Latest news with #SpanishArmada
Spectator
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Demographics is the new dividing line on the right
It's an ominous time for a state-of-the-nation conference. Each week, the shores we defended against Hitler, Napoleon and the Spanish Armada are breached by hundreds of foreign men, while asylum seekers make up 'a significant proportion' of those currently being investigated for the grooming of British children. Earlier this month, there were days of violent anti-immigration riots in Ballymena. The five Gaza independents elected last year marked the grim rise of electoral sectarianism in the UK, a trend that is only set to accelerate. Academics and government insiders, despairing at the state of Britain, fret about looming civil war along ethnic lines. 'Now and England', a one-day conference hosted by the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation this week in Westminster, was billed as 'exploring nation, culture, and identity in a time of change and renewal'. In truth, 'a time of decline and crisis' would probably have been more apposite. At the root of each issue lies mass, unasked for immigration and the resultant demographic change. The figures are bleak. On current trends, white British are expected to be a minority in Britain by 2063, according to a recent study by Prof Matt Goodwin; the figure is even sooner for England. The Centre for Migration Control forecasts that if nothing changes, by 2035, one quarter of the population will be foreign-born, with one third of the of the population a first- or second-generation migrant. Fewer than one in four children in Greater London's schools are white British. To the predominantly younger right-wingers in attendance, along with the country, such trends are deeply alarming. Yet do political leaders on the right feel the same way? When Reform's Richard Tice was pressed on Goodwin's demographics projections recently on GB News, for instance, he scarcely seemed bothered. The question of the conference, then, was just how seriously it would take these issues. What is England without the English? Robert Jenrick gave it his best shot with the opening keynote. 'Mass immigration lies at the root of… so many of our problems', he said. Reckless border policies, his own party's included, had eroded our 'sense of home'. He reiterated calls for a legally binding cap on immigration and ECHR reform. It wasn't nothing, but a stump speech was hardly going to break the Overton window. Next came a worthwhile panel on cultural renewal, before the second keynote by Dr James Orr, Cambridge academic and Nat Con grandee. 'England is slipping away', he warned gravely, and the cause was 'hyper-liberalism'. It was a philosopher's way of saying that we had recklessly imported millions of foreigners in the vain pursuit of GDP growth. But it was notable that even this conservative luminary seemed to be dancing around the issue somewhat. It was on the final panel, 'England's Past and England's future' that things came to a head. Danny Kruger MP spoke of Bede, the common law, and the importance of homogeneity, but it all remained rather abstract. Apparently, what we needed was a 'violent rebellion against encroaching ideas' and to 'tame the technium'. A leading light of the class of 2019, Kruger seemed to have forgotten why his party was turfed out with such disgust at the last election. Robert Tombs spoke about historical memory. Rupert Lowe MP ranged widely on statism, Blair's constitutional revolution, the rape gangs and free speech, but demographic change didn't feature. We had all been waiting to hear from Thomas Skinner, the former Apprentice star and small business owner known for cheerily belting out 'Bosh!' on social media and seemingly eyeing a tilt at the London mayoralty (he wouldn't be drawn). But if he had any concerns about immigration and cultural change he never made them explicit, instead preferring populist bromides ('England is about the people'). All of which meant that by the Q&A, the young audience had grown restive. Up stepped one mid-20s professional to speak for England. He noted that while Kruger had spoken of greater localism – 'watching the barley grow' from his Wiltshire idyll – this was hardly much of a solution when demographic change has already rendered some English councils corrupt tribal fiefdoms. Being from Rotherham, he said, he would know. 'So my question is, if we reach a juncture where democracy becomes a zero-sum game between different ethnic and religious blocs, what feasible future is there for it?' It was like a dam breaking: suddenly, thunderous applause and whoops filled the 200-seat lecture theatre, the loudest we had heard all day. (Later, several people went to congratulate him.) Skinner seemed uncomfortable, while Lowe was making notes. Piling on the pressure, there followed the voice of Carl Benjamin of the Lotus Eaters, noting how the central question of demographics had loomed over the whole conference largely unsaid. He then went after Danny Kruger for a remark in his speech that 'anyone can become English', also drawing applause. The panel tried to answer, but it was clear they were on uncomfortable territory. 'I detect a very strong desire for action to restore the basis of our polity lest we lose it altogether', noted Kruger, gingerly. Rupert Lowe offered simply that people who come to Britain ought to speak English and pay their taxes; Skinner had gone out for a phone call. Tombs at least volunteered that we should ban postal voting and cousin marriage. But in his view, the best approach would be to 'clone Katharine Birbalsingh', the headmistress of the ultra-diverse and disciplinarian Michaela School in West London. If you've seen 'little girls with headscarves on reciting Kipling and singing the national anthem' he said, 'you think becoming English is quite possible if you want to do it, and if you're encouraged to do it and indeed required to do it'. Tombs then argued that being English was something that 'we all learn'. This is the nub of the issue: the largely generational divide that is becoming increasingly visible on the British right. There are many who prefer to ignore ethnicity, ancestry and demographics on the grounds that such topics are both immaterial and icky; there are even some who insist, against all the available evidence, that multiculturalism has been a success. On the other hand there are those who are unapologetic about believing that the English are an ethnic group, that England is our home, and that the more diverse our society becomes, the less happy it will be. Such sentiments would have been common sense to most people throughout human history. It is ordinary and natural to identify with one's ethnic group. It is also ordinary and natural for a people to understand itself as a people. Yet for the past 60 years, as woke moral guardrails have expanded throughout our culture, such sentiments have been rendered deeply taboo. If that taboo is now being broken, it is not before time.
