Things to fear in 2018

Even paranoiacs, the saying goes, have real enemies. By the same token, some scaremongering fears may well be justified.

I’ll tell you mine, and you can see how, or whether, they tally with yours:

Nuclear war. There used to be only one potential flashpoint: the USSR with its global ambitions and NATO with its commitment to keep those ambitions in check. Now, frighteningly, there are several.

North Korea is rattling her nuclear sabre forged in Russia. Our papers, with their usual coyness, talk about some mysterious rogue scientists finding themselves unemployed in Russia and offering their talents to Kim.

This is rubbish, and ignorant rubbish at that. No Russian scientists, rogue or otherwise, would be able to ply their trade in N. Korea without encouragement or, more likely, assignment from Putin’s government.

Whether or not Kim is crazy enough to swing his newly acquired sabre is anyone’s guess. But we can legitimately fear he may.

Then there’s the Middle East, with the distinct possibility of Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb and dropping it on you-know-whom.

Also, Putin’s aggressive designs in that region come in conflict with America’s interests, with US and Russian armed forces confronting each other there. Even in the absence of intent, one trigger-happy pilot can set the nuclear ball rolling.

Putin sees Eastern Europe, especially the former parts of the USSR, as potential prey. If you doubt that, read Russian papers or watch Russian television. And if you can’t, just take my word for it: the situation there is fraught.

The steady disarmament of Western Europe, often portrayed as a sign of peaceful intentions, in fact increases the nuclear risk no end. Should Russia attack her neighbours, especially those that are NATO members, a nuclear response may be the only option, what with valid conventional means practically non-existent.

All things considered, we have every reason to be afraid: I for one would rather not have nuclear winter as a cure for global warming.

Constitutional crisis in the US. Such a crisis in any A-list country, and especially in the self-appointed leader of the free world, could spell disaster for all of us.

This could easily be brought on by the Mueller investigation into Trump’s links with Putin’s KGB junta. The investigation has lost some news appeal lately, but it is going on, and some key witnesses are cooperating.

Should the investigation show collusion between Trump and Putin, the fallout would make Watergate look like a minor glitch. Nixon, after all, acted on his own behalf, not on that of a hostile foreign power.

Worst case, Trump could be charged with treason, which would leave America in a state of political chaos. All of us in what little is left of the free world pray to God that this cloud will blow over, but it’s out of our hands, and possibly even out of God’s.

Labour victory in Britain. Compared to the previous fear, this disaster would register somewhat lower on the Richter scale. But there would be global shock waves nonetheless.

Corbyn confidently predicts there will be an election in 2018 and he’ll win it. That revolting creature may well be right if the polls are any indication. Should 50 per cent of MPs plus one pass a no confidence vote, a disaster beckons.

Lord Heseltine, who by some oversight is described as a Tory, doesn’t think Corbyn’s tenure would be so bad – Brexit is an immeasurably greater disaster, according to His Lordship. “We’ve survived Labour governments before,” he said, displaying that ontological stupidity of the Left.

First, Britain has also survived two world wars, which, however, doesn’t make the prospect of a third one any less awful.

Second, Britain has never had a hard-Left Labour government before, one that’s explicitly committed to sabotaging everything that makes Britain British in any other than the ethnic sense.

Third, using Heseltine’s own asinine logic, Britain has had Labour governments for a total of 26 years in her history. On the other hand, the country has been a sovereign nation for at least 1,500 years and arguably longer – yet Heseltine doesn’t think we can now survive without being run by the Germans… sorry, I meant the EU.

Fourth, it’s debatable whether any country ever really survives socialism, soft, hard or half-baked. That a commonwealth doesn’t collapse doesn’t mean it remains intact. A country may bleed to death through multiple pinpricks over time, with her constitution, indeed her essence, slowly exsanguinating.

Since 1924, when Britain was first blessed with a Labour government, the country has been bled white. Not only is the Empire gone, but so is much of the country’s constitution – much of Britain’s political lifeblood. As a result, a self-serving nonentity like Lord Heseltine can become an important politician – a tree lost in the forest of other self-serving nonentities.

I’m not attributing all Britain’s ills to Labour governments – for example, all the major steps on the road to the EU have been taken by Tory administrations. At fault there is the socialist corruption of our political culture that makes Labour governments and Lord Heseltine possible.

It’s not only power that corrupts – it’s also socialism. And, with apologies to Lord Acton, absolute socialism corrupts absolutely.

Global economic meltdown. Remember the 2008 crisis? It was caused by profligate governments, irresponsible banks and hedonistic people demanding their material happiness – now. Things have changed since then: governments have become even more profligate, banks even more irresponsible, and people even more hedonistic.

All major Western economies are fundamentally unsound, overburdened by public and personal indebtedness, on-going deficit spending and eroding industrial base. Another crisis, existential more than just economic, is brewing, and who’s to say it won’t happen in 2018?

Such are my major fears, and I won’t burden you with the minor ones, such as more Muslim terrorism (this isn’t so much a fear as a certainty), more alien immigration (ditto) or Western governments legalising more perversions, sexual or other. (May I suggest interspecies marriage? Those Welsh sheep deserve happiness.) At least we don’t have to fear the hoax of anthropogenic global warming, and you can see me wiping my brow even as we speak.

I do hope my fears, and yours, turn out to be ill-founded, and every good wish comes true. A Happy New Year to all.