MARK ALEXANDER: For the second time in a week, I've had trouble sleeping. This is highly unusual for me, since I usually sleep like a log. But there is a simple answer for this: There is a sense of unease in this nation, a sense of fear. People no longer know what can be said with impunity. People are even being locked up for saying or posting the wrong thing. Speaking against the government’s narrative is no longer tolerated, it seems. Speak against the official line and you will be punished! People are being shut up by the government using the tactic of intimidation.
I have been blogging for about twenty-three years, but I have never felt like this before. Since Keir Starmer became prime minister, there has been a fundamental change in the nation. Our rights and freedoms are quickly being eroded.
I am a retired man who has never been in trouble with the law — ever. At this age, I don’t intend to start having such troubles, either. So I have decided to stop blogging.
The fun of blogging is being able to share interesting material with one’s visitors, both regular and occasional. And, in a funny kind of way, one’s visitors keep one company. One’s visitors are like ersatz friends. Each day, I look to see if my regular visitors have popped in to check out what I have posted. It brings me great joy when I find that they have.
But another joy of blogging is being able to share with you all my views on a particular subject. I can do that either by writing an essay or by posting a comment under one of the videos or articles. Until Starmer came to power, I could do that with impunity. I never had to think about what I said, because I knew that I was free to say what I liked, within reason. But all that has changed now. Now, people who post on social media are being watched. This is very bad. Especially in this country, because we have no written constitution. Without a written constitution, what one is allowed to say, or write, is fluid. So, one can never be sure that what one is writing will in some small way fall foul of the law. Fall foul of the law and you’re in trouble!
The Americans have their freedom of speech written into the American Constitution in the form of the First Amendment. We have no such right written in stone. This is troubling indeed.
Not having a written constitution worked when the country’s demographic make-up was largely homogenous. When just about all the people were Christian, or nominally so, not having a written constitution worked. But the demographic make-up of the UK, under a succession of prime ministers, has been changed out of all recognition. It is now hammered home to us that we are living in a multicultural, multi-ethnic country. That this is so has become increasingly obvious to all by now. But it is for this reason that having a WRITTEN CONSTITUTION is more important than it has ever been. In my opinion, we Brits need to be furnished with a written constitution as a matter of urgency. We need to know what our rights are. We also need to know what we can and cannot say. This shouldn’t be based on guesswork.
Nigel Farage and his cohorts dragged us out of the European Union, partly on the promise of regaining our sovereignty. If this is an example of us regaining our sovereignty, I don’t like it one little bit! Being members of the European Union gave us rights and freedoms. At that time, I was a citizen of Europe, with all the attendant rights that being a citizen of Europe brought with it. Now, I am a mere subject of the King. My rights are what the King and his government deem to be right and proper. But this can change according to whim and according to the government of the day. This is not good enough, and it is unsettling.
Under these sad circumstances, I have decided to stop blogging. Fact is, I no longer feel free to say what I wish to say. My country has entered dark days, and darker they will surely get.
In fact, my country is in crisis. Its economic performance is lamentable; its subjects’ rights and freedoms are being taken away – eroded.
All I can now do is a.) hope for more auspicious times, and/or b.) look for another country that will give me a safe home. If things get much worse under this authoritarian regime, I shall have to give careful consideration to the idea of claiming asylum in some other friendly country! As a writer, I need the freedom to express my thoughts without worry or concern. I no longer feel comfortable doing that in Starmer’s Britain.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support and loyalty. Your support and loyalty have meant a great deal to me: your loyalty and support have seen me through some very depressing times, especially during the grieving years when I lost my American partner to oesophageal cancer. You helped dig me out of the grieving pit! Again, I thank you all kindly for that.
The material on this blog will remain open to you all. That includes essays going back more than twenty years. And I must add that if times improve, I shall be back with you. In the meantime, I wish you all farewell.
Most sincerely,
© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved
