It's sort of a Millwall view of country

One feature which invariably marks out those on the liberal end or Left of politics is a certain smug sanctimony '“ an assumption that people like them have 'progressive' views and have an inbuilt moral superiority over those who have differing views and that in essence those who disagree with them, do so for the most ignoble reasons.
Stewart Jackson MP's Westminster Life column in the Peterborough Telegraph - peterboroughtoday.co.ukStewart Jackson MP's Westminster Life column in the Peterborough Telegraph - peterboroughtoday.co.uk
Stewart Jackson MP's Westminster Life column in the Peterborough Telegraph - peterboroughtoday.co.uk

To misunderstand your opponents or at least those who take an alternative view, is the first step to electoral defeat and impotence and stigmatising Conservatives and UKIP supporters in this way, is bad for society and a political cul de sac. I believe my political opponents are mistaken – rarely do I think them inherently bad, as they most certainly aren’t.

Such high minded cant often clashes with real life: Self identifying Leftist liberals often for instance rail against the presence of grammar schools in their area as elitist - but only after they have got their own kids into good, high performing state schools or – heaven forbid – fee paying schools. Such a mindset has infected the modern Corbyn-led Labour Party, obsessed as it now is with the priorities of the North London media intelligentsia and issues like Trident renewal, reaching an “agreement” to give back the Falklands to Argentina and the human rights of Jihadists in Syria and illegal immigrants in Calais, rather than the blue collar bread and butter concerns of its bedrock supporters in places like Peterborough: Jobs, pensions, the NHS, local schools and immigration.

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It’s a sort of Millwall view of our country and its people: Everyone hates us and we don’t care!

We saw the most absurd manifestation of this loony worldview this week with the bizarre fuss over the Cardiff asylum seekers asked – not forced – to wear wristbands to identify them. Yes – those same ones provided with free food, accommodation, social services help, the longstanding generous warmth and kindly hospitality of the British people and charitable advice and legal protection of due process: required to walk for about ten minutes to take their three square meals a day. I don’t begrudge them but I have to ask: If that’s the worst experience they’ve ever suffered (allegedly being “abused” from passing cars), then 
have they really fled their home countries from imprisonment, torture and 
death? The language comparing the wearing of wristbands, pictured above, with being transported to a Nazi concentration camp was nauseous and disgraceful but shows how out of kilter are the views of some on the Left and a few opportunist Conservative local politicians too, with the sensible mainstream views of the silent majority, whose taxes pay for this largesse and who are pragmatic but nevertheless decent in their welcome for genuine folk fleeing oppression.

The views of those who have a vested interest in sowing such discord demonstrate that they fundamentally dislike this country and its people and sneer at the opinions of the average voter and taxpayer. The irony is we have a fantastic record on helping the fleeing and dispossessed in our country but such views make it more difficult for those in need, as it hardens the hearts of those who feel traduced by political correctness.

We are fortunate to live in such a tolerant and fair minded country but on occasions we lose perspective and our marbles and the Cardiff wristband imbroglio is another example of that.

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