Tackling obesity: a cause for social conservatism | OC Comment
The obesity epidemic that has swept the West has received relatively little media attention despite the devastation it has wreaked. Causing an estimated 40,000 premature deaths and costing £27 billion to wider society, along with the innumerable accompanying long-term side effects, obesity is a serious public health risk that is strangely ignored. Compared to other long-term diseases like cancer or heart problems, obesity has been relegated to the sidelines. Most political figures maintain an embarrassed silence on the topic, while even our habitually outspoken Prime Minister has only intermittently commented on the issue. This is made all the more striking when one considered the degree to which this issue is dear to Boris Johnson’s heart; he blames his excess body weight for his extended hospitalisation after being infected with COVID-19.
The Ulsterisation of Scotland | Michael Fraser
The SNP has managed to dominate Scottish politics despite its poor record in government, and its embroilment in various scandals. When given a choice between a party committed to independence and numerous parties committed to retaining Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom, there can only be one winner.
Scotland’s drug-related crisis and the ongoing failure of progressive drug policy | Dr Gary F. Fisher
They showed that 1,264 Scots had died as a result of drug-related causes, representing a 6% increase from the previous year and more than double that of 2014. Over half of deaths were related to the misuse of heroin and morphine. Scotland has firmly entrenched itself as the drug-deaths capital of Europe.
Competency-based learning | Dan Mikhaylov
In sum, one of Britain’s foremost brands and selling points- our cherished system of education- has quietly been hijacked by the neoliberal misconception that people amount to little more than assets, whose value is contingent on how much one invests and which are constantly traded in the labour market.
Big Brother: the imposition of authority on family life during the Coronavirus pandemic | Michael Fraser
Johnson’s government’s latest policies are seriously threatening to erode our already vulnerable family structures further- our “little platoons”- in a careless slide towards ever greater state dominance, and history will not look kindly on them for it.
Romney’s family benefits: surprisingly social, and surprisingly conservative | OC Comment
All in all, the Romney plan is able to square conservative ideals and welfare practice. Though in some areas it reverts to outdated liberal solutions, this plan provides a useful “first draft” for future conservative efforts in addressing the popular demand for a welfare state by shifting the focus to marriage and the family.
Re-shoring Industry: A National Security Priority | Dominic Lawson
In short, re-shoring industrial development will have innumerate benefits for this country. Of course, it will grant us a degree of strategic autonomy from a hostile superpower, but it would also affirm our societal structure and slow down the environmental impact from the trading of cheap goods on global sea and air-lanes.
This is entirely possible, indeed, we have seen a slow trickle of organisations considering or actively moving their manufacturing bases out of Chinese territory
The conservative case for integrating British Muslims | Dan Mikhaylov
Conservatives have often abstained from this discussion, as carrying out this integration implies pragmatism and compromise, which might not necessarily resonate with their audiences to the extent that would justify them. The ill-founded custom of political teetotalism and our politicos’ predisposition to conniving at domestic radicalism and profuse integrational nihilism, observed in many Muslim communities in Britain, is turning many young Britons towards the wrong sort of orthodoxy – one that renounces patriotism and calls for violent action against the West. From this premise, our role in this brewing crisis is crystal clear: we must provide these disenchanted youths with a socially conservative alternative, in which they can strike a balance between their British and Muslim identities.
COVID-19 and the abrogation of personal responsibility | Orthodox Conservatives
An article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) calls attention to the factors neglected by policymakers. To summarise, the economic consequences of lockdowns are projected to worsen inequality and disproportionately target lower socioeconomic brackets, while the repurposing of the medical system to counter COVID will leave patients with other pathologies at much greater risk.