Brexit Party Disses Black Lives Matter

The Brexit Party may have reinvented itself as Reform UK, and the former domain of long-term Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage may have passed, at least officially, to his loyal Gauleiter Richard Tice, but some of the views coming from its candidates continue to cause concern, especially among the BAME community.

Next month brings a round of elections - which in England means, mainly, that some council seats will be up for grabs, along with directly elected Mayors. Also on the ballot will be Police and Crime Commissioners, and in Cheshire, Reform UK are fielding one Nick Goulding, who stood unsuccessfully for the Brexit Party in Weaver Vale in 2019.

One look at Goulding’s Twitter feed shows he is a fan of the Free Speech Union, domain of the loathsome Toby Young, which seeks to defend freedom of speech, but manages to miss that there is no such thing as freedom from the consequences of that speech. He suggests that Cheshire Police may not be acting politically impartially.

But what has caused some disquiet is his attitude to the Black Lives Matter campaign. As with all other parts of the UK, Cheshire has a significant BAME population. And as Cheshire Live has told readers, “Black Lives Matter movement 'not relevant in Cheshire', claims police and crime commissioner candidate”. Whatever does that mean?

“Nick Goulding, a Reform UK candidate, made the claim in a comment on his candidate Facebook page on April 14, 2021 … Mr Goulding was responding to a comment by a member of the public on a post outlining his election statement on April 10 … The member of public claimed Mr Goulding had a 'personal obsession' with BLM and that he thought 'minorities get preferential treatment.’” So what say the Reform UK hopeful in response?

“Mr Goulding claimed … ‘I'm not sure where you get the idea I am obsessed with BLM, just that it has nothing to do with actually addressing genuine grievance and is not relevant to Cheshire … Such activity is symptomatic of the diversion [of] big focus from genuine local concerns and yes, I am determined to address that balance if elected”.

Let’s just test his claim of relevance. This from the Guardian only last August: “Organisers of Black Lives Matter protests in Sandbach, Cheshire, have been threatened and ‘doxxed’ (had private information maliciously published online) in a Facebook group for which one of the town’s councillors was an administrator”. And there was more.

“Katie Unnithan, 20, has held three socially distanced BLM protests in Sandbach, where she grew up. The first took place near the cenotaph in the town centre … ‘People came up to us shouting that segregation was a good thing, that “All lives matter”, and one guy said he’d come back with a shotgun if we touched the cenotaph,’ she said. ‘It was the most bizarre and horrible experience’”. A complaint was made to Cheshire Police.

Looks all too relevant on the basis of that, doesn’t it? Racist abuse, doxxing, threats - and here is a candidate for Cheshire PCC who appears to suggest it’s not relevant.

The (former) Farage Falange Fringe offends but does not surprise. No change there, then.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Sunday Times Racism Reverse Ferret

The Murdoch Sunday Times appears to know its target audience: those of A Certain Age who are less than concerned about incidents of dog-whistle racism. Aiming its copy thus is yet another admission that the paper once edited with such aplomb by Harry Evans has fallen a long, long way from the pedestal of respectability it once adorned.

So it was that last weekend, in the aftermath of Prince Philip’s funeral at Windsor Castle, the paper’s chief foreign correspondent Christina Lamb told readers, under the heading “Forced to mourn alone, the Queen bids Philip Goodbye”, “To her subjects, Prince Philip was the longest serving Royal consort in British history - an often crotchety figure, offending people with gaffes about slitty eyes, even if we rather enjoyed them”.

Whistle those racist doggies! A petition calling for an apology soon had more than 16,000 signatories. This may have been assisted by the robust reaction typified by Viv Yau: “Hey [Christina Lamb] what’s with this article you wrote saying you secretly enjoyed jokes about people with slitty eyes? I’m confused. Please help explain what’s funny?”

