JEREMY CORBYN: ASTUTE POLITICAL PLAYER, OR STUBBORN OLD GOAT. WHICH IS IT?

It's the political shock wave of Christmas 2017: Jezza has apparently ruled out a second referendum on the terms of our exit from the EU. Some will not be surprised in the slightest, for many of us, it defies logic or belief.

The man that many in the UK see as a 'champion of decency' (including me) bizarrely seems to be supporting a Tory coup only actually voted for by 37% of the electorate - about 27% of the population. And even more bizarrely, a Tory coup opposed by many of his own MPs, and apparently most party members and Labour voters too:

Machiavellian tactics 

So Corbyn is either playing an incredibly smart game and waiting for the right moment to play his hand, or frankly he's a fool and stubborn old goat, turning his back on what the majority of decent and pragmatic people in his party (and the country) want.

I just wish I could work out which it is.

I've argued the former, for a long time. I thought I understood why Corbyn hadn't come out against Brexit. In fact a niche of Labour supporters seemed to appreciate any definitive intention to stop or reverse Brexit would split the Labour vote entirely, and effectively hand power to the Tories...gift-wrapped with a bow. That doesn't help anyone. And though it sounds cold and 'Machiavellian' to say aloud, 'good intentions' mean nothing in politics if you don't claw your way to power first. To some degree, the end must justify the means.

That ambiguity seemed to be working. Corbyn's turnaround from two years ago could not physically be more apparent. The man ridiculed as a laughing stock from all sides of the establishment, could today feasibly inherit the keys to Downing Street.

But even my faith in him is beginning to crumble now. It's one thing to mediate and to play the ambiguity, keeping options open, but quite another to refuse to acknowledge the wishes of half the nation... to pander to the Brexit mob, throwing fuel on the fire of insanity. I'm not sure I can get on board with the pretence that any of this has been democratic, or that we must now see through this self-harm as a point of principle.

Clinging to that thread of hope

It is still just about possible I guess, that my rather desperate 'hypothesis' has been correct, and continues to be. After all, nothing's changed really. Even now, if Corbyn opposed Brexit and/or argued formally for a second referendum, it would probably still hand power to the Tories. Such is the power of pig-headed nationalism in Britain today.

The risk is that many British citizens desperate to retain their EU guaranteed rights and liberties will be so furious about this, they will abandon him now. Eg: the balance of power will shift any way. Politically speaking, the Tories have played a blinder. Absolutely anything any of the other parties do to combat this madness is virtually falling into a trap deliberately set.

Yes, we all know Corbyn was a Eurosceptic. As was that icon of the left, Tony Benn. But not attending a party is very different from drunkenly crashing out of one, attempting to trash the joint on the way out and humiliate the hosts. I thought Corbyn got that, which was why he supported Remain - at least nominally. And I for one have always argued Benn too might have felt differently about us exiting the EU, had he lived to see the Tory coup intended to take its place, or the blank cheque it would hand them.

Maybe...just maybe Brexit somehow needs to die on its own. We've ludicrously reached a stage where outright opposition to it, is political suicide. Even for the Conservatives, even if they wanted to oppose it! It's a bale of hay that's built up such momentum, it's now accumulated the force of a freight train, and even economic suicide now seems preferable to admitting we cocked everything up royally. (Or risking upsetting the nationalists.)

Lesser of two evils

Jezza will still get my vote over the Tories (testicular cancer would get my vote over the Tories), but I've honestly never felt as politically homeless. I'm pretty disappointed, and on the verge of cancelling my Labour membership. I do not really want to financially support a party that refuses to protect Britain, simply to play politics. Yes, wherever possible you need to be smart and play the long game, but sometimes you just have to stand up and do/say what is right.

My fear is that if vast swathes of people feel the same (which I imagine they might), it could realistically seal our fate: marooning us on a lonely and impoverished Brexit Island, under the iron boot of the Tories. And that really is the worst thing that could possibly happen.

Plus...to be honest...a second referendum? I'm not sure that's the answer any way. As this whole shit-show has proved, as the Minister for Brexit himself so poignantly explained in 2002, referendums are dangerous. A license for mob rule. And if there's one thing I no longer have faith in, it's the sentience of my fellow countrymen and women, or their ability to recognise a pig in a poke when they see one. It's probably why our forefathers ran with Parliamentary Democracy in the first place. Heard the analogy of 'too many cooks'? Yes, well imagine that amplified by about 34 million.

