Your Future And Mine

Net zero emissions by 2050. Oh, and we are not trading enough with India. Spot the deliberate mistake. There needs to be an all-of-the-above energy policy, based around civil nuclear power and around this country's vast reserves of coal.

Do people think that wind turbines grow organically out of the ground? There are no renewables without a steel industry, and anyone who needs to do so needs to look up how steel is manufactured. For that reason, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councillors recently resolved unanimously to sink a new deep mine at Whitehaven.

At least, that is the reason given at this initial stage in the process. As soon as Margaret Thatcher died, then we knew that the miners would be back. As soon as Jeremy Corbyn became the Leader of the Opposition, then we knew that the miners would be back within 10 years. As soon as Donald Trump became the President of the United States, then we knew that, by crossparty consensus, the miners would be back within five years. And now, here we are.

"Do you regret the defeat of the miners in 1985?" is the Yes-No question that infallibly separates the real Left from the fake Left, and the real patriots and the real supporters of traditional family life from the fake patriots and the fake supporters of traditional family life. The correct answer is, "Yes." Britain was the world leader in clean coal technology until the Miners' Strike, and it ought to be so again. We need never fight another war over Arab oil or Russian gas. We ought never to have fought such wars in the first place.

As for trade with India, the more of it, the better. This is not about Imperial nostalgia, of which of course the Indians themselves have none. The people who ran the Congress Party in the olden days had more than might have been expected, but not as much as we liked to imagine. And the people who run the BJP today have none whatever. But so what? The business of business is business. Just as good relations with Pakistan are important for relations with China, and vice versa, so good relations with India are good for relations with Russia, and vice versa. All would be essential to any solution in Kashmir.

If there were to be an Indian Huawei, then we ought to consider its products on their merits. Of course, it would be better if there were a British Huawei, but here we are. It is not anti-Indian to support British participation in China's Belt and Road Initiative. If there were to be an Indian Belt and Road Initiative, then we ought to be on that, too. Be at the table, or be on the menu. Be on the bus, or be under it. And be clear that the abuse of Dalits, Christians, Muslims and others by the governing party's members and supporters in India is as bad as the abuse of anyone in China, and vice versa.

Another hung Parliament is coming, 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.