Actor Gemma Chan was similarly unimpressed. “To trivialise casual racism of this kind *right now* - whilst the Asian diaspora has been enduring a surge of attacks - is particularly irresponsible [The Sunday Times] [Christina Lamb]. I am disappointed and hope if it was a mistake you are able to apologise and learn from it”. Just to underscore that, she later copied in the ST’s new editor Emma Tucker.

Ms Yau’s enquiry initially met with silence, but as Emma Ko noted, “They did quietly do an edit on the online version Viv. So they reacted, just not to the extent of apologising & doing a public retraction. Racism - alive and well in Great Britain today”.

Now, as Press Gazette has told, “Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker has apologised after a front page story about Prince Philip’s funeral claimed the public ‘secretly enjoyed’ gaffes which sometimes had a racial element … [she] said [Ms] Lamb ‘never intended’ to make light of the duke’s comments”. The copy just happened to get past every sub and duty editor in the Baby Shard bunker. So what was the lame excuse this time?

“This so-called ‘gaffe’ made by Prince Philip was a well-known aspect of his life story. The Sunday Times did not intend to condone it … It was noted by us on Saturday night that the sentence was offensive and it was not published in digital editions … Christina Lamb has spent her whole career reporting on discrimination and injustices against people in every part of the world and never intended to make light of his remark in any way”.

At the time, James Felton had mused “If only there were a way for the Sunday Times to honour Prince Philip without saying ‘ah come on now we all secretly love racism’”. So very Murdoch press nudge-nudge. And as Pete Fraser has said, following that sort-of apology, “The problem here is, by saying they ‘rather enjoyed it’ it they *did* intend to condone it. Are apologies just organisations going ‘we didn’t mean it’ now? Cause if newspapers are getting in on the culture of ‘misspeaking’, that’s going to get messy”.

If it had really been acknowledged as offensive (as well as racially charged) then it should not have even got into the print edition. The ST’s apology is not good enough.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Murdoch Super League Hypocrisy

Our free and fearless press has devoted a significant amount of space today to passing adverse comment on the idea of a nascent European Super League, which would consist of at least 12 football clubs, six of which would be from England. Much of the criticism accuses the owners of Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur of greed. The Murdoch Sun has been especially righteous.

“THE GREAT GAME ROBBERY … Football fans protest at Big Six greed as Government vows to punish clubs” screams the headline, under the by-line of, primarily, the odious flannelled fool Master Harry Cole, who claims to be the Sun’s political editor - not one of its football writers. Because this is mainly about politics. And lots of money.

But do go on. “ANGER mounted last night at plans for a European Super League — with the Government threatening to punish clubs that break away. Owners of the Premier League’s Big Six joiners were dubbed ‘snakes’ by Uefa, while stars may be banned from the Euros and World Cup”. A graphic proclaims “BALLS TO THE SUPER LEAGUE”.

There is even an op-ed from alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, headlined optimistically “I will do everything I can to give the ludicrous European Super League a straight red”. A Tory free marketeer intervening in the working of the, er, free market? “But you don’t need to be an expert to horrified at the prospect of the so-called Super League’ being cooked up by a small number of clubs” he blusters.

How different it all was when, back in 1992, every club in the old First Division of the Football League resigned its place and went off to form the FA Premier League. Today’s crop of inmates within the Baby Shard bunker may not realise it, but at the time, their predecessors weren’t castigating those breaking away for greed, or indeed for anything else. Because the Murdoch mafiosi had bought their way into the deal.

Too late Rupe - you sold Sky, remember?

During the 1980s, top clubs had increasingly played hardball with broadcasters: their stadia were in need of serious investment - the Hillsborough disaster and the Taylor Report spurring on the demands - and as a result, those clubs secured a lot more money for TV rights. But the Premier League promised yet more money.

And who was the broadcaster prepared to pony up an initial £304 million over five years in exchange for exclusive live TV rights? As if you need to ask: BSkyB, the domain of the Murdochs. Papers like the Sun had been massively profitable, keeping Sky’s creditors from the door during its early years - now Sky itself would become the cash cow.

