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“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did & it never will” Frederick Douglass
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Sep 15 7 tweets 3 min read
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Tommy Robinson claimed his protest drew “three million patriots”. The Met Police reported 110,000.

Prof Milad Haghani, an actual world-leading expert on estimating crowd sizes, estimates “about 56,000... However I run the numbers, it’s very difficult to make it to 100,000.” Image Unlike shameless liar and multiply-convicted violent far-right coke-snorting thug Tommeh, Prof Haghani is a world-leading expert on estimating crowd sizes. He leads geospatial transport planning initiatives, and is an expert in crowd dynamics.

Tommeh is a world-leading grifter. Image
Sep 13 23 tweets 5 min read
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OK, I'll bite.

The word Fascism isn't 'meaningless'.

To spell out why, we need to unpack both the underlying implication of Andrew Doyle's argument and the reasons why it fails to adequately account for contemporary political dangers. Image Andrew Doyle asserts that the term "fascism" is misused to the point of recklessness, echoing George Orwell’s 1944 observation that the word had been rendered meaningless. Doyle’s concern is not uncommon—but imho, it’s ultimately misplaced, especially in today’s context.
Sep 8 12 tweets 4 min read
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Boris Johnson appears to have had a secret meeting with billionaire Peter Thiel - perhaps the most fanatical of the libertarian Oligarchs and co-founder of the controversial US data firm Palantir, the year before it was given a role at the heart of the UK’s pandemic response. Image A month after entering No 10, Johnson and his senior adviser Dominic Cummings had a meeting with Thiel, leaked files suggest.

Johnson is now likely to face questions about whether the non-disclosure amounts to a breach of the ministerial code.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/s…
Aug 31 60 tweets 24 min read
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Elon Musk has been amplifying far-right accounts again, including Tommy Robinson, Rupert Lowe, and numerous anonynmous known #disinformation superspreader accounts like 'End Wokeness'.

Let's examine the context for yesterday's march in Richard Tice's constituency, #Skegness. Image After decades of neglect, Skegness (pop 20K), stands out on key socio-economic markers on national averages: residents are older; whiter; lower full-time employment; higher rates of few/no qualifications; and concentrated deprivation - it's far-more deprived than most of England. Image
Aug 28 23 tweets 5 min read
🧵 @Rylan Asylum seekers coming here aren’t technically "illegal." International law (the 1951 Refugee Convention) allows people to seek asylum in any country regardless of how they arrive or how many countries they pass through, as long as they're fleeing persecution or danger. Allow me to explain why asylum seekers aren’t “illegal”, and how misinformation and nasty demonising and scapegoating rhetoric by certain politicians and media, including news media, has made some British people less welcoming of asylum seeekers.

@Rylan
Aug 27 13 tweets 7 min read
Farage's illiberal, immoral, & unworkable authoritarian plan involves ripping up human rights laws forged after WWII, which protect British people, & wasting £billions of UK taxpayers' money, giving some of it to corrupt misogynistic totalitarian regimes.
theguardian.com/politics/2025/…Image
Image
Leaving the #ECHR, repealing the Human Rights Act and disapplying international conventions

The UK would be an outlier among European democracies, in the company of only Russia and Belarus, if it were to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Opting out of treaties such as the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the UN Convention against torture and the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention would also be likely to do serious harm to the UK’s international reputation.

It could also undermine current return deals, including with France, and other cooperation agreements on people-smuggling with European nations such as Germany.

The Society of Labour Lawyers said the plan would “in all likelihood preclude further cooperation and law enforcement in dealing with small boats coming from the continent and so increase, rather than reduce, the numbers reaching our shores”. 

Farage said he would legislate to remove the “Hardial Singh” safeguards – a reference to a legal precedent that sets limits on the Home Office’s immigration detention powers – to allow indefinite detention for immigration purposes. This would be highly vulnerable to legal challenge.

Many of the rights protected by the ECHR and the Human Rights Act are rooted in British case law, so judges would still be able to prevent deportations, even without international conventions.

x.com/docrussjackson…
Aug 25 16 tweets 7 min read
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The internet never forgets.

A thread of tweets posted by Lucy Connolly.

A reminder of the one, viewed 310,000 times, for which she was jailed, which urged people to burn down asylum seeker hotels after the #Southport attack - which had nothing to do with asylum seekers. Image While all these tweets of Connolly's were made before her incendiary post, they don't say which year they were posted.

They can be accessed here, via The Wayback Machine, which has archived more than 916 billion web pages.

Draw your own conclusions.

web.archive.org/web/2024080616…
Aug 22 6 tweets 3 min read
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Trump’s Fake Washington DC Emergency: Power Grab Exposed (in 2 Minutes).

Excellent explainer of an age-old strategy.

It's being deployed in Britain NOW, and would become a feature of UK life if Reform ever won a general election.

Watch and share.

It involves Trump, JD Vance, Robert Jenrick, Nigel Farage, and Farage's "friend", billionaire Peter Thiel.

The asylum backlog is coming down, and the number of hotels housing asylum seekers has been halved since Labour came to power.

