Brexit Party’s Ode To Nazism

Supporters of the Brexit Party, and in particular fans of Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, can be terribly sensitive when their far-right orientation is pointed out. No, they respond, they are merely popular and populist. They aren’t really racist, honest, and they have no connection to anything even remotely resembling neo-Nazis.

Squeaky far right confirmation finger up the bum time

There was, though, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, only one thing with this idea - it was bollocks. From Farage’s palling up to Marine le Pen and the German AfD, to the infamous “Breaking Point” poster, to his being “concerned” about people speaking in languages other then English, the dog-whistling is all too obvious.

As the BBC has reported, “The European Parliament has re-opened in Strasbourg with an anti-EU protest by the UK's Brexit Party and a demonstration by Catalan nationalists whose MEPs are barred”. And what did the happy Brexiteers do to protest?

You'll have to speak up, I'm a bit Mutt and Jeff

“As outgoing speaker Antonio Tajani convened the new session, MEPs rose for the EU's anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, accompanied by a saxophone quartet. But not everyone stood, and anti-EU MEPs from the UK's Brexit Party turned their backs on the rendition”. How very infantile of them. But worse was to come.

After James Mates of ITV posted a photo of Nige and his pals making their pointless gesture, Glyn Arthur discovered an ominous comparison: “Here are Nazi party members at the Berlin Reichstag doing exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way, for exactly the same reasons”. And Chris Penney pointed out that “This is also a comparison between 1930s Germany & the other night [in the] UK”. That was Farage’s recent rally.

Perhaps the Brexit Party MEPs are going to have a walkout as their next stunt, which is another tactic the Nazis used during the late 20s and early 30s before Hitler got his feet under the table and did away with all that democracy nonsense.

We know that Farage approved the stunt, as he later Tweeted “The Brexit Party has already made its presence felt”. But not by engaging in the democratic process and participating in the EP’s debates, of course. Just like the Nazis. James Felton was one of many not to be impressed: “A toddler, after shitting the bed on purpose”.

Even worse for Farage is that, were he actually wanting to avoid the far-right comparison, there is a much more recent example of back-turning being linked to neo-Nazis: when Sadiq Khan won the 2016 London Mayoral election, as he made his speech, one candidate turned his back on the new Mayor. His name was Paul Golding.

Golding was representing Britain First, the group whose adherent Thomas Mair would later assassinate Labour MP Jo Cox outside her constituency surgery. That is the level to which the Brexit Party sank this morning. The level of actual Nazism.

Our country is being represented by a bunch of workshy neo-Nazis. And there are some voters who approve of this behaviour. Politics has become worse than a sick joke.

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Piers Morgan - Scared Of Powerful Women

There comes a time when youth has to be given its chance; age and experience gradually tires, and the next generation must step up to the plate. Today’s next generation is about to take that step over in the USA, but one increasingly bitter and out of touch Briton is determined to rail against it, no matter how pointless his gesture.

The never-really-was meets ...

To no surprise at all, the bitter and out of touch Briton is former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who sees the next generation marching on the seat of power and realises that it is a generation with whom he has no influence, no standing. To them, he is an anachronism, an irrelevance. Worse, he has no access to them.

... the here and now. And loses

For a vain loudmouth like Morgan, used to having access to the likes of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, this is a bitter pill to swallow. So he has decided to promote the Trump dynasty, while sneering at the ascendant youth of new Congressional star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is an unequal and unedifying sight. And Morgan is losing.

“I grew up in a pub & was a regular bartender myself” sniped Morgan at yet another Tweeter who pointed out that AOC was a bartender recently. Except AOC had to work 18-hour shifts in a bar to help her mother fight foreclosure of her house - after her father died intestate and lawyers enriched themselves sorting out the mess.