By 2012, it was estimated that Premier League TV rights, including those to broadcast highlights, were worth £5 billion over three years. BT Sport muscled in on the action; Murdoch papers attacked BT, leading the clamour for the company to be broken up. But now, Sky and Murdoch have parted company. So the boot is firmly on the other foot.

The Murdoch press was all in favour of that greed back in the day, because they were in its vanguard. Now they are no longer there, greed has become A Very Bad Thing.

Hypocrisy and sour grapes never did look good together. I’ll just leave that one there.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Brillo Promotes Lying Conspiracist

Those worrying that, without his BBC team of researchers and other assorted minders, former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil might veer off to the right did not have long to wait. The new main man at Gammon Broadcasting News™ (“Bacon’s News Channel”) has just showed the world how much of his reputation was his own, and how much was down to the Beeb. And the bad news is that it looks like a lot of it was in the latter category.

The signs were not good as Julia Grace Patterson, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, mused “I’ll never do an interview with [GBNEWS]”. As she is CEO of campaigning group EveryDoctor UK, with a significant social media following, what would a sensible and rational media outlet have done in response? What would Nietzsche have done?

Instead, Brillo just sneered. “This is a potential body blow for [GB News]. We’d like to try and put things right between us - if only we knew who you are”. Hark at Lord fucking Snooty up there on his high and mighty pedestal. We’re just too sodding precious to even bother getting off our jacksies and doing a few seconds’ Googling.

But Dr Patterson need not have been downhearted, because after Brillo’s next off-piste excursion, more potential interviewees than her will be looking at GB News and swiftly moving in the direction of away. The Great Man Quote Tweeted Jack Posobiec.

You read that right. Posobiec, who proved too much even for Rebel Media, had told his followers in a routine display of dishonesty “Antifa set the Apple store in Portland on fire”. But neither Antifa, nor anyone else, had done so. As Philip Elmer DeWitt, who covers all things Apple, pointed out, “Someone did start a dumpster fire dangerously close to the store, but fire fighters got it quickly under control”. Posobiec lied. That’s what he does.

Neil did not question the veracity of Posobiec’s claim. He just sent it on its way to his own followers with another sneering comment. “But it was a peaceful fire. And they used iPhones to film it”. Said The Great Man. Using an iPad (same brand as an iPhone).

Jack Posobiec

But the sneering aloofness is not the worst part: anyone with the merest gram of media credibility should never, repeat should never, repeat SHOULD NEVER uncritically promote Jack Posobiec. His well sourced Wikipedia entry reminds us that Posobiec “is an American alt-right and alt-lite political activist, conspiracy theorist, and Internet troll”.

There was more: “Posobiec is best known for … using white supremacist and antisemitic symbols and talking points, including the white genocide conspiracy theory. He has promoted Fake News, including the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory claiming high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child sex ring”.

He has been employed by One America News Network, about which Rachel Abrams of the New York Times observed “Staffers at One America News, the misinformation-peddling outlet favored by Trump, don’t think their own stories are true, & are cheering on lawsuits against the owners. One producer, re the Capitol riot: ‘That’s what happens when people listen to us’”. And Brillo loves to call “Liar” on others. Except when he doesn’t.

Without that BBC team behind him, Andrew Neil is fast becoming an embarrassment, trading on a reputation rapidly falling apart around him. No surprise there, then.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

We Have A Mole, PM - Or Maybe Not

It’s all very Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - conjuring up images of the dark office to which veteran Czech expert Jim Prideaux is summoned by Control, head of The Circus, to hear the ominous words “We have a mole, Jim”. Images of George Smiley returning from retirement, after Prideaux’s mission goes disastrously wrong, to ponder the mole’s identity. “There are three of them, and Alleline” he muses of his former colleagues.

