THERE is a marked lack of confidence among the opinion formers in British society about who we are as a nation and what we can achieve.
There is also a wider lack of confidence in the air about the West as a civilisation whose values will endure.
Only a few years ago, key cultural commentators were all talking about “the triumph of the West”, meaning the supremacy of the values of Europe, North America, Australia and a few other places over all the other systems and cultures in the world.
Around the globe the West had established freedom under the rule of law in stable nation states which had harmonious societies, and where tolerance, relative prosperity and universal education would seemingly endure for centuries to come.
But looking at the West now, things seem very different and talk of "triumph" foolish.
Our consumerism and material addictions are out of control.
We seem decadent and foolish in our sexual posturing and use of drugs.

Education is failing, and especially so in Britain where there has been a systemic failure of state schooling and discipline.
Forget the ever-increasing success rate in the A levels. It’s a con. We all know the truth – that despite the millions spent on state education in recent years, so many of our youngsters are leaving school thicker and with poorer moral training with every year that passes.
The result is that morons of the kind that appear on C4’s Big Brother are feted as “stars” by an adoring public who are just as dumb.
And as British society has becomes more stupid, the more it seems we are prepared to shout our ill-formed opinions from the hilltops.
That is why you get so many people saying on TV and in the newspapers that our country has no right to have armed forces actively engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Actually, as Tony Blair has pointed out, it is vital that our armed forces are there to hold the line against the terrorists who threaten the world.
It is a great, great pity that the serious, world class religion that is Islam should be hijacked by such extremists.
There are thousands of (mainly young) jihadists now plotting terrible bloody murder against innocent people in this country and abroad. That is a fact of life.
Of course America is right to face them down, and to build bridges with those good Muslims who are just as appalled as everyone else by what some people are doing in the name of their faith.
Of course America is right to be fighting to spread freedom in lands which have never really known it.
Of course Tony Blair was and continues to be right to offer massive support from this country to the American-led war on terror.
But all the time in the Western democracies there are people actively trying to undermine the war effort. Shame on them for doing that.
Even this week, when the bodies of 14 servicemen were flown back to Britain from Afghanistan, the appeasers and the surrender monkeys were out in force, gleefully reported by the mainstream broadcast media.
Do these gormless contemporary peaceniks really believe that if we pull our troops out and get tough with Israel, then the Islamist terrorists would leave us alone?
Of course they wouldn’t. Every doubt we express, every case of woolly-minded liberal debate about the international situation, is pounced on by Al-Qaida and the resurgent Taliban as a sign of the West’s weakness.
Quite simply, these fanatics want to wipe out Western civilisation, with its Judao-Christian values, and replace it with a hard-line, new Muslim caliphate that knows no bounds.
However, there is an alternative scenario that is altogether more hopeful for all the people of the world.
That is one in which the West keeps its nerve and in the medium terms sends substantial NATO reinforcements to Afghanistan.
That would need the cooperation of countries such as France and Germany which have been divisive and weak on terror in recent years. I hope these countries come to their senses and give the war on terror the support it needs.
In the longer term, the West should redouble its efforts for a peaceful settlement in the Holy Land, with clearly defined states for the Israelis and the Palestinians.
There still remains the problem of Iraq and Syria, both of which currently give encouragement to terrorists. No-one said the struggle now underway was going to be easy. Things worth having usually aren’t.
But all is not gloom. There are today other voices within Islam who realise that the faith needs reform so that it can peacefully co-exist with other religions and cultures. That will be in everyone’s interest eventually.
Let us not pretend that Western society is perfect either. We are sexually promiscuous and gross in our selfishness and material addictions. Muslim critics are right about us in these regards. We need to put our own house in order.
Meanwhile, there is a growing energy crisis in the world, and China and Russia are already throwing their weight around.
Plus, and perhaps most seriously of all, the planet’s environmental problems are growing by the day.
It is the problems of the environment and energy shortages – which have nothing to do with religious faith – that may, in the end, provide a lifeline because they will force nations to cooperate, putting religious differences aside for the sake of humanity’s survival.
And at a time when almost everyone is happy to slag off President George W Bush, I give thanks that he is still in charge, still clear-eyed about what needs to be done.
I am hopeful, also, that Condoleezza Rice will be the next President of the USA and she too will give strong moral leadership to the free world.
Indeed, I hope that one day the phrase “the free world” can be applied to every territory on the planet.

• Post to:
•  del.icio.us
•  Digg
•  Newsvine
•  Nowpublic
•  Reddit