No... enough of the lunatics running the asylum. We're better off putting a sane adult back in charge, with the balls to do right by their country, admit the categorical mistake made by a former Prime Minister, and cancel the whole damned thing.

I still hope against hope that will be Jeremy Corbyn. And even if not, I'm still confident average British people will be better off under him than a Tory government.

I don't have much alternative right now.

THE KNIGHTHOOD OF NICK CLEGG: THE ILL-FATED 'KINGMAKER'.

I'm really saddened by all the people bitching about Nick Clegg getting a knighthood on social media. People hurling abuse, ranting what an awful man he is, a traitor etc, accusing him of all sorts of horrid stuff. Sadly it's just another symptom of a remarkably dis-United Kingdom in 2017: a place where bitter hostility bubbles away only inches from the surface, and manners and decorum have pretty much flown out the window.

I happen to think Clegg was one of the last decent moderate politicians at the helm in Britain. A man who sought to repair, rather than burning down the entire house. His only real crime was to make a terrible decision when faced with what was, let's face it, a horrendous choice. He may have played the precarious role of 'Kingmaker', but being realistic, whichever way he'd chosen in that fateful summer of 2010, he'd have effectively handed over power and policy-making to either the same old 'New Labour', or the Tories any way. He opted for change, because that was the mood of the country.

Nothing that happened after that point was anything to do with him, or the Liberal Democrats: once the Tories had been enabled, that was it...game over.

In fact, our allegedly pig-loving former PM probably got a real kick out of subjugating this junior partner; forcing him to renege on specific promises he'd made to students, among others. I bet he wasted no time showing who was boss.

Yes, Clegg should have known he was opening Pandora's Box, doing a deal with the Devil (perhaps a better analogy). And yes, it was a colossal mistake in my opinion. The Lib Dems and Labour were far more natural bedfellows, and I doubt Britain would be in quite so much of a mess now had they teamed up. But being fair, never in my lifetime has there been a leader or political party to take so much blame for events and policies that weren't their fault either.

All on the Tories

Everything that's happened in the UK since 2010, is all on the Tories. No one else. Not the Liberal Democrats, and sure as hell not the EU. Does anyone honestly think Cameron and Osborne gave a damn what the Lib Dems had to say once they'd clawed their way into power? Or that the very same Prime Minister who nonchalantly hurled his country off a cliff, simply to settle a dispute within his own party, gave his junior 'deputy' PM from a different party the time of day? I think not.

If anything, the fact things have got so much worse since 2015, probably demonstrates how much the Lib Dems likely tried to rein the Tories in. The rate at which our country has unravelled in two and a half years, is most startling.

In other words, we should probably be thanking them for their efforts: however ineffectual they were long-term.

The destruction of the Lib Dems was very bad news for Britain...very bad. A sturdy nail in our political coffin. British politics at that point became a two-horse race, like America. Reason and independent thinking were practically put on notice. What happens if both options are awful? That's certainly how the U.S ended up with President Donald Trump. When there are quite literally only two options, even if one seems horrific and unthinkable, it will still have a 50/50 shot. And if enough rich people want it to happen, it will almost certainly happen.

Polarised to excess

When everyone in a society is forced to side with one of two teams, polarised to excess with no room for compromise or moderation, it is a recipe for disaster. It can create a very disturbing imbalance of political power, and encourages extremism almost by definition. Those on both the left and right often talk about 'moderates' like it's a dirty word. 'Moderate', by definition, means 'not extreme'. And I for one, am all for that.

Another side-effect of the two-horse system is that voters start to overlook any number of policies, even those harmful to them or their own families, as long as they're on the same page about the 'important' ones. (Like foreigners and blue passports.) It stops being about the policies, and becomes just about two sides facing off in a football match. Very handy for would-be despots and dictators, wishing to streamline their route to power riding waves of populism. A few years ago, a politician like Jacob Rees-Mogg (for example) would never have been widely considered Prime Ministerial material for a twenty-first century United Kingdom. No longer the case sadly, in Brexit Britain. No...now we've gone all colonial grandeur/foreigner-bashing, and seem to want to revert to a Victorian workhouse-style economy, unbelievably Moggmentum has become an actual thing.

