I was taken to Hadrian’s Wall as a kid by my parents. Being Scottish, we were keen to see this mighty structure; built to keep us out of England and confined to our native land. And this was long before the SNP were in charge. We were somewhat underwhelmed -we had a higher wall around […]
Hadrian’s Stonewall Read More »
Your intrepid Deputy Editor was in London this week with Mrs Watson to see a show. It had long been on my bucket list to see The Book of Mormon. One of my daughters warned me that it was offensive from the get-go. I was not disappointed. In fact, as a Christian, I was so
The Book of Muslim Read More »
Many years ago my wife and I had dinner with a very senior and once prominent civil servant and his wife. The civil servant was seeing his days out in the House of Lords. They were charming and interesting company, indiscreet even. When talking about our respective families, it transpired that their daughter was an
Apparently ‘countryside’ is not just another word for killing Guardian readers, it is the name of a place which occupies 90 per cent of the British landscape. Less than a fifth of the British population live in the countryside. If we are to believe the Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) charity, which claims to represent
England’s Green and Pleasant Land Read More »
The issue of conscription is back on the books again due to our likely involvement in a war with Russia and, who knows, we may even have a go at the Iranians in due course. Since Downing Street has ruled out a return to conscription, we can assume that this is most probably going to
There is nothing like inclement weather to bring the best out of the nanny state. We are having some stormy weather here in the UK and you could, honestly, be forgiven for thinking that wind is a completely new phenomenon. We are experiencing Storm Isha, soon to be followed by Storm Jocelyn and we must
You Couldn’t Make It Up Read More »
Reluctant as I am to bash my bishop, especially in a public forum, I am afraid that I must. After all, this is not the first such bashing he has received. As I left Mass on Sunday I picked up our diocesan newspaper Voice (January 2024; issue 496). It is free and I am a
Catholic Mission Drift Read More »
I am a nurse, so I have some insight into what the job takes. I was a staff nurse, charge nurse and night superintendent (essentially a male matron). I have taught nurses at university level for nearly 40 years. I firmly believe in university-level education for nurses and have no time for arguments that everything
Something Rotten in the State of Nursing Read More »
So that loyal readers of The New Conservative do not have to, your intrepid correspondent test drove the UK National Health Service (NHS) this week. To set the scene, I faked a medical emergency at home by collapsing into an incoherent heap over the dining room table. Apparently my acting was so good that my
When I heard that Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella The Shepherd had been made into a Christmas film, I was uneasy and curious in equal measure. I was captivated by Forsyth’s 1971 The Day of the Jackal, both the book and the original film, but slightly less impressed by The Odessa File published in 1972. However,
