Independence Day particular: Lord Hannan of Kingslcere has no disgrace.

This got here up in Non-public Eye the opposite day:

“What Britain seems like after Brexit. . . It’s 24 June 2025, and Britain is marking its annual Independence Day celebration. Because the fireworks stream via the summer time sky, nonetheless not fairly darkish, we marvel why it took us so lengthy to depart. The years that adopted the 2016 referendum didn’t simply reinvigorate our economic system, our democracy and our liberty. They improved relations with our neighbours. The UK is now the area’s foremost knowledge-based economic system. . . Monetary providers are booming — not solely in London, however in Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh too. . . Our universities are flourishing, taking the world’s brightest college students and, the place acceptable, charging accordingly. . . Britain has recovered its self-belief.” — Daniel Hannan MEP, Response, 21 June 2016

“Britain is popping right into a Third World nation. . . We’re sliding into what was once known as the Third World. And the worst of it’s that we don’t appear to care.” — Daniel (now Lord) Hannan, Telegraph, 14 June 2025

The humorous factor is, I used to be in Britain on 25 June 2025, and I don’t recall listening to anybody speaking in regards to the Independence Day celebration the day earlier than.

Whassup with that? Did the entire nation throw a celebration and never inform me about it? Even when the festivities had ended the night time earlier than, you’d nonetheless count on to see a little bit of residual vomit on the road the subsequent day, no?

Out of curiosity I did some net looking, and, no, Britain doesn’t have an annual Independence Day celebration on 24 June. Googling *britain independence day* leads you to this wikipedia web page which states: “At present the UK has no single official nationwide day, though the King’s Official Birthday is used for this objective in some contexts.” The King’s birthday is 14 June. In a while, the wikipedia web page says: “A lot of the prompt proposals for a British Day are already present holidays or days of celebration within the UK which both are poorly marked by the federal government and the folks, or are usually not readily related to the thought of Britishness at current.” The listed dates are 1 Could, 21 Apr, 8 Could, 6 Jun, 7 Jun, 15 Jun, 24 Aug, 14 Oct, 21 Oct, 11 Nov, and the Sunday following 11 Nov. 24 Jun isn’t even listed as a risk.

Googling *Daniel Hannan independence day* turns up plenty of derisive references to the now-lord’s ill-fated 2016 article:

Daniel Hannan Day celebrates his chronicle of Brexit idiocy foretold, that includes the pleasant picture caption, “Dan resides proof that even halfwits and liabilities needn’t be excluded from the higher chamber.”

‘World’s wrongest man’: The Brexit prediction that went dangerous.

So, Daniel Hannan… have any of your post-Brexit Britain predictions come true?, which begins, “Did you benefit from the fireworks final night time? Those marking our annual Independence Day celebration? You missed them? That could be a disgrace. Enable me to carry you updated with another issues you could have missed,” and continues:

[Hannan] is sort of a preacher who promised the Rapture on a sure date after which has to elucidate to his disbelieving followers why it hasn’t occurred. As typically occurs with end-of-the-world cults, the followers refuse to regulate their beliefs to the failure of the prediction.

Generally they flip to rival preachers, who clarify that the promise of deliverance was executed within the incorrect manner. Therefore, Nigel Farage and his declare that the actual Brexit has by no means been tried. Nonetheless, they’ll at all times have Hannan’s phrases to remind us of what may have been.

This all made me marvel how Hannan himself addressed the failures of his predictions on this yr’s “Daniel Hannan Day.” I did some looking, beginning with the charming Lord Hannan of Kingsclere web page, presently that includes “Get able to be expropriated” and “The place the Tory/Reform pact ought to start,” and I went via his twitter feed, however nothing on Independence Day.

He likes to admit he was incorrect . . .

However . . . he didn’t acknowledge his Day even as soon as? Simply to make sure, I googled *Daniel Hannan “I used to be incorrect”*, and a few issues did come up:

– I used to be incorrect about @BorisJohnson. Sir, I apologise, and I doff my hat in deep respect.

“I doff my hat in deep respect” . . . that seems like sarcasm to me, however it appears that evidently he was useless severe. I suppose that’s simply how Lords discuss.

– I’ve held off from criticising the PM till now from a mix of sympathy, loyalty and even (if I’m sincere) chivalry. I used to be incorrect.

Right here he’s speaking about former U.Okay. prime minister Theresa Could–apparently she was “the explanation we’re in such a large number over Brexit.”

– I Was Incorrect to Have Supported Obama.

Wow–type of superb that this man ever supported Obama. What was his drawback with John McCain, anyway? Ummm, Hannan has a solution to that: The identical individuals who decried John McCain as a war-mongering nut (as a result of he wasn’t Barack Obama) now reward him as a selfless hero (as a result of he wasn’t Donald Trump). Humorous previous recreation, politics. So Hannan opposed McCain when he was working towards Obama, however then he opposed him once more when he voted towards Trump in Congress. Some consistency there, I suppose.

– I used to be incorrect. The EU’s rage, like Caliban’s, is elemental. It should final for years, probably many years, and we have to regulate our overseas coverage . . .

