Oh Tommy Tommy - Back In Court

And so it came to pass that Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, was released from jail early, not because he had scored some kind of victory over the hated MSM and the alleged Deep State, but because he had agreed to withdraw a variety of untrue and defamatory claims against a Syrian refugee - and not to repeat them.

To show how badly he had not been treated during his period of incarceration, Lennon appeared unshaven, as if shaving was banned for those doing a stretch in the old chokey. But he had not forgotten his faithful followers, for whom he teased the prospect of another of those FREEZE PEACH rallies, as in freedom of speech for him, but not for anyone of differing view.

What, then, would attendees as the latest Lennon rally have served up to them? Grok, from the world of far-right hero Elon Musk, has helpfully summarised the narrative. “Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was released early from prison on May 27, 2025, after his sentence for contempt of court was reduced”. There was, sadly, more.

“Upon his release, he immediately resumed his public activities, criticising what he referred to as ‘Islamic rape gangs’ and announcing plans for a large ‘Free Speech Festival’ in London. His release has sparked reactions from both his supporters (only two of them, eh?), who view him as a champion of free speech, and his critics, who accuse him of promoting Islamophobia”.

And, as Jon Stewart might have put it, two things here. One, if he really wants to tackle child sexual exploitation, and indeed, grooming of young people as a whole, he could start in his own back yard. Louise Raw, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, informed The Great Man “While you were away watching movies and going [to the] gym at our expense, even MORE far right men have been exposed as paedophiles”. Rather a lot of them, in fact.

Do go on. “You REFUSE to speak on this. Why are the far right covering up this scandal?” She concluded “you’ll see your one time close friend RICHARD PRICE here. You founded the EDL with him. AFTER he was on the sex offenders’ register, the EDL called him a ‘hero’. WHY WON’T YOU ADDRESS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?” Questions Lennon’s rally won’t address.

Moreover, Two, this is just another playing of the “Look Over There” card. As the Guardian pointed out, “Tommy Robinson, the jailed far-right activist, has been charged with harassment of two journalists … is accused of two counts of harassment causing fear of violence between 5 and 7 August last year”.

Oh? Do tell. “He will appear at Westminster magistrates court on 5 June 2025, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). ‘We have authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 42, with harassment causing fear of violence against two men,’ a CPS spokesperson said”. And there was a coda.

“The far-right figure is facing a separate trial in October next year over an accusation that he failed to provide the Pin for his mobile phone when stopped by Kent police in Folkestone in July 2024”. Out of clinky just in time to appear in court, with the distinct possibility that he gets, er, sent back to said clinky. And I have more bad news for The Great Man.

Having had Lennon rock up on my doorstep in the dead of night - twice - in an act of harassment, I have to tell him that, should the prosecution require more evidence of his modus operandi, I will be more than willing to provide it. There is also the case of his turning up at Lizzie Dearden’s place and harassing her and her partner, for nothing more than reporting what happened in court.

Come to think of it, I can recall another three acts of harassment perpetrated by Lennon in the recent past, all justified by peddling a pack of lies about those he harassed. He lied about Ms Dearden’s reporting. He lied about me. Now, Lennon’s pals claim he is “fighting the [Daily] Mail”. It’s a criminal charge he’s facing. So he isn’t fighting the Mail. It’s just another pack of lies.

But the plea for donations is as predictable, and real, as ever. Except that, this time, Lennon really does face being banged up for a handful. Sad, really.

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Reform UK And The Rise Of Ignorance

Opinion polls continue to show a rise in support for Reform UK, headed by its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, with the result that the clueless coterie which is claimed to be running the Labour Party has become concerned enough to take action. Their problem is that the ship has already sailed, and no matter what they do, they can’t out-Farage Farage.

Ignorance is strength!

Reform UK may be a shambolic affair, with no shortage of revelations concerning the views of its newly-elected representatives, usually revealing sneering and vicious racism, coupled with staggering ignorance and an inability to understand that Great Britain and England are not interchangeable terms. This last was exemplified by new Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns.

There had, she argued, to be a way to stop the “Pull to England” which brought so many refugees. Perhaps if they arrived in Scotland or Wales, all would be well. No matter though, her pals at Reform UK have diverted the attention of voters with claims that the councils they now control will ban all that Woke Nonsense, although they probably couldn’t define “Woke”.

Richard Tice (he’s not very nice) has gone as far as to assert that Reform UK councils will crack down on planning applications for new wind farms. His problem is that pre-judging such applications is highly likely to lead to those councils being sued and costing a significant amount of public money in the process. He is also dishonestly blaming Net Zero for, well, anything.

None of this deters the voters, though. Nor does the further ignorance displayed by Tice’s unappealing partner Isabel Oakeshott, who recently trilled “[Reform UK] will go to court to close asylum seeker hotels in [Reform UK] council areas. When it comes to ending this scandal, the party means business”. That would be outside a council’s remit. Still, details, eh?

One might have expected an alleged investigative journalist to have thought that through before shooting off their online mouth, but there’s prejudice to spread and ignorance to feed, so off she goes. One incoming Reform UK councillor didn’t seem to know that you can’t obtain British citizenship without being able to speak English. Others will defend anything Farage supports.

The 3D chess ain't making it

So when the Economist looked at Reform UK’s spending plans and concluded that they would result in a worse fiscal shock than Liz Truss’ infamous intervention, there was the Reform UK brains trust claiming that this was only “The MSM” and they always lied about their hero. Farage is a congenital liar, but there are none so blind as will not see.

