Zelo Street

Tuesday, 10 October 2023

Spectator Bigot Goes To Portugal

After making my move to Portugal earlier this year, it was inevitable that others would follow: with the inevitability of night following day, the UK is becoming more run down, more indebted and more unloved as the Tories, still backed by our free and fearless press, foul everything up yet more. So it was that someone out there on the right made the same decision.

Lionel Shriver. Now resident in the EU

Not just on the right, too: from the increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine, the only slightly bigoted Lionel Shriver has admitted that she and her husband should now be somewhere in the country, having penned “I’m leaving Britain - and I feel guilty” earlier this month and assuring readers “Our movers arrive tomorrow”. Did she ask how long that process would take?

Because if her house worth of goods is part of a Groupage, it’ll be several weeks before she sees any of it again. And then there are all those Customs declarations and maybe extra charges. Still, she makes sure to tell “Beautiful beaches extend a 15-minute stroll from our new house, roomier than anything we could afford in Britain; from our awaiting back balconies, the sea glistens on the horizon”. Slow moving mass of water nearby? Mosquitoes, anyone?

Then we get that bigotry. “Not to get stuck into Suella Braverman’s whole multiculturalism palaver, but Portugal is still culturally coherent. The population is only 11 million, and most of them are Portuguese. In the London neighbourhood we’re leaving behind, we have not been living among the English”. Would that mean people who are not white? Surprise, surprise!

Yes, 92.5% of those resident in Portugal are Portuguese nationals. But that does not mean they are all white. Before the expiry of the Estado Novo in 1974, the country held doggedly on to its colonies, claiming that they weren’t really colonies, but parts of a Greater Portugal, honestly.

There was also, until 1961, a Portuguese foothold on the Indian sub continent, in the shape, mainly, of Goa. The Indian Government seized Goa in a brief military operation; the Government of António de Oliveira Salazar attempted to invoke the old alliance with Britain, but Perfidious Albion was conflicted, as the former colonial power. So the UK sat on its hands long enough for Goa to fall. Those talking of old alliances should note that well.

Praça do Comércio, Lisbon. With the Barreiro ferry arriving

Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa has Goan heritage. Many other citizens have African heritage. Ms Shriver may be about to discover the hard way that multiculturalism does not end at the Channel. She is also going to find her other assumptions do not stand up well. Like on energy.

“I’ve watched with growing horror for 25 years while coal and nuclear power plants have gone offline with no serious reinvestment in reliable energy sources”. What’re you doing moving to Portugal, then? The last coal power plant has ceased generation, and there never was commercial nuclear power. But there is an emphasis on renewables, especially hydro power.

Do go on. “I’ve increasingly had the sensation of living in a country that is falling apart”. Like how, and what? “The NHS is in a state of collapse”. There are continual concerns about the SNS, the Portuguese equivalent. Have another go. “For the last year, the prevalence of strikes has been positively Gallic”. Have I got news for you, Ms S! Strikes, you say. Yes, well.

This year’s rail strikes dragged on, but they’ve all been settled. Doctors and other medics? Still going on. Try again. “With a fierce and worsening housing shortage”. Not moving anywhere near Lisbon, then. And then comes “Although improved weather beckons”. Moving just in time for the weather to break, sorry. Starting later this week. And did I mention bureaucracy?

Just wait until she gets to the till at the local supermarket and the person there asks “Contribuinte?” Getting a Social Security number is its own aptitude test. So is being sent somewhere like Viana do Castelo to pursue the all-important residence permit. And getting a bank account? I’ll have to assume she passed that test. After all that, Bem-Vindo a Portugal.

Hopefully nowhere near Pinhal Novo, mind. There are limits to tolerance.

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Monday, 9 October 2023

Oh Tommy - Back In The UK

Having left the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom for a spell in Cuba, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, eventually arrived in Spain, still having not paid up after he lost a libel action brought by a young refugee whom Lennon had persistently and deliberately lied about. He was also in breach of a Stalking Prevention Order.

So what would a sensible fugitive from justice do in these circumstances? What would someone wanting to lie low and not bring attention to himself have done? What would Nietzsche have done? Sadly for Lennon, he does not operate at that intellectual level, and as a result, anyone who wanted to know, including the legal profession and the cops, knew where he was.

The Great Man has been in residence at a property in the area of El Albir, which is on the Mediterranean coast between Benidorm and Altea. In other words, in an area teeming with the kinds of British tourists who would be most likely to recognise him. So, had the courts wanted to have him lifted and extradited back to the UK, they would have had no problem finding him.

Lennon may have thought that, because the UK is no longer part of the EU, this would have made him safer. But, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, there was only one thing wrong with this idea - it was bollocks. In any case, the authorities will not need to lift a finger to pursue Lennon, as he is due in court next Wednesday, and it looks like he will be there.

So what of the court appearance? Hope Not Hate’s Nick Lowles has explained “Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) is back in court this week trying to overturn a Stalking Prevention Order issued against him for harassing a journalist from a national newspaper who was writing an article accusing him of spending supporter donations on drugs and prostitutes”.

HnH never said peep about much of Lennon’s harassment, including his two visits to my house in the dead of night, but good to have them fully awake this time. Do go on: “he turned up at a journalist’s house at 10.30pm on a Sunday evening and threatened to release highly malicious - and false - information about the journalist’s partner unless the article was withdrawn”.

There was more. “His vitriol against the journalist has - predictably - led to a barrage of angry abuse from his supporters, including one comment that … he should put a contract out on the said journalist … That Lennon has - once again - totally disregarded a court judgement surely isn’t going to put him in a good position for his appeal”. HnH will brief the authorities before the appeal.

Meanwhile, The Great Man gives the impression that he is going to not only win the day, but also pick up in the UK where he left off. To this end, he has released a short video where he tells “English Defence League reunion … which city shall we hit … comments underneath … we’re coming back with a bang [laughs] just when you thought you’d got rid of us”.

Thus Lennon gave every anti-fascist in the UK advance warning that their presence, should they be able to spare the time and be able to travel, will be required, perhaps at short notice. We have quite enough hatred in the world right now, without the EDL being exhumed merely to satisfy the flabby and insecure ego of a serial lawbreaker with a victimhood complex.

