100 Posts

This is the 100th post on this blog. That's including my early posts, even though they were rather spurious and infrequent to say the least! Posting frequency has also slowed down a bit recently, a fact of which I am all to aware. One or two of my recent posts have been 5-10 minute jobs, and therefore, probably not of the same quality of my early posts. For this I can only apologise.

The thing is, when you start a blog, or in my case when you get a second blogging wind, the subjects seem to roll into your head at will. The fire in your belly is only placated by switching on your computer. Recently, however, I have been wondering if I am suffering from a well-known disease, as those ideas have seemingly dried up, like a desert river.

But the facts remain the same. The same subjects are still important. The economy is still teetering on the brink of a nasty piece of turbulence. The immigration debate is still so one-sided it's sickening. I watched Question Time on Thursday and had to switch it off, especially when the smug Ashdown was talking. The text page, where they receive SMS's from the public is pretty revealing of the type of people who watch QT:

Text: We desperately need immigrants. They keep wages low.
Shirley, London

Text: We need Poles because half of our country is too lazy to work.
Dennis, Wigan

Well at least Shirley is honest, unlike ITN's Tom Bradby who reckons that there is 'no evidence of immigration affecting the Labour market'. Yeah right. But, who is the 'we' Shirley is talking about? As for 'Dennis', well he probably employs many Poles and makes a nice profit from paying them pitiful wages. Either that or he's a moron, you decide.

And then there's debt. Like all the Anglo nations we just love debt. Even our Chancellor get's in on the show with his record borrowing. And like the Chancellor, people are wracking up the debt with no intention of paying. Of course, with wages not rising for the vast majority of people (with one big exception), they need to keep borrowing to maintain a lifestyle they believe they are entitled to. Which is where I come in with cautionary advice, 'there's no such thing as a free lunch', I say. The people, however, don't or won't listen. They still reach for their credit cards; they cheer spiralling house prices; and they reach for their get out of jail free card, otherwise known as an IVA. IVA's are up 153% from last year, by the way.

I caution against these things and my other bug bears like energy dependence, inflation and the uselessness of multiculturalism because I am a decidedly old school conservative. George Oborne would never say 'there's no such thing as a free lunch', and no modern Tory would talk about 'a strong Pound'. They are engaged in realpolitik, I suppose. But, this is the reason why I, and every small 'c' conservative, needs to blog. We all have our niches and differences, unlike the popinjays on the left. But we also know that true conservatism will not die. And that when, as it must, the House of Cards comes tumbling down, people always return to cherishing the very things that we stand for - thrift, family and community.