Latest news with #Brexity
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dear Tim Davie, here are 10 easy ways to get Reform voters to watch the BBC
Yikes! Panic stations at Broadcasting House as it occurs to the BBC high-ups that those ghastly, knuckle-dragging Farage fans might be more popular than in their worst nightmares. So sealed off from mainstream opinion is the BBC Bubble that, until now, the rise of Reform UK has been dismissed as some kind of unfortunate smell which can safely be dispersed if presenters just keep treating Reform spokespeople as if they are enemy spies brought in for interrogation, not democratically elected men and women who speak for millions. The corporation's lofty condescension to those uppity plebs was summed up by a BBC Politics tweet which described the newly-elected Reform UK Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, as 'the former Greggs worker and Miss UK finalist'. Never mind that she'd also been a Conservative MP and minister. Mind you, give me a Greggs worker and beauty queen over the coldly supercilious Naga Munchetty any day. BBC staff are quick to complain about 'misogyny' unless the target is someone they consider to be 'far-Right' and almost certainly Brexity (Eeuw!) in which case all feminist sensitivities are off. That snobbish, snide remark about the force that is Dame Andrea provoked a huge backlash, quite rightly, and the BBC hastily removed the tweet saying, 'We acknowledge the tone of the post was wrong, and it has been taken down'. Still, they had revealed their true colours – Rayner Red and Lib Dem Yellow – and they weren't pretty. Now – oh, joy! – we are told the BBC is holding talks about how to win over Reform-voting viewers amid fears their views are 'under-represented by the broadcaster'. You don't say! I reckon many Reform supporters have already cancelled their licence fees in disgust. Still, to appeal to any that remain, senior executives including director-general Tim Davie and chair Samir Shah are said to have discussed plans to overhaul the BBC's news and drama output to tackle 'low-trust issues' among Reform voters. Deborah Turness, BBC News boss, apparently briefed the broadcaster's board on how to ensure the views of Reformers were being given enough airtime. The BBC is understood to be keen to ensure it represents all audiences and their concerns, suggesting the broadcaster may seek to boost its coverage of issues such as immigration. Well, that's a first. I can count on the fingers of one hand the occasions when the BBC has suggested that immigration is anything other than an unmitigated joy or treated anyone arguing to cut numbers as anything other than some racist pariah. I still remember the pained wince of Laura Kuenssberg when Kemi Badenoch confirmed that she did indeed believe that not all cultures are equally valid – 'cultures that believe in child marriage?' quipped the Tory leader devastatingly. A number of key BBC presenters may need to be sedated before being required to challenge their own faith in open borders and slavish loyalty to the EU. Why, you might ask, has it taken the prospect (um, threat) of a Reform government to make our supposedly national broadcaster feel it has to make sure that all viewers' experiences and backgrounds are portrayed on screen? Well, while Reform has not said it would scrap the BBC licence fee, it believes it is 'not sustainable' in its current form. Playing nice with a future prime minister Farage may stick in the craw, but the Beeb don't have much choice but to swallow hard. If the BBC is serious, here are my top 10 tips for Reform-friendly programming: In anything. Literally anything and everything. Call The Midwife, Springwatch, sewing contests, anchoring News at Ten, chairing Question Time. Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime is rightly adored for its host's no-nonsense style and contempt for fashionable pieties. Peak Reform! Best of all for attracting Nigel fans, restore Top Gear with the original, irrepressible cast of petrolheads. Clarkson once said the most British saying of all was, 'Oh, for God's sake.' He speaks directly to Reform voters. No need to sack Gary Lineker (a Reform imperative if Mr Gaza hadn't already stepped down!), but the BBC could help restore national pride and joy by buying the rights to broadcast all England Test matches. Many Reform voters are older and may struggle to afford a Sky subscription just to watch the game they love. The national broadcaster should be broadcasting our nation's sports. After the woke ratings disaster of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who, this cult show is on death row. Former doctor's companion Billie Piper is rumoured to be lined up to be the second female Doctor. A better idea would be to cast Piper's former husband Laurence Fox. As well as possessing the ideal hectic energy, dancing wit and sonorous delivery for the role, Fox was cancelled and lost his acting career after appearing on Question Time, where he said that Britain was not racist. It was, he insisted, the warmest, most welcoming and tolerant country on Earth. A belief which is pretty much universally shared by Reform voters. Uncancelling Fox would be proof of the BBC's new openness to views it finds uncomfortable as well as giving that endangered acting species – the posh white male – a role he would undoubtedly make his own. While you're at it, drop the relentless diversity casting of BBC drama. It's patronising and silly. This may come as a shock, but there are actually some police officers in the UK who are not married to a spouse from an ethnic minority – not that you'd know it from watching every single thriller or police procedural. Viewers – both Reform voters and others – would occasionally like to see the country they live in accurately represented, not as it is viewed by a producer who lives in on-trend east London. BBC News bulletins to feature