Overlooking such details, and Morgan’s obsessive defence of the Trumps, then kicked in: “How dare bitchy @AOC mock @IvankaTrump for no experience when she herself was a bartender 18 months ago … If @IvankaTrump runs against @AOC in 2024, she'll not only win, she'd make a far better President … Ivanka’s smarter, classier & way more qualified to run America than @AOC – so the ex-bartender who’d bankrupt the country in months should stop bitching”. Ri-i-ight. So let’s see how Ivanka and AOC match up.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has shown during her brief spell as a Congresswomen that she fears no-one, and no reputation. Indeed, she puts the fear of God into those who have to face her interrogations. She takes no shit from anyone, and as a consequence no prisoners.

Ivanka Trump, on the other hand, had a prime opportunity at the recent G20 Summit to meet world leaders. Instead, her attempts to impress figures like Emanuel Macron, Christine Lagarde and Angela Merkel were an embarrassment. She was out of her depth. She is only where she is because of whose daughter she is. Full stop, end of story.

Christine Lagarde’s face was a sight to behold. And AOC was soon on the case: “It may be shocking to some, but being someone’s daughter actually isn’t a career qualification. It hurts our diplomatic standing when the President phones it in & the world moves on. The US needs our President working the G20. Bringing a qualified diplomat couldn’t hurt either”. So off went Morgan. He lost once more.

After The Great Man fired back “Could be worse... Ivanka could have been a bar-tender 18 months ago”, AOC schooled him. Again. "Actually, that would make government better - not worse. Imagine if more people in power spent years of their lives actually working for a living. We’d probably have healthcare and living wages by now”. BOOM!

AOC’s time is now. Piers Morgan’s has long past. It’s time he learnt to deal with it.

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Brexit Party MEP’s Strasbourg Stupidity

After their moment of triumph in elections to the European Parliament, the Brexit Party’s new MEPs are settling in to their new routine. Some of them are not at all happy about it, not least David Bull, who was elected to represent North-West England, but who lives somewhere in Suffolk. Bull has discovered that attending the European Parliament involves travelling to mainland Europe. Wow! Who knew?

As a result of his discovery, Bull, who you can tell as he’s a Doctor, has made a video in which he passes severely adverse comment on the reality of his having to travel from Ipswich to Strasbourg. The length of his commute is clearly weighing heavily upon him. Alistair Carmichael, who represents Orkney and Shetland for the Lib Dems, was unavailable for comment. As were other Scots and Northern Irish MPs.

Here’s the bull that Dr Bull has been shipping on the subject of his commute. “Well, good morning, it’s … Monday morning and this is the beginning of my trip to Strasbourg. So it’s eight hours and as you can see, here is the first of the many trains. So this is Ipswich to London Liverpool Street, then after that I have to go from London Liverpool Street to King’s Cross. From King’s Cross I then have to go to Paris”. And there was more.

“From Paris I then have to change stations. I then have to go from Paris to Strasbourg, and I arrive [at] something like 20 to 7 tonight. I left home already at eight O’Clock this morning, having got in at midnight, and I’m going to have to do this repeatedly. For some reason, Parliament seems to be in a very inaccessible place”. Aw DIDDUMS!

Leaving aside for one moment the fact that, unless he were to fly, Carmichael would have to get the ferry from Stromness to Scrabster Pier, a connecting bus to Thurso, a train to Inverness and then the Caledonian Sleeper to Euston (which is a far slower and rather more arduous journey than Bull is undertaking), Bull is seriously overplaying his hand.

Because, One, travel from Liverpool Street to King’s Cross St Pancras (note that the Eurostar goes from St Pancras) is just four stops on a modern air-conditioned Underground train. For which he can thank Ken Livingstone. Two, the Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est in Paris are adjacent to one another. And Three, there are sometimes connections at Lille Europe, in which case he doesn’t have to go via Paris.

On top of that, he’s representing North West England. So what’s he doing in Ipswich? Note: this also applies to other Brexit Party MEPs, for instance Claire Fox. The thought also enters that he should try taking the train from, oh I dunno, Lisbon, Algeciras, Naples, Athens, Bucharest, Helsinki, Sofia, Krakow, or Stockholm.

