People will accuse me of being right wing based solely on the title, but in truth I’m neither right nor left. I lean right on some issues and left on others and have voted for each major UK party at one time or another. Interestingly, voting Conservative was the one I felt I needed to justify. The Overton Window seems to have been shifting left over the last decade or so and, although my core beliefs have remained largely unchanged I find myself being considered right-wing.

I mostly grew up in stereotypical left-wing millennial social circles and my core social values are certainly quite liberal. However, in recent years I’ve found myself becoming rather frustrated by the left. There seems to be a real blind spot to other points of view, with any deviation from the accepted opinion met with outrage rather than discussion.

Until a few years ago I unquestioningly went with accepted left-wing opinions whilst telling myself I was being objective because I’m a scientist, and we scientists are always objective. I mean, why would anyone vote for Brexit? It’s self-evidently a terrible idea. Those people must be idiots, or misinformed, or just selfish. In the back of my mind I think my outward behaviour didn’t sit well with me. So, when COVID hit and we went into lockdown I had a bit more time on my hands, so decided to start delving into some “incorrect” opinions.

I spent time consuming right-wing media to get a balanced view. As it turns out this wasn’t very right wing, it was just stuff the left didn’t like, or that might prompt discussion into an opinion supposed to be blindly followed. To be clear, by “right-wing media” I don’t mean YouTube videos with titles like “Jordon Peterson DESTROYS woke idiot”. These normally involve a highly skilled debater from the right shutting down a young, completely unprepared left-winger who has never been challenged on their views. These are uninformative clickbait. I’m talking about long-form interviews and debates between people who have carefully considered their opinions.

Whether or not I agree with these people doesn’t matter, the point is consuming another point of view forced me to consider the validity of my own position. What I really care about are effective solutions - those which have the greatest positive impact to the largest number of people - which come about by collecting data and asking uncomfortable questions to properly understand the problem.

Frustration

I’m just so frustrated with western politics. Nobody seems even remotely interested in effective solutions so instead we have soundbite-driven leaders whose one objective is to come to power. An effective solution for most problems does exist, but, because of these systemic failings and how bizarrely difficult it is to discuss actual facts without having an argument, these solutions are out of reach.

Many issues are currently being dealt with sub-optimally in my opinion. With some I’m frustrated with the obvious bad thing being portrayed as just (something Chris Williamson refers to as toxic compassion) and with others I genuinely don’t know what the best solution is. For example:

• The climate is warming and we are seeing more extreme weather events, which is bad. However, does attempting to save hypothetical poor people in the future justify causing so much harm to poor people now though sky-high energy prices and a lack of energy security?
• Again on climate change, why on earth are we not doubling down on nuclear energy? In one of the most egregious examples of toxic compassion I can think of, thanks largely to the green lobby, Germany took the decision not to use nuclear power as a bridging technology as part of their decarbonisation strategy thinking they could remove both nuclear and coal within a decade. Now they rely heavily on fossil gas, which is arguably worse for the environment and it has been argued postponing the nuclear phase would have saved 1,100 lives and €3 to €8 billion in social costs per year.
• Trans people have the right to express themselves as they wish and I’m happy to call them by whatever name they choose because I’m polite. However, I don’t think trans women working with female rape victims or being sent to female prisons after a rape conviction are very good ideas.
• Everyone should have an equal opportunity to land whatever job they want irrespective of race, gender, etc., but I don’t think combating racism and sexism with more racism and sexism is effective and lowering standards to meet diversity quotas (as the FAA in the US are alleged to have done) seems like an obviously bad idea to me.

What Do I Believe?

This sounds like a straightforward question, but it isn’t. In a recent conversation with Chris Williamson, Destiny put forward the concept of fundamental and applied beliefs. As I understand it, fundamental beliefs provide a foundation for thought and decision making whereas applied beliefs, whilst derived from fundamental beliefs also consider context and consequences. For example, I have a fundamental belief in free speech. However, my applied belief is there should be some limits applied at the extremes, such as the incitement of violence. So, what are my fundamental beliefs. They are:

• Freedom of speech and expression. Whether or not I agree with what you say, I will always defend your right to say it.
• Equality of opportunity. Importantly, not equality of outcome, which I’m sure I’ll write about at some point.
• Individual liberty. We should be each be able to go about our lives as we see fit so long as we don’t infringe on the liberties of others.
• Judge a person solely on the content of their character.
• A person’s success should be based only on their competence.

Of course these all get a bit murky when applied to specific situations, so any response in the form “yes, but what about …” has entirely missed the point and can fuck right off.

Why Write?

I’m writing this mostly as tool for thought and as motivation to dive deep into topics I don’t feel I understand well enough to have an informed opinion. I don’t expect anyone to actually read this and I’ve no interest in becoming an “influencer”. Perhaps a few people might even find my thoughts and analysis interesting!