Moreover, there is the small matter of all that money Lennon has managed to avoid paying after his libel loss. So that’s potentially someone else who may be waiting for him. What will happen? For those who Lennon and his pals have terrorised over the years, there is only one outcome where they will feel more safe, more able to go about their lives, and more free from stress.

And that would be an outcome where Lennon is handed a custodial sentence. Sent to prison. Banged up down the Scrubs, although perhaps not doing a handful on The Moor. Where Lennon will have the benefit of playing the victim, conning his supporters out of money, pretending that the Scary Muslims™ are ganging up on him, and otherwise feeling sorry for himself.

Another little Wild West Show deserves to come to an end. That is all.

Sunday, 8 October 2023

Palestine Does Not Equal Hamas

The incursion into Israeli-held and administered territory by forces from Gaza continues, as many look on with growing concern the conflict may escalate, drawing in other countries across the wider Middle East and becoming yet more bloody. For those Robin Day memorably and correctly called Here Today And Gone Tomorrow Politicians, however, here was an opportunity.

Wanting peace: Jeremy Corbyn

Gaza is administered, if not controlled, by Hamas, which in the UK is a proscribed organisation, and a terrorist one. So some less than totally good faith actors have decided that expressing support for the Palestinian cause is the same as supporting Hamas. There was, though, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, only one thing wrong with this - it was bollocks.

Displaying, or even holding and waving, the Palestinian flag, is not the same thing as supporting Hamas. Nor is calling for de-escalation, and a ceasefire, the same thing as supporting Hamas. But politicians out there on the right know no limits to their desperation, with the Tories unable to even get the smallest conference poll bounce, remaining 20 points adrift of Labour.

So when former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told “The unfolding events in Israel and Palestine are deeply alarming. We need an immediate ceasefire and urgent de-escalation. And we need a route out of this tragic cycle of violence: ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace”, there was a bad faith actor waiting for him.

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat was ready with the smearing iron. “Your ‘friends’ Hamas are murdering children and taking civilian hostages. Haven’t you said enough?” Quote marks doing some seriously heavy lifting there in a potential effort to score a Sun or Mail column, or even secure the odd directorship once he leaves the Commons. But no constructive comment, mind.

Wanting to score cheap political points: Tom Tugendhat ...

Tugendhat would probably not be so keen on guilt by association if it were applied to him. As Michael Crick noted, “Security minister Tom Tugendhat tells me he would welcome Nigel Farage into the Conservative Party if he applied to join”. Someone who stands shoulder to shoulder with Combover Crybaby Donald Trump. Who wants his opponents summarily executed.

Still, there was former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil in the same corner, sneering at Jezza, just to make sure his press pals don’t forget him out there in France. “Obviously the indiscriminate launching of 2,000+ missiles to slaughter civilians indiscriminately is not a matter for condemnation in your world. But could you not have a word with your ‘friends at Hamas’ to stop it?”

Yeah, condemn what I decide requires condemnation, or you’re a “friend” of TRRSTS. Brillo, like Tugendhat using quote marks, shows himself to be of less than perfect courage. As was sneering nonentity Brendan Clarke Smith, another who’ll be out come the next election. “People actually campaigned for this man to be made our Prime Minister. Let that sink in for a moment”.

... and the auto-sneering Brendan Clarke Smith

Why is so much effort being expended to do little more than urge people to “look over there”? Ah well. We need look no further than another Tory nobody, this time Mark Harper, teed up by another bad faith actor, Camilla Tominey of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, who has a Sunday show on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”).

“I wondered what your reaction was to those celebrating this terror attack by Hamas on the streets of London. Should they be investigated by the Police for hate crimes?” At last, a question not about Tory ineptitude and lying! “The British Government stands unequivocally with Israel … Hamas is of course a proscribed terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, so anybody expressing support for it is committing an offence”.

So now you know why Jezza got all that stick: wanting to move in the general direction of peace is an excuse for more of those bad faith actors to suggest this is support for a proscribed organisation, and should therefore result in an immediate arrest. Even if they just wave the Palestinian flag.

Palestine still does not equal Hamas. Lasting peace is the only way out.

Saturday, 7 October 2023

Israel, Gaza, And Security

Ever flown with El Al? That’s not a flippant or cynical question, but a deadly serious one. Israel’s flag carrier projects not merely the nation state, but also gives those travelling an insight into another projection: that of Israel’s security apparatus. You have to pass armed Police and two “face to face interviews” before being allowed to even check in. Because security.

After checking in, you go airside immediately and the departure gate area is partitioned off to all except those boarding the El Al flight. Who are kept under surveillance from more of those security operatives. Hand luggage is scanned again. Just to make sure. The incoming flight is escorted across the apron by a Police vehicle. Operatives patrol around the aircraft at ground level.

As for all those individuals and groups who the Israeli intelligence agencies suspect of ill intent towards the nation state, infiltration is the name of the game. Raids, attacks, acquisition of weaponry, illicit border crossings, in and adjacent to Israel and further abroad, are thus anticipated and action is taken to prevent them. No other nation state has the security apparatus of Israel.

That is why the first question was asked, especially given this morning’s crossing of the Gaza-Israel border by Palestinian forces, the apparent ease with which they made that crossing, and that the Israeli military and security forces were, apparently, caught unawares. The crossing was preceded by the firing of thousands of rockets. Given the lack of effectiveness of those devices previously, it should be blindingly obvious that this was primarily a distraction.

And it seems to have worked: those crossing from Gaza have incapacitated Israeli military hardware, have frightened the civilian population, many of whom are in hiding, and have taken hostage well north of 50 Israelis, some of whom are soldiers, but others, worryingly, are just ordinary citizens.

From our political leaders, there has been predictable hand-wringing, with assertions that Israel has a right to defend itself (as if some nation states do not have that right), and the Palestinian forces being told to desist, as if Israel does not possess the ability to engage militarily, or take other retaliatory action, which it most certainly does. But mainstream leaders miss the point.

As Rachel Shabi put it, “Anyone watching the region was desperately warning of war, braced for it, given the horrifying rise in violence against Palestinians in recent years met as usual with impunity from the west”, later adding “Israeli cabinet meeting at 1pm. With the especially extreme nature of the current Israeli government, filled with dread at what’s about to unfold”. POINT.

