Africans Have Sold Their Souls: Uhumwe the One Big Idea for Africa

For how long should Africa continue to be associated with hunger, poverty, desperation, corruption, and mediocrity? For how long will Africa’s natural endowments continue to be viewed as a curse instead of a blessing? When are our children going to put on new clothes instead of relying on second-hand clothes? When are we going to stop seeking handouts from other nations as if they owe us a living? Have we voluntarily agreed to be a laughing stock for the whole world? Have we and our unborn accepted to be labelled ‘third world’ forever?

It is time for African leaders to deliver their populace to the Promised Land through diligence and hard work. Africa needs to rise above the borders and boundaries, which were constructed by the Berlin Conference of 1884, and create a new society which is grounded in its rich cultural soils.

It is time we start showcasing to the world our rich cultural heritage. We need to innovate our products and services along with our cultural dexterity. The author proposes a set of solutions to these deep-seated and systemic problems. These solutions are rooted in the concept of Uhumwe, or ‘togetherness’, which he believes will provide both a strength of belief, and a concept which can help African business leaders, innovators, politicians, and others in realising the dream of prosperity for Africa.

Antisemitism and the 1753 Jew Law Controversy

Why did the very same British parliamentarians pass the “Jew Law” in June of 1753 and then repeal it within six short months? Why would such a law threaten the existence of a legitimately elected democratic government? What forces were at work?

Yoel Sheridan has shone a wide-beamed searchlight on this controversial subject and has revealed the reality that antisemitism is an evil amorphous concept that can, and has been, weaponized to promote hidden agendas that pose serious threats to democratic governments and societies. This was true in Britain in 1753 and in Germany in 1933. Are there not parallels today?

Sheridan has brought the past to the present, asked the questions, explored the many sources, unravelled the mysteries, and provided the answers – all in a concise and eloquent style.

This slim book makes a major contribution to the understanding of the wider implications of unbridled antisemitism.

A Concrete Bridge on Wooden Pillars

A Concrete Bridge on Wooden Pillars is a collection of opinions and wishes presenting how the African rural masses, who are the largest economic contributors, think how their rural problems can be resolved politically, socially and economically.

It is a culmination of the author’s early experiences of rural living. As a young boy he wonders why young men have to be hunted down by tax police in order to pay tax. He is intrigued and troubled by issues surrounding tax and the many difficulties of rural living, including poverty, hunger and conflicts.

The author ascribes all these problems to the destruction of rural environment that has been enhanced by incompatible models of rural habitation with changed demographic and economic models. He suggests neglect of the rural by successive governments whose erroneous policies have resulted in skewing of resources towards the cities and their exportation are to blame. He also argues that this has been made worse by continued use of carbon copies of western governance systems that provoke adverse political and social issues that create the environment not conducive to investment.

The author suggests that African governments need to develop adaptive governance systems and tap the eager and willing human resource that is desperate to escape poverty in order to achieve credible development.

Democracy UK

The reader is asked to consider our democracy as it is today and whether increasing our level of representation in Parliament using a system of total voting will unite society and improve our governance. 

Having made the consideration the reader is then plunged into the ‘what could be,’ an array of thoughts, practises, and procedures that will bring society’s needs closer to governance.

Statistical data is set to a minimum so as not to divert the reader from the objective of making people think about what they have and then what they could have.

Donald John Trump: villain or hero?

In President Trump, we see a different sort of leader from those we have had in the past. He has not come out of the traditional political machine, having never served as a US Congressman or a Senator. He is rich, with business interests across the world. He is loud and bombastic. He has absolutely no doubts about his ability to achieve results through making deals. The question is: “What sort of a president will he be?” Has Donald Trump gone into politics in order to increase his wealth, or has he an underlying altruistic intent? Will he be caught up by the political machines and, gradually, become seduced into believing that being re-elected is the only game in town, or will he surpass all expectations to become, even if unwittingly, the most powerful agent for positive change that the world has seen in a very long time?

Not All Quiet Before the Storm: A Political Study of the West

Not All Quiet Before the Storm: A Political Study of the West offers a comprehensive political and philosophical critique concerning the increasing popularity of socialism among liberal intellectuals, leftist generations of the young, and even Christian democrats. The author presents a series of extensive analyses on ideological, cultural, and generational wars, moral and identity issues, and the challenges facing the Western world in the twenty-first century.
The reader is to receive a severe but frank stricture upon liberal democracy, a condemnation of the globalizing elite and the Western world’s current political climate and culture.
The tone of the work is “politically incorrect,” describing the decline and socialist transformation of the West. The Left has changed the entire political and cultural landscape of the Western world. The breakdown of civil society was caused by individual rights not being paired with personal responsibility, and the growing culture of entitlements has convinced the people that failure is not their fault but results from the political-economic system’s transgressions. Westerners have abandoned the ethical basis for society, believing that all problems are solvable by “good government.”
The book offers recommendations on solving the readily apparent impasse. It outlines an alternative system termed the “New West”.

