Follow David on Twitter. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Britain's gun laws, which are among the toughest anywhere in the world, so tough even that our Olympic and Paralympic teams are forced to train in that well- known wild west destination of Switzerland – where 17% of adults are gun owners, and […]
Follow David on Twitter. History is a strange thing, warped as it is by the curve of time, leanings of its writers, passing of the eras. An individual in history, or a movement, can see opinion wax and wane long after the event, viewed through a prism unimaginable at the time. Some see their reputation […]
Runnymede in Surrey isn't far from where I live but there's little to see, a patch of meadowland just off the M25 dotted with a few modest monuments. The vast majority of the site is simple English countryside – beautiful and scientifically of interest, but that's not untypical of this corner of the country – […]
By David T Breaker. Follow David on Twitter. When a burglar enters a property, a "home invasion" to borrow the rather apt American terminology, the intruder does far more than simply cross a threshold uninvited. The victim, excluding any financial and sentimental losses incurred, is often left with a heavy psychological weight, the sense of safety and […]
Even a broken clock is right twice a day – once if digital – and it may be that time, just that rare occasion, fleeting as it is, for the Liberal Democrats. I know, I know, such a statement is truly shocking, particularly coming from me, but I try to be fair – I even […]
Follow David on Twitter. Don't get me wrong, I find the idea that the elderly are forced to sell their homes sad, tragic – even, a great shame, and rather insulting as those that have contributed nothing or wasted their assets receive the same care free of charge. There's a certain moral hazard in this […]
Follow David on Twitter. The death of a young cyclist in London, the tenth such fatality this year, is saddening news enough. The fact that it occurred at the wheels of an official Olympic shuttle bus, at a junction close to the Aquatics Centre described by cyclists as confusing and poorly signed, just adds to […]
Follow David on Twitter. Sometimes I feel as if I'm visiting this country from a distant land, that I'm accustomed to different norms and that therefore every so often I'm hugely out of sync with the mass mood and attitudes of Britain (consuming a lot of US media may have started this). At the very […]
From David T Breaker. A war is being waged in the Government. That isn't new, in fact it isn't new for any government anywhere in history, but the latest front has seen new dividing lines cut through parties and the old factions as much as between them. On the one side stand what were described […]
Which politician of the last century, or longer, has been the most unfairly tarnished in the history books and public consciousness? On the Left you could argue Michael Foot, or Jim Callaghan, or even Jimmy Carter, who maybe don't entirely deserve all the stick they get; those of us on the Right can argue for […]
By David T Breaker. With university applications down 9.9% on last year, certain institutions and departments struggling to recruit, the usual suspects of the Left are busy predicting doom and despair – plus ça change – with the country apparently going to hell in a handcart because the wicked Tories have forced students to pay […]
Of all the things that are truly conservative, the belief and aspiration to see a property owning democracy must be one of the most central and unifying. Indeed though Margaret Thatcher became the most prominent champion of home ownership – and is often wrongly credited with coining the term – the dream of a land […]
A recurrent irritation when I was at school, an irritation shared by a few others, was the Headmaster of a school in the next town. For years the school had been well regarded as "best of the rest"; drawing middle class kids from a rural population, but not selective, it didn't match the grammars or […]