Which is one reason that Palestinian forces have taken so many hostages, to whom they are referring as “prisoners of war”. Well, if that is the case, the various Geneva Conventions apply: those in Gaza should not lose sight of the fact. As Kim Ghattas of The Atlantic has noted, “The only thing that could delay/reign in/complicate Israeli massive retaliation against Gaza is that these Israelis captives are held somewhere in Gaza”.

Why now? As a writer for The Nation pointed out, “What is happening in occupied Palestine is a response to weeks and months and years of daily Israeli military invasions into Palestinian towns, killings of Palestinians, and the very fact that millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are besieged under Israeli blockade”. But we also have an un-square-able circle here.

Haggai Matar had bad news: “Israeli social media is now seeing calls for actual, literal genocide. Netanyahu has promised an attack on Gaza in a scale ‘our enemies have never seen before’. We should expect so much more bloodshed in the days and weeks to come”. Israel behaves badly towards Palestinians, while its population is taught to hate them.

If retaliatory action is seen to be disproportionate, that just runs the risk of States across the wider Middle East deciding to pile in against Israel. Some of whom have significant amounts of very modern and very deadly weaponry. Meanwhile, the usual suspects will attack anyone trying to consider the totality of the problem as “anti-Semites”. Get real. And quit smearing.

There may be a major war going on very soon. And it’s no good whining at the Palestinians. It still takes two to Tango. So much for that security.

Friday, 6 October 2023

Penny Mordaunt Goes Hughie Green

As if this week’s Tory party conference in Manchester did not already contain enough low points and sufficient embarrassing moments, those of A Certain Age may have made the connection between the mildly bizarre podium monologue of Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons and Lord President of the council, and a showbiz fascist from the mists of broadcast time.

Penny Mordaunt ...

“Stand up and fight, because when you stand up and fight, the person beside you stands up and fights” she began, evoking drinking-up time kicking off in no style at all. And there was more. “And when our party stands up and fights, the nation stands up and fights”. Doubtful. But do go on. “And when our nation stands up and fights, other nations stand up and fight”. Whatever.

Those other nations are too busy getting on with putting one over on the UK, which has, with the wonder that is Brexit, imposed economic sanctions upon itself. But it was all about FREEM. “Have courage. Bring hope. Stand up and fight”. There was also “Stand up and fight against the odds, against the polling, against the sneering commentary, against the inevitability of decliners and the despite-Brexiters”. The latter category are your supporters, Ms M.

But she wasn’t finished. “We are the party and country that transformed the sick man of Europe into a titan on the global stage, who stood up and fought against militant trade unions and broke their chokehold on Britain". Three million unemployed, North Sea Oil money wasted, that sort of thing.

There was yet more. “A few brave people [the cops. The right-wing press. The rich. Foreigners like Rupe] with courage and conviction and love of country who thought about the long-term, not short-term popularity, who knew what needed to be done and took on bullies to achieve it. Margaret Thatcher and every single person that stood with her and fought for a better future”.

The usual highly creative reinterpretation of recent history, then. But it was the “Stand up and fight” exhortation that rang bells. It was very adjacent to the call to his viewers to “Stand up and be counted” that ultimately saw bosses at the ITV network pull host Hughie Green and his long running talent show Opportunity Knocks off the air. Green was a broadcasting legend.

... now channelling this old fascist

Sadly, he was also a right old fascist. Despite his programme’s success - 18 million would tune in to every show, the original to which New Faces, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and all the others trace their lineage - Green used the programme to push his right-wing propaganda. What proved the last straw for Jeremy Isaacs and others came at the end of 1976.

To quote Wiki, “in December 1976, Green recited a monologue about the state of the United Kingdom, followed by a choir singing ‘Stand Up and Be Counted’, with the words coming up in subtitles: ‘Stand up and be counted, where the managers manage and the workers don't go on strike’”. Penny Mordaunt also broached the spectre of strike action in her speech.

Green was also a stinking hypocrite who used the scandal of an extramarital affair to see off producer Jess Yates (after he had failed to get ITV bosses to remove Yates on his say-so), while carrying on a succession of extramarital affairs himself, including one brief fling with the wife of, er, Jess Yates. The late Paula Yates discovered to her horror that Green was her father.

And right now, the Tories, having been caught pursuing a scorched earth policy on HS2, putting forward a list of alternative projects, some of which have already been built and many already announced, with their party leader proudly palling up to Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s far-right PM (“God, fatherland and family”, anyone?), are echoing TV’s most infamous old fascist.

That’s on top of more hate speech from Suella Braverman, for some reason appointed as Home Secretary, equally hard-right rhetoric from Kemi Badenoch, sniffing at the idea of a US-UK trade deal because Joe Biden stands in solidarity with ordinary working people, an increasingly intolerant response to protest, and indifference to man-made climate change.

Hughie Green would have loved it. And I mean that most sincerely, folks.

Wednesday, 4 October 2023

GB News - Now The Sackings

And so it came to pass that Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) did indeed find a way to save money: it sacked two of the three presenters involved in the row over deeply misogynist comments made live on air about Ava-Santina Evans. The only regret that many will feel is that the broadcaster, for some reason, failed to make it three out of three.

As the BBC has reported, “Laurence Fox has been sacked by GB News after an outcry about comments he made on air about a female journalist … The former actor and political activist sparked controversy last week when he asked what ‘self-respecting man’ would ‘climb into bed’ with Ava Evans”. Shouldn’t that be “political activist and former actor”? Whatever.

There was more. “Fox hosted a weekly show on the channel and made the comments while appearing as a contributor on Dan Wootton's show … Fellow host Calvin Robinson, who was suspended after voicing support for Fox and Wootton, has also been fired”. God has once again moved in mysterious ways, and has not intervened on behalf of the Poundshop Pontiff.

Do go on. “In a video last Thursday, Fox apologised for the language he used and predicted his sacking, which he said would open GB News up to ‘complete destruction’ … ‘GB News had one opportunity and that opportunity was to stand up and defend free speech, which they haven't done,’ he said”. The kind of language designed to leave GB News no alternative to sacking.

And just to show that Dear Dear Larry’s campaign had developed not necessarily to his advantage, the Beeb has also told today that “Actor Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras … The Metropolitan Police did not name him but said a 45-year-old man was also accused of encouraging or assisting offences to be committed”. Why would the Met’s finest be doing that?

