A letter to the Sunday Telegraph, the first paragraph of which was published on 19th June 2005.

As yet another Scot declares himself a contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party, the prospect arises that the leasership of all three main parties could be Scottish.  Whatever the personal merits of the Scottish contenders, might it just not occur to them, in all humility, that you can have too much of a good thing, particularly as Scots voices are already vastly over-represented on the English airwaves.

This year England cast more votes for the Conservatives than for Labour and Liberals and accounts for all but 4 Conservative seats in parliament. Might it not serve the Conservative cause better if the Scots would-be leaders in Southern English Seats applied themselves directly to reviving their party’s fortunes north of the border, which 50 years ago sent a majority of Conservatives to Westminster, but where today the Conservatives trail fourth behind the other three main parties.

A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 11th August 2000.

An unemployed painter rescued 10 times in 12 months by the Coastguard and Lifeboat services at a cost of £30,000 reportedly remarked that “they are there as a [free] service” (report, Aug. 10th).  This is all of a piece with people summoning helicopters to help them down Ben Nevis because they are “tired”; failure to catch and punish criminals; and providing council homes for asylum seekers ahead of British citizens.

Such sloppy, indulgent attitudes are typical of the Liberal-New-Labour social consensus, the effects of which its advocates are either personally immune from or, as with the human rights law, actually profit from.

In a properly run country such as Switzerland, calling out the emergency services is followed promptly by an invoice – typically £1,000 plus for a 20-minute helicopter rescue.  As a result, people take out insurance against such risks – insurance which is refused for people who are plainly incompetent at activities they indulge in.

Nothing will improve the public services in Britain until the personal financial connection between rights and responsibilities is re-established.