subjects discussed down the pub not by non-binary Marxist postgraduates called Umberto in Broadcasting House, e.g. our energy bills are horrendous and net zero is clearly madness. Maybe occasionally suggest that it's 'green taxes' not the 'war in Ukraine' which is giving Britain the highest energy bills in the developed world. It's what Reform voters believe after all. Every time a journalist uses the term 'far-Right' they must also use 'far-Left' (which, mysteriously, we never hear on the BBC). ie the 'far-Left' Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. To be stated every time the war with Israel is mentioned, and no equivocation. An ambitious new factual history series which travels back into our nation's past and discovers, astonishingly, that Britons weren't always the biggest bastards imaginable. Headliners, the just-cancelled GB News late-night comic news review show, to go out at 11pm on BBC Two. An unfamiliar, Right-wingish slant on current events. Reform voters will love. Do please tell me your suggestions for a Reform-friendly BBC in the comments below. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
I didn't think we were heading for civil war. Now I'm not so sure
I used to dismiss fears Britain was headed for open sectarian conflict, possibly even civil war, as overblown. Those expressing such unease were, I suspected, succumbing to their own subconscious cognitive bias and exaggerating the scale of the problem. After all, does the UK really have the ingredients for such internal strife? We live in an inefficient and messed up society, but not a 'failed' one. Taxes are paid, people who want to be are employed, we have abundant food, clothing and energy – at least until Ed Miliband's climate fanaticism catches up with us. We don't have America's gun problem, even if gang violence has become a feature of British life. We have, relative to other developed nations, successfully integrated migrants in large numbers. Now, however, I'm not so sure. The rule-abiding majority are nearing the end of their tether with illegal migration. They cannot tolerate the sheer lawlessness of it, how toddlers can be trampled to death in filthy dinghies only for the French authorities to wave the boats on their way. They are appalled when, on the rare occasion those piloting these boats are arrested, the jail time is just a few months. They are horrified that our shadow economy allows illegal migrants to work here, whilst their own taxes fund 'asylum' hotels at a cost of £5 million every day. And they are tired of being gaslit by our political class, who keenly downplay many of the problems associated with what they deceitfully term 'irregular' migration. Of being labelled as 'bigoted' for wondering if the scale and pace of change is compatible with assimilation and social cohesion. As the state loses control of our borders, with both legal and illegal in-flows reaching objectively unsustainable levels, it is going to ever more desperate lengths to keep the peace. So our officers throw a retired special constable into a police cell over a social media post, though not before sneering at his 'Brexity' bookshelves. Our authorities seem to think that rape gangs need to be covered up to protect 'community cohesion'. I write just days after The Telegraph revealed that concern over mass migration could be deemed a 'terrorist ideology' by the Prevent programme. Wish me luck. But all this just paints over the mould. If the white working-class feel they are constantly being expected to sacrifice their culture, identity, their freedom of speech in order to celebrate and preserve those of immigrants, it may not be long before they revolt. As Prof David Betz of King's College London warns, when 'a formerly dominant social majority fears it is losing that dominance' it doesn't surrender its position quietly. If you want to know how this plays out, glance at events unfolding in Northern Ireland and Los Angeles. Violence has erupted on the streets of Ballymena following the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by two 14-year old boys of Romanian descent. Riots have broken out across the city of angels in response to immigration enforcement operations. Some in the Donald Trump-hating media have dismissed the lawlessness as simply 'a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn'. California governor Gavin Newsom somehow blames not the mobs running amok, but rather 'deranged' and 'dictatorial' Trump for what is happening in LA. What we are witnessing in these conflagrations 5,000 miles apart are worrying signs of what could become much more serious confrontations in the future. On the one hand, 'natives' could turn increasingly hostile to migrants. On the other, large migrant communities, now established for two or three generations, could defend newcomers to whom they may be related or with whom they have more in common than with white Brits. To avoid the worst of this, white Brits and affluent migrants could leave cities to become dominated by poorer, more welfare-dependent migrant communities – deepening the rural and urban splits recent election results already tell us are emerging. In London, the White British population declined from 71 per cent in 1991 to 37 per cent in 2021. Birmingham has experienced similar ethnic change. Nigel Farage wants to empower enforcement officers to detain and deport on a regular schedule, using charter flights to get the job done. Yet when Police Scotland attempted to remove two Indian illegal migrants in 2021, protestors surrounded their van, with the men eventually released following a stand-off lasting several hours. If the Government tried something similar in Tower Hamlets, there would be large-scale rioting with the authorities again, eventually, backing down. Reform will need a clear view about who exactly they would try to deport, the size of the problem and the means to do it. Even then, they may not be able to deport more than a few thousand. The situation may seem almost intractable. But the solution cannot be to deny the problem exists. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
