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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Left-wing haters need a lesson in Thatcherism
Deputising for Charles Moore in these pages from time to time is more than enough to make my imposter syndrome run wild, but emulating him by writing a biography of Margaret Thatcher when he has already written a magnificent three volume one, is perhaps inevitably a step too far. Mine will be published on Thursday but is barely a pamphlet by comparison, and perhaps has a different objective. Its aim is twofold – to introduce her to a new generation, which wasn't alive when she was in power. It's astonishing to realise that, to have ever voted for Margaret Thatcher, you would have to be at least 54 years old. In the 35 years since her fall from power, so many myths have grown up about her that many younger Brits probably think she was responsible for the slaughter of the first born. There have been only three significant prime ministers since the war whose policies still impact the way we live today – Attlee, Thatcher and Blair. As Tony Benn would have put it, they were each signposts rather than weathervanes. But today's younger generations have been indoctrinated into believing that Margaret Thatcher was privileged and her policies were only ever aimed to benefit the rich. That's presumably why she oversaw the biggest transfer to the working classes in the history of our country – by which I mean the sale of council houses and encouraging ordinary people to buy shares in privatised companies. People believe she supported the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa because she didn't impose sanctions. In fact, she did more to bring Apartheid to an end than virtually anyone else, as our then Ambassador to South Africa, Robin Renwick, has detailed in his various books. Nelson Mandela personally thanked her for her role in getting him released and bringing the evils of that regime to an end. According to Left-wing haters, Thatcher did nothing for the environment. Yet it was she who was the head of government in the world to warn of the dangers of climate change in 1989 – before most people had ever heard of the term. If I was wanting to court controversy, I could also have said she closed down most of the coal industry, something our current Government is urging China and others to do. That she was a dictator who brooked no dissent is another myth about Lady Thatcher. Yes, she would lead from the front and challenge others to defeat her argument, but there are countless occasions when people did just that and contrary to their fears, their careers prospered. It's how John Major got into the cabinet. A theme of the book is also that although she revelled in being seen as a conviction politician, in reality she was very pragmatic and realised that a bull in a china shop approach rarely achieved the desired results. Trade union reform is a case in point. Contrary to popular myth, Thatcher was not 'anti-European' and most people who knew her doubt she would have supported Brexit. Her famous Bruges speech, where she said she said 'We haven't successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state only to see them reimposed at a European level' was actually very pro-European if people took the time to read the whole thing. Woke up Did you know that men can have periods and menstruate? Nope, me neither. But that's the latest quackery promoted by the more extreme parts of the trans lobby. Their logic, presumably, is that trans men are men (just as 'transwomen are women'), and as such they continue to menstruate. Bunzl, one of the biggest toiletry suppliers in the UK, has produced an inclusive language guide, God save us. It recommends that common terms such as 'sanitary', 'hygiene' and 'feminine products' should be replaced with the term 'period products' to avoid offence. Who on earth is supposed to be offended? This sort of ridiculous virtue-signalling idiocy needs to be called out by people across the board, and not just those with Nigel and Farage in their names. Biological men cannot menstruate. Fact. And that's the end of it. Every little helps For a Government that repeatedly tells us that it is unashamedly pro-growth, it has spent much of its first year in power introducing policies which achieve the exact opposite, and the chickens are starting to come home to roost. I've lost count of the number of business people I know who have imposed recruitment freezes, had to shed workers or cancel planned pay rises as a result of the decision to increase Employers' National Insurance to 15 per cent and cut the threshold to £5,000, and in addition increase the minimum wage by 6.7 per cent. There is no form of political or economic sophistry that Rachel Reeves can deploy to persuade us that there measures are anything else but growth killers. Tesco now tell us they're planning for many of their stores to shut an hour earlier as their costs have increased by £235 million, just from the NI hike alone. Proof, were it ever needed, that actions have consequences.
New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Afrikaners See Trump as the Ally Who ‘Heard Our Cries'
From the moment she learned of President Trump's executive order allowing white South Africans to live in the United States as refugees, Zenia Pretorius knew she wanted to go. She and her husband no longer felt safe in the country because of their race, she said. Then, last week's Oval Office meeting between Mr. Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa strengthened her desire to move. During the meeting, Mr. Trump insisted that Afrikaners — the white minority who once ran the country's brutal apartheid system — were having their farmland seized and being targeted in mass murders. When Mr. Ramaphosa attempted to correct him, Mr. Trump presented video footage and news articles that he incorrectly said were proof. 'It was heartwarming to see that he is taking this seriously,' said Ms. Pretorius, who alleges she and her husband were forced to leave their farm after being threatened and harassed by Black settlers. Violent crime is widespread in South Africa, but police statistics show that Afrikaners are no more likely to be victims of a crime than anyone else. Yet Mr. Trump's program is open only to Afrikaners and other racial minorities in the country — everyone except Black South Africans. At a time when most refugees around the world are unable to gain entry into the United States, the Trump administration has made a specific exemption for white South Africans. The first 59 Afrikaners arrived in May. Thousands more are now seeking tips on how to convince the U.S. government that they deserve refugee status, too. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Citizen
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
Uh, am I not African, Mr Ramaphosa?
