Society
Gina Miller and wellbeing
Gina Miller has issued a manifesto for the parliamentary seat that she aims to fight, which is Epsom and Ewell: That ‘all policy decisions might be approached through the lens of health, happiness and wellbeing’ is pretty basic – but these days must be regarded as decidedly radical and right! Wellbeing community hubs and preventative... Read more
A Profound Act Of Sincerity
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
https://medium.com/media/748900638762390db63b5ed17b73e083/href
One of the main reasons the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell is having such an earthshaking impact on our society is because it’s the single most profound act of sincerity that any of us have ever witnessed.
In this fraudulent civilization where everything is fake and stupid, we are not accustomed to such sincerity. We’re accustomed to vapid mainstream culture manufactured in New York and Los Angeles, airheaded celebrities who never talk about anything real, self-aggrandizing Instagram activism, synthetic political factions designed to herd populist discontent into support for status quo politics, phony shitlib “I hear you, I stand with you [but I won’t actually do anything]” posturing, endless propaganda and diversion from the mass media and its online equivalents which are algorithmically boosted by Silicon Valley tech plutocrats, and a mind-controlled dystopia where almost everyone is sleepwalking through life in a psyop-induced fog.
That is the sort of experience we have been conditioned to expect here in the shadow of the western empire. And then, out of nowhere, some Air Force guy comes along and does something real. Something as authentic and sincere as anything could possibly be, with the very noblest of intentions.
He live-streamed himself lighting himself on fire and burning to death in order to draw people’s attention to how horrific the US-backed atrocities in Gaza actually are. Knowing full well how painful it would be. Knowing full well he’d either die or survive with horrific burns and wish he’d died. Knowing full well that once he connected the flame with the accelerant he poured onto his body, there’d be no turning back.
He didn’t back down. He didn’t go home and stuff his face with snacks and gossip in the group chat and see what types of mindless escapism are available on Netflix or Pornhub. He lit the flame. He even struggled to light it at first, and he still did.
There’s nothing in our society that can prepare us for that kind of sincerity. That kind of selflessness. That kind of purity of intention. It stops us dead in our tracks, as if the fabric of our world has been ripped asunder. And, in a way, it has.
We’re not really living in the same world we were living in before Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire at 1 PM on February 25th. It was far too sincere an act, committed in the least sincere city on this planet. It shook things around far too much for all the pieces to fit fully back into place.
I myself am permanently changed. I find myself reapproaching the Gaza genocide with fresh eyes, renewed vigor, and invincible determination. I now write with a different kind of fire in my guts.
And looking around I can see it’s much the same for others. Where previously we’d begun seeing the opposition to the incineration of Gaza beginning to lose a bit of energy due to despair and how hard it is to keep something energized for months on end, we are now seeing electrifying enthusiasm.
More importantly, this is shaking things up in mainstream society and not just within the pro-Palestine crowd. We’re seeing Bushnell’s final words about the US empire’s complicity with genocide shared on mainstream networks like CNN and ABC, while Israel apologists run around falling all over themselves trying to tell people nobody cares about what Bushnell did like a guy sending a woman dozens of texts saying he’s totally unbothered that she rejected his advances. A member of the US military lighting himself on fire while screaming “Free Palestine” is absolutely devastating to the information interests of Israel and the United States, because it shakes people awake like nothing else ever could.
All around our fake plastic dystopia people are now opening their eyes, saying “Wait, huh? That man did what? Why? I thought nothing matters but my comfort and my feelings and my small circle of people I care about? My country is complicit in a what now? Is it possible I’ve been missing something important?”
With his profound act of sincerity, Aaron Bushnell extended the world an invitation to a very different way of looking at life. An invitation to pierce through the veil of superficiality and narcissism to a radical authenticity and a deep compassion for our fellow human beings. To a profound sincerity of our own, with which we can shake the world awake in our own unique ways.
