A wish list for 2025

My overview of what we could be doing better in this new year…

The year 2025 has a near-magical quality to it. Mathematicians will be eager to tell you that 2025 is the square of 45, and that this is the first square year since 1936 (which is 44²), and we won’t see another one in our lifetimes because the next will be in 2116 (46²). Moreover, apparently 2025 is the total sum of all the cubes of the numbers 1 to 9. For the nerds out there: 1³ + 2³ +3³ +4³ +5³ +6³ +7³ +8³ +9³ = 2025.

As one who was forced to drop my AS-level in Mathematics out of sheer incompetency, I have little interest in such trivia. For me, 2025 has another meaning. And at the risk of sounding hopelessly sanguine, I am going to make some predictions for what we might just achieve if we work hard enough and pray to our various gods.

A free speech fightback

In the wake of the summer riots, we saw draconian jail sentences meted out to citizens for posting offensive memes. The Labour government scotched the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act the day before parliament went into recess. Secretary of State Yvette Cooper has pledged to make the recording of ‘non-crime hate incidents’ more common. There are suggestions that the government will introduce measures against ‘Islamophobia’, a nonsense term designed to curb criticism of religion. There needs to be a concerted effort to restate the primacy of free speech. Our civilisation depends on it.

An end to two-tier policing

In spite of all the denials from the government and the law enforcement agencies, it is perfectly apparent that the police are operating with extreme ideological bias. Whether this involves turning a blind eye to criminality within certain communities, or persecuting gender-critical feminists for acknowledging that sex is real, the failures have become increasingly apparent. Rather than deny that the College of Policing – the body responsible for training police in England and Wales – is ideologically captured, there needs to be a serious effort to address the problem.

Kicking ideology out of the arts

So many of our creative industries are captured: publishing, comedy, theatre, television, film, music… just about everything. Most of us are sick of being preached at when we simply want to be entertained. And some of the most talented artists are squandering their potential by attempting to feed the insatiable beast of identity politics. I would like once again to be able to book tickets to a play confident in the knowledge that it won’t be an ideological sermon in disguise. One can but dream.

A complete ban on puberty blockers

Much to his credit, Wes Streeting, the current Health Secretary, has resisted pressure from activists within his own party and, in accordance with the recommendations of the Cass Review, implemented a full ban on puberty blockers. However, there will still be trials undertaken on the NHS into the efficacy of these drugs, even though nobody in the government can define ‘gender identity’. If this concept cannot be defined, less alone proven to exist, why should any children – on trials or otherwise – be denied the right to puberty? Ultimately, we need to stop basing public health policy on superstitious or pseudo-religious beliefs.

The reinstatement of sex over gender

To carry on this theme, we cannot possibly continue to exist as a society under the delusion that we are not a species divided into male and female, and that the preservation of the rights of women and gay people are not dependent upon a recognition of this fact. When Baroness Jacqui Smith, the government spokesperson for equalities, was asked to define ‘gender identity’ in the House of Lords, she brushed it off by suggesting that people consult the Equality Act. Those who took her advice would be disappointed to discover that no answer is contained therein. In decades to come, historians will find it bizarre that we wasted so much time in restating the reality of human biology simply to appease a handful of fantasists. As a society, we need to grow up quickly.

An end to political tribalism

Media commentators are in the habit of referring to ‘Labour voters’ or ‘Tory voters’ as though the choices we make in the ballot box are someone inscribed in our DNA. All voters should be open to persuasion; those of us who have made politics inseparable from our sense of self have surrendered our individuality. We should be able to disagree without terminating friendships, and we should be able to understand that those who take a different view are not doing so out of mendacity or malevolence. Surely there is little more narcissistic than assuming that ours is the default position, and everyone else must be mistaken. We are all wrong all the time about something. A little less tribalism and a lot more humility might just save the world.

An end to collectivism

This is perhaps the most infantile and common aspect of contemporary political and social discourse. It is possible to criticise gay people without being homophobic, to criticise women without being misogynistic, to criticise ethnic minority people without being racist, to criticise Jews without being antisemitic, to criticise Muslims without being Islamophobic. Too often we fall into the trap of assuming that our group ‘identity’ is what defines us. First and foremost, we are human individuals. Let’s drop the identity politics for good.

Keeping an eye on the ‘anti-woke’

For those of us who still care about freedom and liberal values, we could all stand to be less complacent when it comes to the threats to liberty coming from unexpected sources. We are all accustomed to those who claim to be on the left demanding censorship, cheering on enhanced ‘hate speech laws’ and indulging in cancel culture, but there are disturbing signs of an ‘anti-woke’ backlash. We have seen a decrease in support for gay marriage, demands that protests be banned, and a growing perception that liberalism has failed. In 2025, let’s remember that authoritarianism can emerge from all sides and - as the saying has it - the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

No doubt this is all wishful thinking, but it’s a start. I have certainly missed out many key aspirations for 2025, so please feel free to correct me in the comments. And, of course, I wish you all a happy new year…

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