Ah well. Larry had used some most unfortunate language in an interview yesterday. As one Tweeter put it, “It comes off the back of yesterday’s Rumble interview with Maajid Nawaz, where on ULEZ, he said he’d be ‘out there with my angle grinder’ and would be ‘happy to be arrested’”.

Sacked? Oh SHIT!

It’s entirely possible that Fox is of less than perfect courage, and would not be seen dead “out there with my angle grinder”, especially as he gave the appearance this morning that he was anything but “happy to be arrested”. But the Police have to deal with rather a lot of mindless ULEZ camera vandalism, and a media personality encouraging such behaviour is clearly frowned upon.

But what of the third actor in all of this, the singularly repellant Dan Wootton? Haven’t GB News sacked him too? He was, after all, the presenter who, after Fox sneered “Who'd want to shag that?” laughed openly. He tried to do a little contrition, but Dear Dear Larry undermined him by releasing an exchange of messages showing that Desperate Dan really did think it was all a hoot.

Dear Larry. Dear dear Larry. Dear sacked and arrested Larry

While Calvin Robinson begins his campaign to monetise his dismissal as an alleged “Crusade Against Cancel Culture”, Wootton remains silent on Twitter, X, or whatever we’re supposed to call it this week. His bio still claims “Executive Editor and Presenter of Dan Wootton Tonight”, but then also claims he’s a columnist for Mail Online, even thought they’ve sacked him.

His producer, Ben Leo, has taken the reference to The Desperate Dan Show off his own bio. And what we know of Wootton’s conduct during that exchange with the already sacked Fox is that he disregarded more than one instruction from management, which on its own is textbook Gross Misconduct. So they could bin him on that alone. Maybe his lawyers are playing a blinder.

Or, more likely, there is negotiation going on between the parties, which will involve a sum of money, and a form of words which will enable Wootton to escape total and abject humiliation. That would show the world that Mr Angel Cake Frangipane, or whatever the big boss at GB News calls himself, may not be quite as tough and uncompromising as he’d like us all to think.

Still, as the song goes, two out of three ain’t bad. Just rejoice at that news.

A Tale Of Two Prime Ministers

Once again, the Tories have been using their conference to confirm that they talk well, but lie badly. Lying about “15 minute neighbourhoods”, lying about a non-existent meat tax, lying about householders having to sort rubbish into seven bins, and a Prime Minister lying about not making a decision on the HS2 project, when he had already made that decision.

Rishi Sunak - just winging it

Lying about facts, claiming to be the party of facts, while inventing stories that are mainly, or wholly, untrue. The result should shame them, and they should be called out by every media outlet covering their activities, but when Suella Braverman, for some reason made Home Secretary, blusters “We cannot let British cities go the way of San Francisco or Seattle”, we get crickets.

Very few hacks make the connection made by Ian Fraser: “Suella Braverman slams San Francisco and Seattle. Is it because they respectively have GDP/capita of $290,000 and $119,000 while London’s is only $68,000?" Very few challenge the claim that binning another part of HS2 will free up lots of money for other projects, but Phase 2 (the part binned) will release little next year.

Rishi Sunak gives the appearance of echoing his predecessor but one, the now disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, in lying to get through the day’s news cycle. One wonders how he would cope with almost two hours of questioning, first by two journalists, and then by a whole audience worth of the public. He wouldn’t.

But one European Prime Minister just did that last Monday. For one hour and 53 minutes, a duration I had to double check, so used was I to UK Prime Ministers struggling to manage a coherent ten or fifteen minutes with one interviewer. CNN Portugal did a “Town Hall” event (yes, USA-isms here too) with António Costa, who has been PM of the country since 2015.

So he has one advantage over Sunak, having occupied The Hot Seat since the election that former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage lied about so shamelessly. But one difference Costa faces is that Portugal does not have the compliant right-wing press of the UK, no oligarch dominated media, no Murdoch, no Rothermere, no f-f-f-Dacre.

António Costa - less drama, more detail

Another advantage, though, is that Costa is across the detail. UK PMs were once thus: Mrs T was ferociously well-read and briefed. Tony Blair was good on detail; Gordon Brown was better. It’s only with the likes of Bozo that the country has had leaders just winging it, and lying to cover the cracks. So what kinds of subjects did the CNN interviewers and the audience cover?

Social Care, with an increase in the number of “social hospitalisations” (a well known problem in the UK for some time now) was acknowledged. There was to be a rise in the minimum wage. Housing shortages were an inevitable area for questioning: especially in Lisbon, high rents are forcing people out of the centre. One reason they’re building more on the South Side of the river.

And the new airport. Lisbon apparently has Europe’s busiest single runway airport. The issue has been on the boil for decades, but faded after the financial crisis and then the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourism, travel and climate change all have to be addressed, and balanced. Costa concluded that there was one inevitable fact about a new airport: there will never be consensus.

He did, though, decline to hint at where a new airport might be sited. He also declined to say what changes might be coming down the line on personal taxation. But every question was addressed, whoever pitched it. Sunak, meanwhile, invents a meaningless “the last 30 years” strawman, and his Home Secretary has a senior Tory expelled from conference for dissent.

The two PMs do have one thing in common: their Indian heritage. But one thing they do not is tenure: Costa has a majority in the Assembly, and barring any more upheavals like the TAP inquiry, there will not need to be another election until 2026. Sunak, barring a miracle, will be thrown out of office next year, along with his cabinet of grotesques, liars and freeloaders.

Thus the two Prime Ministers: one talking facts, the other just pretending.

Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Tory Girl Cries Wolf Once Too Often

The Tory party is not at the peak of popularity right now. It has been scraping the barrel of positive opinion for so long that it has buried out the bottom and hit bedrock. So those attending its conference this week in Manchester would know that the only warm welcome they were likely to receive was if one of the more enterprising locals was to set fire to them.

Emily Hewertson

That’s as in someone else setting their pants on fire, rather than the blaze being the result of spontaneous ignition brought on by another episode of talking well, but lying badly. But, as the late Clive James might have said, I digress. One of the more rabid right-wing fringe has now made an evidence free leap from lack of popularity to Being Thrown Out Of Bars.

I kid you not: this dubious honour goes to one Emily Hewertson, whose name may ring a bell with those who have looked in on Zelo Street. It was she who was featured in a BBC puff piece called “Party girls can do politics”. For some reason, the Beeb missed Ms Hewertson’s link to Turning Point UK, the offshoot of a US original linked to white supremacism.

