(Here is the letter: https://libertarianism.uk/2024/07/01/a-tory-letter-from-the-future/).
July 9th, 2024
Dear Neil,
You must be a real big-wig in your reality! That you write
from Tory Central Office, and that you are still working for them at the age of
91, means that you must be part of the ruling class there now. Perhaps a peer,
or a knight. I suppose I ought to say “well done.”
But in this reality (and the reality we experience is the
only reality), I am a victim of a bad law called IR35, which has destroyed my
career as a one-man software consultant. While initially made by Labour, IR35 has
been actively supported, and even strengthened, by the Tory party. The Tories have
made themselves into my enemies. I now regard them as vermin, and I could never
support them or vote for them again under any circumstances. So, you and I have
diverged, by a long way.
As I write this in 2024, I am 71. I have lived through the
long, slow destruction of our rights, freedoms and prosperity, that successive
UK governments of all parties have subjected us to. It began in the 1980s,
really hit people like me around the millennium, and is still going on in 2024.
The only future we are being offered by Tories, Labour and the rest of “the
system” is one of ever tightening restrictions and ever worsening poverty. A
cold, dark, miserable future without even a glimmer of hope. Life almost not
worth living.
I have no guaranteed income beyond a state pension and a
very small private pension, and I even have to pay tax on those! I have had to
live primarily off savings for over a decade, because IR35 not only took away
my chance to save for a decent pension, but has in effect banned me from
working. Yet at 71, I am still perfectly capable of doing any job that can
utilize my skill set. Though out of touch with the latest software development
techniques, I can write specifications for systems that will work, manage projects,
and test the hell out of the software when it has been produced. But I have
been banned from my market. Who has benefited from that? No-one.
The Tories have been in power for 14 years continuously.
They have made a total mess of the UK economy. They have put taxes up and up,
to the highest levels in almost 80 years.
They have signed us up, without allowing us any chance to
object, to the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goals.” Which I have
characterized as “a blueprint for the destruction of human civilization as we
know it, and for tyranny by a self-appointed global ruling class over every
human being alive.”
They have forced on to us mad, bad, green policies like
“nett zero.” Completely unnecessary, since the “climate crisis” they purport to
fix is, in reality, non-existent. The “solutions” they propose are obviously never
going to work. And the costs are so astronomical, that they refuse even to estimate
them properly, and evade the question of why they haven’t done a cost-benefit
analysis. But it’s clear that those bad policies would bankrupt us all.
They have done everything they can to force us, or to price
us, out of our cars, and thereby deny us our freedom of movement. They have
milked drivers like cash cows. They have banned future sales of petrol and
diesel cars. They have used very dubious “clean air” propaganda in an attempt to
justify stronger and stronger anti-car policies. They have introduced low
traffic neighbourhoods, creeping speed limits, speed bumps, bus and cycle lanes,
and chicanes. And they failed to stop Labour’s London mayor from imposing extortionate
taxes on drivers all over London. Even though they had won a by-election only a
month before, in which people had clearly signalled that they did not want
these impositions.
They completely mis-managed the COVID epidemic. They
seriously violated our rights and freedoms, by “locking us down” and making us
stay at home for most of the day, for months at a time. They closed schools and
workplaces unnecessarily, for long periods. And all for nothing – the UK
performed worse against the epidemic than most other countries. They mandated
that many workers, in order to continue working, must take “vaccines” that use a
novel technology. And despite assurances that they were “safe and effective,”
proved in the event to be neither effective nor safe. Big Pharma were laughing
all the way to the bank!
They deliberately and cynically planned and carried out a
social engineering project, first started by Labour. This has increased the
UK’s population by almost 10% since the Tories came to power in 2010, and 16%
since the millennium. At a time when the birth rate is below replacement! This
has resulted in a housing crisis, excluding many young people from the housing
market altogether. It has also produced overloaded infrastructure, such as
roads in bad condition, and outrageous waits for doctors’ and hospital
appointments.
They have relentlessly increased their attacks on our human
rights and freedoms. There are cameras everywhere, to catch us out if we step
out of line by a millimetre for a moment. They have made an “on-line safety”
bill that drastically reduces our freedom of speech. They have sought to “cancel”
people who go against politically correct orthodoxy, or try to speak out on our
behalf. We are in constant danger of being accused of nebulous “hate crimes.”