New Statesman
28-05-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Nigel Farage's booze offensive
Photo byChampagne breakfast with Nigel Farage, four bottles of fizz delivered to the stand, chauffeur service so the permanently inebriated don't drive and a porter on tap are merely a few reasons why a corporate £250,000 'accelerator package' at Reform UK's weekend national conference in Birmingham this September is one of the most, ahem, unusual to be offered by a political party aspiring to power. Which, if any, companies and organisations buy access to the leader and book exhibition space will be a pointer to where the wind is blowing. Whether any executives recall who they met after unlimited complimentary drinks in a platinum bar is another matter. Not exactly short of advice, Keir Starmer's right ear is to hear more. Labour's fledgling red wall group of MPs is to launch as a formal Brexity, migration-hostile faction at the party's conference. Head insurgent Jo White revealed details on Politics Inside Out, a new podcast by Gloria De Piero and Jonathan Ashworth. The Bassetlaw MP's most startling disclosure was that her mother was a communist which means so too was the mother-in-law of White's hubby, hammer of the left Lord John Mann. Harry Pollitt would be wondering where it all went wrong. Herculean seed sower Boris Johnson's one-man campaign to reverse Britain's declining birth rate may exacerbate big daddy's strained family relations. Baby number four with third wife Carrie, his ninth in all (that we know about), arrived shortly before a daughter with second wife Marina marries this weekend. Invitations and the seating plan would be a challenge for the diplomatic corps. After guest editing last week's New Statesman, Gordon Brown made his successor as Labour Prime Minister appear a little smaller by delivering a 60-minute mesmerising John Smith memorial lecture without notes. The son of a preacher man reeled off stats, cracked jokes and recited poetry. Hair-shirt Broon expressed contempt for fees charged by Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon. His quip that Liz Truss should pay to be heard, prompted a Tory to scoff so should one-gear Keir. The current PM is monotone even talking of subjects he loves like Arsenal. Twice-divorced Nigel Farage returning early after the bank holiday to float tax breaks for married couples triggered ridicule after he'd been caught playing hooky, missing Starmer's European deal to sneak away on holiday before the parliamentary recess started. One Labourite wondered aloud whether a self-styled man of the people, registering nudging £1m from outside interests on top of his £93,904 MP salary, booked ahead to beat school holiday surge prices. With 10 'second' jobs Farage could afford any £80 fine for unauthorised absence. Kevin Maguire is associate editor(politics) of the Daily Mirror [See also: The economic fantasies of Reform UK] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
How Britain's police went from being the most revered to most despised
By his own admission, Danny Theobald is no saint. As a young man, he spent time behind bars for robbery and cultivating cannabis. Then he became a father and turned his life around. He has spent the last 13 years building a successful business and doing his very best to be a good role model. In his spare time, he volunteers as a football coach for local children and works with the disabled. A year or so ago, he had dramatic interaction with the police. Video footage shows up to 12 police officers and multiple police cars outside his Surrey home. What on earth was going on? Had he reverted to his bad old ways? Apparently not. In what is becoming an alarming new trend, the heavy-handed police response was prompted by nothing more than a complaint of 'malicious communications' following a minor argument with a local councillor. No further action was ultimately taken, after the complaint was withdrawn. What an absurd waste of everyone's time! How is it that the police, who spend so much time whining about lack of resources, are able to find the means to go all-out in their pursuit of cases such as this? While the overwhelming majority of real crimes go unsolved (less than six per cent of reported offences result in charges), forces across the country appear to have no shortage of time and energy to investigate obviously inconsequential complaints, rushing to arrest decent citizens for choosing the wrong words on social media or causing fleeting offence. The weight and speed of the response of some forces to the flimsiest allegations of hate crime or 'harassment' is breathtaking and raises serious questions over the judgement of commanding officers. Already, public trust in policing is hanging by a thread, following umpteen high-profile failures and scandals. As examples of outrageously heavy-handed responses to matters that should be of no concern to law enforcement continue to emerge, something terrible is happening. Once admired all over the world for their high standards and professionalism, our police are falling into disrepute. In some cases, wildly disproportionate responses to petty or vexatious complaints appear to arise from simple stupidity. Take the appalling treatment of the retired volunteer police officer who was detained over a social media post about anti-Semitism in Britain. Blundering officers appear to have misread Julian Foulkes' innocent warning about the growing threat to Jews as an indication that he is anti-Semitic himself. Cue an appalling invasion of his privacy, as his house was turned upside down in search of non-existent evidence of non-existent offences. As officers rifled through his books, they were captured on camera commenting on the discovery of 'very Brexity things,' – namely, innocuous 'small c' conservative literature, such as copies of the Spectator magazine and works by Telegraph contributor Douglas Murray. How crashingly ignorant and foolish these officers and their bosses now look. In other cases, police forces are allowing themselves to be exploited by individuals and organisations with obvious political agendas. Witness the ridiculous incident in a town square during the recent local election campaigns, in which police could be heard warning a man that telling someone to 'speak English' could be perceived as a 'hate crime.' Why on earth did officers waste any time engaging in what they could surely see was nothing more than a silly verbal spat between rival party activists? Such cases – along with many others, including the now notorious police pursuit of Telegraph writer Allison Pearson – cry out for officers to exercise sensible discretion, as they are absolutely entitled to do. Unless there has been a blatant crime, they cannot be forced by their superiors to make arrests. In the case of Mr Foulkes, the constables who took it upon themselves to treat him like a terror suspect could just as easily have sat down to talk to him over a coffee; swiftly established the facts, and – in police speak – 'non crimed the allegation.' That was all that was required, if they truly had no choice but to follow orders to knock on his door. Which brings us to the murky matter of quotas. This little secret may explain quite a lot. According to well-informed police sources, senior figures in some forces set informal targets for arrests, pressurising junior officers to 'book' a minimum number of people every week or month. The idea is to ensure everyone looks busy. How much easier it must be, to haul in some quiet middle class retiree, than challenge a Pakistani rape gang suspect or drugs kingpin! The downside is ending up looking completely ridiculous – and rapidly losing what little remains of our respect. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's no longer hyperbolic to ask if Britain is still a free country
'Very Brexity.' These were the words police officers breathlessly uttered as they rifled through Julian Foulkes' book collection, looking for evidence of thoughtcrime. The bodycam footage from the 2023 arrest of Foulkes – a retired special constable from Kent, who was cautioned for sending 'malicious communications' – sent a chill down my spine, as I'm sure it did for many Telegraph readers. If not liking the European Union is enough to raise the eyebrows of England's poundshop Stasi, then I guess I'll see you all in the gulag. Foulkes' horrendous treatment was as absurd as it was illiberal. The offending tweet that led six police officers to his door was actually condemning anti-Semitism. He accused London's 'pro-Palestine' hate-marchers of being 'one step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals' – a reference to a recent anti-Semitic riot at an airport in Dagestan. The subtlety was apparently lost on Kent's finest, who cuffed Foulkes, held him for eight hours and began ransacking his house as if he were a drug kingpin. Last week, Kent Police apologised and wiped the caution from Foulkes' record. But to chalk this up as some kind of hapless error risks normalising this new breed of authoritarianism – even more so than it already has been. Being slammed in a cell for hate speech is really not nothing. Foulkes feared he'd never be able to visit his daughter abroad again. He feared his neighbours would think he was a paedophile, as cops hauled out laptops in evidence bags. No free nation can allow this state-led harassment of innocent people, merely for expressing their opinions on the internet, to become routine. But it has. A recent Times investigation found that at least 30 people a day are being arrested for saying 'grossly offensive' things on the internet. According to Greg Lukianoff – president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in the US – this means that Dear Old Blighty is already, easily, arresting more people for speech crimes today than America did during the first Red Scare. It's no longer hyperbolic to ask if Britain in 2025 still qualifies as a free country. Were we just going after genuine hate-speakers, that would be bad enough. No one should be arrested for an opinion, no matter how odious. But it's obviously gone far beyond that now. As two parents from Borehamwood found out recently, even criticising your daughter's school too vigorously can lead to a knock at the door. YouTube comics have been convicted for off-colour jokes. Lying social-media attention-seekers have been convicted for being lying social-media attention-seekers. This really isn't normal. Or at least, it shouldn't be. The establishment appears to have imbibed the paternalistic notion that censorship begets harmony. That involving the police in even the most minor social-media squabbles is essential, lest widespread unrest ensue. This oozes contempt for the public, of all backgrounds – as if white Brits are only ever a few spicy tweets away from a pogrom and minorities would rather be protected from offence than violence and burglary. Well, the treatment of Foulkes and many more reveals that censorship only begets more censorship. Our decades-long experiment in policing 'hate' has ended up with pensioners being handcuffed for criticising anti-Semites. Yet more proof that we cannot trust the state to decide what is right, good and true – and that speech codes, however tightly drawn, can balloon to include totally innocent, even righteous, speech. So it's time for a people's revolt against our supposed betters – against a distant establishment that thinks it has the right to dictate what we can say, think and do. Very Brexity, I know. But they surely can't arrest all of us. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