They gave it to Dan Hodges, Jerry? Whyever would they do that?

That was fiction, if well-informed fiction. What we now have, courtesy of the increasingly wayward Mail on Sunday, is poorly-informed paranoia. Ominously for the MoS, theirs is the only paper majoring on the idea that the Rotten Lefties™ have a mole at the heart of Government. Political editor Glen Owen’s headline tells you all you need to know.

“Hunt for Labour’s No 10 moles taking revenge on Boris for Cummings’ war on Whitehall chiefs” it tells readers, the supporting article claiming “The moles - Labour-sympathising civil servants - are believed to have played a key role in triggering the lobbying scandal which has allowed Sir Keir's party to construct a narrative of 'Tory sleaze' by leaking details of David Cameron's contacts with Ministers and officials”. Yeah, right.

Maybe they missed that it was proper investigative journalism by the likes of the FT. But do go on. “They are also suspected of using leaks to try to 'sabotage' the Brexit withdrawal negotiations last year, and to provide advance notice to the Labour leader about Government policies in the pipeline - giving him time to structure his responses”. How could Labour “sabotage” something with which they had no involvement?

It gets worse. And more desperate. “The Tory spy-hunters believe a 'cell' of Labour supporters, centred on the Cabinet Office, was activated last year”. Don’t tell me, the mole is code named “Gerald”, the safe house is near Camden Lock, and his cover will be blown by two people meeting in an otherwise deserted cemetery somewhere in Lisbon.

Amateur hour at the paranoia bar

Worse still for the MoS, and whoever in Downing Street is feeding them this drivel, is that the pundit chosen to back up Owen’s article is none other than the not even slightly celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges, who says of the alleged leak “Ministers believe they now know precisely where it's coming from. And why”. Tell us more.

“Last week, allies of former PM David Cameron accused aides loyal to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove of deliberately fanning the Greensill flames. But now attention is again turning towards career civil servants”. Yes? Yes yes? Yes yes yes?

Then Desperate Dan has a chance to win himself a get-out. “Perhaps there is no Redthroat”. No mole? But then he goes all-in: “Feel free to place your own bets. But my money's on Redthroat”. Attaboy Dan! That’s the same Dan Hodges who said Remain would win the 2016 referendum, Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t win the Labour leadership in 2015, and that Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump in 2016.

There is, of course, a far more plausible explanation: the Tories foul things up, they’re incapable of admitting it, and so blame someone else. As with Brexit, which is, in the retelling, someone else’s fault. But the MoS has had its briefing. So off it rambles.

The MoS is no longer capable of coherent journalism. But you knew that already.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Murdoch Empire Goes Full Pravda

We no longer have the old certainties: once upon a time, our free and fearless press was clear who were the good guys, and who were the bad ones. The West was good; the Chinese and Russians were not. But for the Murdoch mafiosi, all that changed with the arrival at the White House of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump. The Donald’s relationship with the gangster régime of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was different.

You'll have to speak up Vlad, I can't hear youse

The Kremlin appeared to have Kompromat on Trump; it was clear to anyone watching that the Putin gang weighed in on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 Presidential race, and the lawsuits are still going on, as well as the routine expulsion of so-called diplomats. What is also becoming apparent is that the Murdoch mafiosi does not have a problem with Russia.

This has exhibited itself in Tucker Carlson, the white supremacist and top rating host at Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) taking the side of the Russians on his show Tucker Carlson Tonight - against that of his own President. So when Joe Biden decides on economic sanctions against Russia, Carlson protests that it’s unfair.

Here’s what he told his viewers about sanctions. “Save that tape for the future when you want a reminder of just how insane things got in the year 2021. That wasn’t posturing, that wasn’t their bad, those are actions against a sovereign nation, a foreign power, expelling their diplomats, destroying their economy, threatening to back their enemies in a war”.