So what has Labour’s ruling clique done in response? Tried to out-Reform Reform. This is a colossal act of stupidity: Reform UK is a safe haven for racists, and they are not going to jump ship for Labour merely because they are pretending to be tough on all those migrants, which in practical terms means Scary Muslims™. Still, off they went, to no effect whatsoever.

Bringing the unedifying spectacle observed by Adam Bienkov of Byline Times: “Yvette Cooper gives an exclusive interview to GB News about her immigration plans, during which the interviewer tells her that some of their viewers live near asylum seekers and their ‘children can't leave home’ … No push back from the Home Secretary”. That was bad; Kier Starmer was worse.

One hates to go all Neil Kinnock on the PM, but here we had A Labour Prime Minister - A Labour Prime Minister - scuttling round media outlets saying “We risk becoming an island of strangers”. So close to Enoch Powell’s “They found themselves made strangers in their own country” from his infamous 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech as to make no difference.

Who is driving the Labour bus? If, as has been claimed by those close to The Great Man, it is the cabal headed by Morgan McSweeney, maybe he should be the one defending this disgraceful descent into scapegoating and bigotry. And, as a side order, explaining why Labour can’t leave Mr Thirsty to his racism and just improve voters’ lives. Because that’s what they’re there for.

They thought they were so clever in throwing the 2019 election. But the dirty tricks won’t win voters back. Now they are lost. And ignorance is king.

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Labour Useless And Now Clueless

So the dust has settled after a round of local elections - plus a Parliamentary by-election - last Thursday. The Tories continued their slide towards irrelevance by losing two-thirds of the seats they contested. But, as Robert Peston might have put it, here’s a thing - Labour also lost two-thirds of the seats they contested, too. And they lost that Parliamentary by-election.

Morgan McSweeney - la la la, he can't hear you

That last, in the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby, was gained by Reform UK, the domain of its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, by a mere six votes. Labour should have had the ground game to hold on to the seat. But here is, instead, the key to where the insular and tone-deaf cabal who run Labour found their past catching up with them.

Just a few more activists helping out, a few more pairs of hands to do the drudgery of leafletting, knocking doors, a few more smiling faces to show the voters, would have given Labour the edge. But it has been made clear to anyone who needs to know that, while those activists were taking a shed-load of abuse during the 2019 General Election campaign, those who now run the party were working against their leadership to throw the contest.

The question those activists asked, and for which there was no credible answer other than to treat them as mugs, as so much cannon fodder, with not so much as the slightest apology, was “Why the fuck should I put myself out for this bunch of shysters?” There has been no credible answer.

So the party was always short of activists. It managed to hold off the likes of George Galloway in Batley and Spen, but that was before the revelation that those not unadjacent to Morgan McSweeney and his Labour Together pals - there’s a name with the ultimate contradiction in terms - had worked to lose the 2019 campaign to the Tories. And we know where that led.

Those same sources then sneeringly briefed their favoured media outlets that party leader Keir Starmer was not really in charge - “we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR” - but they can’t grasp why the voters would choose a party whose leader is a congenital liar. Perhaps it’s because their own party leader does rather too much lying of his own, so what’s the difference?

Instead, we read “Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, will pore over the results … and it likely to conclude that he is right to pursue a ‘blue Labour’ strategy to address the populist threat - a policy which is already starting to be deployed”. This is beyond wrong headed. One need only consider the decisions already made, and which have already failed with the voters.

Winter fuel allowance abolished, changing Inheritance Tax rules for farms, cutting disability benefits, all creating so much negative reaction for so little saving. And all the decisions that could have been taken to benefit the less well off and create economic growth have been ignored.

Taxing the very well off a little more to give those at the bottom of the pile a break - money going from those with a propensity to save, to those who have a propensity to spend - no, can’t do that. Rejoining the EU single market and customs union to get back some of that £100 billion a year Brexit hit on the economy - no, can’t do that. VAT refunds for tourists - er, um, er, um, er, not really. Abolish the two child cap - ooh no, what will the press think?

Nor will the inane catchphrases work without some actual action to back them up. “Further, faster”. Further than what? Faster than what? “Plan for change”, “Delivering change” - the electorate doesn’t see any change. And anyone showing empathy for the plight of the Palestinians is either ignored or told that they are an anti-Semite. So voters go elsewhere. And will go elsewhere.

The Greens gained council seats. So did the Lib Dems. Reform UK gained massively. The Tories lost big time. But Labour did too. The idea that voters would just obediently return to Labour is for the birds. Heck, they didn’t even do that last year: the Labour vote was down on 2019, but turnout was down even further. McSweeney and his pals are alone in La-La Land.

Farage may be a con artist. But voters are not being listened to by a ruling Labour cabal that is very good at smearing, infighting, and damaging their own party as if it were some kind of game. They falsely smeared The Canary as anti-Semitic and Fake News Tee Hee Hee! They shut the left out of power Tee Hee Hee! They got rid of Jeremy Corbyn Tee Hee Hee!

But the lives of millions of folks at the bottom of the pile are not a game. And those millions have the vote. As one Labour MP put it, “It’s all very well for No 10 to say we’ve got to keep delivering. The problem is that it’s the stuff we’ve delivered that people hate”. Labour’s ruling cabal is devoid of ideas, and as a result, the party they claim to rule resembles a dead man walking.

McSweeney and his pals could solve this problem. By packing their bags and leaving the stage - to those who actually give a damn about the voters.

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