I don't particularly like the idea of knighthoods, or what they stand for/imply: they're archaic, and propagate notions of feudal inequality. The very issue that's ripping our society asunder, behind all the foreigner-bashing and ramped-up left-right conflict.

But that detail aside, if we are going to reward politicians with a token title or honour for serving their country, for prioritising decency and principles, and for attempting to do the right thing - eg: not being entirely motivated by selfish ideologies and careerism whilst in office, I can think of few better or more deserving than Nick Clegg: the ill-fated Kingmaker.

I can definitely think of much worse:

I like and support Nick Clegg for the very same reason I like and support Jeremy Corbyn: because inherent decency and ethics stand out a mile. They shine like a ray of light, certainly among the bigots and careerists now infesting Westminster. I trust my instincts to know a good/decent human being when I see one, even if I don't agree with them about everything. And vice versa too. As far as I'm concerned, decency has to be the starting block: and that quality doesn't only reside within those we agree with about everything. If you think it does, you are the narrow minded one.

Anna Soubry is another such an individual. I don't necessarily agree with her about how we achieve the end result, but I do essentially believe she wants the best for our country, and our people. She is not callous, she doesn't jeer and mock opponents in the same way as most of her Tory colleagues; she is respectful, and an honest, fallible human being who attempts to stand by her principles. She is clearly not like the rest of the Tories. And though I don't support her party, in any way, I wouldn't be averse to her receiving a knighthood, for example (or whatever ludicrous equivalent there is for those of the female gender).

In the end, Clegg and the Liberal Democrats were simply a sacrificial lamb in a grisly ritual: one that opened a portal to somewhere rather scary, and really rather unpleasant. Their loss was ours too. Any measure of counterbalance is a good thing.

UPDATE, 27th DEC:

Ironically, I was insulted and literally shamed on a pro-Corbyn Facebook group for having dared to share this article, and then blocked for disputing their assessment. Even though I've been a very vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn for years, dedicating God knows how many hours to championing his cause.

I then found out, purely by coincidence, that the admin person who blocked me is a very active member of Momentum in Southampton, named Francesca Lambert. A detail I find truly shocking and troubling in equal measure.

Such people do not seem to realise how THEY are the element on the left that so many reasonable people fear. Quite literally a detriment to our cause.

VERSUS KUENSSBERG: CONFESSION OF A FORMER CANARY WRITER

People are nuts.

Some of the comments on this BBC post on Facebook, regarding the ruling by Impress and a correction required of The Canary, are beyond depressing.

I wrote for The Canary from July 2016-Jan 2017, and no, I didn't agree with the way they went about everything. I do think they idolise Corbyn to a point of fault, and yes, I do think they write off anything and everything that doesn't align with their position on the political spectrum. In fact, were anyone to corner its Editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza or some of the other staff members and ask what they think of me... they probably wouldn't have much good to say. Probably that I'm rude, infantile, and/or won't follow direction.

What I'm trying to say, is I don't really have any reason to defend them.

In light of that, please let me assure anyone reading this of one detail. The Canary are comprised of undoubtedly decent and moral individuals, who want nothing more than to see a fair equitable Britain. And to see that those genuinely responsible for the disgraceful mess our country is in, be held to account. I do not agree with their position on everything, but they're on the right track, and nor are they even vaguely on the same page (pardon the pun) as the hate-sprawling filth routinely peddled by The Express, The Daily Mail, or The Sun. Chalk and cheese. Publications the BBC treat as supposed 'reliable news', covering their headlines on a literal daily basis. It's a joke.

Many of us feel the BBC, and its political editor are very Tory biased. Deal with it. Nothing to do with bullying, nothing to do with the fact she's a female, or the left being misogynists - that's just smear; smoke and mirrors. Misdirection. "Don't look at that... look at this." At the time of this supposed outrage, The Canary was genuinely spun as misogynistic and oppressive, led by The New Statesman as I recall. The majority of the jeering mob seemed conveniently and blissfully oblivious to the fact Mendoza is a feminist and an LGBT woman. It just defies logic so many would fall for such basic, ill-thought out smear, but hey... that's Britain in 2017.

