Sajid Javid - SCARY MUSLIM!

Replacing the unfortunate Amber Rudd as Home Secretary is Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid. Astute politics watchers have already picked up that he, like London Mayor Sadiq Khan, is the son of a bus driver, and of Pakistani heritage. Javid has already enjoyed a stellar business career, and is easily qualified to do the job he now assumes. But his appointment has not gone down well with those out there on the far right.

Sajid Javid

Although Javid has stressed that he does not practice any religion, and indeed has said that “we should recognise that Christianity is the religion of our country”, this has not been enough to silence those in the Wall Of Gammon (tm) who believe the Scary Muslims (tm) are out to get us, and that Javid is really one of their number.

Some Tweeters looked forward to the outrage, with “As a Muslim I don't want to be associated with Sajid Javid, however I do look forward to racists getting their knickers in a twist over it” and “The one good thing about Sajid Javid becoming Home Secretary is that the gammon brigade will all be having aneurisms at another high profile Muslim” typical.

Then came the paranoia. “Sajid Javid to be new home secretary after Rudd resigns. So kicked out because of a ethnic problem and ethnic took her place . This was planned. And one thing a Muslim this was very planned … Who is Sajid Javid, the new Home Secretary? - Watch how many more Muslim immigrants arrive in the next few years!!”

There was more. “Sajid Javid First one on the phone to congratulate him? Probably Sadiq  Khan. ‘Welcome to the Muslim brotherhood , we are getting there my friend’ … So Sajid Javid, of Muslim heritage, is about to be given the role of home secretary . . . I tell you what, why don't all white MP's stand down from parliament and hand the reins over to an entire Muslim parliament ? It's where we're heading so why delay it”.

True Britons had to wake up! “Congratulations Mrs May on your new Home Secretary, muslim Sajid Javid. If there was a big red alarm button I’d be pressing it right now. Wake up Brits … Is new Remoaner Home Secretary Sajid Javid a fake Muslim (Kuffār) or a Quran-observing devout Muslim who despises non-Muslims, thinks gays and apostates should be killed and shoves his arse in his imaginary friend Allah's face 5 times a [day]?”

And there was time for a little dishonesty: “Does TM realise that sajid Javid will be under additional scrutiny where home office policy on numbers of Muslims coming into the country. Mayor of London already appeases this, we don’t want Home sec to be the same!” Then back to the paranoia: “Any Muslim Brotherhood Links? Could Sajid Javid be Britain's first Asian Prime Minister?” What’s with the Muslim Brotherhood? Whatever.

Who knows, and, indeed, who cares? Meanwhile, there was added ignorance on show: “Is Sajid Javid a #Muslim? If so, is he devout 100%?? or - is he a Kafir [he can only be ‘in’ or ‘out’ - or death by Islam]. We accept Muslims in ‘power’ at our peril and time will tell. No I’m not racist, I’m anti Islamist”. Yeah, right. Wrong kind of Muslims, eh? Any more stupidity out there? “WORDS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TOGETHER:- Sadiq Kan [sic] + Mayor of London … Sajid [sic] Javid + Home Secretary … Diane Abbott + Shadow Home Secretary … Muslim + member of parliament”. No, not racist all all, honestly.

Behold the full paranoia of the Wall Of Gammon (tm). Must be sad being so full of hatred.

Nigel Farage Libels NHS

As the tragedy of little Alfie Evans was played out across the media, one political has-been decided he would rather like a piece of the action, and so it was that former UKIP Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage appeared on Fox News Chanel (fair and balanced my arse) to tell the viewers of Rupert Murdoch’s cable new outlet exactly what they wanted to hear. He did this by, as so often, talking well, but lying badly.

Squeaky deliberate defamation finger up the bum time

Mr Thirsty’s rant was in response to prompting by host Laura Ingraham, herself facing an advertising boycott for attacking students who protested against school shootings. He pretended to show sympathy: “Any parent in the world who’s got a child that’s sick would move heaven and earth if somebody else could offer them a different treatment”. But no-one was offering little Alfie any treatment that was different.