At 1 PM on February 25th, Aaron Bushnell lit more than one kind of fire. A fire that drives us to act. A fire that lights the way. A fire that inspires us. A fire that shows us another way of being. A fire which shows us a better world is possible.
We won’t forget his message. We couldn’t if we tried.
______________
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Government itself has ensured that it is dysfuntional:
What is further remarkable is that the inspector of BorderForce is the only ‘services’ inspector who does not have the right to publish his own reports – for an immigration obsessed government, well, That is clearly a desire to control the narrative and how…... Read more
Identity Politics has turned the Conservatives on themselves
Rather remarkably. we are now told that while the Prime Minister thinks Lee Anderson’s recent comments were “wrong” he “does not believe he is racist”. So why cannot Sunak say he has suspended the whip on the basis of religious hatred then? He is a complete prisoner of Conservative factionalism and so meanwhile has done... Read more
‘People in Ashfield are Sick of Hearing Our Community Mentioned Every Time Lee Anderson Makes a Prejudiced Comment’
The ex-mining town of Sutton-in-Ashfield was often a tough place to grow up – particularly if, like me, you came from a South Asian background.
Racism was an ever-present issue in my childhood. But I noticed as I grew up that it became less prevalent as the area, and country, became more diverse and tolerant. In my adulthood, the majority of people in Ashfield would treat me just like anyone else.
Since the election of Lee Anderson in 2019, I have witnessed a reversal of the progress on racism.
Anderson – who has had the Conservative whip suspended after claiming that London's Muslim Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has allowed "Islamists" to take over the city – has a long history of prejudice.
This includes blocking travellers from using a park. Being an active member of a Facebook group that supports George Soros conspiracy theories. Boycotting the England men's football team as they took the knee to raise awareness of racial injustice.
In fact, a quick search online of 'Lee Anderson racism’ will bring up a plethora of news stories and incidents from both his time as a Labour councillor and as a Conservative MP. One such incident, when he told asylum seekers to “f*** off back to France” brought back memories of people telling me to “go back to where you came from”.
What has made it worse is the deafening silence from the Conservative Party.
Rather than being reprimanded for such comments, Anderson was rewarded with the role of Deputy Chair. By doing this, Rishi Sunak gave racists and Islamophobes in this country a sense of vindication. It is something that strikes fear into people like me, who understand the devastating effects racism can have.
There has also been a vocal backlash against Anderson within the constituency, which has been heartening.
I have found great solace in various highly active Facebook groups that constantly call out his rhetoric for what it is. More recently, we have set up the Stand up for Ashfield campaign, which is part of the MP Watch network, to hold Lee Anderson to account and fight for a better Ashfield. People here are sick of hearing our community mentioned every time Lee Anderson is in the news for another controversial statement.
Anderson's comments about Sadiq Khan came in a week in which former Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed the UK was run by "Islamists"; and when ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss stood silent as Tommy Robinson was described as a "hero" by far-right activist Steve Bannon.
Lee Anderson has refused to apologise for his comments. He has since described his words as “clumsy” – but they were not “clumsy”. They were targeted and specific. He intentionally set out to cause division and stoke hatred, as he has done consistently since becoming an MP.
At times of heightened tension around issues of racism, I always put myself in the shoes of a 10-year-old version of me going to school. How will I be treated in class? Will the racist rhetoric trickle down yet again? Will I have racist abuse hurled at me on my way home?
Rishi Sunak must expel Lee Anderson and those others who have weaponised racism in the Conservative Party. I have experienced first-hand how devastating it can be to grow up in an area facing racist abuse. I thought those times were in the past. But it feels as if coming from an ethnic minority background is becoming increasingly dangerous in Britain today.
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The ex-mining town of Sutton-in-Ashfield was often a tough place to grow up – particularly if, like me, you came from a South Asian background.
Racism was an ever-present issue in my childhood. But I noticed as I grew up that it became less prevalent as the area, and country, became more diverse and tolerant. In my adulthood, the majority of people in Ashfield would treat me just like anyone else.
