'New' Kipling Poems - Exciting Find.

Rudyard Kipling: A 'tremendously exciting time' for fans. Photograph: Popperfoto
Kipling scholars are celebrating the publication of lost poems by the author whose exhortations in "If" to "keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you" are regularly voted the nation's favourite poem. Discovered by the American scholar Thomas Pinney in an array of hiding places including family papers, the archive of a former head of the Cunard Line and during renovations at a Manhattan house, more than 50 previously unpublished poems by Rudyard Kipling will be released for the first time next month. Guardian.

Hunger For God's Word.

http://www.proctrust.org.uk/blog/2013-02-26/does-anything-really-beat-hunger-for-gods-word-yes-just-one-1849?utm_source=fe

PC.

Humans Getting Less Intelligent?

 “HUMAN BEINGS ARE GETTING DUMBER” proclaims an article in news.com 19 February 2013. This blunt unflattering assessment of humanity is based on articles by Gerald Crabtree of Stanford University entitled “Our Fragile Intellect” published in Trends in Genetics January 2013.
John Mackay responds:
Crabtree is correct about mutations degrading the human genome, and therefore it is inevitable that some mutations would damage human brain function. Recent genome studies such as the 1000 Genome Project have shown that genes are being rendered useless (and therefore effectively lost) or less functional with every generation. However, no-one has reported a newly formed gene that improves human intellect (or any other human function). There is, therefore, no evidence mutations created and “optimised” these genes in any human ancestor, and caused them to evolve a large complex brain, especially as they are observed to be doing the opposite!

Ukip On The Up.

Writing on The HuffingtonPost UK on Tuesday, Mr Farage said his party was gaining votes from people who had not voted for years.
"Ukip are picking up support across the spectrum. Only a third comes from former Tory voters, the rest we are harvesting from Labour, Lib Dems and most promisingly, from people who haven't voted in years," he said.

Please Pray For Pastor Abedini.

(Photo: Reuters)

Iranian-American Pastor Abedini Writes of Torture, Pressure to Renounce Faith in Iran Prison

By Morning Star News

An Iranian-American pastor imprisoned for planting house churches in Iran years ago writes that he is undergoing torture, death threats, and pressure to renounce his faith from prison officials and inmates. Christian Post.

Edinburgh Victory.

Victory for Edinburgh University's pro-life student movement.

This week, Edinburgh University’s Life Society succeeded in its campaign against a motion to renew a union policy to "support a woman’s right to choose and affiliate to abortion rights."

The motion was defeated during a debate this week where Life Society President, Venesa Reith, argued that the policy threatened to "alienate a proportion of the student population."

Delighted with the result, Venessa said: "We at Edinburgh University Life Society would encourage other universities facing pro-choice motions to stand up and be counted!

“It’s scary, and it’s daunting, but if you take a stand (and do so with compassion and a thought for the people who are voting the other way) then you are already being a witness to the pro-life movement in the UK.” 


The Life Society was supported by the Alliance of Pro-Life Students, which aims to promote the culture of life and bring the pro-life message back onto university campuses. Christian Concern.

Appeasement Works - In A Fashion.

Eastleigh Poll?????

Labour 25.44%

UK Independence Party 24.45%

Conservatives 20.72%

Liberal Democrats 15.35%

Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party 4.28%

Others (including English Democrats on 1.2%) 9.76%  Huff Post.

If proof were ever needed that some polling is just piffle!

Louie Giglio Cannot Be Wrong On This.

Only 68 Years Too Late!

At last, a medal fit for our Arctic heroes: Design unveiled to honour veterans of 'Russian Run' during Second World War

The 4cm by 4cm medal will hang from a ribbon incorporating colours that represent the three Armed Services, red for the Merchant Navy and a central white stripe, emphasised by black edging, marking the Arctic. Mail.

PC.

Potholes Cause Erratic Driving.

From: Keith Wigglesworth, Mead Way, Highburton, Huddersfield.
MESSAGE for all police drivers: should you be following my car and see it meandering all over the road, please do not automatically assume that a) I have a skinfull of ale; b) I have been squirting noxious substances into my veins; c) I have been stuffing white powder up my nasal orifices; or d) I have been inhaling the smoke from various burning grassy substances. I will instead, be indulging in a rapidly growing pastime that is becoming so popular, particularly in the Kirklees area, that it could very soon achieve Olympic status. I refer of course to pothole dodging (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, February 24).

