[Malcolm Armsteen]

This almost made me weep:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... dical-care

[Timbo]

That has May written all over it. Mean-spirited, petty, pointlessly cruel to no useful end. All about getting a headline figure down. I used to think her obsession with net migration was about vote chasing, but it seems to be a deeply personal crusade. She appears incapable of empathy, hence the trail of fallen people behind her who made the mistake of thinking she'd ever give three-fifths of a flying fuck about any of them. Tragic. I think we are now at the point where we can say she has done more harm than Thatcher ever could have dreamed of.

[The Red Arrow]

I'll leave a companion piece here. Well done, Nigel and Stephen. Well done.

[cycloon]

YEAH BUT NOBODY EVER TALKS ABOUT HOW HIS MUM'S SISTER'S FRIEND'S NEPHEW WAS A TERRORIST FUCKING PAKIS

[Malcolm Armsteen]

More Hostile Environment?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/c ... 91536.html

18-year old female Egyptian student is attacked by six young woman - twice, they pursue her onto a bus to continue their attack. She subsequently dies of a brain bleed.

Murder? Manslaughter? Nope, Affray. One step up from Common Assault.

The victim's parents are ignored by the CPS and police.

"Fuck it, she's foreign."

[Safe_Timber_Man]

Christ sake. This country seems to be wilfully sleep walking into a very dark place.

[Boiler]

I'm not so sure about the sleep walking. I think it's fully conscious.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I agree. The siren call.

[Cyclist]

I think this is the appropriate place for this:

Britain used to be my home, but it's beginning to look unrecognisable to me
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... able-to-me

Worth thinking about.

[Bones McCoy]

I still don't believe we have suddenly become awash with Alf Garnett types. (Bear in mind that I'm located a nit North of England).

There have always been the types who'd loot a bombed out house in the blitz, or start a rightwing party to help make ends meet.
I firmly believe they are still a small minority.
I base this, not on magic thinking and hope, but a pair of observations.

The first is that when a movement of the right reaches around 15% support, it usually starts elbowing its way into the news.
Our far- and alt- right fringes still struggle to muster a hundred for a march - with some very rare exceptions.

Second is that the same few faces keep appearing time after time:
Who are the Covid-deniers: Toby, Julia and Alison.
Who pops up to talk shite about science: Delingpole and Lawson.
Who do they send in when a minister pisses on a tramp (or similar): Grimes.

They are very well funded, but small in number.


I'll tell you about the two things that do concern me:
Rightist infiltration into the Tories - some say they were always there, but they have a new confidence.
Gove has been a bit too quiet - time to check whether that's a dummy in his bed, while he's squirmed out the tunnel and is plotting no good.

[Cyclist]

Did you actually read the artical? She said they've always been there but the referendum outcome ramped it up, which is what we've been saying here in Mailwatch since 2016.

While you make valid points, have you tried looking at it from her perspective - a British-born woman of visibly foreign descent?

That is why I said that piece is worth thinking about. ie Check your privilege. She is more likely to be sensitive to things which we might not even notice.

[Kreuzberger]

The New Year’s Eve firework display in London made me shed a little tear.

I get this and I shared the sentiment, but is pining for a bygone age. That's not a bad thing, per se, but it reminds us of what we have left behind. Good people, social responsibility, enviable values. Instead, cant, rage, disgusting avarice, and corruption have clouded the view like steam on my spex.

It is now four years since I was banging on about how quickly and how far "Cool-Britannia" had fallen. Back then, I couldn't conceive how steep that decline would ultimately be.

All I see now is a broken, vulnerable shell of a once quite nice place to live.

[Bones McCoy]

Did you actually read the artical? She said they've always been there but the referendum outcome ramped it up, which is what we've been saying here in Mailwatch since 2016.

While you make valid points, have you tried looking at it from her perspective - a British-born woman of visibly foreign descent?

That is why I said that piece is worth thinking about. ie Check your privilege. She is more likely to be sensitive to things which we might not even notice.

Fair points:
I did read, and got the impression she was located in the USA (hardly a Vicar's tea party these days).
I'm also writing from my Northern Ivory Tower so don't have my old knowledge of how things are on the streets of Ilford, Walthamstow or Barking.

[Cyclist]

This bodes well for UK citizens living in EU countries.

Our government, which assures us it is doing everything it can to encourage EU citizens in the UK to claim Settled Status, is offering EU citizens living over here £2000 and a free flight to fuck off back where they came from.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... o-leave-uk

How has this country sunk so low?

[Bones McCoy]

This bodes well for UK citizens living in EU countries.

Our government, which assures us it is doing everything it can to encourage EU citizens in the UK to claim Settled Status, is offering EU citizens living over here £2000 and a free flight to fuck off back where they came from.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... o-leave-uk

How has this country sunk so low?

Repatriation money?
Wasn't that out of bounds to even the Tories when first Enoch Powell, and then the NF suggested it.

Mind you, times have changed.
Were I a furloughed/laid off EU national I'd contemplate:
* Covid running rampant (Are things better back home).
* Landlord wanting rent (with menaces) and no reliable income.
* Gammons at the help.

A couple of bags (of sand) might represent the offer I can't refuse.