The Tories were re-elected in 2019 specifically to get
Brexit done; but they haven’t even done that. In 2024, we have a border between
England and Northern Ireland. Why couldn’t we just have negotiated with the
Irish to go back to the Good Friday Agreement, which worked for both of us?
Moreover, there has been no “bonfire of the regulations”
left over from the EU era, something which we expected from any Brexit worth
the name. Worse, though we are nominally away from the EU, the Tories
themselves have been forcing on us even harder many of the very things we voted
for Brexit to get away from. Such as the culture of arbitrary, ever decreasing,
collective limits on what we may do: in global temperatures, in carbon dioxide
emissions, in air pollution, in speed limits on the roads, and more. And the
culture of “safety at any cost,” that encourages government to act to prevent
any risk, even if it is not proven to be a problem. And takes no account of the
harm that is caused to innocent people by that government action.
It isn’t just the Tories that have failed to serve and
benefit the people of this country as they should. Labour were just as bad when
they were in power before 2010. They were the ones that made IR35, after all. And
the Greens are anti-human, and think wildlife is more important than human
beings, and that “we’re a blight on the planet.” They are out to kill off our
industrial civilization.
As to the Lib Dems, they were just as bad as the Tories when
they were in the Coalition. And they have got worse since. Today, they are
trying to be greener than the Greens, further left than Labour, and as
tyrannical as the Tories (or more so). And they seem to think that money grows
on trees. I have heard it from the lips of one of their former MPs, Lembit
Opik, that the Lib Dems today are neither liberal nor democratic. He is right.
Before 2016, those of us whose attitude to all the four
mainstream parties was “a plague on all their houses” had nowhere to go. I had
voted Tory twice, in 1983 and 1987, thinking I was voting in self-defence
against Labour. But by 1990, I had lost all confidence in the Tories. I had
already acquired contempt and hatred for Labour, for what they did in the
1970s. And that was reinforced when they made IR35 in 1999. I contemplated
voting Lib Dem in 2001 (I knew the candidate) and UKIP in 2010, but in the end
chose to do neither. For almost 30 years, I did not vote at all, in any kind of
election. I was completely disenfranchised, because there was no-one worth
voting for. There was no-one who would represent my views, and defend me, and
people like me, against an arrogant, callous, overbearing political class.
Then, out of the blue, came the Brexit referendum in 2016. I
had followed how the European project morphed, from an economic project in the
1970s – which was generally a good thing – to a political project in the 1990s,
which was all bad. I had seen the EU become steadily more and more tyrannical,
issuing bad “directives” like bullets from machine-guns. And I had come to hate
their culture of arbitrary, ever decreasing, collective targets and limits. Of
course I voted Leave! In common with so many others who felt alone and disenfranchised.
Of course, the Tories did everything they could to scupper Brexit.
Then in 2019, with Brexit still undelivered even in name, Nigel Farage broke
away from UKIP and formed the Brexit party. This was a watershed. He left the
far right, the Tommy Robinsons and their ilk, in charge of the empty shell of
UKIP. And attracted, instead, people of all shades of political views, united
by one thing: wanting to get away from the EU, its ECJ and its nasty culture. I
was one of them. In 2019, I was ready to vote for my local Brexit party candidate.
But when Nigel Farage withdrew all the candidates in Tory held seats, he was among them.
By 2024, though, Reform UK, which had taken over the mantle
of the Brexit party, had parliamentary candidates in almost all seats
nationally. At last, I actually liked some of the things in a party manifesto! Lower
taxes. Repealing IR35. A pro-small-business culture. Ditching nett zero.
Stopping the war on motorists. Halting the huge, planned nett immigration,
which may have been good for the state, but has damaged the lives of ordinary
people. And many more. Even better, the party actually listened to those of its
members, who offered comments on, and suggestions to improve, its “Contract for
You.” Indeed, on 7th May the party e-mailed me saying: “We are very
grateful for your input which has been a huge help to us and many of your
suggestions are being incorporated into the final Contract.”