Since the election of Lee Anderson in 2019, I have witnessed a reversal of the progress on racism.
Anderson – who has had the Conservative whip suspended after claiming that London's Muslim Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has allowed "Islamists" to take over the city – has a long history of prejudice.
This includes blocking travellers from using a park. Being an active member of a Facebook group that supports George Soros conspiracy theories. Boycotting the England men's football team as they took the knee to raise awareness of racial injustice.
Lee Anderson’s claims that the Muslim Mayor of London has handed the city to Islamists is another unsurprising example of the political culture the Conservative Party has normalised, writes Hardeep Matharu
Hardeep Matharu
In fact, a quick search online of 'Lee Anderson racism’ will bring up a plethora of news stories and incidents from both his time as a Labour councillor and as a Conservative MP. One such incident, when he told asylum seekers to “f*** off back to France” brought back memories of people telling me to “go back to where you came from”.
What has made it worse is the deafening silence from the Conservative Party.
Rather than being reprimanded for such comments, Anderson was rewarded with the role of Deputy Chair. By doing this, Rishi Sunak gave racists and Islamophobes in this country a sense of vindication. It is something that strikes fear into people like me, who understand the devastating effects racism can have.
There has also been a vocal backlash against Anderson within the constituency, which has been heartening.
I have found great solace in various highly active Facebook groups that constantly call out his rhetoric for what it is. More recently, we have set up the Stand up for Ashfield campaign, which is part of the MP Watch network, to hold Lee Anderson to account and fight for a better Ashfield. People here are sick of hearing our community mentioned every time Lee Anderson is in the news for another controversial statement.
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Anderson's comments about Sadiq Khan came in a week in which former Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed the UK was run by "Islamists"; and when ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss stood silent as Tommy Robinson was described as a "hero" by far-right activist Steve Bannon.
Lee Anderson has refused to apologise for his comments. He has since described his words as “clumsy” – but they were not “clumsy”. They were targeted and specific. He intentionally set out to cause division and stoke hatred, as he has done consistently since becoming an MP.
At times of heightened tension around issues of racism, I always put myself in the shoes of a 10-year-old version of me going to school. How will I be treated in class? Will the racist rhetoric trickle down yet again? Will I have racist abuse hurled at me on my way home?
Rishi Sunak must expel Lee Anderson and those others who have weaponised racism in the Conservative Party. I have experienced first-hand how devastating it can be to grow up in an area facing racist abuse. I thought those times were in the past. But it feels as if coming from an ethnic minority background is becoming increasingly dangerous in Britain today.
‘The “Dangerous Muslim” Trope is Being Weaponised to Avoid Scrutiny’
It’s not about the women and children being massacred in Gaza, it’s about Lindsey Hoyle and UK's elected representatives feeling scared. Somehow the House of Commons Speaker turned a motion by the Scottish National Party calling for a ceasefire in Gaza into a debate on who runs the country. According to former Home Secretary, Suella Braveman it is the “Islamists”.
It is a far-right trope that effectively defines Muslims in Britain as a 'Trojan Horse’. Braverman and her acolytes are now puffing out their chests, determined to face down this phantom menace to the democracy which they themselves have so readily undermined.
Lee Anderson turned his fire on London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who he opined was being controlled by Islamists. Khan’s Muslimness has so offended Conservatives both in Britain and across the pond that, every few years, they accuse him of being in cahoots with undesirables. In their eyes, he is now nothing more than a puppet.
Braverman and Anderson have been joined by William Shawcross, the former extremism tsar who lamented that the Government had ignored the recommendations from his review of the counter-terrorism Prevent Strategy – a strategy considered by critics to be a mechanism to criminalise religious and political beliefs.
Shawcross cited the safety of the public, which he claimed is now at increased risk in the UK due to the war in Gaza. Official police statistics show that the arrest rate for the millions of people who have marched since October is lower than the Glastonbury Festival – a fact not reported in any mainstream media outlet.
