Will city see a '˜grotesque socialist experiment'?

Feeling weary; tears in your eyes about the state of our nation? I will dry them all: I'm on your side. When times appear rough, and friends can't be found, I would like to provide a bridge over our current troubled waters.
Cllr Tony Janio, leader of the Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City CouncilCllr Tony Janio, leader of the Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City Council
Cllr Tony Janio, leader of the Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City Council

It is clear that Britain stands, like a Colossus, astride two pillars that support our great prosperity: our institutions, such as the civil service and our legal system, and a private sector, so dynamic that our residents have on average almost 20 per cent more to spend on themselves, and their families, than either the French or Germans do.

Our military is by far the most effective in the world. This is not just a trite statement – having worked alongside many, most can’t even claim to be in the same league as our excellent, efficient and professional armed forces.

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Disquiet about the health of our nation is misplaced, as recent statistics on avoidable mortality shows rates have plummeted – contradicting the ‘misinformation’ we are fed about how our lives are deteriorating.

In sport, taken collectively, our footballers, cricketers, rugby players, Olympians, golfers, F1 drivers and teams, and any assortment of numerous other ‘World Sports Men and Women’, are simply the best.

Don’t get me started on the divers who found the Thai footballers – true heroes.

A confident nation able to laugh at ourselves, our talent for comedy is second to none. In music we have, undeniably, the best in the world but, with complaining a national trait, we moan that it is ‘not as good as it was in my day’. We apologise often – even when we are not at fault.

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I am afraid, however, that even a ‘good cup of tea’, these days, can’t stop us frowning at the state of our local politics.

Across Brighton and Hove, the hard-left Corbyn-supporting organisation Momentum is threatening the deselection of sitting Labour councillors and, following the local elections next year, will surely enact a grotesque socialist experiment on our city. The original Colossus of Rhodes was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 226 BC: a similar political earthquake, I fear, may have a similar effect on our city.

Cllr Tony Janio is the leader of the Conservative Group on Brighton and Hove City Council.

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