But, so what? Ah well. Ms Hewertson also asserted “I am sick of going into pubs to find left-wing groups, shouting at me make me feel so uncomfortable, to the point I have [to] leave. Sorry, but this has happened to [sic] many times. Tonight, I went in and a group called my name and continued to look at me - I ignored. The friend I was with then went for a drink and I got told, when I was alone, that I had ‘very strong opinions’ despite having fairly liberal ones”.

Do go on. “This is extremely intimidating and I’m glad I am confident, as others would be even more afraid. I even felt obligated [?] to leave after one drink. This isn’t the first example … I do not care if you disagree with me … What I care about is when you shout rubbish at a 20 year old, who is out and about, having a good time!” Things that never happened, take 94.

This should be borne in mind when considering Ms Hewertson’s latest fantasy outburst. “Hearing stories about people being abused and kicked out of bars across Manchester just because they’re Tories. The tolerant left!” Care to name bars plural? Sorry, singular. “Happened at The New Union, btw”. Ben Leo chipped in with a terse “Can confirm”. Who he?

Leo is a producer for Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”). His Twitter/X/Whatever bio used to more specifically tell that he was a producer for Dan Wootton Tonight, but that detail has somehow vanished from view. Ms Hewertson is also a GB News presence.

What a coincidence! But then a problem entered. How would The New Union, or indeed any other bar, pub, or similar establishment know that the person they had decided to expel from the premises was a Tory? Do they all wear some form of ID? Does the decibel level emanating from their North And South define them thus? Maybe the Rotten Lefties™ grassed them up.

Guy Lambert was unimpressed. “Then name the bars and do a story about it. GB News is just leaping onto these allegations as if they are fact, and they are not until the bar(s) concerned have been questioned and their perspective given. This is hack journalism”. Correctamundo. Another Tweeter asked “So Mr Producer for Dan Wootton, how did the bar know they were Tories?”

Yes, well. Meanwhile, Leo’s intervention in support of Ms Hewertson was turning out to be a campaign developing not necessarily to his advantage, as another Tweeter mocked him. “Ben, you've got GB News in your profile, you can't confirm anything mate”. Another asked “Why have you changed your bio, Benjamin? Producer for ‘Dan Wootton Tonight’ the last time I looked”.

All that his intervention has achieved is to tell the world that Desperate Dan Wootton may be on his way out of GB News. And the sum total of Emily Hewertson’s latest attempt to call wolf may be once too often. Maybe someone who also happened to be a Tory conference delegate got chucked out of a watering hole. But on the basis of political belief? No.

But good to see that paranoia, victimhood and dishonesty endure. Bless.

Monday, 2 October 2023

Sunak’s Rail Haters Strike

No-one should have been surprised when the news came: the Tories, having green-lighted the HS2 project to begin construction in early 2020, began to waver last year and cut most of its eastern leg, and have now decided to believe the propaganda circulated by their pals from Tufton Street and abandon the western leg to Manchester. While at conference in Manchester.

The lack of surprise is that this is a Government of confirmed rail haters. Amateur PM Rishi Sunak travels by helicopter and private jet; Jeremy Hunt (the former Culture Secretary) arrived in Manchester by plane; Grant “Spiv” Shapps has a private plane. This convocation of mass idiocy deliberately refuse to settle outstanding industrial action to put people off rail travel.

When the late Queen was being transported back to London for her state funeral, her remains were kept well clear of the rail network, unlike what happened after the death of her father in 1952, her favourite PM Winshton in 1965, or the Royal party following the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 (her remains went by road, everyone else took the Royal Train).

Also, the alphabet soup of alleged “think tanks”, in reality Astroturf lobby groups, the IEA, CPS, ASI and TPA, all hate railways, which nowadays mean public investment: this they all deem to be bad by definition. Sunak will no doubt duck and weave when anyone tries to nail him down on the abandonment; he may also talk well, but lie badly. Few will be convinced.

ITV News were first out of the traps: “The Manchester leg of HS2 has been shelved, ITV News understands, meaning the north west will no longer get a high speed rail connection to London. Rishi Sunak has decided instead to allocate billions previously ringfenced for the project to other transport projects in the north … A Number 10 spokesperson said no final decisions had been made but a Treasury spokesperson would not deny the reports”.

There was more. “The Leeds leg had already been cancelled and now all lines beyond Birmingham have been abandoned, meaning Crewe will also miss out on high speed rail. Mr Sunak … says priorities in the north west lie elsewhere”. Ran that one past Andy Burnham, did he? It gets worse.

“He is instead planning to fund the repair of Britain's road network by filling potholes and boosting connectivity between northern towns and cities with Northern Powerhouse Rail”. But Northern Powerhouse Rail depends on using spare capacity on the HS2 line between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly. Or, put another way, the Tories can’t even lie straight.

Do we have that all-important second source for this news? Sure do: Pippa Crerar of the Guardian told “Rishi Sunak set to confirm he is scrapping the Northern leg of HS2 to Manchester at the Tory party conference in the city - very tricky optics for government”. Tricky, as in he and his fellow Tory MPs getting out of the city in one piece, having screwed its future over.

James Chapman, who has worked in Government, was unimpressed. “What a dismal retreat and betrayal of the North. When I worked at the Treasury, we set up the National Infrastructure Commission to try to take the politics out of big projects like this and prevent this sort of short-termism. It didn’t work”.

Adam Bienkov of Byline Times added “So to summarise, the Government has just announced plans to scrap the biggest public transport infrastructure project planned for any Northern city, while taking part in its conference in that same city, which its Chancellor chose to travel to by plane”. While said Chancellor, and his PM, moaned about rail strikes they provoked.

And Simon Kendler cautioned “There you go … Stupid decision by stupid people … And don’t be fooled. There’ll be no re-allocation of funds … You can’t reallocate money that doesn’t exist … This will just cost us more, manyfold, for years to come”. But they’ll be celebrating in Tufton Street, cos after all, it’s only a game, they won, and the rotten leftie provincials lost.

The rest of Europe gets on with high speed, and upgraded, rail links. But the Tories are so much cleverer than that. Which is why the UK is screwed.

