but, in the teeth of clenched antagonisms, to follow up the worthiest until he die.” I hope you enjoy the article.”
21 min read
21/01/2022
New Year's Resolutions
A Few years ago, students and professors at the University of Plymouth published an article titled Are New Year’s resolutions a waste of time? They found that only 9% of those who made resolutions in 2017 felt that they had kept those resolutions, with a third having felt they had failed by mid-January with many people indicating that they felt they had set themselves an unachievable task.
8 min read
31/12/2021
The 12 Books of Christmas (Recommended Reading List)
Over the past few years I have asked for books at Christmas to add to my growing collection of books I intend to one day read. They tend to be non-fiction and cover subjects I found to have gaps in after my education, for example philosophy, economics and history. Expanding my knowledge on my own terms has been the best decision I have made for broadening not only my understanding of the world but also has helped my vocabulary and knowledge for those pub quizzes we have all been going back to after lockdown!
8 min read
22/12/2021
Why We Write - An Update
Last week I wrote an article asking you, our readers and members, to contact your MP and make your feelings regarding 'Plan B' known to them.
2 min read
14/12/2021
Why We Write
A couple of days ago, having heard the news that ‘Plan B’ was to be put in to effect, thereby reinstating some covid restrictions previously lifted, and also that a ‘national debate’ might need to be had on mandatory medical procedures, I immediately wrote to my MP to request that he vote against any such measures put to parliament.
5 min read
11/12/2021
Lessons from the Old Frontier
To anyone who follows me on twitter, this article will come as no shock. One of the topics that I often discuss there is the need to continue the exploration and colonisation efforts of the last 400 years, but instead of looking to the horizon, we should look upwards. We have lost this spirit as the corners of the terrestrial map have been filled in and efforts to explore, or perhaps even settle, worlds other than our own are often dismissed in favour of the concerns of politicians and bureaucrats. Our priorities now differ from those of our ancestors, we now seem to believe pouring resources down the drain of the welfare state is more important than expanding our horizons as a species.
21 min read
08/12/2021
Uniting the Conservative Movement
This article was submitted to us by The Blackpiller and represents a deep dive into his thoughts on the differing ideological opinions that he has identified on the right. He also outlines his views on the availability of compromises that could help people on the right of the political conversation to present a more unified front, with a view to greater success in the propagation and acceptance of ideas in the mainstream.
25 min read
24/11/2021
The Trials of A World King
This article was submitted to us by The Honest Liberal, having read it, I was forced to consider the importance of realpolitik when contrasted with, what I believe to be, a deeply held conservtive principle of loyalty to one's own friends and acquaintances. Doubtless Honest Liberal is correct in that we could indeed be facing a winter of discontent of sorts. It seems very likely, as has been shown in recent polls, that public opinion, off the back of 18 months of lockdowns and all the other associated u-turns, fumbles, scandals and so on, is unlikely to bear further indications of a rot at the heart of government. That said I can't help but question whether we want to emulate the likes of Tony Blair, shrewd in his actions though he may have been. We'd love to hear your opinion on the challenge of balancing loyalty to one's friends and political expediency, which is more valuable to you and what do you respect more? Should the media be ignored? Can it be ignored?
5 min read
15/11/2021
The Problem with Regulation
There is a cross-cultural discussion regarding the regulatory regimes put into force by the State, as they embody a sort of panacea to solve an assortment of ills which plague society. These discussions have been happening for years, however most people have a shallow understanding of the effects of regulation. In theory, regulation is supposed to bring about more social security, protect the natural environment, and the physical safety of human beings (and sometimes animals). In this I will discuss the actual complications which arise within any regulatory regime which are usually ignored in favour of alternative but illogical explanations. First, we will discuss the basic philosophy which underlies all regulation.
25 min read
31/10/2021
On Political Cults
I have first-hand experience of seeing a cult in operation. I was never a member, but I was close enough to it to witness how a group of young people who all shared a hobby ended up being part of a genuine cult, with its own Svengali like figure and adopting an apocalyptic vision for the future. I witnessed friends suddenly drop out of their studies, become distant from their families and, on one occasion, watched an initiation ceremony take place from a distance and all because of one man, who claimed to have had great wisdom and “insider knowledge” and who gathered enough people around him to make his cult happen.
8 min read
29/10/2021
The Unjust Right to Ignore the Block Button
As everyone should know by now, social media is the number one place for people to have their ego’s fed, especially for those who espouse ‘high-status’ opinions on Twitter. Examples of this includes: journalists posting about how Boris Johnson is not pandering to them enough, Labour MP’s claiming the well known history of Africa is hidden, or Tankie’s with small accounts showing how well known business practises are evil and unique to capitalism. These posts exemplify ‘high-status’ opinions: generally left-wing, anti-British/West and anti-capitalist in nature. These are the types of things you see regularly on the twitter trending tab. ‘Low-status’ opinions, such as right-wing, pro-British/West and pro-capitalist, rarely make it to the trending tab.