New York Post
18-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump must show remarkable leadership qualities if he makes the tough call – a preemptive strike on Iran to thwart nuke threat
On Wednesday, July 3, 1940, Winston Churchill had a decision before him as hard as any he ever had to take in his long career of statesmanship. If the Vichy French fleet stationed at Oran in Algeria were to fall into German hands, as seemed highly likely, it would, when combined with the German and Italian navies, pose an existential threat to his country, which after the Fall of France was already gearing itself up for the Battle of Britain. The French admiral would neither hand his fleet over to the Royal Navy, scuttle it, nor sail it to Canada. So, after some anguished heartache, the lifelong Francophile Churchill ordered it to be sunk, which it was with the loss of 1,299 French sailors. There are some moments in history when a sudden act of opportune ruthlessness readjusts the world toward a safer path. In the Middle East, these include Israel's surprise attacks that saved her from certain invasion in the Six-Day War of 1967 and her destruction of Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility in 1981. Going back far further, impending invasions of Britain were foiled by Francis Drake sending fireships against the Spanish Armada in August 1588 and then-Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson preemptively destroying the Danish fleet at Copenhagen in 1801. Preemptive action sometimes works, but it requires remarkable leadership qualities. Does President Trump have them? History in the making For iIf Iran's centrifuges are still spinning in its nuclear facility 300 feet underground at Fordow, then Israel will have only scored a tactical win, rather than the strategic victory she it needed. The successes against the upper echelons of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, military high command and nuclear scientists are commendable, but nothing like enough. Only the United States US has the 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs necessary to shatter Iranian nuclear ambitions. So what does Trump do then? Benjamin Netanyahu certainly feels the weight of history on his shoulders. The son of a distinguished historian and an avid reader of books by and about Churchill, he said three days ago, 'Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time, and secured our common future.' He is right. And history could record that about President Trump, too, if he acts decisively. If Trump has before him the Churchillian option, it is not hard to see who represents Neville Chamberlain in all of this. President Barack Obama's adamant and repeated refusal to help the Iranian opposition — either overtly or covertly — during his eight years in office wrecked its brave efforts to replace the regime, and gave the lie to his pretensions to be a new John F. Kennedy. His cringing, appeasing Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) utterly failed to stop the sinister, inexorable spinning of the centrifuges, and came at the cost of lifting key sanctions and unfreezing assets. It was neither joint (because Iran cheated) nor comprehensive (because it did not require Iran to abandon its nuclear program) nor a viable plan of action, although it did produce the sickening detail of pallets being loaded with billions of dollars and transferred to the regime in Tehran. Joe Biden then continued his master's policy of trying to mollify Iran, unsuccessfully. For all his obtuse, dangerous wrongheadedness throughout the 1930s, at least Chamberlain never subsidized the Nazi regime with British taxpayers' money in the way Obama and Biden have with Americans'. The United States has suffered so much at the hands of Iran since the humiliations of the Carter administration during the US embassy hostage crisis between November 1979 and January 1981 that no one would resent it finally setting things right. Fighting for peace There is hardly a government in the world that would not sleep easier knowing that the theocracy in Iran had been denied the power to initiate a third world war. Counterintuitively, perhaps, President Trump would never deserve the Nobel Peace Prize more than if he destroyed Iran's capacity for nuclear blackmail. For once Iran goes nuclear and thus becomes inviolate, it is only a matter of time before it acquires the intercontinental delivery systems that will threaten the rest of the world, including the United States. There are grave risks attached, of course, which should not be underestimated. Iranian terrorist sleeper cells will probably be activated in the West, such as the one plotting kidnappings and assassinations recently uncovered in London. The mullahs' penchant for attacking soft civilian targets such as synagogues and cultural centers is well known, and indicative of their frustration and rage at their failure to devastate Israel due to the technical genius of its Iron Dome defenses. We should believe the threats of dictators. History is littered with times that the West assumes that dictators were exaggerating or merely playing to their domestic audiences, but were in fact being coldly truthful. When Hitler stated in January 1939 that a world war would destroy the Jewish race in Europe only eight months before he deliberately started it, or Stalin promised that the Comintern would strive to undermine Western democracies, or Vladimir Putin claimed that there was a 'historical unity of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples' while massing an army on Ukraine's borders, the West ought to have listened, rather than assuming they were bloviating. We should similarly believe the Iranian mullahs' considered and oft-repeated promises to use a nuclear bomb to annihilate Israel. These threats are not idle; they are meant in cold blood. The imams of Tehran want to turn Israel into a sea of molten, irradiated glass, and even the hitherto-pussycat International Atomic Energy Agency now admits that it is ramping up efforts to obtain the means to do so. 