Then came the lies: “Yet what happens here is our state-run medical system decides there’s nothing else that can be done and backed up by the state courts, they make a decision that those parents are not fit to move their child somewhere else”. We don’t have “state courts”, and those courts were not making judgments on parental fitness.

There was then just time to pretend, falsely, that Farage was an outsider - “It’s classic of the establishment closing ranks, the state being all powerful” - before dropping the most vicious libel: “And frankly what is happening today and what is happening right now is a form of state-sponsored euthanasia and I hate it”. State-sponsored euthanasia.

Now, I’m sure FNC viewers, who have been fed a diet of knocking copy aimed at putting them off seeing that the USA has less good healthcare outcomes than the UK, yet spends more than twice as much getting there, will lap that up. But it’s no less defamatory for that. So it was no surprise when Ben Janaway, who you can call as he’s a doctor, called out the former head kipper for his premeditated dishonesty.

“So @Nigel_Farage demonstrates absolutely no understanding of a complex medical issue. Uses a child’s life as a way to blast the NHS and libellously accuse Doctors of ‘Euthanasia’ and for no other clear reason than promoting himself. Pathetic … Nigel Farage should face criminal charges for his abusive and manipulative libel at the expense of the NHS. Irrelevant has been trawling the gutter to stay in the limelight”.

And after Farage implicitly lied once more, ranting “The state should not own our kids”, Janaway was back on his case: “Nigel you are uninformed, ignorant and inexpert on all facets of the case. Why you believed your opinion is relevant, useful or significant is beyond me”. Self-promotion. No other reason enters for Mr Thirsty.

The result was that Farage set off a pile-on from his fans by frothing “This guy wants to throw me in prison for disagreeing with him and the medical establishment. That says everything you need to know about so-called ‘liberals’”. That wasn’t true either.

Janaway rightly gets the last word here: “Nigel, simply calling for you to justify your actions in the eyes of the law and country you so vehemently protect. Protecting the actions of the NHS does not constitute liberalism, it constitutes being an empathic human … RIP Alfie. Let us hope this renews public and state interest in funding medical research so this does not happen again”. As if Farage cares by now, though. Thus the problem.

Rudd Goes - May Next

She was going to tough it out at least until another statement in the Commons this afternoon. Colleagues had rallied round to tell that she hadn’t seen the memo about targets, she enjoyed the Prime Minister’s confidence, and it was all the fault of the Rotten Lefties (tm). Off they trotted to appear on yesterday’s politics shows to defend her. But the game was up last week, and now has come the confirmation.

Timed to enable the BBC to shoehorn the news into its 2200 hours bulletin came word of the inevitable: Amber Rudd, latterly a directionless and apparently dishonest Home Secretary, had finally resigned. There was the usual exchange of letters, with Theresa May regretting the departure, as well she might. Because Ms Rudd carried the can for her predecessor’s hostile immigration policy, which led us to this point.

It was Theresa May who sent the “Go Home” vans around areas of London with significant BAME populations. It was Theresa May who removed the protection for the Windrush Generation, which led to so many of them effectively being stripped of their citizenship, rounded up, detained and in some cases deported. It was Theresa May who denied people health care. It was Theresa May who began “deport first, hear appeals later”.

Moreover, it was Theresa May who shamelessly pandered to the right-leaning part of the press, papers like the Sun, Telegraph, Mail and Express, where demonising anyone that could be categorised as “Migrants” has become not just a chorus of hate, but a full-blown crescendo. It was Theresa May who sealed the deal with them in order to secure their backing in the run-up to last year’s General Election and beyond.

It was Theresa May who signed off on the pledge to repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act and shelve Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry, to effectively sweep under the carpet decades of unlawful and improper activity by the Fourth Estate. It was Theresa May who ratted on the victims of press malpractice. It was Theresa May who said that blagging and other forms of illegal activity on the press’ behalf were no big deal.

It was Theresa May who disregarded the victims of “Fake Sheikh” Mazher Mahmood, who had a number of compromised Police officers in his pocket. It was Theresa May who waved away the Orgreave campaigners. It was Theresa May who judged that press bullying and harassment was no big deal. It was Theresa May who told her press pals that all their past crimes would be ignored - as long as they backed her. Which they did.