Philosophy in History: How Ideas Have Shaped Our World

What kind of forces have shaped our modern world? Have they been political, economic, scientific, or perhaps even theological? The answer is that all of these forces have been at work, but they have all been the product of ideas, as our views on all of these topics have changed over time. Can ideas be more powerful than armies? Surprisingly, the answer is ‘yes’. History teaches us that nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Throughout history, rulers, generals and in our own day even stockbrokers and plutocrats have always imagined themselves to be in charge, with that last group even describing themselves as ‘masters of the universe’. In reality, however, all of these individuals have themselves been the products of ideas, owing their positions entirely to existing trends of thought. How this has come about and how it has delivered for us our present-day world are the themes explained in this book.

Political Thought

Resting on a set of Great Concepts that have emerged from the Great Conversation, the development of political thought has literally determined the course of history and affected every dimension of human existence. The limitations of our modern languages complicate any perception and understanding of these Great Concepts, which emerged in languages of other societies with values much different from our own. Many of the words of modern political discourse—rights, democracy, justice, law, freedom—did not exist in ancient cultures that had no conceptions of their meanings. Other words—government, rule, obligation, obedience, and others—carried meanings for the Great Thinkers that modern thinkers would not recognize. While this inconsistency permeates all historical thinking, it is particularly true of political thought. Nationality, citizenship, nationalism, and patriotism are new words devised by modern Great Thinkers to describe new notions. Nation, people, country, community are old words, whose meanings have become unstable and therefore explosive.

William H. Mott IV’s in-depth analysis in Political Thought spans hundreds of years of political philosophy and belies a deep interest and knowledge of politics.

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman - A Scottish Life and UK Politics 1836-1908

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman’s brief tenure as British Prime Minister between 1905 and 1908 represents an important transition in the history both of the country and of the Liberal Party, where he might be said to have bridged the gap between the party of Gladstone and that of Asquith and Lloyd George. As Liberal Leader from 1899 to 1908, he was widely credited with the restoration of the fortunes of his party, and his time in office includes one of the greatest landslide victories in British politics, when the Liberals won almost 400 seats in the election of 1906. 

Sir Henry’s distinguished political career included nearly forty years as the MP for the Scottish seat Stirling Burghs, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for War and, uniquely, ‘Father of the House’ (as the longest-serving MP in the House of Commons) at the same time that he was Prime Minister. 

This is the first major biography of Sir Henry for forty years. It is also the first to be written by a Scot since 1914; indeed, it has been written about one former pupil of the High School of Glasgow by another. 

‘Truly this is an intensively scholarly work which will do much to elevate Campbell-Bannerman’s reputation.’ – from the Foreword by David Steel (Lord Steel of Aikwood), Liberal Party leader, 1976-1988

Social Capitalism

Is Capitalism doomed; how long is its shelf-life? Can its promise of prosperity and the ‘good life’ be sustained? Have stories of its impending demise been exaggerated? If some soothsayers are to be believed it has been on a downward slippery slope at least since the financial crash over a decade ago, so that its days may well be numbered. This work analyses the place of the free market economy in modern society, distinguishes between neo-liberalism and traditional capitalism, and comes to quite different conclusions – as much for reasons of perception as for socio-economic realpolitik. But in the process some important conceptual myths need to be demolished: about the misunderstood role of the individual in modern society, about the absurdity of focusing on economic growth, about the unsustainability of current social inequalities and how they can be overcome, about the mirage of social mobility and the future of work. These issues can only be appreciated in their historical context – currently a yawning gap in any discussion of our current predicament. Suggestions are put forward as to how a reformed, ‘social’ capitalism would better serve the interests of the economy, the community and the individual – in a world where we must learn to consume less, travel less, and yes, work less – with the ultimate goal of greater dignity and justice for all.

The Benign Aristocrats

The years 1951 to 1964 were years of undeniable prosperity and progress. They were the years in which Conservative Governments decided not to dismantle Labour’s National Health Service and Welfare State, and for this they must be given a certain amount of credit. The four prime ministers concerned were all from an aristocratic background, but they had learned very quickly that times had changed and that they had to change with them. The result was that these years (and the periods of Labour rule before and after) saw possibly the best governance that Britain has ever experienced. This book, written from an uncompromising Socialist and working-class background, gives a great deal of credit to “the benign aristocrats”, but does not minimise their failures, in particular the Suez affair of 1956.

The Flight of the Gaels

The people of Scotland and Northern Ireland voted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the European Union. It is generally assumed that, whilst the public in these two jurisdictions might not be happy with the Brexit outcome, they will get used to it and adapt to a life as former Europeans.

The Flight of the Gaels demonstrates that there could be a set of circumstances in which this assumption is proved to be wide of the mark. The story begins in the UK and Irish Permanent Representations in Brussels and winds its way via a political research project at Ulster University and political lobbying in the United States and Europe to the establishment of a new political grouping in Scotland and Ireland. A constitutional earthquake follows, with the potential to transform the politics of the British Isles.

When this potential is realised, the political landscape that emerges is one that few could have predicted when the Brexit saga began in 2016.