A couple of months on from the riots and Reform/Farage social media is taking on an increasingly hysterical tone. Overheated conspiracy theories, weird suspicions all jumbled together. The death of Peter Lynch – a rioter who sadly committed suicide in prison – has given them a martyr. There is increased radicalisation and lots of Islamaphobia. … Read more
(Tommy Robinson was previously know as Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, and possibly by other names) Tommy Robinson is currently locked up on remand under section 7 of the Terrorism Act, and faces other contempt of court charges. Last week he briefly held the number one spot in Amazon’s best selling books with his version of the … Read more
Labour have been in power for 100 days. The reason why we fixate on the first 100 days is because of Napoleon; 100 days was how long it took for him to escape from Elba, return to France, seize the country, become Emperor (again), invade Belgium and lose the battle of Waterloo. Having come to … Read more
We are down to the last 2 of the Conservative leadership contest: Badenoch and Jenrick. Two authoritarian right wingers, two cosplay Farages in Halloween fancy dress. The most sensible candidate left in the race, James Cleverley, lost out by 2 votes, apparently a cock up by his supporters who thought he was certain of a … Read more
The first person to be sentenced for rioting was sent down this week. All previous convictions were for lesser offences. The recent anti-imigrant riots were born out of frustration, blended with on-line disinformation, inflammatory rhetoric, Islmaphobia, far right activism. One of the most incendiary, yet widespread, claims was that immigrants, particularly asylum seekers, pose a … Read more
No apologies for a boring bit of health policy This week we heard the full extent of the crisis in the NHS. Lord Ara Darzi’s report listed in detail the impact of 14 years of Conservative Secretaries of State for Health. Thousands died waiting for treatment as waiting lists rose. He highlighted lack of money … Read more
The Conservatives are going to force a vote on Labours plans to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance next week. Some Labour MPs are going to rebel. Older voters are furious and some younger ones too. Politically this is terrible so why are Labour cutting the pensioner winter fuel allowance? This looks exactly the wrong policy … Read more
A month on from far right riots and I thought I would check in on Reform/Farage social media and their crazy bad art. Since the riots Reform and Farage social media has become a lot more careful about posting calls for violence or confrontation. They are, however, convinced that the current Government is illegitimate, … Read more
Last weekend rioters tried to burn down a hotel housing asylum seekers in Wath upon Dearne, near Rotherham. One of the first blogs I ever wrote was about Wath upon Dearne, over 7 years ago: sadly I was too optimistic about it’s future. 40 years ago the biggest employer in Wath was Cortonwood colliery. It … Read more
While researching a blog on the rise of Reform I joined several Reform/Nigel Farage web forums and Facebook groups. What I found was a tidal wave of bad fan art. Not since the peak of Donald Trump MAGAmania has there been so much crazy art created (links are at the bottom of the blog) Reform … Read more