Yes, Amber Rudd went along with the “Hostile Environment” game, presiding over a department that soullessly oversaw British citizens made jobless, homeless and in some cases stateless, and which, it seems, is still doing so, despite the best efforts of Labour MPs and other campaigners. Yes, she was either inept or dishonest. Yes, she was the one in charge when the music stopped. So yes, she had to go.

But the architect of an immigration policy that was so arbitrary that it scooped up many of this country’s own citizens was Theresa May. She is the one who caused the crisis, and she is the one who should now carry the can, not that she will if she can avoid it.

Theresa May has to go. And if the Government falls as a result, then so be it.

Nadine Dorries Conned By Fake News

The blatant anti-Labour propaganda splashed across the front of the Murdoch Sunday Times should have put anyone with brain plugged in and a hole in their backside on their guard: as I told earlier, the ST, and especially its Insight team, has been misused for the purpose of disseminating propaganda for around 35 years now - starting not long after Rupert Murdoch took over the title back in 1981.

The idea that Jeremy Corbyn was helped by an army of Russian Twitter bots in the run-up to last year’s General Election is fanciful in the extreme. Had the evidence been so clear, it would not have taken more than ten months to figure out. And it would not have been splashed the Sunday before a round of local elections where the Tories are expected to do very badly indeed. But someone has swallowed this hokum whole.

No prizes for guessing that the hokum swallower is Mid Bedfordshire’s Tory MP (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries, who needs no persuading. “1000’s of Twitter accounts promoting and liking Corbyn during the election, all Russian bots. The same bots that drove Trump into power. Invasion of the Russian bots to fight in Corbyn’s army”.

Go on, add a flat-out lie just for the hell of it. “The same bots” my arse. Still she went on “Here’s how Swansea university traced the Russian bots. The Russians are trying to take over the world, via Twitter and Facebook!” Might be an idea to see what the ST actually said, no? “Swansea University passed The Sunday Times 20,000 general-election-related tweets sent in the four weeks leading up to the vote by accounts that gave their language or location as Russian … the vast majority were pro-Labour or anti-Tory”.

That’s it, is it? 20,000 out of how many? What percentage of Russian-based Twitter accounts does that cover? How was the study scoped out and run? When do we get to see the methodology used? No, the fragrant Nadine asked none of those questions. But she does know that when John McDonnell dismisses the ST claims, that’s the green light for her to snipe “He protests too much. At least we all now know why Corbyn refuses to speak out against Putin/Russia. Big question is did he know his communist friends were helping him into power? (and failed) Story comes from that well known bastion of Tory voters, Swansea uni not ST”. Communism ended with the fall of the Soviet Union.

These are the wibblings of yet another paid propagandist, someone prepared to blithely claim “To those thinking Labour has claimed a scalp and the Brexiteers are helping, you are wrong @AmberRuddHR isn’t going anywhere. Home Office is a poisoned chalice at the best of times. She’s staying exactly where she is and will continue to do a great job”. Amber Rudd is either terminally inept, appallingly dishonest, or both. Great Job - not.

Ms Dorries is even prepared to take another made up claim from Alex “Billy Liar” Wickham of the Guido Fawkes rabble on trust, responding to another anti-Semitism smear with “This is a new low for the Labour Party. Surely it’s almost all over? How can Labour MPs continue with this take over if [sic] Labour by Marxists?”

Nadine Dorries is so partisan, and so credulous, that she is prepared to take glaringly obvious Murdoch Fake News as read. And they allowed her to become an MP.

Far Right Holds Day Of Irrelevance

As Zelo Street regulars will know, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, had previously declared that he would lead a march from Speaker’s Corner to the UK offices of Twitter, because he had been permanently barred from the platform and concluded, wrongly, that this infringed his right to free speech. He is still able to speak freely, which is why we now know the march will not go ahead after all.

Instead, Lennon and a number of other sundry no-marks have decided to assemble on London’s Whitehall for a “Day For Freedom” on Sunday 6th May.  Lennon has told the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart “The establishment wants to be able to say things about us without us being able to say things back, without being able to defend ourselves or explain our positions. This is how indoctrination works”.

