Nation Revisited
#
93, July 2012.
Fears and Expectations
In the vintage TV series Dad’s Army Private James
Frazer played by John Laurie constantly warned his comrades, “We’re all
doomed.” He came from the cold and windy Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides
and his outlook was as bleak as his homeland. If Private Frazer was alive today
he would probably be a member of one of the far-right parties. They are
chronically pessimistic and believe that the country is dying, the white race
is dying, and we’re all doomed.
This pessimism started years ago when we expected the
Soviet Union to launch an attack on the West. A popular song of the time was
“It’s Good News Week – someone dropped a bomb somewhere, contaminating the
atmosphere and blackening the sky.” The nuclear threat has passed into history
but we are now threatened with Afro-Asian inundation, global warming and
sovereign debt. But instead of offering solutions to these problems the
far-right likes to frighten everybody.
It hasn’t dawned on them that people are reluctant to
vote for parties that promise nothing but death and destruction. If they
offered even a glimmer of hope it might get them a few votes but that would mean
dropping their apocalyptic message. They have been preaching gloom and doom for
so long that they believe it themselves. And they have never understood the
public’s adverse reaction to their histrionics.
A respectable pensioner who was once a member of John
Tyndall’s para-military Spearhead formation tells a story from 1962. The
Tyndall gang was fighting a mock battle in the Kentish countryside when a
father and his son wandered by. The boy turned to his father and said, “Look
dad, it’s those barmy blokes again.” The lad had perfectly grasped the
situation. Fifty years later “Those barmy blokes” are still fighting amongst
themselves and their image has hardly improved.
The BNP that was founded by John Tyndall and modernised by Nick Griffin has been eclipsed by Ukip. They have captured the
right-wing vote and with the help of the popular press they are trying to tear
us away from Europe. They predict a rosy future for Britain once we quit the EU.
But if their go-it-alone gamble fails our isolated country will be in more
trouble than we are already. The pound is stable at the moment but if our
economy shrinks and our deficit grows the rating agencies will force up the
cost of borrowing and the quitters will discover that xenophobia and swaggering
bravado are no substitutes for guaranteed markets. A medium sized country with
over sixty million mouths to feed cannot survive on nostalgia.
We need to be
part of a sustainable economy with the means to feed and defend ourselves.
Those wanting to leave the EU should remember how bad thing were before we joined
it.
Economic Myths
Keynesians believe in spending their way out of
recession but followers of Milton Friedman do not. Both systems were tried in
the 1930s when Britain went for austerity and Germany went for reconstruction
and rearmament. The experiments were interrupted by the outbreak of war but Adolf
Hitler was credited with curing the German inflation that saw people going
shopping with wheelbarrows full of banknotes.
In fact the hyperinflation of 1922-23 ended when
Chancellor Gustav Stresemann used a massive loan from a consortium led by JP
Morgan to recapitalize the Reichsbank and stabilize the currency. This was so
successful that by 1925 the government had a surplus and the currency was
restored to its 1914 value of 4.2 to the dollar. It was the global crash of
1929 that derailed the Weimar boom and propelled Hitler to power, not the terrible
inflation of six years earlier. The National Socialist economy was initially
backed by international capitalists like Warburg, WA Harriman and Sir Henri
Deterding. Germany had been off the Gold Standard since 1914. Hitler appointed
the mysterious figure of Hjamar Schacht as President of the Reichsbank and
entrusted the economy to the industrial giants; Thyssen, Krupp, IG Farben and
Siemens. The Fuhrer suspended reparations and reformed the banking and trading
system but at the outbreak of WW2 Germany had a non-Versailles national debt of
RM40 billion – a lot of money in 1939.
Another myth is that the British Empire was brought down
by international finance. Britain fought WW1 on borrowed money and by 1929 we
were broke. Oswald Mosley wanted to create jobs with public works projects but
Ramsay MacDonald refused to borrow any more money. During WW2 the whole country
was employed on the war effort. But after the war Britain was bankrupt again and
John Maynard Keynes was sent to America to accept a massive loan on condition
that the pound was tied to the dollar. That kept us going until the Nixon Shock
of 1971 when the pound was untied from the dollar and immediately sank. Our
situation was already desperate when the price of oil rocketed in 1973 and the
London Stock Exchange lost 45% of its value. We were bailed out by the IMF and
lived to fight another day.
We keep hearing about the sovereign debt crisis but Europe
has the commercial and political power to renegotiate loans and reach agreement
with the international bankers. The eurozone has massive gold and foreign
exchange reserves and so have the non-euro
states, the EFTA states and Switzerland. The reunification of Germany shows what can be done
with targeted investment. East Germany was ruined by years of inefficient communist
rule but has now been transformed. A European government with the power to act
could use its vast resources to restore all of her member states to prosperity.