Both in its timing and execution, the campaign by those against Palestine employed its 'dangerous Muslims' card in a manner that has left journalists on right-wing radio stations aghast at how possibly “orchestrated” it is.
Academic Ben Whitham has called it a well-crafted “racist tradition”. As he posts, “politicians and journalists have worked hard over many years to perpetuate the idea that British Muslims represent a fifth column and secret cabal plotting to 'Islamicise’ the UK”.
The lives of Palestinians are now a political game, whereby those supporting the idea that they should not be murdered and maimed are cast as the 'baddies’. This isn’t about the safety of MPs. Turning themselves into victims of a phantom threat is really a panic about their moral culpability in supporting the mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza – aided and abetted by the media class.
This nexus was at work again this week in the spike in online articles and broadcast mentions of the word 'Islamist’ . The use of the word and its associated terms suggests that detractors don’t hate Muslims per se, it’s just the really, really bad ones they’re concerned about.
Yet time and again, 'Islamist’ is used when reporting on any issue in which Muslim voices are raised, leading to debates on safety and extremism.
Democracy is great, we are told, because alongside other things, it encourages citizens to voice their concerns on issues they feel strongly about. But if you do this as a Muslim, there’s a high chance you will be labelled an Islamist; an extremist; and, in the case of Palestine, an antisemite.
As a new study on the media’s use of language when reporting on Muslims concludes, Islamism is “represented as being totalitarian and as such is incompatible with democracy and other modernist values”.
The Government has made no secret of its disdain for Muslims for many years.
The Prime Minister and his Deputy can’t bring themselves to use the word “Islamophobia”. Conservative MP Paul Scully joined the chorus when he claimed particular areas of Britain with large ethnic minority populations are no-go zones, citing the heavily Muslim-populated Tower Hamlets in east London and Sparkhill in Birmingham. Again, 'no-go zones’ is a suspiciously coded phrase which most likely means areas people like Scully don’t like visiting as opposed to anyone actually being denied entry. The last time a newspaper printed such lies the press regulator ruled against the Daily Mail and forced it to publish a correction.
The tropes now being launched against Britain’s Muslims are no longer obscure fringe talking points –they are being thrust into the mainstream by Conservative politicians and the right-wing media, irate at seeing mass protests in support of the Palestinian people. The Telegraph, a pillar of Britain’s right-wing media long hostile to any Muslim protest, front-paged the absurd allegation that Islamists were now running the country.
The next time a frustrated Brit has to endure cancelled trains or can’t get a GP appointment, or an entire council goes bankrupt as many are predicted to do, remember: it’s the Muslims who have done that.
More concerning is the fact that the kind of rhetoric that was routinely found on the pages of right-wing publications now has a broadcast presence, on the likes of GB News and TalkTV.
This is not mere 'news’ but polemic against British citizens. At a time where much of the population continues to face the challenges of a fall in living standards and the destruction of institutions, there are few if any solutions being offered to them.
Instead, they are being served an enemy.
Bank of England likely to promote recession
An analyst from the research company TS Lombard suggests that the Bank of England’s interest rate policy is highly likely to plunge Britain into a recession. Indeed even the Telegraph article in which the reference is also contained is headlined ‘The Bank of England risks pushing Britain into a depression’, and so is of the... Read more
Scottish Green Minister Brands Lee Anderson and Conservative Right ‘School Bullies Who Love Punching Down’
A Co-Leader of the Scottish Green Party, serving in the Scottish Government, has hit out at Conservative “school bullies” who “can't see a marginalised, vulnerable minority without instinctively wanting to punch down”.
Patrick Harvie MSP – the first openly bisexual leader of a UK political party – made the comments to Byline Times in a meeting of UK Green Party leaders in London on Monday.
It came after Lee Anderson lost the Conservative whip over the weekend for his claims that Islamists had "got control" of London through its Muslim Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Responding, Harvie said: “Clearly for some on the right, it feels as though they haven't emotionally moved on from being school bullies, and they can't see a marginalised, vulnerable minority without instinctively wanting to punch down.
