Hong Kong was no democracy when we ran it, although of course we never owned it. It always belonged to China. The late Andrew Alexander of the Daily Mail was a bone dry right-winger, and he is much missed today. As he asked in 1997, how grateful were the Chinese supposed to have been at the mere return of their own territory?
But anyway, Hong Kong was no democracy under us, and there was more than one outbreak of serious unrest over rampant poverty, slum housing, sweatshop working conditions, price increases, corruption, and the absence of representative government. Never mind Chinese agents. Those could not have exploited the grievances if the grievances had not existed in the first place.
Our repression of those outbreaks was merciless, and we are not talking about the Edwardian Period here. In fact, we are talking about a time when Britain had a Labour Government. A Labour Government that had presided over Hong Kong's rampant poverty, slum housing, sweatshop working conditions, price increases, corruption, and absence of representative government. At the time of the handover, which was also under a Labour Government, then no one took to the streets to ask the British to stay.
But anyway, Hong Kong was no democracy under us, and there was more than one outbreak of serious unrest over rampant poverty, slum housing, sweatshop working conditions, price increases, corruption, and the absence of representative government. Never mind Chinese agents. Those could not have exploited the grievances if the grievances had not existed in the first place.
Our repression of those outbreaks was merciless, and we are not talking about the Edwardian Period here. In fact, we are talking about a time when Britain had a Labour Government. A Labour Government that had presided over Hong Kong's rampant poverty, slum housing, sweatshop working conditions, price increases, corruption, and absence of representative government. At the time of the handover, which was also under a Labour Government, then no one took to the streets to ask the British to stay.
They may want democracy in Hong Kong now, but that is something different. As for the "Anglosphere" fantasists, quite apart from the fact that no part of the "Anglosphere" is doing anything for Hong Kong or has the slightest intention of doing so, it is side-splitting to watch the mutation into this of their old white supremacist ideology from the 1980s, which is heavily bound up with the cult of Margaret Thatcher.
Hong Kong? You really could die laughing. Exactly the same people took full British passports away from the Saint Helenians because, "Otherwise, we'd have to give them to Hong Kong." They have them back now, though. Whereas the Gibraltarians and the Falkland Islanders never lost them. Go onto Google images, and see if you can spot the difference. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a riot in Saint Helena. There has certainly never been one against British rule. And Saint Helenians speak English. Not Cantonese. "Hong Kong, outpost of the "Anglosphere""? I ask you!
There is no nice way of putting this. Daniel Hannan grew up between public school and Peru. He was born in 1971, so ask him about the most popular television programmes in Britain in the 1980s. Ask him about the pop music. He couldn't tell you. He is obsessed with obscure Early Modern writers of whom it baffles him, if he even knows, that no one else has ever heard. Accordingly, he thinks that people hate the NHS. At the very least, he wonders why they don't. He knows absolutely nothing about this country.
Alas, though, he has a certain amount of influence in a party very much of which grew up nominally, but not in any meaningful way, in Britain. Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party will be registered before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess, even if I have to pay for it myself, ongoing lawfare or no ongoing lawfare.
And I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham even if I can raise only the deposit, which I could do by going pretty overdrawn, although that was not how I was brought up. I would still prefer to raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign, but I am no longer making my candidacy conditional on having done so. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
Hong Kong? You really could die laughing. Exactly the same people took full British passports away from the Saint Helenians because, "Otherwise, we'd have to give them to Hong Kong." They have them back now, though. Whereas the Gibraltarians and the Falkland Islanders never lost them. Go onto Google images, and see if you can spot the difference. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a riot in Saint Helena. There has certainly never been one against British rule. And Saint Helenians speak English. Not Cantonese. "Hong Kong, outpost of the "Anglosphere""? I ask you!
There is no nice way of putting this. Daniel Hannan grew up between public school and Peru. He was born in 1971, so ask him about the most popular television programmes in Britain in the 1980s. Ask him about the pop music. He couldn't tell you. He is obsessed with obscure Early Modern writers of whom it baffles him, if he even knows, that no one else has ever heard. Accordingly, he thinks that people hate the NHS. At the very least, he wonders why they don't. He knows absolutely nothing about this country.
Alas, though, he has a certain amount of influence in a party very much of which grew up nominally, but not in any meaningful way, in Britain. Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party will be registered before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess, even if I have to pay for it myself, ongoing lawfare or no ongoing lawfare.
And I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham even if I can raise only the deposit, which I could do by going pretty overdrawn, although that was not how I was brought up. I would still prefer to raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign, but I am no longer making my candidacy conditional on having done so. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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