This is total crap. Lennon can say back what he likes, and has done in the past to the extent that he was prepared to make 300 mile round trips on two successive nights just to indulge in acts of intimidation (which, as Zelo Street readers will know, didn’t work). He and his pals can explain their positions to their hearts’ content. Just not on Twitter.

Still, who is going to fetch up at this gathering? Apart from Lennon himself, described by the Breitbart goons as a “citizen journalist” (yeah, right), there will be such luminaries as Mark Meechan, aka Count Dankula, famous for getting his partner’s dog to respond to the command “Gas the Jews”. But there is no anti-Semitism at this gathering, honestly.

Who else might rock up to entertain the alleged masses? Breitbart helpfully tells “Canadian journalist Lauren Southern appears in the video along with Identitarian leader Martin Sellner and author and political commentator Britanny Pettibone”. Two things here. One, “Identitarian” is code for modern-day Nazi. And two, none of these three are likely to appear in person, having all been refused entry to the UK recently.

Anyone else? “Other individuals expressing their support for the Day for Freedom included Breitbart London editor in chief Raheem Kassam, For Britain Movement leader Anne Marie Waters, UKIP leader Gerard Batten, Canadian conservative media personality Gavin McInnes, YouTuber Carl Benjamin also known as Sargon of Akkad, as well as Canadian philosopher and YouTube personality Stefan Molyneux”. Wow. Or maybe not.

“Ray” Kassam is just another far-right gobshite. The alleged YouTube “personalities” aren’t. And Adolf von Batten is appearing mostly out of desperation. And there is one more alleged “Name” appearing, but Breitbart haven’t mentioned him, perhaps because they sacked him following that apology for paedophilia.

Yes, the washed-up figure of Milo Yiannopoulos will be there too, providing he can sponge off someone else for his plane fare and hotel bill. He and they will shoot their mouths off until the assembled crowd, such as it be, is bored stiff. Then they will tell anyone not yet asleep that their freedom of speech has somehow been curtailed.

And that is why the “Day for freedom” is an irrelevance. It’s just a group of washed-up nobodies desperately trying to grab the attention of a media which has moved on.

Sunday Times - 35 Years Of Tory Propaganda

There has been a characteristic outburst of puerile glee among the right-leaning part of the Pundit Establishment this morning after the Murdoch Sunday Times - just four days before a round of local elections in which the Tories are expected to do particularly badly - splashed the headline “Exposed: Russians tried to swing elections for Corbyn … Robot Twitter accounts rooted for Labour and attacked Tories”.

Thus the desperation of the Tories - and yet another confirmation, if one were needed, that the supposedly upmarket end of the Murdoch press is being used for party political propaganda, as well as the odd slice of misinformation. And anyone seeing the name of the “Insight” team on an ST article, which this one has prominently displayed, should know that this is not the mark of investigative journalism. It is the mark of editorial interference.

Rupert Murdoch took over the ST in 1981. Three years later, Hugo Young questioned the paper’s direction under its editor Andrew Neil: “Whereas the old Sunday Times, if functioning properly, would have stood back and asked difficult questions of both sides, the new Sunday Times became the accomplice of one side only … The investigative tradition, which depends on detachment and irreverence as well as professional competence, has been all but abandoned”. Neil was later quite candid about his partiality.

In his memoir Full Disclosure, he explained the ST’s support of Margaret Thatcher thus: “On many of the biggest struggles of her decade in power, the Sunday Times stood shoulder to shoulder with her … Thatcher’s battles were our battles”.

In Flat Earth News, Nick Davies took readers through the way in which the work of the ST’s Insight team was subjected to highly creative reworking as the paper decided to lay into Thames Television over Death On The Rock, a documentary in the This Week strand which examined the fatal shooting of three unarmed IRA members by what were believed to be SAS forces. Mrs T had been enraged by the programme.