Sunday, 1 October 2023

Braverman Says Tories Will Lose

While amateur PM Rishi Sunak desperately tries to appeal to voters - any voters - in a bid to shore up what is left of the Tories’ poll ratings, with his latest pack of lies being that there is a war on the motorist, and he’ll take long-term decisions to reverse it, his supposedly loyal lieutenants are already resigned to losing the next General Election, and losing it badly.

Sunak says there are loads of anti-motorist measures out there; what he means is that a heck of a lot of pedestrians get killed and seriously injured on the roads every year, and that he’d rather not address that problem if he can persuade gullible car drivers to vote for him. That’s how barrel-scraping his agenda has become. So it’s no surprise his ministers are on manoeuvres.

One of those manoeuvring while failing completely to not have an Oh What A Giveaway moment is Suella Braverman, for some reason elevated to the rank of Home Secretary. Ms Braverman has proved to be utterly inept in the role, talking the talk and not even starting to walk the walk. She is all mouth and little else, save for blaming others for her shortcomings.

But she is good at getting her press releases recycled by the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, who are just as desperate as the Tories to stop The Blue Team losing the next election. Today’s Suella Special has been given to the Mail on Sunday, where it has been given front page treatment. The No Surprise At All is that it’s still someone else’s fault.

While Kemi Badenoch, also admitting that the Tory game is up by pitching for the leadership with a press release to the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph - “Badenoch piles pressure on Sunak to quit ECHR” - Ms Braverman’s backers at the MoS are going Full Dacre today.

“Home Secretary lets rip at ‘pampered, out-of-touch’ celebrities and says what millions have been thinking … DON’T LECTURE US FROM ST TROPEZ ON MIGRANTS, ELTON … In a no-holds-barred Mail on Sunday interview, the Home Secretary fired back at the likes of Sir Elton John and Gary Lineker, branding them members of a ‘virtue-signalling elite’ who lecture the British people ‘from their villas and private jets’”.

The article, given an “Exclusive” tag, mainly because no-one else wanted it, has Ms Braverman claiming “What we are seeing here is out-of-touch pampered elites, lecturing us on how we should think about very, very serious issues affecting the majority of British people, such as illegal migration”. Suella Braverman calls Out Of Touch on someone else No Shock Horror.

There was more. “These people don't have to wait in a queue to see a GP, they can just go private [like you]. They don't have to worry about trying to afford a car or buy a house [ditto]. The vast majority of British people are directly affected by the unprecedented scale of illegal migration [like how, perchance?]. My job is to think of them first ahead of a virtue-signalling, elitist view from Hollywood Central [Elt? Gary L? Hollywood Central? Er, no]”.

But the Oh What A Giveaway moment could not be postponed for long. “Ms Braverman, one of the frontrunners to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader, said she didn't 'have a problem with anyone flying in private jets or having villas around the world' but suggested they do not speak for the majority”. YOUR OWN PARTY LEADER IS THE ONE DOING PRIVATE JETS.

Anyhoo, do go on. “What I have a problem with is these privileged people [like your party leader] telling the British people how they should think. I find that rank hypocrisy and condescending, lecturing tone incredibly inappropriate [better tell Rishi, then]. These pampered elites are trying to look compassionate and sound virtuous [ditto]”. Then comes another giveaway.

“Last night, Ms Badenoch made a bid to seize the initiative from Ms Braverman by raising the prospect of Britain leaving the European Convention on Human Rights”. Two Bald Men Fighting Over A Comb revisited, with the added implicit honesty that the Tories are screwed.

Problem is that, after 13 years of this shower, so is the country.

Saturday, 30 September 2023

GB News And 30p Misogyny

After former somebody Laurence Fox, and the deeply repellant Dan Wootton, had participated in an exercise to maximise misogyny and woman hatred in attacking Ava-Santina Evans, and had been suspended for their trouble by management at Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), one might have thought the broadcaster would be keen to prevent a repeat.

Especially as there was more controversy looming into view with Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson “interviewing” Suella Braverman, for some reason appointed as Home Secretary. Party political broadcast masquerading as a proper interview was bad enough, without more misogyny.

And so it came to pass that 30p Lee took to Twitter, X, or whatever galactic clown Elon Musk is calling it this week, to tell anyone not yet asleep “[Suella Braverman] just nailing it on [GB News]”. She certainly wasn’t being challenged on any of her propaganda output, which was all that came out of the so-called “interview”. And some onlookers were distinctly unimpressed.

Inevitably, one of those was former Countdown numbers person Carol Vorderman, whose criticism 30p Lee never seems to take well. “Tory Lee Anderson (paid £100k by GB News) ‘interviewed’ Tory Braverman, failing to challenge her on a single point. He says she was ‘nailing it’ … GB News did their best to dress up the rest of the programme as debate which may be enough for [Ofcom] not to consider a breach. Who knows?”

She then left her foot in the tackle just a little by reminding Anderson “Meanwhile GB News - has suspended 3 presenters in 2 days - has an investigation of its own into Wootton/Fox broadcast - and Ofcom admits it has 12 ongoing investigations Into the channel”. What say 30p Lee?

Anderson just had to reach for the misogynist long handle: “The sooner we ban single plastics the better”. Historian Lisa Wade took a dim view. “As Deputy Chairman, I’d have thought you’d be familiar with the Code of Conduct for party members and representatives? Specifically, point 7 about treating others with civility and respect and not using your position to harass or discriminate against others”. She suggested complaining to the party.

But meanwhile, others were more interested in the platform where 30p Lee is paid a lot more than his nickname, and which is already in big trouble for recent misogyny. Chris Dillow mused “Lee Anderson criticizing Carol Vorderman's looks is the worst choice of opponent and subject since Piers Morgan started a war of words with the writer of The Wire”. There was more.

Marina Purkiss, unlikely to be invited on The 30p Lee Show any time soon, took one look at Anderson’s misogynist smear and asked “Dear [Rishi Sunak] Is this what you meant by a government of professionalism and integrity?” Simon Harris observed “Tory supporters this morning ignoring Lee Anderson’s disgusting, misogynistic response to Carol Vorderman’s tweet and just proceeding to attack Carol Vorderman instead”. Worrying.

The Tweeter known as Loz Argyle added “In the week Laurence Fox/Dan Wootton have been suspended by GB News for disgusting misogyny the Deputy Chairman of the Tory party, one Lee Anderson, thinks it's ok to mock Carol Vorderman for her appearance. The tories have enabled every single form of hate, that is their legacy”. It’s looking that way, isn’t it?

