𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Social justice warriors often see history as a vehicle for imposing their doctrines and signalling their virtues, as George Orwell described so brilliantly in his novel 1984, where one party bureaucrat explains: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

There is a profound arrogance about this outlook, as if our own modern values are unquestionably superior to those of our forebears. This kind of moral superiority infused the decision by the Justice Secretary David Lammy to grant a conditional pardon to Ruth Ellis, who shot dead her abusive lover David Blakely on April 10, 1955. Ellis was convicted by a jury after just 20 minutes’ deliberation and sent to the gallows.

The last woman to be hanged in Britain, she was undoubtedly a victim of domestic violence. But history cannot be endlessly rewritten, nor should our politicians be encouraged to trample through our past like moral missionaries.

How far back in time will they go in this self-righteous crusade? Should we deploy legal historians to search through archives for cases that offend modern sensibilities? It might be noted that Britain in 1955 was a far more peaceable, well-ordered society than it is today, with a much lower murder rate.

Never had it better!

The legendary athlete Sir Brendan Foster was on the airwaves this week, promoting a Government scheme to get us walking more. All very worthy, but Sir Brendan’s appearance reminded me how dismally Britain performed in the mid-70s on the international stage in sport, compared to today.

Foster’s bronze in the 10,000 metres was Britain’s only athletics medal in the 1976 Montreal games, whereas we have enjoyed a glut of Olympic gold in recent years. Fifty years ago, no male British tennis player had anything like the equivalent of Arthur Fery’s current astonishing glory run at Wimbledon, nor did any British golfers win a major between 1971 and 1987, whereas Aaron Rai, with his gripping victory in the US PGA is just the latest in a long roll-call of recent winners.

Above all, the England football team is preparing for yet another quarter-final at the highest level. Yet in the 70s, England did not even qualify for the World Cup Finals. There is no need for the sepia lens of nostalgia when the present is so enriching.

Justice for consultants!

After resident doctors, those heroes of the class struggle, accepted a generous pay award to settle their long-running dispute, consultants have now taken up the cudgels as oppressed members of the proletariat.

They have just voted for a series of strikes in support of a pay claim worth 33% or £50,000. I am sure most taxpayers will be happy to meet this reasonable demand. How are consultants expected to get by on their average, basic pay of £152,000-a-year. Their suffering must end and so must the use of terms like greed, privileged, deluded and selfish.

Farewell to an enlightened reformer

Margaret Thatcher’s outstanding Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, has died at the age of 99. An enlightened legal reformer, he somehow managed to combine his brilliant intellect with his membership of the hardline Protestant sect, the Free presbyterian Church of Scotland – known as “the Wee Frees” – which was so strict that he was not allowed to work, give an interview or even answer the phone on Sundays.

But he broke away from the Church after he was disciplined for attending the Catholic funerals of two friends. For a man of decency, this was not devotion. It was sectarianism.