– I predicted that Putin would draw again [and not invade Ukraine] . . . I used to be incorrect. The boys from Langley and from Vauxhall Cross have been proper. Nonetheless illogically, nevertheless self-woundingly, Putin has determined to stake his management on an try to carry down a inhabitants that has no intention of struggling Kremlin rule once more.

– I prompt to the Well being Secretary, Matt Hancock, that he ought to start with healthcare staff and care residence employees. He disagreed, arguing absolutely the precedence was to save lots of as many lives as attainable.He was proper and I used to be incorrect. The British folks have been admirably calm and down to earth, ignoring the deranged conspiracies of anti-vaxxers.

– Loads of Conservative activists and MPs had wished, fairly rightly, to offer the Prime Minister the good thing about the doubt. They hoped that one thing sudden may be introduced, one thing past what had been publicly declared. Frankly, I used to be on this class myself . . . I used to be incorrect.

– I began scripting this column shortly earlier than the 2016 election. I couldn’t carry myself to assist both candidate on the time and finally wrote that if I had a vote, I’d solid it for the Libertarian candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. In 2020, nicely conscious (as most individuals have been) of Biden’s cognitive decline, I once more couldn’t carry myself to again both candidate. I had hoped that these two elections have been a blip. I used to be incorrect.

– I assumed that, when it got here to it, the EU would prioritise the financial pursuits of its 27 members. I used to be incorrect.

– I’ve written a fantastic deal over time about Brussels corruption: the fraud, the waste, the tax-free perks, the leisure budgets, the petty scams. However maybe I used to be incorrect to select on the EU. All worldwide bureaucracies are typically self-serving, and for a similar motive: there’s nothing to cease them.

I don’t know why he restricts himself to “worldwide” bureaucracies. A minimum of right here within the U.S. we have now plenty of nationwide, state, and native bureaucracies–private and non-private–which are self-serving and just about unstoppable.

. . . however by no means about Independence Day

So, fascinating! In contrast to many individuals we write about on this weblog, Hannan is prepared to confess his errors. He’s accomplished it many occasions.

However then this makes me much more baffled why he doesn’t speak about how incorrect he was in essentially the most notable factor he ever did.

I can’t discover anywhere the place he mentions his hilariously dangerous Independence Day forecast, the Brexit prediction that went dangerous, the column that gave him the arguably-accurate title, “The world’s wrongest man.”

I type of get it. Within the warmth of the Brexit referendum, Hannan went a bit excessive with the rhetoric. It occurs. Marketing campaign guarantees are sometimes fairly ridiculous, and then you definately don’t need to be reminded of them after the election is over and there are new battles to be fought.

Let me put it one other manner. The only most celebrated factor Hannan has accomplished was to write down that incredible post-Brexit fantasy state of affairs. If he’s well-known for something, that is it. And but he’s utterly silent on the matter–even on 24 June, Daniel Hannan Day itself.

C’mon, dude. Simply personal it already.

Hey, Lord Kingsclere!

Simply as a sure mustached New York Occasions columnist’s most well-known contribution to world tradition is the Friedman Unit, your most notable contribution is U.Okay. Independence Day. A whole lot of years from now, after we and our descendants have all been gone, after Non-public Eye has lastly been sued out of existence and all of the copies of Bayesian Knowledge Evaluation have disintegrated, after LeBron Jones and Simone Biles and Carl Lewis and all the remaining are now not even footnotes, after Putin and Zelensky have been diminished to a one-paragraph abstract within the historical past books, proud Englishmen will nonetheless be celebrating Lord Hannan of Kingsclere Day every year on 24 June.

And, look, it’s not like you possibly can’t defend your self on the matter. If somebody asks you why Hoxton by no means fairly turned “the software program capital of the world,” you possibly can reply that it’s the results of the ineptitude of the 17 or so Conservative governments that applied Brexit. At that time you may query your judgment a few prediction that was failed as a result of nefarious antics of your individual political get together, however, yeah, “I used to be incorrect” could be a begin. You would go counterfactual and argue that, within the absence of Brexit, the software program business in Hoxton could be even farther from world dominance than it presently is.

And, about that annual celebration that by no means occurred? Once more, personal it! Snicker at your self a bit bit–or is that unbecoming to a Lord?

I’ve stated it earlier than and I’ll say it once more: We be taught from our errors. However provided that we confront these errors. You don’t be taught by sweeping your errors underneath the rug.

I’m speaking to you, Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, and I’m being utterly severe, no joke: Confront your previous errors, look them within the face, and use them as a chance to be taught. In any other case you’re no higher than Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler. Or Paul Samuelson, who yr after yr when revising his textbook by no means addressed his failed prediction that the Soviet economic system would catch as much as the U.S.–he simply saved pushing his prediction ahead, wrestling in no severe manner together with his errors. You are able to do higher than these clowns.

P.S. Kingsclere’s above-quoted articles from 2016 and 2025 are right here and right here. The excerpts supplied by Non-public Eye seem to be honest summaries, however for leisure worth I like to recommend you learn them each from starting to finish.