Simon Harris had a caution for Sunak: “The thing about Lee Anderson insulting Carol Vorderman over cosmetic surgery is that he’s also insulted every other woman in the country who has had cosmetic surgery. Please don’t remind them of this when it comes to the general election as it might reflect badly upon his party”. But the PM won’t be listening.

He, after all, wants people to be distracted by 30p Lee’s intolerance and stupidity. It helps his cause to have a deputy chairman whose inability to handle criticism means he smears women, and offers male critics outside because that’s how he thinks real proper men behave.

Meanwhile, GB News is further in the mire. Just rejoice at that news.

Friday, 29 September 2023

GB News - Another Suspension

While eyes were focusing on whether Laurence Fox’s prediction that he would be fired today from Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), and indeed if the broadcaster would have the cojones to dispense with the services of the singularly repellant Dan Wootton, news has emerged of another from the roster of dubiously talented presenters getting benched.

I've just been WHAT? Oh SHIT!

Most likely accompanied by another chorus of “You’re not a proper vicar”, self-styled “Anglo-Catholic Deacon” Calvin Robinson took to Twitter, X, or whatever it’s called today, to utter the chilling words “I have been suspended from GB News”. The Lord does indeed move in mysterious ways, so mysterious that not even the Poundshop Pontiff knew what was coming.

This event was all too predictable, though, when one considers Robinson’s earlier rant in defence of Desperate Dan. As the BBC has reported, “GB News will be ‘on borrowed time’ if they don't stand up for Dan Wootton, presenter Calvin Robinson said in a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this morning”. Stand up for Twattery! And there was more.

“He went on to say that they would all be ‘next in the firing line’ if they failed to do so and that appearing on GB News was not just a job, but a ‘mission’”. So he was right, but not quite in the way he may have expected. His rant veered over the paranoia line, as he declared that something called the “Woke Mob” was somehow involved, though he doesn’t know what “Woke” means.

Back to the Beeb report. “He also criticised ‘careerist ambitious’ people on GB News that ‘are worse than the woke mob, because these vultures are giving the mob ammunition’. He also called out his bosses, saying they were scared of Ofcom, of the ‘woke mob’ and of running out of money”. Scared of those who are “alert to injustices in society, especially racism”? Whatever.

What may not have endeared Calv to Mr Angel Cake Frangipane, or whatever the GB News boss man calls himself, is the comment about “Running out of money”. Because the channel is pissing it down the sink, up the wall, and all over the floor right now. Advertisers are fleeing, and programmes are showing promos for other shows during the breaks.

A popular choice for Who's Next

The Beeb report concludes with “Robinson ended his long message [!] by saying that standing up for Wootton was ‘standing up for the very idea of GB News’”. How very Hughie Green of him. Meanwhile, Dear Dear Larry has received a message of support from the loathsome Toby Young, who hopes he won’t get fired today, thus meaning he probably will get fired today.

Elsewhere, popcorn sales are increasing as expectations rise of sackings, more suspensions, or a combination of both. Another suspension? Sure: maybe, like Harry Callahan, you almost forgot in all the excitement, but one name sure to be in play very soon will be that of Not At All Crafty Darren Grimes - whose GB News presence was defended by … Dan Wootton!

Dazza has given it his best Word Salad Shot: “Cancel culture vultures from the media old guard are swooping in - no longer content with ignoring or belittling GB News and its loyal audience. Nope, now they want us censored, silenced, kaput! They want your 'choice' in broadcasting to mirror their snooty, liberal echo chamber”. He still can’t get a gig on proper TV!

But he’s more than ready to urge anyone listening to Look Over There, as he says it’s all the BBC’s fault. “It’s an elitist sneering contempt for the views of the people of Britain. And I for one am not going to stand for it!” Well, sit down then, why don’t you? What he doesn’t yet get, but Pretend Vicar Calvin did, is that GB News is on a new mission, and one that involves spending less.

We may be closer than GB News’ cheerleaders would like to admit to a BSB and Sky moment: the better equipped getting swallowed up by its competitor because the latter is bankrolled by the Murdoch mafiosi, who have been here before. Otherwise, the expectation is that offshore money will keep pouring in to keep the channel afloat. But there has to be a cut-off point.

Multiple sackings will mean that point has been reached. That is all.

Thursday, 28 September 2023

Dan Wootton - The End Is Nigh

Many have seen a great deal of heat, and very little light, shone upon the inexcusable - and pre-planned - sexist and indeed misogynist attack by former somebody Laurence Fox upon Ava-Santina Evans during a broadcast on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), but maybe not so many have asked the obvious question: what will happen now?

At first, GB News suspended Dear Dear Larry, but then another thought entered the news cycle: what about the singularly repellent Dan Wootton, the host of the programme when the incident occurred? Desperate Dan had smirked along with Fox, denied it, then had been effectively thrown under the bus as Fox revealed messages between the two that Damned Dan.

Push duly came to shove as Mr Angel Cake Frangipane, or whatever the head man at GB News calls himself, intervened and suspended Wootton too. This was excellent spectator sport, but another question soon entered: would the suspended two just get let back onto the airwaves? Or would one or other of them get the boot? It looked like Fox would fall into the latter category.

So what of Desperate Dan? Despite much of the media class closing ranks and trying to shut down discussion of the subject - SNP MP John Nicolson tried to raise the point on the Radio 4 PM Programme and was told by host Evan Davis “we’ll leave it there” - Wootton’s future has certainly been discussed by a further instalment of the Byline Times investigation.

Following their Twitter feed noting “Recurrent from the BBC whenever Byline Times reported into Media Islamophobia, Russian interference, Brexit Party Paypal Funding, Dodgy PPE procurement, Herd Immunity Covid Negligence, Vote Leave Law Breaking, Hedge Fund Market Abuse, Tufton Street …”, has come the headline “This is a Network Problem”. How so?

“GB News’ chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos wrote to staff this afternoon announcing the suspension and promising to 'investigate the comments made on air by Laurence Fox last night'”. Why? “Byline Times understands that it was the threat of ‘staff insurrection’ over how Wootton, the show’s executive editor, handled the segment - and the apparent mocking of production staff (per Fox’s tweets) - which led to Wootton’s suspension”.