NO COMMENT

The hint is in the word “European”. So it was no surprise when Max the Spiller of Tea retorted “Are you some kind of cretin? What the fuck were you expecting when you stood for election to the EU Parliament? That they’d move it to fucking Slough?” Ulrich Tromm helpfully found Bull a connection via Lille Europe. So was Bull thankful for this?

Was he heck. “No one should be in Strasbourg. Democracy has been overridden”. If democracy has been overridden, how the merry fuck did you get elected, then? But we do know that the Brexit Party’s MEPs “are going to cause a stink”. To which Jonathan Mock replied simply “Thanks for confirming that the Brexit Party Ltd stinks”. Indeed it does.

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Nigel Farage - Back To Nuremberg

As if the milking of alleged wartime spirit - being evoked among people who, sadly, were not actually there when it happened - could not get any more blatant, the Brexit Party has just held a rally during which Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage entered the arena to the sound of air-raid sirens. That’s the kind of sirens that warned the civilian population of towns and cities across the UK that they were about to be bombed.

Squeaky descent into 1930s fascism finger up the bum time

Some cities could summon up anti-aircraft guns, although these would at best merely deter Hermann Göring’s finest. Only rarely did the carpet of “flak” manage to pot one of the German aircraft. Smaller towns and cities were not so fortunate: Midlands and Northern conurbations like Derby, Coventry, and yes, Crewe (where what is now the Bentley factory built thousands of Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines) had little defence.

You'll have to speak up, I'm a bit Mutt and Jeff

Anywhere with extensive rail infrastructure, aircraft production facilities, engineering works, port facilities and communications networks was a prime target. Worse, around 60,000 civilians - innocent people not participating in the fighting - lost their lives. Bombing accuracy was poor, whoever dropped the projectiles. Often the attackers would just loose off their payload without identifying their target.

That is what Mr Thirsty and his pals are evoking. It did not impress James Melville: “Just look at the state of the Farage / Brexit Party rally (with air raid sirens). Britain is in an era of demagogue populism and xenophobia. There are parallels with the early 1930’s Weimar Republic. We forget the tragic lessons of history at our peril”.

Kerry-Anne Mendoza of The Canary was equally unimpressed. “Nigel Farage entering the Brexit Party venue, to air raid sirens. Air. Raid. Sirens. Their take on WW2 seems to be: ‘Remember the good old days of global bloodshed, Holocaust and rations? Let’s make Britain great again!’ That’s the wrong take guys!”

Brendan May was concerned: “Final proof, if it were needed, that the #BrexitParty thinks we are actually at war with the rest of Europe. Farage comes on to the sound of air raid sirens. These people are deeply ill”. And Mary Heywood added “Dear God! What sick person decided it would be a good idea to include air raid sirens! I can only conclude it was Farage himself, which proves he IS sick - in the head! My heart rate went up hearing those sounds, as I remember sirens like that from just after the war, practising!”

Mark Priestley wasn’t happy, either. “The video from the Farage intro was disturbing. People waving glow sticks to the sound of air-raid sirens. Clearly a proto-fascist movement, taking lessons from Trump re the big rallies, simplistic negative messages etc”. Another Tweeter concluded “Looked like the Nuremberg rally. Air raid sirens, torches, one-man messiah cult. Careful what you wish for. These people won’t stop with EU citizens. There will be more breaking point posters”. Disturbing. Very disturbing.

And Elly Davis summed it up: “How appropriate. Air raid sirens warn of an approaching enemy - then  enter stage left Farage”. Remember Michael Rosen’s prescient words: “Fascism arrives as your friend … It will restore your honour … make you feel proud”.

That’s what the Brexit Party promises. But in reality it is the enemy. Of all of us.