Having in the past faced bills for my cars of more than £250 for repairs to the suspension caused by unrepaired potholes, I am simply trying to avoid a repetition, particularly as our local authority absolves itself from any liability, despite all governments over many years taking vast sums of money from motorists in the guise of road fund taxation and returning only a small amount to local authorities for them to effect repairs to the road system.
Much of this money is simply frittered away on numerous idiotic schemes instead of being used for the very purpose it was originally intended – the upkeep of our road system.
Perhaps the name should be changed from road fund tax to say “just another way to screw the motorist tax”. But then, that would entail the setting up of a quango, plus a hundred or so sub-committees to discuss the matter ad infinitum, wasting even more Parliamentary time as we have recently seen with the gay marriage thing, when there are much more pressing matters to be dealt with, such as getting our country back on its feet again, and don’t even think about getting me started on fuel duty. Yorks Post.

Dickens On TheScriptures.

Girl Guides.

Girl Guides - Respond to public consultation


Girlguiding UK is following the example of the UK Scouts by consulting the public on whether the Girl Guides promise should be changed.
As it stands, Girl Guides promise to "love my God." This reference to God could be removed depending on the responses to the consultation.
Please have your say by completing the online survey. It's a simple tick-box survey that only takes a few minutes and is open to all members of the public. The deadline is 3rd March. Christian Concern.

 

Adult Time For Adult Crime - USA.

A system we should copy!

Cameron's Wretched Strategy - By Prof. Tim Congdon.

The failure of Cameron’s strategy to ‘modernise’ the Conservative Party and to ‘decontaminate the brand’.
David Cameron has had a clear electoral strategy since he became leader of the Conservative Party in autumn 2005. The aim has been to persuade middle-ground Liberal Democrats to switch to the Conservatives by jettisoning the Conservatives’ supposed image of ‘nastiness’ (i.e., of so-called ‘right-wing’ views on social issues). The Conservatives were to be ‘modernised’, and the resulting ‘rebranding’ would make them appear a nicer bunch of people, and a more civilized and attractive party. Like Tony Blair, Cameron saw – and continues to see – the word ‘modern’ as expressing much that is good and desirable, and ‘modernisation’ as something to be pursued. The deliberate intention was to drop the Thatcherite element in contemporary Conservatism, with its allegedly harsh emphasis on unbridled individualism, private enterprise and a smaller state. Thatcher had said, following a theme in some of Hayek’s writings, that ‘there is no such thing as society’, since ultimately every society can be decomposed into particular people and their families. By contrast, Cameron in a 2005 article for The Spectator said that he was in favour of ‘social action zones’ (whatever they might be) and that his larger political ideal was ‘the Big Society’. The three Conservative losses in the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 were attributed by Cameron and his associates to their party’s continued adherence to too much ‘right-wing Thatcherism’.

An obvious interpretation of the Eastleigh by-election is that Cameron’s strategy has failed. Indeed, it has been a catastrophe for the Conservative Party. Eastleigh became a LibDem stronghold in the opening years of the 21^st century, but before that it was a standard Conservative seat of the safe, Home Counties variety. Opinion polls nationally show that the LibDems are deeply unpopular, but in Eastleigh they throughout the by-election campaign battled as the favourites. Polls have steadily given them 30% or more of the vote. Meanwhile the Conservatives have lost ground to the UK Independence Party. Opinion surveys show that UKIP does particularly well in the C and D groups in the population, i.e., those seen to be in lower middle class ‘and below’. It is these groups that have no truck with Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ (i.e., in reality, the endorsement of ‘political correctness’) and no interest in the rebranding exercise. (What is ‘political correctness? I think, in essence, it is the notion that ‘society’ [really ‘the state’] should deliver equality of outcomes between people, regardless of their educational attainments, race, citizenship, creed, gender and sexual preferences, and even of how hard they hard they work, how much they save and so on.)