In alliance with Russia we can create a self-sufficient economy that breaks the
stranglehold of international finance. But first we must think and act like
Europeans and rise above the divisive tribalism of the popular press. Unity is
strength.
The luck of the Irish
According to an article posted on the UKIP website the
sovereign debt crisis has been deliberately engineered to bring about fiscal
union. They think that German reluctance to take the lead is a cunning plan to
distract us from their real objective - the creation of a United States of
Europe with a federal government. That might seem like a perfectly reasonable
proposition to most people but Ukippers think that it’s a diabolical plot by unreformed
Nazis to enslave us in a Fourth Reich.
The Irish people have voted to accept the fiscal
compact against the advice of Gerry Adams who dreams of an independent Ireland
with little girls dancing on the village green in their white socks. Ukip doesn’t
operate in Ireland but the local eurosceptics are represented by Sinn Fein; an
unholy alliance of psychopaths and traditionalists who miss the rare old times
when Guinness came in barrels and was delivered by horse and cart. Fortunately
Ukip haven’t got an armed wing but their pernicious nationalism is just as
dangerous.
We lost our military independence in 1917 when we
welcomed American troops to Europe. We lost our economic independence in 1931
when we abandoned the Gold Standard. We lost our international credibility in
1942 when we surrendered to the Japanese at Singapore. We lost our political
independence when we signed the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944. And all of
these developments were confirmed when we were ordered out of Suez in 1956. In
less than 40 years we went from being a great global empire to being an average
European country.
It’s no wonder that people seek the reassurance
offered by Ukip and the right-wing of the Tory Party. Dave Cameron promises to “protect”
us from Europe and derides the idea of Europatriotism. He is the prime minister
of the United Kingdom - a federation of four nations - but he cannot understand
the concept of extended patriotism.
The result of the Irish referendum would probably be
reversed in the UK where the media is hostile to all things European. The great
British public voted for the Blair/Brown circus three general elections in a
row because Rupert Murdoch told them to. And given the chance they would do his
bidding on Europe. But leaving the EU will not solve our problems. Our
staggering national debt of £1.2 trillion is rising. The economy is static and
attempts to revive it have been undone by punitive taxation. The coalition government
has failed to stop immigration – mostly from South Asia. And the Bank of
Scotland has hinted that they might need another bailout. None of these problems
are caused by the EU. We are crying out for leadership and direction but all
that we are offered is jingoistic bluster. The government needs to drastically
reduce public spending and leave people with enough money to live on. We are
not a global power and its time we stopped pretending to be one; let’s start by
sacking William Hague.
Another Warmonger
William
Hague is a proven failure who led his party to humiliating defeat in the 2001
general election. He was quickly dumped as leader of the Conservative Party but
he has been recycled as Foreign Secretary. This job enables him to strut around
the world threatening countries that are not sufficiently subservient to
America. He was instrumental in the bloody removal of Colonel Gaddafi of Libya.
Britain sided with rebels that committed unspeakable atrocities throughout the
Libyan civil war including sticking a bayonet up the rectum of the old dictator
before they killed him.
He
is now seeking to repeat the performance with President Bashar al-Assad of
Syria. The West has encouraged wars and revolutions in the Middle East by
arming rebel groups and providing them with air cover, money and military
intelligence. William Hague tries to justify our criminal intervention with
torrents of hypocritical propaganda that would have impressed the late Dr
Joseph Goebbels. As he condemns the Syrian government for fighting al-Qaeda the
neighbouring state of Israel is killing and mistreating Palestinians at will.
But he ignores Zionist atrocities because he is member of the Conservative
Friends of Israel.
Critics
of the Americans often accuse them of pursuing selfish foreign policy
objectives. But they don’t seem to know what they are doing or who the good
guys are. They fought the Korean War to a stalemate; deposed the elected
government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran, lost the Vietnam War, got thrown out
of Somalia, destroyed Iraq, and they are currently fighting an unwinnable war
in Afghanistan.
None
of these adventures did much for America. Communism has morphed into
capitalism; except for the weird hereditary regime in North Korea that’s on its
last legs. The Shah of Iran – the Light of the Aryans - was deposed in 1979.
America stole billions of barrels oil from Iraq but the invasion probably cost
them just as much; Cruise missiles cost a million dollars apiece and the US
Army was reported to be firing them like artillery shells. And they never
expected the Afghan campaign to drag on for a decade and spread to Pakistan.
Where
America goes their lickspittle allies follow. Creatures like William Hague who
is salivating at the prospect of attacking Iran. At Nuremburg the Nazi leaders
were found guilty and executed for “waging aggressive war.” According to UN law
the only justification for war is in defence. But none of the latest wars have
been defensive – they have all been in pursuit of American foreign policy. Tony
Blair should be brought before the International Court of Justice for his part
in the Iraq War. He lied to Parliament about “weapons of mass destruction” and
made war on a practically defenceless country weakened by ten years of
sanctions. Tony Blair the war criminal should certainly be in the dock with the
unspeakable William Hague beside him.