“There are others who simply see this as an opportunistic agenda: to try and divide people against one another and as a way to court controversy [or] shallow popularity.”
Harvie alleged that there is a double standard about how politicians and the press treat antisemitism and Islamophobia.
“It doesn't take a genius to imagine how they would respond if somebody on another part of the political spectrum had talked about Jewish people as having some sort of conspiratorial influence," he told Byline Times.
"That would be immediately condemned as antisemitism, and rightly so… Islamophobia needs to be acknowledged and then condemned in the same way,."
He named individuals like Anderson and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, alongside ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and quickly ousted Prime Minister Liz Truss as showing “ just how extreme they’re willing to go”.
All of them have courted the hard-right over the past year, some with an eye to securing the leadership of the party. Liz Truss spoke at a pro-Trump conference in the US last week, staying silent while former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon praised English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson as a hero.
Braverman has made similar comments to Anderson in claiming that Islamists now run the country, though she did not name an individual as being responsible as Anderson did with Sadiq Khan.
Jenrick has been accused of deliberately inflaming tensions after claiming immigration threatens to “cannibalise” the compassion of the British public.
Harvie told Byline Times that "we've got a much bigger problem than just political parties" and that there also needs to be a "proper discussion in the UK about media regulation".
Asked what that might look like, the Glasgow MSP said it could involve a “fit and proper person test” to ensure that those who owned UK media outlets were responsible individuals.
“We’ve seen pretty blatant examples of explicit, far-right rhetoric from the likes of GB News for example. [Take] the fact that Ofcom are failing to regulate the promotion of outright conspiracy theories, and lies… as though freedom of speech is about the freedom to tell lies.
“Freedom of speech is precious and that's why we can't allow it to be subverted and to suddenly have the freedom to denigrate minorities of vulnerable people. So, we've got a much bigger problem than just political parties."
The same applies to social media firms, which he said had been “taken over by toxic forces” – referring to Elon Musk’s takeover of X (formerly Twitter).
Last August, a man was arrested and charged after using homophobic rhetoric when challenging him. Harvie told Byline Times: “[Social media hate is] not just something about people's worries, it spills over into real life.
“We've seen the case of Brianna Ghey for example – a court judgement found transphobia was one of the motivating factors... Trolling people on social media [is not] just a laugh. It [creates] real world harm, and that's going to continue to get worse if we don't get to grips with the problem.”
Asked if he feels safe as a politician in Scotland, amid mounting fears over the attacks on political representatives, he added: “Relatively. I question that more than I used to.”
Harvie spoke at the event to promote the Greens ahead of this year's general election, in which his colleagues in England are hoping to increase their number of seats, from one to three or four.
Do you have a story that needs highlighting? Get in touch by emailing josiah@bylinetimes.com
‘The Normalisation of Politically Expedient Racism: Rishi Sunak Cannot Call Out Something He Has Been Complicit In’
The Prime Minister’s response to claims by his party’s former vice-chair that the Muslim Mayor of London has let the city been taken over by “Islamists” has been to refuse to acknowledge the racism of his comments. Instead, he repeated a well-worn statement: that the UK is the “most successful multi-ethnic democracy in the world”.
These words do nothing to address how and why Conservative politicians have normalised a political culture in which racist dog-whistle politics is still seen as acceptable. Not reasoned discussions about extremism – but emotionally-charged and racially-activating comments designed to provoke controversy, hate and division.
Rishi Sunak won’t say whether he believes Lee Anderson, who lost the Conservative whip following his claims about Labour’s Sadiq Khan, was driven by racism in making the remarks.
But he has pointed to how proud he was to become the UK’s first Asian Prime Minister and how this had occurred without it being of note.
“That’s because we have a way of doing these things, of respecting everyone, and at the same time ensuring that everyone integrates into our community and subscribes to a common set of British values,” he added. And that’s why… racism or prejudice of any kind is completely unacceptable.”