4 min read
19/10/2021
A Wasted Opportunity
In the same week that an academic from the University of Sussex is targeted by a toxic mob of activists, the Brighton & Hove bin strike has again started. The two-week strike across much of the city will be a visual and odorous horror show, likely to elicit a strong sense of disgust from human residents. Animals and pets may enjoy the change, however rotting food and rubbish will soon end up harming them as it did during the previous bin strike.
3 min read
14/10/2021
The History of My Local Community and How to Improve Yours
It has come to my attention that people on internet communities tend to be full of people desperate for communities that are a bit more local. This is perfectly natural as humans are social creatures needing constant communication and physical contact. However, what a local community looks and acts like is all so romanticised it is hard for someone who has been active in his local community to take seriously. So luckily I am here to tell you of my experience getting involved in my local community and the town’s history.
7 min read
08/10/2021
The Death of the English Right to Bear Arms
In the 21st century United Kingdom, we are used to the government running things. It’s simple: we pay our taxes and keep our heads down and they do what is best for us. Naturally, as a result, we trust them completely with our personal protection and the protection of our property.
14 min read
08/10/2021
You Will Own Nothing and Play Rollerball
A few years ago I wrote an article about the 1975 science fiction movie, “Rollerball”, on my own website explaining why I thought it was the best movie about sports ever made. My argument was that it avoided two things that have made sporting movies cliched: One was that in other sports movies the actors can’t play the sport and the real-life sportsmen and women can’t act. As “Rollerball” is a fictional sport we have no real-world examples to compare with what we see on screen so the viewer can’t be taken out of the movie by spotting the faults in the sporting action.
14 min read
04/10/2021
Conservative Party Conference - Welfare
Enoch Powell is, to many, a divisive character. For good or for ill, his name has become synonymous with a single speech - The Birmingham Speech - which was delivered on 20 April 1968 to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. What is less known about Powell by modern audiences is that he was a prolific speaker and is regarded as one of the best British orators of the 20th century. His deliberative and emotive style was famously employed, on a number of occasions, in the Commons itself over his long tenure as MP for Wolverhampton and later South Down. Speeches on the Hola camp brutality and his proposal of a law prohibiting research on embryos are fine exemplars of his broad and extensive catalogue, oft forgotten in favour of the infamous 'Rivers of Blood'.
24 min read
02/10/2021
A Deep Dive on the HGV Driver Shortage
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) wrote to Boris Johnson in June warning about a 100k driver shortage. The 100k figure came from the Labour Force Survey, a copy of which can be found at the Office of National Statistics. Let's take a look.
7 min read
01/10/2021
Remembering Our Heritage (Preserving History Through Re-Enactment)
Delapré Abbey is an English neo-classical mansion in Northamptonshire which incorporates the remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré. It was founded as a nunnery at some time around the year 1145 and was devoted to the congregation of the major Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France.
7 min read
20/09/2021
From Afghanistan to Taliban (And Where We Go From Here)
“These are difficult and testing times for us all. People are bound to be concerned about what the terrorists may seek to do in response. I should say there is at present no specific credible threat to the United Kingdom that we know of and that we have in place tried and tested contingency plans which are the best possible response to any further attempts at terror. This is a moment of utmost gravity for the world. None of the leaders involved in this action want war. None of our nations want it. We are peaceful people. But we know that sometimes to safeguard peace, we have to fight. Britain has learnt that lesson many times in our history. We only do it if the cause is just. This cause is just.”
10 min read
20/09/2021
Thoughts on Cryptocurrency and Its Implications
Recently I have been exploring the world of cryptocurrency and wondering about the implications that such a technology might have for the future.
11 min read
07/09/2021
Check out our latest videos
In conversation with Fr Calvin Robinson - Abortion rights, Anglican Heresy and Christian Revival
Calvin Robinson - Anglican Heresy
Publish and be Damned Series 2, Episode 9: Enoch Powell, On Christianity - No Easy Answers Part 8
Calvin Robinson - On Conservatism
Calvin Robinson - On Abortion
Publish and be Damned Series 2, Episode 8: Enoch Powell, On Christianity - No Easy Answers Part 7
Check out our latest videos
In conversation with Fr Calvin Robinson - Abortion rights, Anglican Heresy and Christian Revival
Calvin Robinson - Anglican Heresy
Publish and be Damned Series 2, Episode 9: Enoch Powell, On Christianity - No Easy Answers Part 8
Calvin Robinson - On Conservatism
Calvin Robinson - On Abortion