Wanted – A Sensible Party
The people of the UK have a variety of political
parties to choose from but they are all lacking in commonsense. The Tory Party
is dominated by anti-Europeans; not just
anti-federalists but fully fledged Europe haters. The prime minister and
most of his cabinet are eurosceptics and pro-European MPs are under threat of
deselection. The reactionary “bastard” faction that helped to destroy John Major’s
government in 1997 are still undermining the Tory Party and they are they are
prepared to bring down the coalition government just to get their own way.
The Labour Party went mad just after the last war when
they decided to turn Britain black. They brought in the 1948 Nationality Act to
bring in millions of black and brown people and they have succeeded in swamping
most of our major cities. The Tories watched this experiment with detachment
because they have got nothing against Third World immigrants; it’s just
Europeans that they hate.
The Liberal Democrats are fairly harmless but they are
obliged to support either the Labour or Tory Party. At the moment they are
propping up the Tories.
The Green Party is led by the attractive and
intelligent Caroline Lucas MP. She is committed to noble causes but most of
them are unaffordable. Pippa Bartolotti of the Welsh Green Party is an
outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause.
The Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties point to
Norway as an example of a successful independent country with a small
population but they forget to mention the oil. Alex Salmond used to talk
glowingly about Ireland and Iceland being “an arc of prosperity in the North”
but since they ran out of money he has kept his mouth shut. And the near
collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland has been another setback.
Outside of Parliament we have the lunatic-left and the
reactionary-right. Ukip, the BNP and the National Front want to quit the EU and
nationalize the banks. The various left-wing parties agree with them. Apart
from the matter of immigration the extremes of left and right share the same
tortured view of a world.
We desperately need a party that embraces Europe and
has sensible plans for the future. But we don’t need one that believes in
conspiracies and fantasizes about Britain abandoning Europe to lead a
resurrected Commonwealth. Under our “democratic” system millions of pounds are
required to fund a political party. The Tories are backed by big business and
the Labour Party by the trade unions. The other parties depend on their members
to support them. This structure favours the old gang parties and makes it very
difficult for minor parties to gain representation. But the Greens and Respect
have shown that it can be done. Please step forward a charismatic and fearless
billionaire who loves his country and is not stuck in the past.
Tony Hancock
(John Tyndall’s report in Spearhead is reprinted as a tribute to Tony Hancock, founder of the
Historical Review Press, who died 11 June 2012.)
An historic day – Thursday, 5th September
2002 and the scene is Leeds Crown Court No Four. Tony Hancock, printer of the
pamphlet Merrie England, written by
veteran nationalist Colin Jordan, is cleared of all charges under Britain’s
infamous ‘race’ laws. This is a tremendous victory for the cause in the United
Kingdom.
The vindictive system – despite the fact that Colin
Jordan was never tried or convicted for producing the pamphlet – was determined
to have its pound of flesh. So the totally innocent Tony Hancock, who only
printed it, was hauled into court; his only crime, printing, which is his
business. They dressed-up this gross attack on individual freedom by charging
him with ‘aiding and abetting’ Colin Jordan in producing a pamphlet calculated
(or ‘likely’ to cause) racial hatred.
Mr Hancock’s barrister, Adrian Davies, brilliantly
defended him. Witnesses brought by the prosecution were left-wing Labour MPs –
who, needless to say, expressed their ‘outrage’ at receiving the pamphlet Merrie England. They were joined by
David Michael Whine, a leading light in the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
His evidence was effectively demolished by defence counsel. Whine had a hard
job explaining his definition of who and what constitutes a Jewish person, and
the whole charade of race laws was shown as the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ piece of
legislation that it is.
The twists and turns of the prosecution case and the
statements of the witnesses in court were mind-boggling in the efforts to prove
‘racial hatred’. The judge, who seemed impartial and fair throughout the trial,
when giving his summing-up to the jury stated very forcefully that the whole
area of race legislation was particularly difficult. He stated that if the jury
thought that if the defendant had the right to express his opinion in the light
of a decent society being able to tolerate’ extreme’ views, they should acquit
him. The judge also stressed that the right of freedom of speech was reinforced
by European human rights legislation, now part of British law.
The learned Judge was right. Not only is the race
legislation unjust, it is ridiculous. The race acts and public order acts laws
governing race are forever being amended and strengthened and leave very little
scope for rational and sensible debate on the extremely important issues of
race and immigration, and of course on issues concerning the Jewish community
and its power. Tony Hancock was tried by twelve true Britons who exercised
their common sense above the vagaries and iniquities of unjust legislation and
brought out a verdict of “Not Guilty”! The day was a great victory for white
nationalism and our freedom. Tony Hancock should be saluted for his firm stand
and unflinching courage in winning through against all the system could throw
at him!