The ST therefore sought to discredit it. It libelled Carmen Proetta (as did the Sun), one of This Week’s witnesses who saw the shootings from the balcony of her apartment. One of the ST’s journalists, Rosie Waterhouse, later resigned from the paper. Some months later, the ST retracted its claims. Davies makes two telling points about that.

“[The ST] did not tell their readers that [criticisms of the paper’s account] had been laid in front of them by their own reporters many months earlier. Nor did they explain to their readers that the underlying error in their stories flowed from their willingness to recycle untested claims made by a Government which, from the earliest stage of the story, had dealt in official misinformation”. The climb-down did not feature a name on the by-line.

Zelo Street regulars may recall the ST’s Government-backed attack on Edward Snowden, which featured Tom Harper fetching up on CNN and telling, with a straight face, “We just publish what we believe to be the position of the British Government”. That happened in June 2015. It’s happening again now. And it’s been happening for 35 years.

The Sunday Times, in the days of Harry Evans, was a respected source of real news. Now, thanks to Rupert Murdoch and a series of compliant editors, it is nothing of the sort. Today’s front page splash is Tory Party propaganda. That is all.

Conservative Woman Split EXPOSED

The tedious group blog Conservative Woman, ruled over by the yet more tedious Laura Perrins and her pal Kathy Gyngell, employs the services of a number of right-leaning pundits to swell its repository of copy. One of those thus employed was Caroline Farrow, a trenchant pro-life campaigner and devout Roman Catholic. But note the past tense there: Ms Farrow and Conservative Woman have recently parted company.

Caroline Farrow

Those who look in on shows like BBC’s The Big Question may remember Ms Farrow, as indeed will anyone who has taken an interest in the attitude of the more conservatively Christian towards subjects such as abortion and same-sex marriage. She loves to dish it out, but can be terribly sensitive to anyone daring to criticise her.

Laura Perrins - had her confidence broken

Her split with Conservative Woman came over the Alfie Evans case, as a Zelo Street regular has pointed out. In a series of Twitter DMs, which Ms Farrow openly published on her feed, Laura Perrins tells her “Caroline, I hope you are well and I know you are full time with the tragic Afie Evans case. I am very torn on this case, and on principle I don’t agree with the law in this area”. Then she brings bad news for Ms Farrow.

“However, myself and Kathy, as the editorial team do not agree with what is happening in this case.  As such can you not tag line yourself as a writer or blogger for the Conservative Woman for media appearances … I will continue to pray for the family”.

A clearly miffed Ms Farrow published all of those and added “Oh. And this happened. Sky used the wrong strapline and Laura was terribly embarassed. Name & association removed. No more free writing from me” [my emphasis]. So Conservative Woman expects its contributors to pony up copy for nothing. I’ll just leave that one there.

But perhaps Ms Perrins is better off without Ms Farrow: some of the latter’s Twitter outbursts have been beyond strange, as witness “As a matter of respect & utmost urgency Tom and Kate need Alfie’s Body to be removed from Alder Hey for an autopsy elsewhere. Perhaps the Italian embassy could step in?” That one was removed later.

Some of those still there, though, include “If you are more angry about a tweet describing the drugs being used to kill a toddler than the fact that he is being unlawfully killed, you might want to examine your priorities and conscience”. Claim of unlawful killing.

There was more: “This is why the end of life ‘care plan’ wanted the chemical cosh. They knew that without it, Alfie would live once the ventilator was removed. They wanted to kill him quickly” was one (note killing allegation once more), along with an attempt to intervene in medical treatment. Yes, seriously - “Calling all Alfie supporters!!! If you’re in Liverpool Alfie needs a resus mask ASAP!! His lungs have been working so hard for the last 31 HOURS he needs to rest them!! Please share and help if you can!!” 

So Caroline Farrow flouncing out on Conservative Woman might turn out to be A Very Good Thing. Unless, of course, Laura Perrins and Kathy Gyngell would like to endorse the outpourings of their now former contributor. Which I somehow doubt.

The Christian right is a strange place. But media outlets keep giving it credibility. Hint.

Top Six - April 29

So what’s hot, and what’s not, in the past week’s blogging? Here are the six most popular posts on Zelo Street for the past seven days, counting down in reverse order, because, well, I have places to go and people to see later. So there.