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Tracy Ann Oberman Crosses The Line

A rapidly-escalating Twitter exchange - escalating solely because one of the participants chose to escalate it - may be interesting a number of people this morning, specifically those who found themselves the subject of legal threats issued on behalf of minor but well-off Sleb Tracy Ann Oberman. Because it is Ms Oberman who has been not only doing the escalating, but also making a number of apparently defamatory statements, too.

Tracy Ann Oberman - needless escalation

Ash Sarkar - considering her next move

The exchange, which does nothing for the portrayal of Ms Oberman as a put-upon victim, also involved left-leaning commentator Ash Sarkar. It would not be an exaggeration to say that both participants have the ability to be combative. Ms Oberman kicked off proceedings by sniping “Ash is considered a serious political commentator and invited on to debates with the grown ups. I bloody love her she makes me LOLZ”.

From this unpromising beginning, it got worse rapidly. After Ms Sarkar parried that one with “It’s always been my life’s ambition to be the subject of 3/10 shade from a second-tier Eastenders actor. Thank you, Tracy, for making my dream a reality”. came “Oh btw this is the charming @AyoCaesar who praised and endorsed the Warsaw  ghetto graffiti artiste who spray painted my family’s open grave in the Ghetto. Child of Corbyn”.

And Ms Oberman wasn’t finished. “Considering how @AyoCaesar loves  a bit of Jew-baiting I’m amazed that she’s so touchy when a Jew has a pop back?? Well that’s @UKLabour for you these days. No irony” was soon followed by “Love conquers all Ash. I see you. I validate you. Now heal yourself and stop endorsing racists”.

I suspect Mike Sivier and his lawyers are taking notes as I type. Meanwhile, Ms Sarkar responded to an attack (since deleted) from Andy Pryor. “Here’s the formula for being a woman of colour online: Get hassled by white ladies being repeatedly hostile and unpleasant. Stand up for yourself. Get accused of being hostile and unpleasant by the blue tick brigade. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam”. Ms Oberman was lying in wait.

“White Ladies. Yeah in Charlottesville when then burnt the torches saying ‘Jews . Blacks . Muslims shall not replace us’ I’m as white as you @AyoCaesar and I probably get as much racism”. What’s that got to do with it, other than as a means of escalation? Ms Sarkar shot back “No ones saying that Jewish people don’t experience racism. That’s obviously true, especially online. But unlike me, you can *also* benefit from white privilege”.

Then Ms Oberman appeared to lose it. “Don’t play the race card with me @AyoCaesar you have stirred up more antisemitism than nearly any woman on here you personally and Novarra [sic] have lied libelled and trolled many Jewish people. You’re a hypocrite. But enough attention your way”. Can she stand those claims up?

Because if she can’t, that may cause her campaign to develop not necessarily to her advantage, especially as she also claimed “Im [sic] as white as you - you wally. Honestly Ash. I know you’re [sic] days are numbered once Corbynism is dead in the water but you really can’t play Top Trumps Trolling when you and Novarra [sic] are responsible for some of the worst race viciousness on here”. That wasn’t her only claim.

There was also “Doubt after today’s view thy Ash doesn’t care about Jews who were murdered. Maybe she concurs with the tweeter who said ‘every member of your family deserved to die in the Holocaust to atone for One Palestinian’”. More escalation.

It was therefore no surprise when Ms Sarkar concluded “Tracy, you’re going to have to find some evidence of me personally libelling and lying about Jewish people. Or I’ll have to contact those libel lawyers that you’re so keen on”. Well, if she does need to reach for a lawyer, I can give her some recommendations.

After all, Ms Oberman did not seem put off by the prospect: “Bring it on. Many would love the opportunity of putting Novarra [sic] in the dock to answer some pertinent questions. My team are waiting”. Had the lawyers waiting at 2200 hours last night, did she? Hmmm.

Y’know, I was sure that the rationale behind that action Ms Oberman and her pal Rachel Riley have launched recently was, partly as least, that she was being unfairly portrayed as being aggressive and unpleasant. Perhaps I read that one wrong.

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