The emerging pattern is extraordinary. As far as I am aware, UKIP’s surge had not been foreseen by any of the leading political commentators or any member of the party leaderships. The three ‘main’/old parties (i.e., the Conservatives, Labour and LibDems) have increasingly converged on a wishy-washy political correctness which appeals to the A and B groups in the population, particularly – for example – to teachers, civil servants and many opinion-formers in the media. But the C and D groups have been upset by the application of political correctness in practice. This may seem paradoxical, since surely ‘the lower social groups’ ought to be enthusiastic about greater equality of outcomes. That is not how it has turned out.

The C and D groups have been the most affected by competition from immigrant workers in the labour market and by the increasing prominence of Muslim forms of worship. They also often see at first hand how the welfare state has been corrupted. Instead of promoting ‘social justice’, the UK’s welfare arrangements frequently offend against basic principles of ‘natural justice’ by giving too much to the undeserving. At any rate, UKIP has made large inroads into the votes from the C and D groups, and it has made these inroads from all of the three ‘main’/old parties. Some people have noticed that UKIP support does not seem to be closely connected with EU membership, since it is related to concern about identity and immigration. However, UKIP supporters are right to see EU integration as a major force behind the implementation of the political-correctness agenda.

So Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ was meant to persuade the media and its key opinion-formers that the Conservatives are a party of nice people who are not particularly Thatcherite. Perhaps it has achieved that. But the result has been to alienate millions of former and/or potential Conservative voters in the C and D groups, many of whom have switched to UKIP. The Eastleigh by-election demonstrates that the planned electoral benefits of the Cameron strategy, in terms of gaining LibDem votes, are also uncertain. The UK political situation is remarkably fluid at present. But I don’t see how – with Cameron as prime minister – the Conservatives can recover support from the C and D groups in the next two years. Cameron is too obviously a member of an elite that has become remote from the daily lives of most people.

The majority of voters say that they care more about health and education than they worry about the EU. But the Conservatives have nothing particular to offer on health compared with the other two main parties, while Gove’s radical initiatives in education are too new for any definite verdict yet. One of Cameron’s blunders has been to think that emphasis on health and education would be good salesmanship. In fact, no party has a ‘unique selling point’ in these areas. By contrast, UKIP has a very strong heart-and-soul USP in its rejection of EU membership. Voters do see – correctly – that EU membership is against the UK’s economic interests. The European election in 2014 and the general election in 2015 will be fascinating political theatre. My expectation is that

i. the Conservatives will do badly, with the loss of votes to UKIP being generally regarded as the main reason (even though UKIP will in fact also be taking votes from Labour and the LibDems), and

ii. the Conservatives will then split, with a majority of the party adopting withdrawal from the EU as a main policy, indeed as possibly their distinctive policy, and a rump trying to differentiate themselves (unavailingly) from Labour and the LibDems.

I have no idea what will happen after that. It would however be crazy for a Labour government elected in 2015 to ditch altogether the idea of an In/Out referendum.

Proverbs 31.

Leo McKinstry Is PARTLY Right.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/leo-mckinstry/379998/Why-voters-must-always-reject-the-Liberal-Democrats

Leo is usually 'on the ball' but his article does rather forget that the Greens are even worse. And seriously - how can you judge either Tories or Labour as 'better'?
I repeat an idea I have written on many occasions.
Ukip is not the panacea for all ills. It is not even a really good political party.
It is distinctly ordinary - but please - compare 'distinctly ordinary' to what the LibLabConGreens each have to offer whether individually or collectively!

More Political 'Judgements'?

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/380049/New-farce-over-migrant-crooks-as-judge-overrules-plan-to-boot-out-foreign-criminals

Cleggygate?

Mr Clegg's 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' tactics in the Lib Dem's 'very own sexual predator' scandal could easily cost the party the Eastleigh by-election.
Did Clegg's original statement add up to mendacity when his later one admitted some knowledge of previous accusations? 
The Beeb today spoke of possible 'expenses issues' too with Lord Rennard.
The party's very own Jimmy Savile factor?

Disgraceful To Dismiss 'Conscience'.

Equality Commission: Civil registrars must conduct same-sex 'marriages'

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR) has stated that civil registrars with a conscientious objection cannot opt-out of performing same-sex 'marriages' because of their duty to perform a "public function".

Find out more >   Christian Concern.