Aug 21 30 tweets 9 min read
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A little-known US-based conservative organisation, the #RockbridgeNetwork, has quietly entered the global political stage.

What's this got to do with Jenrick and Farage, and is Rockbridge laying the groundwork for foreign influence in UK politics?

Founded in 2021 and srongly linked to Nigel Farage's "friend", billionaire Palantir CEO Peter Thiel, US VP JD Vance, and a constellation of conservative media and political figures, Rockbridge presents itself as a vehicle for advancing conservative causes.
Aug 20 29 tweets 10 min read
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'Flag Force UK': The “Grassroots” Group With Hidden Think Tank Ties.

Flag Force UK presents itself as a patriotic, grassroots movement “built by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts.” But closer inspection suggests it may be a coordinated #astroturf operation... Image Supposedly based in York, 'Flag Force UK' self-identifies as a "grass roots" campaign set up by three men who 'just wanted to put England and Union flags up', and which already brands itself as "the UK's premier community network tracking flag raisings across the nation." Image
Aug 19 16 tweets 6 min read
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Robert Jenrick’s attendance at the Epping anti-refugee protest on August 18, 2025, represents a grave error of judgment, dangerously irresponsible behaviour, and a morally indefensible decision, particularly given his role as Shadow Justice Secretary. Image Jenrick posted photos showing himself at the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked.

A Stand Up to Racism spokesman said “Jenrick is fanning the flames of the far-right by chasing Reform UK votes, and he’s giving confidence to known fascists.” Image
Aug 15 30 tweets 7 min read
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🚨 The #MAGA Blueprint.

A coordinated political project is reshaping Britain in the image of Trump’s MAGA movement.

Reform UK—fuelled by wealthy donors, ideologically aligned think tanks, and a network of right-wing media—has ambitions unlike anything in modern UK politics. Image The goal is clear: install Farage as PM, backed by policies and rhetoric that mirror America’s populist right.

Recent events, including JD Vance’s high-profile visit, reveal a deliberate and potentially transformational transatlantic political strategy.

Aug 13 28 tweets 5 min read
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Richard Tice's shameful rhetoric is dangerously irresponsible, and has clear historical parallels with Nazi propaganda, which depicted Jewish men as threats to German women, stoking fear and justifying persecution.

No civilised democracy effectively encourages vigilantism. The Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer often portrayed Jewish men as sexual predators targeting German women.

A 1935 piece titled "Jews as Sexual Predators," claimed Jewish men committed heinous sexual crimes against Christian women and girls, citing fabricated or exaggerated cases. Image
Aug 9 15 tweets 6 min read
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Politicians, right-wing news media and far-right extremists opportunistically exploit public concern over asylum seekers in hotels, inciting protests and potential violence.

How did we get here? And why the gulf between public perception and reality?

theguardian.com/commentisfree/… Their divisive rhetoric and misinformation has resulted in a huge gap between public perception and reality.

FACTS:

In September 2023 there were 56,042 asylum seekers in around 400 hotels.

By March 2025, there were 32,345 asylum seekers in 218 hotels.

Aug 7 30 tweets 19 min read
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GB "News", which employs 75% of Reform UK MPs, is not a news channel - it's Reform's propaganda wing, co-funded by billionaire Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum, who see it as an investment opportunity to help protect their wealth and interests.

@Ofcom Image In the UK, since 1990, 'due impartiality' and 'due accuracy' have been fundamental components of broadcasting - especially for news and current affairs - and imho are essential for a well-informed citizenry and a fair-minded functional democracy.

GB "News" appears to disagree. Image
Jul 29 25 tweets 9 min read
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Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/the-s…Image So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?

I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below, Image
Jul 28 19 tweets 8 min read
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The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis. Image Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.

theconversation.com/most-crime-has…
Jul 21 16 tweets 6 min read
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#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.

It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”

I reproduce it, below. Image Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers. Image
Jun 29 29 tweets 6 min read
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A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists. Image In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
Jun 28 15 tweets 6 min read
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The @BBC - its DG is Tory Tim Davie & its Chairman is Samir Shah (formerly of #TuftonStreet think tank, Policy Exchange) - say #Kneecap will NOT be streamed live “but we look to make an on-demand version available”.

#Glastonbury2025 #BBCBias

Image BBC Chairman, ‘anti-woke’ Samir Shah, formerly of #TuftonStreet' Policy Exchange, was @BBC head of TV current affairs (1987–1994) and political journalism programs (1994–1998). In 1998, he bought production company Juniper, which produced controversial TV.
Jun 26 30 tweets 9 min read
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Socially isolated and radicalised online, Marcus Monzo, 37, was convicted of murdering 14-yr-old Daniel Anjorin and attacking others with a sword.

He was fascinated by violence, far-right extremism, Incel ideology, conspiracy theories and figures like Musk, Tate, and Hitler. Image UK society is insufficiently concerned about the harms of extreme online material of the kind pushed by the far-right, incels, & conspiracy theorists.

Debate is too often framed as being about free speech, rather than its sometimes horrific consequences.

actearly.uk/radicalisation…