There was more. “A real war, too, not a war of words, a war where people get killed. We’re doing all those things. The question’s why are we doing them. That’s the part that nobody ever explains”. Time was when a bit of war now and then, allied to destroying the Russian economy, would have the US right cheering it on. Now it’s being questioned.

Worse, Carlson has the full backing of Rupe’s son Lachlan, who supported him in rebutting demands by the Anti Defamation League for his sacking after Carlson had trotted out the Great Replacement Theory live on air. And it gets no better on this side of The Pond, as the Sun has demonstrated in its worryingly partial coverage of Putin and Ukraine.

Earlier this week, the paper published a piece with this less than critical headline: “Ukraine faces ‘wipe out blitzkrieg’ as sabre-rattling Russian expert claims Putin mobilising HALF A MILLION troops”, adding “Russia is also known to be moving landing ships from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea for the first time since the end of the Soviet era”.

A supposedly independent expert - who just happens to be Russian, writes for Russian publications, and whose views were not subjected to any kind of critical analysis - is quoted as saying “An unprecedented mobilisation of the Russian armed forces is taking place … The exact number of people participating is not officially indicated. Apparently more than half a million”. Ukraine’s Russian speaking cities, he tells Rupe’s downmarket troops, “will be occupied in the course of a victorious and fleeting blitzkrieg”.

All this, we are told, “comes after Putin snubbed Biden's call for peace talks … the Kremlin told Washington it would act decisively if the US took any new ‘unfriendly steps’ such as imposing sanctions”. And that’s in the Sun, not Pravda.

The Great Murdoch backing the Russians? We are truly through the looking glass.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Laurence Fox Legal Threat Hypocrisy

It might have been thought by those observing the less than fruitful career trajectory of former minor thesp, failed chanteur and ineffectual political hopeful Laurence Fox that he had one unshakable conviction in his championing of free speech. But it seems that thought would have been sadly misplaced: for Lozza, even free speech has its limits.

That limit was reached earlier this week when one Tweeter asserted that Fox was “a virulent racist”. Considering The Great Man’s sneering comment about “Lewis Hamilton’s white half” and his accusing those pointing out his “white privilege” of being racists themselves, allied to the Tweeter concerned having fewer than a thousand followers, this does not look like the hill on which Lozza should choose to die.

But choose he duly did: “Hello Liz. I have instructed my lawyers in this matter. You will be hearing from them shortly. There is not a single shred of evidence that I am racist in any way whatsoever. I take a principled stance against racism in all its forms”. This went down terribly well with his fans. But with many others, it just went down terribly.

One of those in the latter category warned him “You might want to remove that glass-of-milk emoji then”. That emoji has its origins with Richard Spencer, a white nationalist. Its meaning suggests the person displaying it is similarly inclined, a member of the alt-right.

Another observer noted that Fox had previously claimed “My view is that free speech should extend all the way to direct incitement to violence … I don’t think Twitter should censor these opinions”. The comment to which he’s objecting doesn’t go that far.

That observation was followed by one reminding us that Fox had not only claimed that calling him racist meant that the person doing it was also being racist, but that he had made the blanket claim “wokist are fundamentally racist” in addition.

James Doleman, who has some experience of court reporting both north and south of the border, first pointed out that this looked like a case of “Do as I say, not as I do” before adding that Fox’s target was “An account with 900 followers and a tweet he wasn't copied into”. His conclusion? “Don't see the High Court wasting much time on this case”.

Worse, as was noted in response, was that Fox “has republished the alleged defamatory post to a much larger audience”. He can hardly go after the original Tweeter for amplifying the alleged libel when he did it himself. Especially as that Tweeter has now had to take her feed private because Fox’s fans have been going after her.

Laurence Fox is either being poorly advised when it comes to threatening defamation actions against others, or he’s full of crap. Either way, time to get the popcorn in.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Every Tory In The World Is Bent

In one of many quotable exchanges from the original version of The Italian Job, Mr Bridger decides that he needs to hire a computer expert. Camp Freddie (for it is he) is told to secure the services of Professor Peach. “But what if the Professor’s not bent?” he protests. “Camp Freddie,” responds Mr Bridger. “Everybody in the world is bent”.

