In the battle over free speech, pick the side that authentically champions free speech and cares about individual liberty with responsibility, not the people trying to suppress it for their own perverse agenda. Regarding economics, pick the side that understands why an economy is less efficient when controlled through politically motivated short-sighted central planning, and favour free markets except in cases where a more top-down organisational structure is more effective than bottom-up. At the same time, be sympathetic to a socialistic mindset in terms of community, mutual help and support, and shared social responsibility outside of the market economy. And always pick the side that understands the price system and knows the harmful effects of price fixing.
On climate alarmism, side with reason over hysteria. Acknowledge that climate change needs addressing with intelligence, but reject the doomsday cult that insists we have only ten years left, every decade, forever. Understand that real solutions come from innovation, adaptation, and pragmatic policy - not panic-driven demands to dismantle modern civilisation.
On the issue of biological sex, side with biological reality: men cannot become women. A man identifying as a woman does not make him one, no matter how sincerely he believes it or how loudly others demand agreement. Don’t let men in women’s sports, prisons or toilets - it’s absurd.
Champion equality of opportunity, and reject both overt racism and unfair discrimination, but also reject the modern mutation that sees racism and unfair discrimination in everything. And pick the side that rewards competence and effort, not one that dilutes excellence in the name of equality of outcome. At the same time, be mindful and sympathetic to individuals who genuinely need a helping hand through no fault of their own – and even show grace when it is their fault. Regarding the messy victimhood culture, pick the side that encourages sympathy, compassion, resilience and personal responsibility, not the one that weaponises suffering and compassion, elevates grievance to a virtue and turns fragility into power.
Regarding immigration, be a global citizen - be tolerant, and acknowledge the immense benefits of immigration, but understand that there will be serious problems if it’s uncontrolled or out of control and excessively concentrated in certain socio-economically challenged areas of the UK, especially with groups who have many values we find, at best, challenging and, at worst, abhorrent.
In the debate between evolution and young earth creationism, side with the overwhelming evidence for evolution while retaining your faith in God. Don’t fall in with those who reject science because it threatens their narrow interpretation of scripture. At the same time, see the obvious compatibility between Christianity and science, because it’s easy to understand why we shouldn’t look for scientific truths in the Bible.
And while this last one is more complex (see here, here, here and here), in the Middle Eastern conflict, don’t side with malevolent forces working against God’s chosen people, Israel. If you’re siding with fanatical Islamists who rape and behead women and who proudly want to wipe Israel off the map, consider that you’re going drastically wrong in your analysis somewhere. At the same time, realise that Israel has been under immense existential threat for decades, and because of that (among other factors), it isn’t behaving well in every situation, and have deep sympathy for all the citizens of every nation involved who are the main victims of their government’s military actions.
Here’s what you should know now - it took me just twelve minutes to think of those examples and write that blog post, and I only decided to write it literally ten minutes before that. And while each case is complex, and could be unpacked with more consideration - in my defence, I have done this repeatedly in past articles - the point is, it’s very easy to intuitively know which side is closer to being right then wrong, and it’s remarkably easy to land on the side that aligns with reason, decency, and basic reality - if you care about the right things, and haven't surrendered your intellect to nonsense, and your conscience to tribalism or fear.