The Leveson Inquiry
The Leveson Inquiry
The anti-federalists are absolutely right when they
say that political and economic union can only be achieved by the sacrifice of
national sovereignty. They are also right when they say that the institutions
of the EU are unelected. But nationality does not depend on political
arrangements and the will of the people is not necessarily the wisest option.
In the UK public opinion is formed by the mass media and its controllers are
committed to the Atlantic Alliance and deeply suspicious of Europe.
John Major’s evidence to the Leveson Inquiry was clear
enough. Rupert Murdoch demanded that the Tories change their policy on Europe
before the 1997 general election and warned them that if they didn’t The Sun would put Tony Blair in power.
But despite this revelation the anti-federalist lobby, led by Rupert Murdoch,
still criticizes the EU for being undemocratic.
Democracy has long been corrupted by big business. One
hundred years ago Lloyd George’s Liberal government was rocked by the Marconi
Scandal involving insider trading by Sir Rufus Isaacs and Herbert Samuel. This
was revealed by Cecil Chesterton’s distributist newspaper New Witness. During both
world wars press magnate Lord Beaverbrook served as a government minister. And
when Rupert Murdoch switched his support to Dave Cameron’s money-grubbing
Tories they groveled to the master of misinformation just as Tony Blair’s New
Labour had done before them.
We like to boast about our parliamentary system but
its deputies fiddle their expenses, its parties are financed by tax exiles, its
leaders make millions out of book deals and speaking tours and its image is
promoted by the advertising industry. Compared to our MPs the appointed
bureaucrats of Brussels are not so bad.
It’s time to take a good look at parliamentary
democracy. The modern world needs managers and technicians more than
well-dressed actors with capped teeth. And we need to plan for the future
instead of stumbling drunkenly from one election to another. Government by
amateurs has not been a success and our first-past-the-post system is unfair
and inefficient. We would not expect an untrained worker to run a giant
corporation and we should not expect an inexperienced young man to make a good
prime minister just because he enjoyed an expensive education.
The Leveson report is awaited but it’s obvious that
the power of the press has been abused and most people trust their unelected
dentists and bank managers more than their elected politicians. The established
political parties recruit political advisors from the media and use their
contacts to leak information. And the powerful press barons use their money and
influence to advance policies. We are therefore governed by the press and the
political parties are nothing but whores for hire. That is the hallowed
democratic system that we seek to impose on others by force.
I didn’t get where I am today…
In The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin by
David Nobbs, CJ the former head of Sunshine Desserts continues to give advice
even though he is reduced to poverty. He still gives little speeches that
begin: “I didn’t get where I am today.” The idea of a failed boss giving
financial advice is funny but that’s exactly what Dave Cameron has been doing.
He presides over a country with a flatlining economy and a rising national debt
of £1.2 trillion but that doesn’t stop him from lecturing Angela Merkel who is
one of the world’s most successful leaders.
Dave Cameron is urging the eurozone to move towards
fiscal union. Unfortunately the founders of the EU did not have a brilliant man
like Alexander Hamilton to insist on a strong central government when the union
was set up. George Washington and his fellow revolutionaries wanted
self-government for the original thirteen American colonies but Alexander
Hamilton (1755-1804), the son of a French mother and a Scottish father founded
the Federalist Party because he saw the vital importance of a strong federal
government with a central bank. He was killed in a duel but the USA can thank him
for their political and economic union. If it wasn’t for their visionary
Secretary of the Treasury the state of California and several other cash-strapped
states would now be in the same position as Greece.
The Greeks have been through a period of chaos but
they have elected Antonis Samaris leader of the pro-European New Democracy
Party. They have done everything possible to reduce their deficit and install a
viable government. The Germans are influenced by a nationalistic press and a
racial memory of rampant inflation but they know that their prosperity depends
on a European Union with a single market and a common currency. It’s in their
own interest to cooperate with the new French government of Francois Hollande
to manage the sovereign debt crisis that also affects the UK, Japan and the USA.
The nations of Europe will unite but the UK will
probably remain outside for the foreseeable future. It took us two hundred
years to adopt the Gregorian calendar and about the same time to accept
decimalization and metrication. We have got used to the ‘new money’ but some
people still cling to the past. They buy petrol in litres and potatoes in kilos
because they have to but they consult conversion tables to find out if the
weather is hot or cold. The British people have become cautious conservatives
but this hasn’t always been the case. In earlier times we overcame obstacles,
pioneered new technology and grew rich as a result. But a series of wars and
recessions has left us shell-shocked and frightened to try anything new. We
lack the confidence to fully embrace the European project. If we dropped our
pointless hostility and stopped reading neurotic newspapers our neighbours
might welcome our prime minister’s advice instead of finding it amusing.