Jolly bed sheow ...

And to prove that this maxim extends to the Government elected 50 years after that film’s release, not only is the Greensill scandal causing ripples of good old-fashioned Tory sleaze™ to dampen the reputations of a lot of Civil Servants and Government advisors, alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his worryingly shallow talent pool of variously inept ministers are full participants in the unedifying spectacle.

Not least Priti Patel, inexplicably elevated to the post of Home Secretary, who has ventured beyond mere ineptitude, and has been caught breaking the law, rather than just breaching someone’s human rights. Her latest not at all accidental mis-step concerns a death in custody, and a potential witness being deported. On her orders.

As the Guardian has reported, “A landmark court ruling has held the home secretary, Priti Patel, accountable for failures in ensuring that deaths in immigration detention centres are properly investigated. Two judges in the immigration court ruled on Wednesday that three of the home secretary’s detention policies breached human rights rules and that she could not frustrate or undermine inquiries into these deaths”. Undermine? Do go on.

“The ruling relates to two friends, Ahmed Lawal and Oscar Lucky Okwurime, both from Nigeria, who were in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre when Okwurime was found dead in his cell there on 12 September 2019. Lawal proved to be a key witness, but the Home Office tried to deport him five days after the death before he could provide any evidence. He took the case to the high court and a judge halted his removal”.

... maybe even worse show

Worse, “The judges found that the home secretary’s decision to remove Lawal to Nigeria was unlawful as she had failed to take reasonable steps to secure his evidence … before starting removal proceedings”. Worse still, “A replacement policy in August 2020 was also found to be unlawful as it failed to identify and take steps to secure the evidence of those who may have relevant information about a death in detention”. The conclusion?

Even the Mail has had to admit “two judges ruled that the Home Secretary's attempt to deport Ahmed Lawal, 34, before he could give evidence at an inquest was unlawful”. Priti Patel broke the law. She is supposed to be the Home Secretary. Her duties include “Law enforcement in England and Wales”. Which appears not to always include her.

The Mail emphasised the lawbreaking undertaken: “she did not have the legal authority to frustrate or undermine inquiries into these deaths”. How the Coroner is expected to investigate deaths when witnesses are summarily deported is an interesting one. A Home Secretary who wants to see justice done, providing it doesn’t stop her doing a few illegal deportations and so playing to the gallery of reactionary intolerance.

The Home Office, to no surprise at all, is not appealing against the judgment. That’s because they, and their boss, know they are guilty as hell. Having bent coppers is one thing; having a bent Home Secretary is worse. Worse still, she’ll get away with it.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Tory Anti-Semitism Link - No Problem!

Some observers may have formed the impression that the slightest whiff of anti-Semitism, or links to those who were adjacent to its promotion, would have our free and fearless press, and others, bearing down on the culprits in short order. But not when it comes to the Tories, and especially Priti Patel, inexplicably elevated to the office of Home Secretary.

Auto-smirk set to stun. Perhaps

This is what Byline Times has now told us: “The new Lead Commissioner for the Government’s Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE), appointed by Home Secretary Priti Patel on 31 March for an interim period of six months, is Robin Simcox. Simcox is a former Margaret Thatcher Fellow at the Heritage Foundation - a right-wing think-tank in Washington D.C. which had close ties to the Donald Trump administration”.

The Heritage Foundation is not just any old right-leaning think-tank. As its Wikipedia entry confirms, “The Heritage Foundation rejects the scientific consensus on climate change … The Heritage Foundation is one of many climate change denial organizations that have been funded by ExxonMobil”. And then there are those false voter fraud claims.

