Splendid isolation is right for Britain

The only real answer if we want to preserve the United Kingdom is splendid isolation.

The financial crash of 2008 brought into motion an ideological struggle beyond the scope of simple left right politics. What was once an argument between modern and classical liberal thinking that characterised the majority of the political landscape has become an ever increasing conflict between varied and diverse political ideologies.

Many of these ideologies are violent, many are morally unacceptable and all play on the simmering discontent that is left behind in the wake of the great failures and miscalculations of the last twenty years. When the dominant ideology of a country or civilisation not only fails but also is seen to fail the ‘ideological marketplace’ devolves into a chaotic free for all. When once the confidence of free market thinkers was as firm as a mountain range it now retreats under the weight of its own creation.

The effect of ideological diversity in the twentieth century was a hot and then a cold war, but the divisions of today, for now, are not external but internal, and so it seems most likely that we will go through a period of sectarianism and civil war. The parallels to today and the lead up to the second world war are painfully obvious with the economic crisis and the violent ideological clashes around the world.

So what are we to do? The only real answer if we want to preserve the United Kingdom is splendid isolation. If the other peoples of the world wish to kill each other let them, but we are not like that, we should not be like that. The United Kingdom is not a great power, it does not have a responsibility nor the ability to intervene and police the world; we cannot keep launching ourselves on moral crusades on the other side of the world.

Political and international neutrality should be our goal; there is no reason that British soldiers should be fighting in foreign wars or ‘projecting power’ against a nation that could never realistically threaten our borders. Involving ourselves in wars will only bankrupt and split the nation, kill its children and destabilise other areas of the globe.

We should be realistic in analysing our own strengths and duties and realise that our interests do not extend very far beyond the English channel.