Our eighth annual Colloquium was in trouble from the outset. Wokery: a

Wake-Up Call for the West won no prizes for diplomacy or tact. We

wanted to confront what we saw as dangerous, potentially fatal fissures

in the fabric of society. Our original venue cancelled us.

If too many young people are making life-changing decisions too readily,

without weighing up all the evidence, and if the post-war generation and

the one that followed have been remiss in walking away from the

responsibilities of parenthood, we are bound in conscience to speak up.

Our contributors impressed us with their strength and courage. They

accused nobody of 'hate speech', that most repulsive charge, a foul and

cheap jibe so glibly used by activists on both sides when actual evidence

is unavailable. They just got on with it, argued their cases with cogency

and eloquence, and provided us with as rich a lode of wisdom as we

have ever had the privilege of putting together in one volume.