“The Heritage Foundation has promoted false claims of voter fraud. Hans von Spakovsky who heads the Election Law Reform Initiative at the Heritage Foundation has played an influential role in making alarmism about voter fraud mainstream in the Republican Party, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud … His work, which claims voting fraud is rampant, has been discredited”. And who sits on the HF board?

Oh look, Rebekah Mercer. Who, along with her father Robert Mercer, were benefactors to Breitbart News. Who was a backer of Cambridge Analytica. Who introduced Steve Bannon to Combover Crybaby Donald Trump. Who co-founded Parler. But, as the Byline Times article stresses, the real concern about Simcox is the other company he’s been keeping.

Robin Simcox ((c) Heritage Foundation)

They reveal “that Simcox spoke in 2019 at a notorious American anti-immigrant hate group, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which has regularly circulated anti-Semitic, white nationalist materials over a 10-year period - including articles by noted Holocaust deniers and eugenicists … The CIS has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center”. This link is highly relevant to Simcox’s new role.

One look at Wikipedia shows why. “The Center for Immigration Studies has been criticized for publishing a number of reports deemed to be false or misleading and using poor methodology by scholars on immigration”. The SPLC’s analysis “cited CIS's repeated publication of white nationalist and anti-Semitic writers, [and] its employment of an analyst known to promote racist pseudoscience”. And what of Simcox’ work at the HF?

BT again: “In his work for the Heritage Foundation, Simcox also promoted several racist and anti-Muslim conspiracy theorists, including a proponent of the ‘Great Replacement’ ideology … which has inspired far-right terror attacks in recent years”. One observer criticised Simcox’ appointment “particularly over his false equation of British Muslim community organisations with the Muslim Brotherhood”.

So who’s making their feelings known about this appointment? “Lord” Ian Austin? “Lord” John Mann? Wes Streeting? Stephen Pollard? John Woodcock? Margaret Hodge? Daniel Finkelstein? Crickets. If only Simcox had been pals with Jeremy Corbyn.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Oh Tommy Tommy - ASYLUM YOURSELF

After Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, was found guilty of committing Contempt of Court in 2019, he accused the judiciary of lying, maintained that all he had done outside the court in Leeds was to repeat information already in the public domain, and tell his followers that the state was out to get him, honestly.

What he did not tell, but what soon became well-known, was that Lennon had attempted to plead with Combover Crybaby Donald Trump to grant him asylum in the USA. That’s the same Stephen Lennon who has been telling the world about asylum seekers not being genuine refugees, deciding that when it comes to Himself, he’d rather like to be one.

Sadly, the probability of his wish being granted was vanishingly small, not least because he possessed a criminal record - which had already led to his having been barred from the States - and that to get round the refusal to grant him a visa, he had entered the USA on a false passport, been rumbled, and had his criminal record further extended as a result.

But, as Sky News reported at the time, “In an interview on the right-wing channel InfoWars on Monday, the former English Defence League (EDL) founder said: ‘I feel like I'm two days away from being sentenced to death in the UK … I beg Donald Trump, I beg the American government, to look at my case. I need evacuation from this country because dark forces are at work … This is a direct appeal on behalf of my family”.

He loved the USA, honestly, despite the USA not loving him and his criminal record. It looked pointless and pathetic, but as the Guardian has now reported, some of those Stateside who were favourably disposed to Lennon really were working to get him asylum in the country: “his team approached the Republican senator Ted Cruz’s office about securing a visa … [he] discussed moving his family to Texas in 2019”. There was more.

“Such was the influence of Robinson’s supporters that they asked advisers to Cruz, the Republican former presidential candidate, for legal advice on securing an extended visa for ‘someone who needs protection’ [!]. Terry Giles, a prominent American businessman and friend of Cruz, told the Guardian he asked the senator’s office for assistance but did not disclose that the visa was for Robinson”. Protection from what?