Do go on. “One senior host told this newspaper it had been ‘inevitable’. Other GB News sources suggest Fox and Wootton will never again appear on the channel. Senior newsroom sources have said Frangopoulos ignored warnings … that … Fox and Wootton was ‘an accident waiting to happen’”.

There was more. “Employees have painted a picture of a ‘rudderless’ organisation that has lost hundreds of experienced journalists in the past two years, driven out by ‘presenter power’ and a management team which refuses to listen to their warnings about potential breaches of the Ofcom code, and which is now has a staff heavy with ‘uni leavers and ideologues’”.

And yet more. “GB News has claimed it doesn’t have a toxic workplace culture. But the latest incident - which GB News insists does not ‘reflect our values’ - could lead the news channel facing yet another Ofcom investigation, adding to the 11 currently active, on top of three others the regulator has previously upheld against the troubled network”. If, of course, Ofcom acts.

The problem for Ofcom is that it has previously depended on the good faith of those it regulates. GB News appears otherwise: certainly, those prepared to shill for the channel and simultaneously smear Ava-Santina Evans are the lowest form of bad faith actors, misrepresenting what she had said, indeed, lying about her in return for inflated appearance fees.

Which is most revealing: we see here the desperation of GB News to get its critics to look elsewhere, anywhere, rather than home in on the misbehaviour of Dan Wootton, who was on a £600,000 a year deal with them. But look elsewhere they will not, not this time. The only way the broadcaster will clear the air - and clean up its image - includes sacking the SOB.

Mail Online has sacked him. GB News is next. Just rejoice at that news.

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

GB News Has Buyer’s Regret

What would a broadcaster with multiple Ofcom investigations outstanding against it do when an alleged guest decides to mount a tirade of sexist, misogynist abuse live on air? What would a sensible broadcaster have done? What would ITV or BBC have done? What would Nietzsche have done?

He's even more desperate, Dan

Whatever others might have done, Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) did nothing as their singularly repellant host Desperate Dan Wootton smirked while racist and indeed misogynist bigot Laurence Fox launched his assault on Ava-Santina, kicking off with the worrying “We’re past the watershed, so I can say this”. That should have been off the air sharpish.

But the discredited, sniggering Wootton just let him carry on. “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman”. Er, WHAT?!? “Ever. EVER. Who wasn’t an incel. Who wasn’t a cucked little incel”. Shine a light, he’s pissed. “We need powerful, strong, amazing women who make great points for themselves. We don’t need these Feminist 4.0, they’re pathetic, and embarrassing. Who’d want to shag that?”

Looking in the mirror when he said that, was he? Ben Kelly was unimpressed. “Genuinely shocked by this. Dismal. Sneering, embittered inadaquate Laurence Fox and grinning sleaze bag Wootton say a lot about GB News”. Alan White cautioned “At some point the governing party might have to give the fact its deputy chair appears on this channel some consideration”. Point.

James Ball touched on GB News’ decision not to even say boo to Wootton following multiple allegations about his behaviour. “The host of this show is still broadcasting despite multiple serious allegations against him. That he’s being allowed to do so makes a mockery of UK broadcasting regulations, especially when the content is this vile”. Vile is putting it mildly.

So what was GB News going to do, if anything, about Dear Dear Larry’s excessively mellow state and his obnoxious rant? What was it going to do about Desperate Dan Wootton smirking along with him? Was there to be the first hint of contrition from Mr Angel Cake Frangipane, or whatever the channel’s boss is called? Was someone going to actually say sorry?

Dear Larry. Dear dear Larry. Dear suspended Larry

Well, almost. “Comments made tonight on GB News by Laurence Fox were totally unacceptable. What he said does not reflect our values and we apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused. We have launched an investigation and will be apologising to the individual involved”. They’ll investigate how they got busted AGAIN.

But at least someone had prevailed upon Wootton to show regret. “I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News. Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments”. Not amused? FUCK OFF.

There was, sadly, more of the same. “I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks. I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgement on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange. I know I should have done better. I'm devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family”.

Bullshit. He loved every moment of it. But he wasn’t finished. “Dear [Ava-Santina] I think you’re brilliant. Earlier tonight I was attempting to find your tweets to read back from my iPad and couldn’t locate them. I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air. This is not what our channel is about”. ‘Fraid it is, Dan.

He’d have looked more credible if he hadn’t restricted replies to his apologia. But enough of Desperate Dan and Dear Dear Larry. What of Ava-Santina, the target of the tirade? “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me? I feel physically sick”.

Ofcom enforcement only works for broadcasters who respect its judgment and want to play by the rules. GB News doesn’t, and doesn’t. That is all.

Monday, 25 September 2023

Macpherson Report NOW ONLINE

Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993. He was just 18 years old. At first, despite the arrest of six suspects, no charges were brought. The thought entered that race hatred not only motivated the attackers, but also affected the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police.

Stephen Lawrence

In 1998, a public inquiry chaired by Sir William Macpherson concluded not only that the initial investigation was incompetent, but also that the Met was institutionally racist. The resulting Macpherson Report has been hailed as “one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain”. But much of its contents have lain inaccessible - until now.

Following the success of Discover Leveson, a searchable free online resource giving access to much of the material from the eponymous inquiry into the “culture, practices and ethics of the press”, Professor Brian Cathcart and his team have worked to create a partner resource for the Macpherson Report. His reasoning for this is straightforward.

“I have felt for years that it was wrong that, while the Lawrence case and the inquiry were continually in the news and while race and policing remained so controversial, so many of these hugely valuable records were more or less inaccessible … Until now a lot of these have only been available in hard copy at the National Archives at Kew”. Now they are available to everyone.

Sir William Macpherson

Because Discover Macpherson is now online HERE. Also, it has a Twitter feed (or should that be an X feed?), called @DiscMacpherson. The site is not yet complete; there were some records at Kew that the team did not have the resource to digitise. If you know anyone who could assist, please point them at the site’s email address, which is discovermacpherson AT gmail DOT com.

Our free and fearless press, and especially the Mail titles, like to tell the world how knowledgeable they are on the Stephen Lawrence case. Now, you can find out for yourself just how knowledgeable they really are, while becoming more knowledgeable about it yourself. The Met is in the news once more: this resource gives a flavour of their lamentable past performance.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Brian Cathcart is a personal friend. And a good bloke.

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