A self-reliant society in which individuals are encouraged to succeed through effort and responsibility, the family as a foundational unit, where justice is firm and fair and opportunity is open to all, not engineered through DEI.
There should be actual free speech, not politically biased and the safety of our citizens should be zealously defended at our borders, if necessary by a strong army. We need to be be seen as a nation with a spine as generations of our brave military have shown the world and not the soft touch we are today.
We brought the world industrialisation, civilisation and culture and we should be proud of that.
Surely the world "we" want is the one which produced men who conquered mountains, invented steam trains, discovered antibiotics, designed and flew Spitfires. The sort of people who play sport for the enjoyment of the game and congratulate whoever wins. People who queue, put milk in tea, don't mind the rain, are polite and considerate. Actually, it's a world which has Ronald Colman in it. (yeah - google him and note his role in Lost Horizon). Or Robert Donat (yeah - google him and note his many roles!). People who are quietly confident, support their families, work hard, play fair, know their place in the world, don't expect the state to provide for them, know full well the difference between men and women and are happy to step up when required to do so. Ah yes, that's my impossible utopian dream - an imaginary world of past glories!
As someone who helped organise the New Culture Forum's first literary festival, I will happily say that it's great that you have written about it, so thank you for that! And, I would love to have met you properly, so maybe that can happen sometime. You might have given a little thought to what a new, alternative literary festival might achieve in the current climate. Rather than a conference as such, this was a move to bring the world of ideas and discussion into a more celebratory space, and (we hope) going forward an opportunity to hear from authors who are now grossly underrepresented in the literary world, white (mostly) straight males. It was also an opportunity to give younger, small c conservative people a chance to mix with other like minded people, to make contacts and to absorb a more realistic outlook on the world. In that sense we weren't just a bunch of grey haired fogies.... It was a genuinely, organically, diverse group. You have to start somewhere. I am rather pleased that Peter Whittle and the gang grasped the idea and ran with it so enthusiastically and with such energy and verve. There does need to be a space for books, authors and audiences to come together to discuss ideas. Given that the usual spaces are now closed to traditional and conservative thinkers, it really is fitting that a new literary festival (not a conference) is now a reality. I hope we get to meet and talk at the next one!
Agreed, and I didn't want to be too pessimistic about the whole thing - it's an untrammelled good to have an event such as the NCF festival and a definite sign that things are travelling in the right direction. Sometimes I am a little perturbed by the lack of grounding 'our' ideas have. If I have correctly identified you, then I think you were the only person to mention Christianity's role in our liberal worldview.
I chaired the panel session, and I do recall making the point about the God of history and the notion of history and tradition beginning right at the start of the Bible in Genesis contra other ancient (pagan) creeds. I also recall saying something about the (Burkean conservative) contract between those that have gone before, the living and those yet to come - another framework for understanding our responsibilities 'in' history as it were. If my memory serves me well, it was in response to Ben Cobley's thesis on history and progressivism. (I think I got a nod or two from Harry Saul Markham there). We are hoping to follow up some of these discussions on our forthcoming NCF Locals Substack. [In other news, I once wrote a piece for my own Substack responding to your essay on the new Oxford logo, and I was always curious to know if you'd read it.... https://thesidewaysthinker.substack.com/p/the-story-of-o-for-oxford?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2] Kind regards!
I hadn't, but I have just read it. Excellent stuff - I am flattered you were inspired to dig deeper into it after reading my rant. You certainly got far more into the core of the matter than I did and looked at a lot of the underlying truths.
One thing that made me laugh is that the chap was also responsible for designs for Boots, Kleenex, Curry’s, Cadbury and Cornetto. To put an 'august' institution like Oxford University Press in the same league as producers of snot paper and cheap ice creams seems like a fitting epithet for where we are, culturally speaking.
Thank you for writing those overall objectives. We don't need to agree on everything all the time - that's what the enemy do - but I think the overall objectives are clear.
Thanks Frederick.
I'll give you a vision !
A self-reliant society in which individuals are encouraged to succeed through effort and responsibility, the family as a foundational unit, where justice is firm and fair and opportunity is open to all, not engineered through DEI.
There should be actual free speech, not politically biased and the safety of our citizens should be zealously defended at our borders, if necessary by a strong army. We need to be be seen as a nation with a spine as generations of our brave military have shown the world and not the soft touch we are today.