And then there is Jeremy Hunt, “my” Tory MP since 2005. Our
relationship did not start off well. In 2003, before he was even officially a
candidate, I attended a local evening, at which he asked each of us what he
might be able to do to help us. At the time, the Tories were talking about
repealing IR35, and I asked Hunt to make sure that the party committed to doing
this as soon as they got power. He looked at me down his patrician nose as if I
was some worm, changed the subject, and rapidly moved on to someone else.
Then in 2008, before the second reading of the climate
change bill, I sent Hunt a nine-page letter giving him the basic facts of the
matter, and encouraging him to find out the full facts, and then vote against
the bill. He did not reply to my letter at all, or even acknowledge it. And he
voted for the bill. On that evidence, he was not fit to be my “representative.”
Instead of acting for his constituents, he simply followed the party line.
More recently, I have rattled his cage by e-mail on a whole
raft of issues. Such as: Over-harsh and over-long COVID lockdowns. “De-carbonization”
of transport. The “on-line safety bill.” Anti-car policies. Dishonesty of
government “consultation” processes. Lack of cost-benefit analysis for “nett
zero.” Mark Harper’s failure to overrule the ULEZ expansion into Outer London. And
blanket ANPR number recognition as a violation of human rights. I have received
very little in the way of specific answers to my questions, and most of the few
I have received have been evasive of the issues. I did not even bother to write
to him about the strengthening of IR35, which Kwasi Kwarteng had lifted, but he
personally re-instated on becoming chancellor. By 2024, my view of Hunt could
be summed up in one word, “toxic.” And I expect he probably thought the same of
me.
Add to this Hunt’s election leaflet, basically a
self-preening exercise. And his desire (along with the Lib Dems) to impose on
us a draconian “road safety” initiative pushed by the UN’s World Health Organization.
Meaning lower speed limits, and harsher enforcement of them, everywhere. This
is UN and EU-style culture, not English culture. Not my culture.
Now, I was already a member of Reform UK and of the local volunteer
group. And when a necessity arose for someone with some energy, drive and project
management skills to become campaign manager, I stepped into the post. This
happened only about a week before the “snap” election was called. I confess
that part of my motivation was to do what I could to oust Hunt, by taking away
enough votes from him to let the Lib Dem through!
In the end, we didn’t quite “get” Hunt. The Lib Dem (for
whom I have no time, but at least he isn’t Jeremy Hunt) fell about 900 votes short.
But three Reform candidates in my area did manage to take enough Tory votes to
unseat incumbent Tories. I am very disappointed that the Tories ended up with over
100 seats. Maybe the dishonest “set up” of Reform by Channel 4 and an actor had
an effect. Politics is a dirty game, is it not?
Now, I will come to what little substance your letter from
2044 had in it. Most of it was just waffle and emotional “nudges” – not the
kind of thing I could ever write, or be influenced by.
We were going to end up with masses of Labour MPs whatever
happened. The Tories had completely blown it in their 14 years in power, and
the people wanted them out. Labour wasn’t what any of us wanted, of course. But
Reform was not yet ready, and there was no other alternative for most people.
Yet, Labour are not nearly as popular as their majority
might suggest, and the mood of the people is volatile. I think they might be in
a lot of trouble, a lot earlier than the pundits think. The idea that they will
have 20 years in power is laughable.
I am surprised that you seem to have forgotten that Nigel
Farage, Richard Tice, Rupert Lowe, Lee Anderson and James McMurdock were elected
as MPs for Reform. We didn’t end up “winning nothing.” We didn’t get nearly as
many MPs as we deserved, but we did get five. And I am sure they will make a
lot of noise!
You say, “Pensioners are struggling too. Now you have to pay
tax on your state pension.” That’s true, but who brought about that situation?
The Tories. Shot yourself in the foot, Neil!
And again, your memory seems to be impaired. I, for one, did
want to see the Tories wiped out. For good. By their conduct when in power,
they forfeited all right to any power in the future, and they deserved a total
wipe-out. That would have left Reform unchallenged as the only party
in the UK, who care about the people they are there to represent. The only party who offer hope of a better future. All the
others care about nothing but bloody politics.
In fact, having read it one more time, I’ve concluded that
your letter was a hoax. Perpetrated by a dishonest clique of arrogant Tories
against the people they had been elected to serve. And you are now part of that
clique. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Don't bother to write to me again.
Yours,
Neil
No comments:
Post a Comment