If entire population groups cannot understand their place in society, how can they participate meaningfully in it? My family has lived in South Africa for more than 13 generations and has stretched across at least three race classifications, and yet I am not seen as an African. I may dance to Amapiano, watch rugby, attend spinning events, or share a curry with my neighbours, but we are constantly reminded that we are not the same. We may choose to all see ourselves as South Africans, but when we stand in line to fill in paperwork or listen to politicians speak, we are reminded that there is no such thing. The box of aggressive racial classification that so haunted and divided South Africa during Apartheid continues, and was given a pass by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week Speaking just days after Africa Day was celebrated across the continent, Ramaphosa claimed that citizens of all races have 'equal claim to this country' and that everyone is 'African first and foremost'. But then defended the government's use of the word 'African' to legally identify black South Africans. After making his stand, he comically used the word 'black' to describe the group from then on, as if he himself was not comfortable using the word in the context his party's government had agreed to. He noted several examples of the word 'African' being used alongside 'coloured,' 'Khoi,' 'white,' 'Indian,' or 'Asian,' including on BEE policy documents and official census records, where 'Black African' is used. If official and historical statistics can identify a group as black African, then why can't they likewise see someone as white or Indian African? Discrimination? While Ramaphosa pointed to classification as a help in addressing previous inequalities, it does nothing to remedy the past if a coloured, Indian or Asian person is seen as black for BEEE purposes but not for other relief programs. It only spreads more division if the state sees a group one way and then differently at another time, depending on what the government is trying to achieve. Coloured and Indian communities have often spoken about how they feel relegated in society, often seen as an afterthought in the great race debate. If entire population groups cannot understand their place in society, how can they participate meaningfully in it? ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Don't give BEE bully Musk your lunch money Ramaphosa admitted that no impact assessment has been done to see how it disadvantages all South Africans to have only one group identified as merely African, but acknowledged that it hampered social cohesion. And yet he stuck by his guns. He suggested that everyone should be seen as African, but until Apartheid wrongs were righted, it couldn't be. He gave no explanation of how the government was trying to reach this goal of unity, except to point out how BEE was failing, but must come right. Meanwhile, communities across the country continue to question whether the continent that bore them has simply abandoned them. NOW READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: What's real? Ask AI… or not
The South African
3 days ago
- Politics
- The South African
Helen Zille dragged for praising Afrikaners: 'Nothing stopped everyone else'
Former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has been criticised for a social media post in which she praised Afrikaners for their work ethic compared to other South Africans. Nicknamed 'GodZille,' the 74-year-old is known for her outspoken and often controversial views about politics, race, and crime in South Africa. On her X account, Helen Zille questioned the ATM Party's demand for empowerment opportunities for black South Africans. She posted: 'How do they define 'economic freedom'? How will we recognise it? And how does ATM propose to get there?'. In the comments section, many South Africans spoke on the topic of 'white privilege', and how it had put other races on a financial back foot. X user @langalikethesun claimed that Afrikaners, in particular, had been showed favouritism through economic empowerment progammes that aided employment, skills development, welfare services, and companies initially targeting their clientele. Helen Zille clapped back: 'Afrikaners took all opportunities very seriously. Educated their children into professional skills and out of poverty. Built huge enterprises from the bottom up. Nothing stopping everyone else from following that example'. The X user clapped back: 'It was impossible to fail. They had the biggest safety net known as Apartheid. Had they completed fairly with everyone, I'd be the first to applaud them. But nope…they had to screw over a lot of people.' On the X app, Helen Zille's comments about Afrikaners riled up many South Africans. Award-winning social justice commentator Darren Campher posted: 'The caucasity to call a crime against humanity an 'opportunity' is so on brand for Godzille'. Here's what others had to say… @fragrncefinesse: 'Afrikaners enriched and empowered themselves by systematically extracting wealth from the labor and resources of Black South Africans while denying them land, education, political power, and basic human rights'. @CRangataJ: 'There was a system, designed to protect and advance the Afrikaner . Your white inheritance was better than mine, due to no fault of mine. Yet today, in 2025, you want to tell me that we are the same? With your generational, apartheid enabled advantages' @louwbreytenbach: 'Even as a white Afrikaans boer, I can acknowledge how tone deaf this is. Tannie Helen Zille, that you do not honestly stand by this tweet when we ALL know our Afrikaner and white privilege with the history of South Africa?' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
4 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Apartheid and Israel – evergreens that are always trending online
Displaced Palestinians ferry bags of food aid after storming a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Ever hot topics, apartheid and Israel trending on social media yesterday, often in the same sentence. This is what users on X had to say: @NalediChirwa They want to get rid of Apartheid resistance songs but don't want to get rid of Apartheid statues, Apartheid Die Stem in our National Anthem, Apartheid Springboks, Apartheid flag, Apartheid spatial planning, Apartheid street names, Apartheid school names. They don't hate Apartheid. They hate those who resist it. We shall sing! Kill the Boer! If you have an issue go be a refugee in America! @English_blood_ Black people are killing white people in South Africa, it's apartheid in reverse, so where is the worldwide condemnation and sanctions? @LandNoli I was in the Apartheid army, posted in Mtubatuba The SA Black on Black violence was deliberately stoked, armed and maintained by Apartheid govt to perpetuate the myth that Blacks can't get along & need Whites Apartheid took existing rivalries & inflated them. We trained IFP Zulus to stoke trouble in townships. Israel taught us because they used it on Palestinians for them not to unite & resist the Israeli occupation. We did the same thing'. @Partisan_12 You don't get to just hold five million people captive for nearly 60 years with no voting rights and claim to be a democracy. That's an APARTHEID REGIME, this is why Israel is not a democracy. @IamMzilikazi 'There is nothing the apartheid government has not done to me. There isn't any pain I haven't known.' ~ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela #WakeUpEverybody @pieterkrielorg The DA didn't uplift the poor, they just landscaped around them. Cape Town isn't progress. It's apartheid with better branding. #southafricapolitics #politicalcommentary #politicalanalysis @MbuyiseniNdlozi There is no greater evil on earth than the actions of Israel in Gaza. @Robert_Martin72 My message to all those supporting Israel will never change: You're on the side of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. History won't forget – neither will we. DAILY NEWS