'Axis of Ill Will' Western leaders such as Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, and Keir Starmer who are currently bleating about 'de-escalating the Middle East' should recognize that easily the best way of doing that is to defang the chief exporter of terror there. The United States has never had such an opportunity to rid the world of a specter that has haunted the Middle East for decades, and possibly might not again while what my friend and Free Press columnist Sir Niall Ferguson calls 'the Axis of Ill Will' — China, Russian, Iran, North Korea and their proxies — builds ever-closer ties. Donald Trump today has it in his power to act with Churchillian ruthlessness and wreck Iran's nuclear — and thus regionally strategic — ambitions for a generation. I fear he will not do this, however, for as his constant tergiversations over tariffs have shown, his bark tends to be much worse than his bite. If he does not, he ought to remove Winston Churchill's bust from the Oval Office, as he should not be able to look in the eye the man who said at the time of the Munich Agreement in October 1938, 'Do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year, unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.' From The Free Press
Wales Online
16-06-2025
- General
- Wales Online
Welsh Bible printed in 1588 to go on display in Wales for first time
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A rare copy of the first complete translation of the Bible into the Welsh language, printed in 1588, is to go on display in Wales for the first time. The 26cm tall book, described as being of exceptional historical significance, has been kept in Westminster Abbey's library collection but will be available for the public to view at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. It was translated by Bishop William Morgan in the year of the Spanish Armada – when Queen Elizabeth I was monarch – as part of an effort to bring scriptures to people in languages they understood. Morgan had been commissioned to produce a standard Welsh edition by bringing together previous translations of parts of the Bible. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox He travelled to London to oversee the books go through the press, a process lasting several weeks because the print workers did not speak Welsh. During the work, Morgan stayed at Westminster Abbey's deanery which was the home of then-dean Gabriel Goodman – a fellow Welshman who was also a close friend. Morgan presented the book to Goodman with a Latin inscription, recording that he was making a gift to the library. (Image: PA Wire/PA Images) Tony Trowles, librarian and head of the abbey's collection, told the PA news agency: "It has been in our library ever since. "It is in remarkably good condition. The plan was to print 900 copies, with the idea for every chapel and church in Wales to have a copy of the Welsh bible. "Because they were used weekly or even daily, the ones that survive in Wales are not in such good condition." Dr Trowles described how the Bible was originally kept on the bookshelves of the abbey library, to which it was chained so it could not be removed, and bears an early shelf mark. He said the printing process was "highly complex and technical" with each letter arranged backwards and several pages printed on one sheet. The book is printed on paper and bound in leather over covers made from wood, a process used at the time. (Image: PA Wire/PA Images) It is believed that the Bible has never been on public display, although it was used in a service at St Benet Paul's Wharf – a church in London with a long association with the Welsh community – in 1988. "This is the first time it has gone to Wales and we think the first time it has been exhibited," Dr Trowles added. The Bible will be presented at the Cathedral Libraries and Collections Association (Calca) conference at St Davids on June 17. It will then go on public display in the cathedral's treasury between June 17 and July 9. The Rt Rev Dorrien Davies, the Bishop of St Davids, said: "I first saw the Bible that William Morgan gave to Westminster Abbey library when I was in London for St Davids Day earlier this year. "It is a special treasure of the Welsh language, and we are honoured to have it in St Davids Cathedral." (Image: PA Wire/PA Images) The Dean of St Davids, the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, added: "It seems fitting that its first visit to Wales should be here, to the home of our patron saint, at our spiritual heart. "We look forward to having it on show before its return to the abbey, to share with Welsh Christians of all traditions, for whom Y Beibl Cyssegr-Lan of 1588 Bible is a uniquely valuable treasure in our heritage of faith and language." Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone
North Wales Live
16-06-2025
- General
- North Wales Live
Welsh Bible printed in 1588 to go on display in Wales for first time
