Colin Hayes

“The Nazis, fearful of having their gross inhumanity disclosed to the German people and to the world, came up with a plan to destroy the credibility of the mainstream media. To reports they didn’t like they applied the term Lügenpresse, or lying press. It worked for a time, enabling the Nazi propaganda machine to distribute its message and successfully conceal the unpleasant truth of their despicable actions. It bears an uncomfortable resemblance to what happens in our politics today. Be on your guard whenever you hear the words ‘fake news’: it may be nothing more than the new term of abuse for inconvenient facts.”
― Trevor McDonald, An Improbable Life: The Autobiography

“Today, I live in France. We have been made utterly welcome by our French neighbours, who, if the subject arises, can only scratch their heads in utter bemusement at why we would want to leave this union. I try to explain, but in order to really understand, you have to be British. Or rather, not British, but a certain English sort – that peculiar, insular, self-aggrandising mentality that cannot see past the White Cliffs of Kent. I have never understood that,”
― Frank Cottrell Boyce, A Love Letter to Europe: An outpouring of sadness and hope – Mary Beard, Shami Chakrabati, Sebastian Faulks, Neil Gaiman, Ruth Jones, J.K. Rowling, Sandi Toksvig and others

“Wise council, like that of Joseph Chamberlain noted above, has always been that placing essentials like our water supply in private hands is folly. But for forty years, greed has been trumping wisdom. The new Gekkos – or should that be ‘geckos’? – have slithered into every corner of our national life. Water privatisation has been perhaps the most difficult to justify on any moral or societal grounds. It’s difficult to square with the celebrated ethos of competition, that mythical beast beloved of the free-marketeer. The customer has no choice, can’t take their business elsewhere, has to pay the price set by the monopoly provider and thus loses on every count. So much for the benefits of competition. It is absolutely emblematic of what Frank Cottrell-Boyce spoke of when he excoriated the corrupt, effete version of capitalism that now holds sway in Britain. ‘The phase of capitalism that we’re in is not remotely competitive. Where are the dynamic venture capitalists? Who’s in the driving seat of our economy? Is it entrepreneurs? Is it customers? Is it workers? No, it’s hedge fund managers. Ours is an economy run by retired dentists in the Cotswolds. That’s not a lively virile capitalism.”
― Stuart Maconie, The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it

“Mere wisdom … [makes] us hard and cold, but wisdom set on fire with love and energized by power [through the Holy Spirit] will enable us to bless the world.”
― A.W. Tozer, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 365-Day Devotional