Welcome To Zelo Street!

This is a blog of liberal stance and independent mind

Monday, 9 September 2019

Brendan O’Neill - A Word In Your Ear

Watching the Westminster drama unfold, and deeply unhappy at what he sees, the editor of Spiked, so called because it should have been long ago, has finally lost his cool in the kind of rant which should satisfy all discerning rant connoisseurs. Brendan O’Neill has declared “The Remainer elites are a menace to democracy and freedom. They must be defeated”. They are, he asserts, also a “tyranny”. We need to talk, Bren.
Let’s start with “You couldn’t have asked for a better illustration of the ridiculousness of the radical left”. What is this “radical left”, Brendan? Those protesting “against Boris the ‘dictator’, while at the exact same time the section of the political class that these leftists support - the Remainer elite - was threatening Boris with jail if he doesn’t obey its demands to stay in the European Union”. There is no “Remainer elite”, Brendan.

Let’s see another example. “Yet Corbynistas and other so-called progressives were on the streets screaming blue murder about Boris’s ‘dictatorship’-style proroguing of parliament while turning a blind eye - or giving a rousing cheer - to the pro-EU elite’s increasingly tyrannical determination to defy the people and keep the UK in the EU for longer”. What is this “pro-EU elite”? Bren has a problem with “elites”. Which is an odd one.

Because he is part of the real elite: the Media establishment. But to admit that would not do, and so the projection continues: it’s all about “the Remainer tyranny. This furious, anti-democratic wing of the elite, who make up the majority of the contemporary establishment”. Brendan, they don’t. They really don’t. But do go on.

They openly discuss overriding the largest democratic vote in British history”. No, they don’t. That assumes No Deal Brexit was what was explicitly offered in the 2016 referendum. Which it wasn’t. Have another go. “They condemn newspapers that use strong language to describe Remainer extremism”. There is no such thing as “Remainer extremism”. But good to see Bren supports the welter of press abuse.

He clearly has no problem with “CRUSH THE SABOTEURS”, “BLUE MURDER”, or “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE”. Nor does he have a problem with lying. “They make deals with the European Union above the heads of the prime minister”. If “they” do not form the Government, they don’t make deals with anyone, Bren.

Then it gets desperate. “The arch anti-democrat Dominic Grieve”. Grieve was elected to Parliament, Bren. Were you elected to Parliament? Or any other elective office? You weren’t? Then you’re just full of shit, Bren. Very full of it, in fact.

On he drones. “Think about what is happening here; think about the seriousness of it. These people - Remainer MPs and their cheerleaders in the legal, media and cultural elites - are preventing Boris Johnson from holding a democratic General Election”. A “democratic” General Election? Is there any other kind?
No-one is preventing an election happening. They just don’t trust Bozo The Clown, so are making sure No Deal Brexit is taken off the table first. And, Bren, give over with the “media elites” crap. YOU are a part of the media elite (no quote marks required). But do go on.

And they are forcing him, ‘on pain of imprisonment’, to enact something that nobody voted for”. Something that nobody voted for. Like, oh I dunno, proroguing of Parliament, and doing it without even telling the cabinet? You want to talk “anti-democratic”, Brendan, you have a text-book example there. Plus the involvement of Dominic Cummings, who, the last time I looked, had not been elected by anyone to any office.

But, it seems, putting O’Neill straight has come too late: “These people are out of control. They are turning the UK into an entirely undemocratic nation … These people really do believe, like jumped-up Joe Stalins, that those who defy their undemocratic diktats ought to be punished severely”. Breaking the law is fine for Bren.

He does, though, conclude with something that we can all get behind. “We need an election so that we can clear out this class of people who hold the rest of us and our democratic rights in such open contempt”. Yes, Bren, but as you well know, Bozo is a congenital liar who cannot be trusted any further than he can be usefully chucked. So No Deal Brexit - which does not enjoy majority support - can be taken off the table.

It’s no use the likes of Brendan O’Neill, or perhaps that should be “the anti-democratic Brendan O’Neill who no-one voted for”, throwing temper tantrums because the grownups don’t want the UK’s economy damaged beyond repair.

If you want “anti-Democratic”, Bren, look at your hero Bozo, entrusting power to someone who never held elective office. Look at the ways Bozo and Polecat Dom are trying to act without accountability. You want to defend democracy, first focus on the real elites - of which you are a part - and the real democracy deniers. Stop shitting the rest of us.

Brendan O’Neill is out of control. But you knew that anyway.
Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at


3 comments:

Sam said...

Brendan O'Neill really is a busted flush these days ever since it was revealed Spiked was funded by the Koch Brothers. I mean those guys are not a charity.
Then he is on the payroll of the billionaire Rupert Murdoch famed for his "democratic" ideals with regular well paid columns in Rupert's loss making beloved organ The Australian.
To top it off his regular Australian visits are funded by the creepy Oz "think tank" the IPA whose policies include: demolish Oz's Medicare universal healthcare system, cancel all pensions and any type of social security, cease any form of income tax, sell off the government funded ABC Network (to Rupert of course) etc etc..you get the drift.
Two of the funders of the IPA are Gina Rinehart and Rupert Murdoch and others hiding in the shadows.
And O'Neill rails against elites?

Anonymous said...

Good grief.

O'Neill is in serious need of counselling......I mean serious need.

The poor bugger.

Anonymous said...

“They openly discuss overriding the largest democratic vote in British history”.

Bit late to be trying the change the result of the 1992 General Election isn't it?