These are the same vague lines we hear every time issues of race become a ‘flashpoint’; when underlying realities briefly catch the attention of politicians and media outlets usually only too willing to refuse to engage.
But claims about Britain’s ‘better nature’ do nothing to address a political culture in which issues such as Islamophobia are seen as a way to advance political capital – and specifically how the Conservative Party has been at the forefront of its normalisation.
Conservative peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – the first Muslim to serve as a Cabinet minister in David Cameron’s Government – has spoken many times in recent years of how she doesn’t recognise the elements of her party taking this route. For her, Anderson’s comments showed how the Conservative Party sees Muslims as “fair game” and “convenient electoral campaign fodder”.
Anderson's comments are also indicative of a deeper, perhaps narrow but emboldened, current within the party that has never been afraid to vocalise such sentiments – from the very top.
It was the former Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who wrote of “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” and Muslim women looking like “bank robbers” and “letterboxes”.
His Vote Leave campaign, which Johnson led with Michael Gove, claimed Turkey would soon be joining the EU and was unafraid of peddling a xenophobic and anti-immigration message during the Brexit Referendum.
Accusations of institutional Islamophobia in the Conservatives – including most recently by the vice-chair of the influential 1922 Committee, Nusrat Ghani – remain unscrutinised, even if dismissed by the party.
At the top of Sunak's priorities is the controversial Rwanda scheme, ruled unlawful by the UK’s Supreme Court, which was initiated by former Home Secretary Priti Patel (a policy one seasoned and senior Brexit-supporting Conservative MP told me was “the concentration camp scheme”).
Patel’s successor at the Home Office Suella Braverman – who Sunak was happy to bring back into government when he became Prime Minister – has made a number of inflammatory statements during her tenure and since, including falsely claiming that child grooming gangs in the UK are “almost all British-Pakistani” (despite the Home Office’s own research finding that the majority of offenders are white).
These are just a few examples, from the Conservative Party itself, which have contributed to a culture in which Lee Anderson had no qualms about claiming that the London Mayor has handed the cities to Islamists.
Then there are the elements within the party only too willing to stand alongside the likes of Nigel Farage and his friend, alt-right strategist Steve Bannon – who has baselessly ‘predicted’ that there will be a nationalist uprising in Britain to install Farage as Prime Minister.
Whether these dog whistles are sounded for political capital with the public at large, with Conservative Party members in the country, for reasons of leadership ambitions, or in the myopia of a ‘culture war’ perpetuated by politicians and media outlets far detached from the actual views of the vast majority of people in this country, the effect is the same: the normalisation of the weaponisation of hate.
In 2021, Peter Jukes and I spoke to former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve on Byline TV about how such a culture was being normalised by his party under Boris Johnson, who had expelled him and a number of 'One Nation' Conservatives.
“If you are pandering to people’s prejudices, because it is a way of getting short-term fixes, to your lack of policy and your being a shambles, it’s inevitably going to take you down this road,” he said.
“As an MP, people come in [to see you] and feel angry or unhappy or upset and want change. And, generally speaking, the Conservative Party has seen itself as absorbing this, by acting as a check and moderator.
“If you decide to no longer be a moderator, because it suits your short-term agenda, to cover-up for the shambles, then that’s the route down which you’re going to be pushed.”
Downing Street is today be briefing that “we don’t tolerate any anti-Muslim hatred in any form” – once again ignoring how it has normalised a political culture in which anti-Muslim dog whistles have been tolerated for far too long.
The truth is that strategically deployed racism has long been seen as a political tool. Rishi Sunak, as our first Asian Prime Minister of a party that has normalised its use, cannot call out something he has been complicit in.
‘Breathtaking’
This chat about the ‘Breathtaking’ television drama contains powerful stuff from Dr Rachel Clarke, who, incidentally, actually discloses that she herself sought help for Covid crisis PTSD: Regrettably this is further proof that government doesn’t care for us or about us.. It should make, I hope, all of us voters, think about future government…... Read more