We brought the world industrialisation, civilisation and culture and we should be proud of that.
Surely the world "we" want is the one which produced men who conquered mountains, invented steam trains, discovered antibiotics, designed and flew Spitfires. The sort of people who play sport for the enjoyment of the game and congratulate whoever wins. People who queue, put milk in tea, don't mind the rain, are polite and considerate. Actually, it's a world which has Ronald Colman in it. (yeah - google him and note his role in Lost Horizon). Or Robert Donat (yeah - google him and note his many roles!). People who are quietly confident, support their families, work hard, play fair, know their place in the world, don't expect the state to provide for them, know full well the difference between men and women and are happy to step up when required to do so. Ah yes, that's my impossible utopian dream - an imaginary world of past glories!
Hear, hear!
As someone who helped organise the New Culture Forum's first literary festival, I will happily say that it's great that you have written about it, so thank you for that! And, I would love to have met you properly, so maybe that can happen sometime. You might have given a little thought to what a new, alternative literary festival might achieve in the current climate. Rather than a conference as such, this was a move to bring the world of ideas and discussion into a more celebratory space, and (we hope) going forward an opportunity to hear from authors who are now grossly underrepresented in the literary world, white (mostly) straight males. It was also an opportunity to give younger, small c conservative people a chance to mix with other like minded people, to make contacts and to absorb a more realistic outlook on the world. In that sense we weren't just a bunch of grey haired fogies.... It was a genuinely, organically, diverse group. You have to start somewhere. I am rather pleased that Peter Whittle and the gang grasped the idea and ran with it so enthusiastically and with such energy and verve. There does need to be a space for books, authors and audiences to come together to discuss ideas. Given that the usual spaces are now closed to traditional and conservative thinkers, it really is fitting that a new literary festival (not a conference) is now a reality. I hope we get to meet and talk at the next one!
Agreed, and I didn't want to be too pessimistic about the whole thing - it's an untrammelled good to have an event such as the NCF festival and a definite sign that things are travelling in the right direction. Sometimes I am a little perturbed by the lack of grounding 'our' ideas have. If I have correctly identified you, then I think you were the only person to mention Christianity's role in our liberal worldview.
I chaired the panel session, and I do recall making the point about the God of history and the notion of history and tradition beginning right at the start of the Bible in Genesis contra other ancient (pagan) creeds. I also recall saying something about the (Burkean conservative) contract between those that have gone before, the living and those yet to come - another framework for understanding our responsibilities 'in' history as it were. If my memory serves me well, it was in response to Ben Cobley's thesis on history and progressivism. (I think I got a nod or two from Harry Saul Markham there). We are hoping to follow up some of these discussions on our forthcoming NCF Locals Substack. [In other news, I once wrote a piece for my own Substack responding to your essay on the new Oxford logo, and I was always curious to know if you'd read it.... https://thesidewaysthinker.substack.com/p/the-story-of-o-for-oxford?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2] Kind regards!
I hadn't, but I have just read it. Excellent stuff - I am flattered you were inspired to dig deeper into it after reading my rant. You certainly got far more into the core of the matter than I did and looked at a lot of the underlying truths.
One thing that made me laugh is that the chap was also responsible for designs for Boots, Kleenex, Curry’s, Cadbury and Cornetto. To put an 'august' institution like Oxford University Press in the same league as producers of snot paper and cheap ice creams seems like a fitting epithet for where we are, culturally speaking.
Ha, great response! Thank you!
The vision is as Alan Jurek has written in these comments.
The right to offend, debate and forgive.
The freedom from absolutes, labels and name-calling.
The cause of enjoying life and each other's company.
The guiding hand of God, and freedom to worship.
From this - the power house of innovation, drive and 'we' emerges.
'We' is the unifier.
To be among people of multiple faiths who believe in the common view that living here in the UK is fine, would be wonderful.
This means any divisive group should be purged.
They had their time, and wasted it in a remarkably short time.
Thanks Andrew, this group and similar SubStacks give us all hope
Thank you for writing those overall objectives. We don't need to agree on everything all the time - that's what the enemy do - but I think the overall objectives are clear.
I agree, very well expounded by Alan.