6 Amber Rudd - Shopped By Her Own Team As the Home Secretary tried to tough it out over the Windrush scandal, her own department leaked a crucial memo to the Guardian.

5 Alfie Evans And The Stateside Sickos The tragedy of a 23-month-old toddler with an incurable brain condition was hijacked by the right-wing fringe, with the result that some appallingly ignorant and defamatory claims were being made about the case.

4 Windrush Fiasco Snares RAF Family The 2014 tightening of immigration laws is now preventing a 39-year-old man who was born in an RAF hospital while his parents served in Germany from obtaining a passport.

3 Liverpool Smear - Express Deception The excuses advanced by the Express for yet another smear of Liverpool FC’s fans did not wash - it was entirely their fault.

2 Amber Rudd Is Now Finished The Home Secretary knew what was going on with the Windrush Generation, and either lied about it to the Commons, or was so inept as to be unfit to serve. Either way, she has to go.

1 Toronto Attack Rebounds On The Alt-Right The usual attempt to pin a vehicle attack in the Canadian city on more of those Scary Muslims (tm) blew back on the alt-right when it was discovered that the culprit was one of their own.

And that’s the end of another blogtastic week, blog pickers. Not ‘arf!

Tory Racism Gets A Free Pass

The Tories are enjoying themselves perhaps a little too much as they pile into Labour over allegations of anti-Semitism, perhaps because they know their own record in this area is so bad that, were their press pals not ever-ready to kick The Red Team, they would be in the mire big time. Tory racism is endemic; the dog-whistle is always at hand.

Zac Goldsmith - sly Muslim bashing

And the most obvious element of Tory racism, on which the party clearly has no intention of acting, is Islamophobia. Pandering to the far-right may have decimated UKIP, but it has infected The Blue Team with casual Muslim bashing that is reaching worrying levels. One of this genre’s most able practitioners is over-monied MP Zac Goldsmith.

Bob Blackman - welcomed a hate preacher

Today, an exasperated Sayeeda called him out for it: “Sadly the rot of Islamophobia has taken hold of sections of right wing politics and Zac you continue to feed it. Of all my colleagues you should know better- have no idea where the Zac of years gone by has disappeared to”. The old Zac vanished with that nasty London Mayoral campaign.

Goldsmith is not the only Tory MP dabbling in racism to advance his cause: Harrow East MP Bob Blackman has hosted a known anti-Muslim and indeed anti-Christian hate preacher at the House of Commons. He has shared crude anti-Muslim propaganda on social media. Together with his colleagues Matthew Offord and Mike Freer, he has endorsed the racism of the Indian sub-continent.

Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council of Britain has asked the question many would like answering: “There now appear to be weekly occurrences of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party (6 in the last 6 weeks in public domain - likely to be many others). Will @BrandonLewis or the Conservative Party launch a review into #Islamophobia in the party?” Questions To Which The Answer Is No.

Bozza - unrepentant racist

And now has come another crude example of dog-whistle politics, this time with the apparent agreement of a BBC host. Environment Secretary Michael “Oiky” Gove said only this morning on the Radio 4 Today Programme of the Windrush Generation scandal “There does seem to be a series of leaks, or sharing with the Guardian in particular, that is designed to serve a particular agenda … There’s a campaign against the government and against the home secretary”. Not a campaign for people not to be deported, then.

"Oiky" Gove - dog-whistling over Windrush

Then he dropped it: “What’s not surprising is that this happens at the same time as the Labour party is mired in allegations of it’s failure to deal with antisemitism … This is about politics … Labour are attempting to weaponise this. I think that is quite wrong”.

There you have it. Racism in action, used to round up those who have served their country for decades and throw them out of their own country, that’s just politics. Just keep looking at the Labour party and ignore “Oiky” blowing his dog whistle. And don’t let’s get started on his cabinet colleague Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Tory racism is hiding in plain sight. MPs are openly indulging in it, even to the extent of dumping on their own colleagues. And when they cross the anti-Semitism line, as happened with Nadine Dorries, it all gets forgotten. And that’s not good enough.