Perhaps he and his supporters thought that he should have protection from the consequences of frequently, and flagrantly, breaking the law. But do go on. “A record of a meeting between Robinson and his most influential supporters at the Four Seasons hotel in London in early 2019 describes Giles, 72, as ‘actively working with Senator Cruz to advance Tommy’s visa’”. And who else was present at this impromptu summit?

It “was also attended by Robinson, his solicitors, a Ukip adviser, the rightwing Canadian pundit Ezra Levant and Lisa Barbounis, an executive for the Middle East Forum”. All the usual bigots, then. But sadly, Lennon “lost interest in moving to the US ‘once he realised that he couldn’t go back to the UK if he declared asylum’, according to the files”.

Which shows just how serious his situation wasn’t. He wasn’t a political prisoner, he was just trying to evade the consequences of his own actions. All wind and piss.

Asylum seekers are “fake refugees” - unless they’re white, and called Stephen Lennon.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8

Quilliam And The Spooks

First the sudden shutdown, then the coming to terms with the announcement, and then the real hard questions. Why did the Quilliam Foundation have to shut up shop, given all the millions that had gone into its coffers over the years? Why was founder Maajid Nawaz deleting his social media back catalogue? Then the real $64,000 one - what was the role of the UK security services in all of this? Former Guardian man Ian Cobain knew.

“So the Quilliam Foundation has been closed down. Claims to have been the world's first counter-extremism think-tank. But it was actually established by the Office for Security and Counterterrorism (OSCT) at the UK governments's Home Office”. Er, WHAT? How could he be so sure? “How do I know? Simples. The OSCT told me”. And there was more.

“The initial plan was to fund it covertly, with money appearing to come in from a Middle Eastern benefactor, but actually channelled by MI6 … But a decision was taken to grant it acknowledged - but far-from-trumpeted - UK government funding. This was eventually judged within Whitehall to have been a mistake. ‘Should have run it from within the agencies. They do this sort of stuff all the time. And you never find out’”.

Miqdaad Versi from the Muslim Council of Britain heard that one loud and clear. "This is a really explosive allegation by the renowned investigative journalist (ex-Guardian) Ian Cobain”. But Sol Hughes was rather more relaxed about the revelation.

“The now defunct Quilliam's links to the security services seemed pretty open when it was founded : Early staff included former Special Forces Captain Ed Jagger, and 'journalist' ‘James Brandon’ (not his real name) : Both now work in ‘Private Security/Intelligence’ companies”. And he can be relaxed because this was all exposed six years ago.

Nafeez Ahmed, in an article for Middle East Eye titled “The circus: How British intelligence primed both sides of the ‘terror war’”, confirms it. “The Quilliam Foundation was set-up by [Ed] Husain and Nawaz in 2008 with significant British government financial support”.

And why Quilliam might have been less than totally effective in its objectives is also spelt out. “Perhaps the biggest problem with Husain’s and Nawaz’s claim to expertise on terrorism was that they were never jihadists. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent movement for the establishment of a global ‘caliphate’ through social struggle, focusing on the need for political activism in the Muslim world. Whatever the demerits of this rigid political ideology, it had no relationship to the phenomenon of al-Qaeda terrorism”.

As for HT’s less peaceable offshoot, “When [Omar] Bakri [Mohammed] left HT and set-up al-Muhajiroun in 1996, according to John Loftus, a former US Army intelligence officer and Justice Department prosecutor, Bakri was immediately recruited by MI6 to facilitate Islamist activities in the Balkans”. Nafeed Ahmed’s conclusion? You’ll love this one.

“If only we could round up the Quilliam and al-Muhajiroun fanatics together, shove them onto a boat, and send them all off cruising to the middle of nowhere, they could have all the fun they want ‘radicalising’ and ‘deradicalising’ each other to their hearts’ content. And we might get a little peace. And perhaps we could send their handlers with them, too”.

So it wasn’t such an explosive allegation after all. Quilliam was in bed with the spooks.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet8