Racism doesn’t belong in the 21st Century

The slave trade was abolished in 1807. Viv Anderson became the first black footballer to play for England in 1978. In this Olympic year, our three big gold medals hopes – Mo Farah, Philips Idowu and Jessica Ennis – are all from ethnic minorities. These are just three, among a whole host of others, reasons why it staggers, and saddens, me that the question of race still pops up in the media on a regular basis.

Leaving sporting examples for a moment – Luis Suarez and John Terry, you can have a breather – recently there has been a flux of media reports that has racism under the microscope. The Stephen Lawrence verdict, and Diane Abbott’s Twitter gaffe has given us more unwanted reasons to have to address the issue of race.

It’s fair to say that these two first and foremost should not be categorised together – but it is a sign and a shame that they are, just because they mention race. One is about a murder of an innocent and promising man, which exposed police failings and institutionalised racism in the force. The other is an out-of-context 140 character statement from an MP to one of her followers. They are hardly in the same basket.

The real shame is that we still have to talk about it. Do I think this country is racist? Absolutely not. Do I think there are morons who judge people purely on the colour of their skin? Certainly.

To analyse the Lawrence verdict is far too complex in terms of how race was involved, but it is definitely worth remembering that this happened in 1993 – and the problem with racism has moved on a great deal. It would be appalling if it hadn’t in 20 years, so it is good to see that progress has been made in this country.

“The whites have become black” was the statement from one-time decent presenter David Starkey in the aftermath of the riots last summer. I’ve seen this compared to what Diane Abbott put on her Twitter this week. How these two are in any way similar I have no idea, but there’s clear distinctions. For those unfamiliar with it, Diane Abbott MP tweeted “White people love playing divide & rule”. I highly recommend before you have an opinion on the issue, read the full conversation. It has clearly been taken out of context, and in context it is obvious that Abbott was not addressing white people in general, but those who address black communities as an entire group, with no individuals.

Not only is it a severe reminder that MPs need to be aware of firstly the twitter character limit, but careful of how they use language. The difference between Abbott and Starkey is that the latter used being black as a derogatory term, and implies that it was only ethnic minorities responsible for the rioting last summer.

It angers me, upsets me, makes me despair that there are those who still judge on the colour of the skin. I found a sickening Facebook page run by the EDL about Stephen Lawrence. The nasty head of racism still rears its head, but as a country we are better than that.

If those that want to be racist still harbour 19th century attitudes, fine. But you should have to live a 19th century lifestyle. Women, you can’t have a job, or the vote, and a sub-standard education. Men, most of you can’t vote, 80% of you will be working class, and if you have TB you’ll be buried alive.

Your choice.

Andrew Butler at Platform

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

Paedophile still active within EDL leadership

EDL paedophile and founding member, Richard Price

An English Defence League convicted paedophile is still active within the senior ranks of the EDL according to screenshots that have been released.

The organisation's original Facebook group with 15,000 members was hacked recently by ZHC Hacking company and a screenshot of the admin list was released,. One of the admins was Paul Lancashire and the other was Richard Price. Price was one of the founding members of the organisation.

Price was outed by the Sunday Times earlier last year after being convicted of processing indecent photographs of children and The EDL's leadership tried to cover it up. The organisation originally tried to claim he was not part of the EDL but soon backtracked when a previous statement by Tommy Robinson was found EDL Paedophile Michael Coates [pictured, right] contradicting this. He was also convicted of possession of cocaine and crack cocaine. Price was banned from owning a computer for a year, given a three-year community supervision order and placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

Price recently contacted EDL News to claim he was innocent and the only reason he pleaded guilty was so he would be quietly put on the sex offenders register without anyone finding out about his charges.

The EDL have spent a lot of their time demonstrating against Asian only paedophiles with several demonstrations in Blackpool against Asian takeaway workers who they claimed murdered Charlene Downes. After a failed court case the police have failed to provide any link with any Asian gangs.

ZHC have destroyed the EDL's presence on social networking groups. In June last year they took their main 100,000 members page and many of their regional divisional pages. Their new page is struggling to get more than 2,000 members with many of those being trolls, antifa, journalists and security services.

The far right organisation have had further paedophile scandals since with the recent jailing of Michael Coates aka Mickey Blueeyes and Brett Moses who was convicted of trying to groom a 13 year old Canadian schoolgirl after travelling to meet her.

Click on image for full-size

With thanks to ZHC Hacking Crew and Paul Stearnes

EDL News

Clarkson in new race row

Gobby Jeremy Clarkson stormed into another race row last night after making fun of drowned Chinese cockle pickers.

And his latest outburst came after the Daily Star Sunday discovered he had posed for a snap with the leader of the racist English Defence League.

The 51-year-old was slammed after joking about dead Chinese immigrants in his regular newspaper column. He tastelessly compared synchronised swimmers to the 21 cockle pickers who were killed in rising tides in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, in 2004.

The Top Gear presenter was last night branded “out of touch” by anti-racism groups. Matt Collins, from Hope Not Hate, said: “Why does Jeremy Clarkson constantly have to be so tasteless and offensive? He is not funny and all he proves is that he is out of touch with modern Britain and that he belongs in the Dark Ages. He has no right to offend communities in this country who live and work here and provide more to Britain than he does.”

The latest outrage came as a picture of Clarkson and far-right English Defence League head Stephen Lennon emerged. Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, claims he talked about Islam with Clarkson.

The 28-year-old convicted thug, who also founded the anti-Islamic movement, said: “He knew who I was. We talked about Islam. I don’t want to say anything else because he will just get stitched up. But I’m a big fan of him.”

The picture is thought to have been taken in September outside a pub in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, where EDL members were holding a meeting.

But last night Jeremy Clarkson said he did not have a clue who Lennon was. He told the Daily Star Sunday: “I have no recollection of talking to this man and have no idea who Stephen Lennon is.”

This is the latest in a long line of scandals involving the TV car fanatic. Before the New Year Clarkson was accused of mocking Indian culture in a Top Gear Christmas special. More than 20 viewers complained to the BBC after he made a series of controversial remarks about the country’s clothing, trains, food and history. At one point Clarkson rode around the country’s worst slums in a Jaguar with a toilet fitted to the boot, joking: “This is perfect because everyone here gets the trots.”

That furore followed an incident on BBC’s The One Show when Clarkson claimed striking public workers should be “executed in front of their families”.

Lennon has previously posed with glamour girl Katie Price and bad boy footballer Joey Barton and claimed that they had joined his group. But both Price and Barton were quick to deny any links with the EDL and claimed they had no idea who Lennon was.

Lennon was convicted of assault in November after headbutting a member of his group during a rally in Blackburn, Lancashire. And in July he was found guilty of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour during a football brawl in August 2010

Star

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

The EDL's Dick of the Week

Click on image for full-size

And this week, he's a real dick being one Richard Rovetto, of Nottingham EDL. Well done, Dick!

Cheers to Everything EDL for the pic

The EDL on the Stephen Lawrence trial

Click on images for full-size

Here's a screenshot taken during the trial. And these EDL morons supposedly represent the English?

Cheers to Everything EDL for the screenshot and Tweeta for the heads-up

Humberside Police Seek two EDL Members

Humberside Police are seeking two EDL members, who are wanted in connection with racially aggravated criminal damage at a takeaway in Paragon Square following the two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday.

The two men were captured on CCTV after they attended an English Defence League rally on Remembrance Sunday. It is believed the two men smashed a till at a takeaway in Paragon Square because they believed staff at the food outlet had been serving customers during the two-minute silence.

Det Sgt Cross said: “I would urge people to take a look at these unsolved case files, and, if they know who any of the suspects are, then they should contact us. We can be discrete, and understand people may need to remain anonymous.”

Do you recognise any of the suspects featured here? If so, call detectives in Hull on 01482 578025, quoting the corresponding reference number. Alternatively, e-mail officers at SPOCSCTDDiv@humberside.pnn.police.uk or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Link

Hull Division's admin appear to know the identity of the two men, since this was posted on their Facebook wall.

EDL News

Thanks to everyone who sent in the link to this article and Crimestoppers

The EDL and Anuj Bidve

Click on image for full-size

You probably don't want the EDL's opinions on the racially-motivated murder of Anuj Bidve, but here they are anyway.

Cheers to Everything EDL for the pic and Tweeta for the heads-up

EDL logic bypass...

Click on image for full-size

EDL logic bypass: "Lets duff up this guy who nicked my photo..." "Yeah, I'd recognise his face anywhere!"

Cheers to Everything EDL for the screenshot

The 'non-racist' EDL 'Dreaming of a White Christmas'.

Click on image for full-size

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

The Tommy Robinson beating fiasco appears to have been faked

The English Defence League issued a statement yesterday claiming that their leader had been beaten up by a gang of Asians. Unfortunately the story has more holes in it than Hel Gower's tights with many 'patriots' refusing to buy it. In what appears to be another in a long line of crass publicity stunts, even his own football hooligan firm, the Luton Men in Gear (MIGS) don't believe it so EDL News is taking a look at the evidence (or lack of).

In a story reminiscent of the faked Kevin Karroll assassination attempt, the EDL released this statement via the Gates of Vienna blog.

He was out driving, when he saw a car similar to his wife’s, driven by a blond white girl. The other car flashed its lights so Tommy pulled over.

A group of Pakistani youths wearing knuckle dusters poured out. Tommy was knocked out pretty quickly, and they gave him a good kicking.

He looks pretty beaten up, but no bones were broken, and no eyes or teeth are missing. He had a brain scan this morning. We don’t know the results yet.

He has spoken to The Sun, who asked whether he had called the police. Tommy said there was no point, as a racial attack on a white guy was of no interest to them.

The first flaw in this story is the fact that he thought he had recognized his wife in an identical car to hers but failed to notice that there was also a gang of Asians in the car. The second being that if he had been beaten up by a gang of Asians with knuckle dusters, his injuries would have been significantly worse than the photos below suggest. He seems to have sustained heavy bruising and a bump on the head and that is about it. Third is his unwillingness to go to the police claiming they are not interested in cases of actual bodily harm which is quite clearly something he has made up as the police are obliged to investigate every case of ABH whether they are racially aggravated or not.

This lie is further outed by the fact that the East Anglia Division yesterday announced that the police are prosecuting two Asian men who allegedly attacked a female EDL Member at one of Tommy's court cases last year.

Tommy had no problem talking to the police in the summer when he got his picture in the paper for chasing a man who mugged an old lady. This whole fairytale story suggests that he was beaten by one of his own.

Even The Sun newspaper refused to run the story after they asked him if he went to the police and he said no.

These photos were issued, apparently of Tommy in his hospital bed.

The first photo appears to be taken in a hospital bed. The second photo suggests that it was taken at his home and liberal amounts of poorly applied blue eye shadow has been used to make his injuries look worse (or more silly) than those depicted in the first photo and a photoshopper seems to have gone over the top with the smudge tool and carried the bruise up towards his eyebrow.

There also appears a very precise bruise line above his left eye in the first photo. The whole thing looks fake.

Whilst quite clearly Tommy has a rather large lump on his forehead that could have quite easily have been obtained by stumbling into a wall after a heavy Stella Artois session in the Racist Parrot. (Whipperley Ring, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 5QX)

Tommy issued a follow up statement on Gates of Vienna:

Message from Tommy: "They were shouting ‘allahu akhbar’ and ‘Merry Christmas, Tommy’”.

Also: He had a C.T. scan, and apparently has “bruising of the brain”. He got out of hospital this afternoon.

he has brusing of the brain and they let him out that very same afternoon? Really.

The North West Infidels have heard a different story on the football hooligan grapevine which heavily suggests that Tommy walking around town thinking he owns the place earned him a beating from one of his own.

MIG member, Keith Chambers muddys the waters further by claiming he took the beating three weeks ago.

Other nationalist groups are also failing to buy into the story. (click to enlarge)

The English Defence League are falling foul of the 'boy who cried wolf' syndrome and each attempt to rile their members against Muslims is getting more and more ridiculous and transparent. Tommy has obviously taken a beating but it is much more likely to be one of his own than a vivacious blonde honey trapper in a car full of Muslims he did not see.

These events, including the attempted assassination attempt on Kev, always happen three days before a significant event on the calendar, whether that is Christmas, St Georges Day or a national demo. Each one have been proven to be utterly fake and have been quickly dropped by leadership.

Tommy has courted endless bad publicity over the last twelve months and members are getting sick of him. This latest attempt seems like a last ditch effort to unite the far right back under the EDL's wing and seems to have backfired spectacularly with few on the far right believing a word he says.

Donna Mortimer from the EDL's propaganda department has now openly called for violence towards Muslims which is a criminal offence in itself.

Many of the more savvy members of the EDL are starting to see through these ridiculous publicity stunts but the dimmer ones (which seem to represent a fair proportion of the EDL) have started foaming at the mouth and vowing revenge on Muslims in general which leads a dangerous precedent.

EDL News

Thanks to the many people who sent this in.

Infidels and their sick intentions

John "Snowy" Shaw

One of our regular contributors has just forwarded us this screen grab of comments made on the NWI Fightback Facebook page.

NWI Fightback is one of the official Facebook pages belonging to the EDL splinter “The Infidels” led by John “Snowy” Shaw of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Shaw, Llama farmer, ex crack cocaine addict and petty thief broke away from the EDL following a number of disputes regarding the EDL’s direction along with accusations from both sides of financial wrongdoings.

Shaw has dragged “The Infidels” further and further to the extreme right, linking up with established right wing organisations such as the National Front and embracing anti Semitism and anti Catholic sentiment along the way.

One known associate of John Shaw is the one time London UDA chief Frank Portinari who was jailed for 5 years in 1994 for smuggling guns to the UDA/UFF.

The NWI Fightback page is controlled by Shaw’s ever faithful clown and lieutenant Shane Calvert of Blackburn. Calvert, who likes to be the centre of attention, regularly posts offensive comments, often posting links to far right websites. One such thread was posted yesterday and shows the chilling intentions of Shaw, Calvert and “The Infidels”.

We will be passing these grabs over to the relevant authorities.

Shane Calvert

Click on images for full-size

Hope not hate

Why do Nazi-themed tricks occur in the UK?

British Tory MP Aidan Burley has left his post at the Transport Department after taking part in a Nazi-themed party. The order of his dismissal was signed personally by British Prime Minister David Cameron, The Mail on Sunday writes.

Several days ago this newspaper published photographs of a party at a French skiing resort where Burley is sitting side by side with a man wearing an SS officer’s outfit. Burley’s behavior brought sharp criticism from oppositional Labour MPs. Tories also considered their colleague’s conduct “offensive and foolish”. Aidan tried to save his career by denying any sympathy for Nazism. However, The Mail on Sunday discovered that he was not a random guest at that party and it had been his idea to hire the SS uniform.

In all probability, due to the growth of unemployment in the context of an economic crisis and all kinds of migration problems, the UK is living through a certain upsurge of right-wing moods aimed, among other things, against Muslim people. These people are subject to attacks similar to those in the period of the Nazi heyday in the 20th century. In this connection, it is small wonder that one of the participants in anti-Nazi campaigns in the UK Max Levitas directly declares that “the problem of fighting against Nazism is coming to the fore again”.

The English Defence League (EDL) is the face of the British right-wing forces today. This group, which identifies itself as a nationalist movement fighting against Muslim attacks on British culture, has repeatedly arranged protests against “Islamic extremism” on the British Isles. Stirring up anti-Muslim feelings in the British, the EDL and other right-wing radical groups put a stake on immigration problems in the UK. However, the EDL ideology is reminiscent of the past when Oswald Mosley’s Nazi ideas were fashionable in the UK in the late 1920s-early 1930s.

At the same time, it is worth pointing out that problems with immigration, higher unemployment and lower living standards of the British are not the only reasons for the growing radical moods in the country and Nazi-style tricks which have lately become frequent. If we remember the aforementioned Aidan Burley or Prince Harry, who put on a “Nazi” costume at a home party in 2005, those men can hardly be considered unemployed or needy. There must be a different reason for this. We can suggest moral degradation or complete immorality.

It is not a coincidence that straight after the August riots in the country and also last weekend Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about a “moral collapse” in the British society. In my opinion, the roots of today’s right-wing moods in the UK are in the moral field. Even though today’s right-wing radical organizations still remain in the backwater of British politics, people pay much more attention to them than before. Suffice it to say that the British National Party received two seats in the European parliament in 2009.

We can neither ignore the fact that in recent years the British bestseller lists contain a lot of books about the Third Reich. These books are fiction, documentary research and even science fiction. In 2000, only 350 books about the Third Reich were published in the UK and last year 850. The 100 most popular books on this subject have brought their publishers 12mln pounds. I suppose that publishers think little about the ethical and moral side of things when they receive these high profits printing all kinds of books about Nazis.

It is a pity because unduly enthusiasm about the dubious literature describing the Third Reich can eventually have a pernicious influence on the young British minds and is fraught with unpredictable consequences. The lessons of the Second World War in which Russians and the British fought together against Nazism remind us of this.

The Voice of Russia

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Hands-up anyone who believes the EDL is a human rights organisation...

Tommo Ashton and friend

Thanks to Everything EDL for the pic and TwitaReteeta for the heads-up

EDL Angels 'whish' you a Merry Christmas

Click on image for full-size

Thanks to Everything EDL for the pic

Home Office responds on EDL threat

The Home Office has written to an umbrella group representing a range of Jewish communal and religious groups in response to statements distancing themselves from the methods and aims of the English Defence League.

Earlier this year the leaders of the United Synagogue, Reform, Liberal and Masorti communities, as well as the Board of Deputies and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' congregation, highlighted their opposition to the EDL's tactics and called on the far right organisation to refrain from using Jewish and Israelis symbols in its campaigns.

Under the umbrella of the Council of Imams and Rabbis of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation, they rejected in particular the EDL's "efforts to incite hatred and antagonism in our society", its attempts to "foment violence" and "drive a wedge between the Jewish community and our Muslim neighbours".

They attempted to draw a line under the EDL's efforts to attract Jewish membership, which reached a peak with a rally "to oppose Islamic fascism" outside the Israeli embassy last year where EDL members waved Israeli flags. The EDL has a "Jewish Division", but it has been beset by infighting and is understood to have only a handful of Jewish members.

James Brokenshire, the Home Office Minister responsible for policy regarding the EDL, has now sent a letter of response to Mehri Niknam, director of the Council of Imams and Rabbis.

"We welcome your positive action to counter the divisive influence and minimise the impact of EDL activity," he said. "As a government our position is clear, we will not tolerate groups like the EDL who spread hate, seek to divide us and deliberately raise community fears and tensions."

He said the government would continue to condemn the EDL's views and actions when necessary and work with police and local agencies. Mr Brokenshire added that the government trusted local agencies to "put in place suitable local measures to counter the influence and minimise the impact of EDL activity.

"We stand ready to provide advice and support where it is requested."

Jewish Chronicle

British Freedom make themselves look stupid

Paul Weston (right)

At Christmas time the far right aided by some sections of the right wing tabloid press traditionally cook up a “Christmas is being banned “story that inevitably turns out to be untrue.

This year’s Yuletide award for stupidity goes to the miniscule BNP splinter British Freedom led by UKIP reject Paul Weston. British Freedom announced a link up with the thuggish EDL just last month with the possibility of EDL members standing as election candidates under the British Freedom umbrella.

It seems the victim of this year’s made up Christmas story is the much loved charity The British Red Cross with British Freedom announcing on their Facebook page “The British Red Cross has again banned overt reference to Christmas from its 430 fundraising shops to avoid “cultural insensitivity” Do not donate to them.”

However The British Red Cross are old hands at this having dealt with this kind of nonsense since The Daily Mail printed an incorrect story about them back in 2002. On their website The British Red Cross under an article entitled “How the Red Cross didn’t ban Christmas” quickly demolished the untrue story.

“To reiterate: this story is now nine years old. Many of our shops and offices are decked out in Christmas decorations, and our online Christmas gift shop is open for business. We have in no way “banned Christmas” nor have we discussed doing so.”

They continued “It’s true that you won’t find explicitly religious items or displays, relating to any faith, in any of our shops, at Christmas or any other time. But this certainly doesn’t amount to a ban on us celebrating or mentioning Christmas, or any other holiday. And it’s absolutely nothing to do with “offending non-Christians” or to serve any other sort of politically correct agenda.

The point is that the Red Cross is not a political or religious organisation. This neutrality is one of our fundamental principles and governs everything we do in the whole Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. We can’t let people in need down by compromising our neutrality. That is why we do not align ourselves with any particular political cause or religious creed anywhere in the world. And that’s why we don’t have any items of a religious nature in our shops.”

Red faced British Freedom administrators quickly deleted the posting from Facebook when it was pointed out to them that what they had claimed was nonsense and are now pretending the whole incident didn’t happen.

Good job we managed to get hold of this screen grab.

Hope not Hate

Mosque arson accused's links to far right parties

One of the men accused of setting fire to a Stoke-on-Trent mosque was a member of the British National Party (BNP) and English Defence League (EDL).

Simon Beech was a serving soldier with the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, based at Weeton Barracks near Preston, Lancashire, when he is alleged to have set fire to the City Central Mosque in Regent Road, Hanley, in the early hours of December 3 last year.

He is accused of entering the mosque, which was still under construction, with his co-accused Garreth Foster. The Crown Prosecution Service allege the pair were responsible for starting a blaze on the ground floor and feeding a gas pipe upstairs, from a neighbouring property.

Beech, of Hilton Road, Hartshill, and Foster, aged 28, of Hartshill Road, Stoke, deny arson.

Yesterday at their trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court the jury heard Beech, aged 23, subscribed to Facebook and the EDL. Peter McMaster, an intelligence researcher with Staffordshire Police, said on November 10, less than a month before the arson, Beech posted comments including "Let's start bashing skulls, dirty, rotten rodents, they breed like rats here, they need to die like rats" and "I say we need to start taking things into our own hands because they are running the place".

The next day he posted "Get as many heads as we can, go and smash some skull and take over Shelton". And Beech said he "liked" a comment someone else posted – 'Nuke all mosques'. He also posted comments including "Time we took things into our hands," and "I say we put a stop to it before it's too late."

Also on November 11, Beech said: "The time has come we burn their place, burn the lot of them."

A statement from Army Captain James Athow-Frost said Beech shared a room with three other privates. He confirmed Beech had been at the barracks a short time and had not been deployed to Afghanistan. And he would not have had any training in explosives or bomb making equipment.

Earlier the court heard evidence from firefighters who attended the incident. Firefighter Alan Filson entered the building wearing breathing apparatus. He said he and a colleague used a thermal image camera to find the fire which was on the ground floor in the centre of the room. He did not see the pipe which came into the upstairs of the mosque from outside.

"You could not see more than half a foot in front of your face," he told the jury. "The flames were from the floor to the ceiling in the central area of the ground floor."

Fire investigation officer Brian Griffiths said there was a large amount of black smoke pouring out when he arrived. He said a large quantity of building materials were used in the fire as well as insulation boards, wooden pallets and packaging. A small gas cylinder was also found near the seat of the fire.

"My conclusion was it was a deliberate fire," said Mr Griffiths.

Sarah Sweetmore, who arrived at her workplace in Regent Road at 9.20am, said: "I could see the hose was connected to the gas meter. I remember hearing a hissing sound and feeling very frightened."

The case continues.

This is Staffordshire

Russell Howard reveals his fears over EDL threats

Comedian Russell Howard has revealed how he lived in fear of being beaten up after making jokes about the English Defence League.

The far right group’s supporters posted threats on the internet and protested outside one of his gigs after he made fun of them on his BBC3 show. He showed footage of an EDL march held in Blackburn, where it was reported that because they could not clash with anti-fascist opponents, they ended up fighting each other.

The comic said Russell Howard’s Good News show: “I imagine they were like ‘Oi Terry, You’ve given me a black eye. Now I hate my own eye!’ I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them started a fight with their own shadow. ‘Stop following me, you black b******’.”

A Facebook group sprung up after the programme, urging people to demonstrate outside the funnyman’s gig in Chorley, Lancashire, in May. The EDL also criticised his “three minute rant on how ‘thick’ we all are’, with one supporter adding: “We’re going to be loud and he’s going to know we’re there. Hopefully, next time he’ll think twice before opening his middle class mouth about things he knows nothing about.”

Other supporters used racist terms for Muslims and made threats against him.

Midland-based Russell says: “It was quite hairy. I am an absolute coward, and I admit that for a while I imagined that everyone coming near me was going to beat me up. I had a pretty tough month. Every time we filmed the Mystery Guest section of Good News, where we get someone on and I have to guess who they are, I thought it would be an EDL supporter who was going to hit me. But I think you have to stand by your jokes. They may have been cruel, but they were about people I believe are idiots.”

Russell’s pop at the EDL is unusual for him, as his comedy style is playful and good-natured. Though sitting opposite acerbic Frankie Boyle on Mock The Week made him appear even nicer. He does, however, defend a comic’s right to be cruel in their act.

“Everyone likes a good cruel joke,” insists the 31-year-old. “But you have to stay true to yourself. If you are going out of your way to be vicious, it will just have diminishing returns. Light and shade is good, rather than being unremittingly nasty.”

Russell lives in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire with his girlfriend Cerys and Jack Russell dog Archie. On December 14 he returns to Birmingham’s LG Arena at the NEC for another of his shows on his Right Here, Right Now tour. Russell moved to Leamington three years ago when Cerys was a medical student at Warwick University, and now she’s qualified as a doctor and working in the region, he expects to live here for at least another two years.

“I love it,” he says. “When I’m recording my TV show I stay in London, but then it’s so nice to come back home. When I’m in Leamington I’m not working. I just walk the dog, play five-a-side with my mates and hang out in the pub.”

Sunday Mercury

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

Man aged 50 arrested over trouble at EDL protest

Police investigating offences committed during an English Defence League demonstrations in Halifax have arrested a 50-year-old man. The suspect, from Bolton, has since been bailed, pending further inquiries.

The arrest was made after officers trawled through hours of CCTV footage from earlier this year when the EDL protested in the town.

Police have estimated that there were 450 EDL supporters, with 70 counter-demonstrators also taking place in the area. As a result of their work, nine men were identified as wanted over public order offences, with officers believing they could be living in West and South Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Dave Pervin, of West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “Like any large-scale operation it is not always possible to tackle every single incident at the time and this is where our follow-up enquiries begin.”

So far six offenders have been dealt with, either through court appearances or with fixed penalties.

Yorkshire Post

Modern Britain: Multicultural Haven Or Racist Sewer?

You can watch the full uncensored video by clicking here

The #mytramexperience video has caused an outrage since going viral, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg…

You have to laugh at the naivety of some people. One Youtube video of a drug addled chav mumbling incoherently about how foreigners have ruined “her Britain” and people are up in arms about how shocking it is. Have they left their house recently? Have they turned on their televisions? Evidently not because there was nothing in that depressing video that I haven’t seen countless times each time I leave my house.

For those of you who haven’t been exposed to this latest political-debate-by-Twitter baiting video I shall give you a more detailed summary. A seemingly intoxicated woman, with a small child on her lap, is riding the Croyden to Wimbledon tram. Unprovoked she starts slurring racial abuse at the passengers, telling them that they should “go home” and that they’re not British. She seems barely capable of speaking English herself. She’s confronted by several passengers, including people who fit into her own demographic. She remains oblivious.

The video, filmed by one of the people on the receiving end of her moronic tirade, went viral and before you knew it celebrities were all chipping in with their views on how shocking the video was. Rent-A-Twat Piers Morgan even declared that “Britain is so much better than that vile bigoted creature.” But is it really?

While one video of someone hurling racist abuse and bewildered commuters was spreading round the internet like wildfire, there were some who were asking why far more shocking ones had been ignored. For example in June this year Brian Whelan posted a video of EDL members indiscriminately attacking Asian passengers on the tube in a super violent “happy-slapping”. The video itself still widely remains available on the internet yet doesn’t seem to have caused anywhere near the same stir. Is it perhaps a matter of some truths being too uncomfortable to face?

The rise of far-right sentiment in recent times is something that can’t be denied as much as people might prefer to ignore it. It is not three years since the BNP secured seats in the European parliament and in 2008 the party representative finished fifth in London’s mayoral elections, less than 8,000 votes behind that of the Green Party. The chairman of the BNP, Nick Griffin – seemingly a relation to Peter if his appearance on Question Time was anything to go by – achieved 14.6% of the vote in his Barking constituency to put him third. It was a record number for any of the seats the BNP had contested.

From my own personal experiences from living in Birmingham, a city that perhaps embodies the multicultural spirit more than any other in Britain, I have witnessed EDL marches and mini race-riots. I found it inconceivable to think that they would march here, that they would be allowed to try and invoke their hatred, but they turned up in force. The last time, just this October gone, I stood in the rain watching them try and provoke passers-by. Anyone who wasn’t white would be subject to racist abuse. Anyone with the tappings of Islam would be called a terrorist. Glasses and fireworks were hurled into the streets and at the police.

Despite these crimes being openly committed the local police made just four arrests. One of those was for possession of cannabis and the other was for an outstanding warrant. The other two related to weapons offences. None of the charges related to the crime of inciting racial hatred, which seems especially odd given the news that the woman who has sparked this whole debate has been arrested on the grounds of a racially aggravated offence. No doubt congratulatory backslapping shall ensue, as if with that gesture the spectre of racism has been banished from British shores. The reality is while it was vogue to rally against this one ignorant woman, daily far worse examples of racism are allowed to flourish in the dark corners of the British experiment.

The nay-sayers amongst you might say it is one thing to compare a spontaneous outburst in public to an organised and mobilised group of extremists. Yet what the video of our friend from Croydon demonstrates is what happens when the dehumanising mantra of racist language becomes subconscious thought, when racism is made to seem so socially acceptable that it goes mostly unchallenged and is dismissed as mere stupidity.

I would like to tell you I was shocked by the video in question but I wasn’t. Repulsed and disgusted but not shocked for a second. I’ve seen that woman out riding my local buses, I’ve seen her doing her shopping on my high street, I’ve seen her having a drink down my regular boozer and I’ve heard her countless times. The depressing reality is that she is everywhere.

Like a permanent feedback loop of bullshit the racism described as free-speech bleatings of the EDL and the BNP go out into the public domain and are repeated back parrot fashion by people who are looking for easy answers and targets to blame. Racist sentiment goes up in times of recession… Cost of living is expensive, jobs are scarce and the media is all too happy to present images of wealthy asylum seekers on yachts or keen immigrants willing to undercut minimum wage for unscrupulous companies in order to take your labour away from you. Do any of these things actually exist? Hardly, but it’s a convenient scapegoat and one that is so emotive it allows those with their own sinister agendas to take advantage amidst the ill feeling.

As sure as the government is to blame for the collective failings that impact on the lives of its citizens, they are also partly to blame for these issues too. They won’t talk about the elephant in the room, avoid the issues that the extremists openly campaign on. This gives them a credence and authenticity they should not be afforded. These are, for the most part, thugs donning suits and playing at politics. They don’t have the answers. They barely have ideas.

That video is sadly an example of what passes for political discourse amongst a significant and growing number of British people. There’s no getting away from that. For many people exposure to that sort of hate is an almost daily occurrence. Racism doesn’t need an umbrella organisation to proliferate, all it needs for that to happen is to go uncontested by those with the means to expose it for what it is. Is the reaction to this video something more concerned with Twitter trends, or is it the start of a genuine stance against the casual racism that has become part of the day to day? Either way, let’s not use it as an excuse to pretend that Britain is an example of tolerance to anybody.

Sabotage Times

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up