A rare copy of the first complete translation of the Bible into the Welsh language, printed in 1588, is to go on display in Wales for the first time. The 26cm tall book, described as being of exceptional historical significance, has been kept in Westminster Abbey's library collection but will be available for the public to view at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. It was translated by Bishop William Morgan in the year of the Spanish Armada – when Queen Elizabeth I was monarch – as part of an effort to bring scriptures to people in languages they understood. Morgan had been commissioned to produce a standard Welsh edition by bringing together previous translations of parts of the Bible. He travelled to London to oversee the books go through the press, a process lasting several weeks because the print workers did not speak Welsh. During the work, Morgan stayed at Westminster Abbey's deanery which was the home of then-dean Gabriel Goodman – a fellow Welshman who was also a close friend. Morgan presented the book to Goodman with a Latin inscription, recording that he was making a gift to the library. Tony Trowles, librarian and head of the abbey's collection, told the PA news agency: "It has been in our library ever since. "It is in remarkably good condition. The plan was to print 900 copies, with the idea for every chapel and church in Wales to have a copy of the Welsh bible. "Because they were used weekly or even daily, the ones that survive in Wales are not in such good condition." Dr Trowles described how the Bible was originally kept on the bookshelves of the abbey library, to which it was chained so it could not be removed, and bears an early shelf mark. He said the printing process was "highly complex and technical" with each letter arranged backwards and several pages printed on one sheet. The book is printed on paper and bound in leather over covers made from wood, a process used at the time. It is believed that the Bible has never been on public display, although it was used in a service at St Benet Paul's Wharf – a church in London with a long association with the Welsh community – in 1988. "This is the first time it has gone to Wales and we think the first time it has been exhibited," Dr Trowles added. The Bible will be presented at the Cathedral Libraries and Collections Association (Calca) conference at St Davids on June 17. It will then go on public display in the cathedral's treasury between June 17 and July 9. The Rt Rev Dorrien Davies, the Bishop of St Davids, said: "I first saw the Bible that William Morgan gave to Westminster Abbey library when I was in London for St Davids Day earlier this year. "It is a special treasure of the Welsh language, and we are honoured to have it in St Davids Cathedral." The Dean of St Davids, the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, added: "It seems fitting that its first visit to Wales should be here, to the home of our patron saint, at our spiritual heart. "We look forward to having it on show before its return to the abbey, to share with Welsh Christians of all traditions, for whom Y Beibl Cyssegr-Lan of 1588 Bible is a uniquely valuable treasure in our heritage of faith and language."
Rhyl Journal
16-06-2025
- General
- Rhyl Journal
Welsh Bible printed in 1588 to go on display in Wales for first time
The 26cm tall book, described as being of exceptional historical significance, has been kept in Westminster Abbey's library collection but will be available for the public to view at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. It was translated by Bishop William Morgan in the year of the Spanish Armada – when Queen Elizabeth I was monarch – as part of an effort to bring scriptures to people in languages they understood. Morgan had been commissioned to produce a standard Welsh edition by bringing together previous translations of parts of the Bible. He travelled to London to oversee the books go through the press, a process lasting several weeks because the print workers did not speak Welsh. During the work, Morgan stayed at Westminster Abbey's deanery which was the home of then-dean Gabriel Goodman – a fellow Welshman who was also a close friend. Morgan presented the book to Goodman with a Latin inscription, recording that he was making a gift to the library. Tony Trowles, librarian and head of the abbey's collection, told the PA news agency: 'It has been in our library ever since. 'It is in remarkably good condition. The plan was to print 900 copies, with the idea for every chapel and church in Wales to have a copy of the Welsh bible. 'Because they were used weekly or even daily, the ones that survive in Wales are not in such good condition.' Dr Trowles described how the Bible was originally kept on the bookshelves of the abbey library, to which it was chained so it could not be removed, and bears an early shelf mark. He said the printing process was 'highly complex and technical' with each letter arranged backwards and several pages printed on one sheet. The book is printed on paper and bound in leather over covers made from wood, a process used at the time. It is believed that the Bible has never been on public display, although it was used in a service at St Benet Paul's Wharf – a church in London with a long association with the Welsh community – in 1988. 'This is the first time it has gone to Wales and we think the first time it has been exhibited,' Dr Trowles added. The Bible will be presented at the Cathedral Libraries and Collections Association (Calca) conference at St Davids on June 17. It will then go on public display in the cathedral's treasury between June 17 and July 9. The Rt Rev Dorrien Davies, the Bishop of St Davids, said: 'I first saw the Bible that William Morgan gave to Westminster Abbey library when I was in London for St Davids Day earlier this year. 'It is a special treasure of the Welsh language, and we are honoured to have it in St Davids Cathedral.' The Dean of St Davids, the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, added: 'It seems fitting that its first visit to Wales should be here, to the home of our patron saint, at our spiritual heart. 'We look forward to having it on show before its return to the abbey, to share with Welsh Christians of all traditions, for whom Y Beibl Cyssegr-Lan of 1588 Bible is a uniquely valuable treasure in our heritage of faith and language.'