Versus The BBC

Nor does every single Corbyn supporter and/or UK voter with leftist views unilaterally despise the BBC. I for one feel a great level of sympathy for the organisation, and many who work there. Their asses are literally owned and paid for by the Tory government. If a leftist or even centrist government seized the reins, things might be quite different. How far can the BBC realistically deviate from what their paymasters want propagated? How long would any of us last in our jobs, if we publicly criticised or incriminated those who pay our wages? That's just realpolitik.

Not to mention, the BBC is far more than just news. As an actor/musician who grew up adoring of the BBC's contribution to arts and culture, who aspired and greatly hoped to work for them one day in such regard, I think to write off/vilify and 'wish away' all the marvellous things the BBC have created, and the countless ways it's enriched British lives for generations (and millions more around the world) is actually pretty sacrilegious. And I'll say one more thing in that regard: I live in fear for the day entertainment and arts coverage in the UK is entirely owned by private, capitalist entities. It'll be junk and vacuous reality shite on overdrive... anything cheap to turn a profit, and entirely in the hands of the same right-wing media that now rules British opinion.

Don't think it's already happening? I suppose the appointment of Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth to Arts Council England is just a coincidence. Or that the winner of ITV's recent I'm A Celebrity is an adamant Tory - a primped and privileged Made In Chelsea star who hates 'benefit 'scroungers', fancies Jacob-Rees Mogg, and wants to make conservatism 'cool and sexy', is just coincidence. Or that the very same programme threw in Boris Johnson's dad for good measure. It's normalising horrible stuff, and as ever, controlling the media and entertainment is key to it all.

Going Out On A Limb  

The Canary strives to cover the stories the MSM will not touch, or cannot. And invariably - as with any person or organisation that dares to go out on a limb and tell the truth - mistakes will be made. It comes with the territory. If truth-seekers are made to fear over-zealous repercussions of mistakes, they will be scared to seek truth. Which is of course, exactly the point. The next step after that is making sure they don't uncover truth. (Eg: pretty much what Erdogan did in Turkey, and what many other repressive states enact by force.)

The Canary have taken responsibility for the mistake, which is more than many MSM papers do. Certainly, none of the supposedly equivalent 'alt-right' blogs and publications have signed up to any journalistic standards, despite any cutting remarks about Impress. You won't see Media Guido, Leave.EU, or Westmonster etc signing up any time soon, for any sentient organisation to scrutinise their stuff.

Not to mention, Laura Kuenssberg had been listed on a prominent Tory website as attending a Tory conference as an invited guest, which was then removed by those who posted it. So it's not like The Canary pulled it out of thin air, invented it, or did anything so horrid or macabre as the tabloid press have got away with for literally decades in the UK. Their mistake was to trust in the reliability of internet, and more specifically Tory publications!

The whole thing was really a witch-hunt, and blind hypocrisy. A bitter backlash from the MSM for all the accurate finger-pointing The Canary have engaged in.

As for the people ranting that the publication is "hate-filled" and "fake news" etc? They literally don't have a clue what they're talking about. Or even the vaguest awareness of the irony.

Taking on a bully doesn't make you a bully.

A LATE-NIGHT EPIPHANY: THE SPOOKY LINK BETWEEN FOOTBALL AND BREXIT

Had a rather strange late night epiphany, that I'm surprised hadn't occurred before.

I really cannot understand, at all, how literally anybody could look at what's happened in Britain in the last eighteen months and think it a good thing, long or short term. And I just don't get why anyone would have desired this division, conflict, and uncertainty.

Then the penny dropped. 'Division, conflict, uncertainty'.

We are a country obsessed with football.

A country that revels in the mindless caveman-like amusement of kicking a ball from point A to point B, in order to prove machismo prowess and supposed superiority. A country that revels in the 'drama' as much as the sport, and more often than not, the simple sense of 'belonging' among a tribal group: a tribal group that by definition, automatically hates other groups.

To add insult to injury, we're not even any good at it. Our footballers are some of the most underachieving and primped in the world; our widespread arrogance regarding British football prowess is entirely unjustified. We're a country where poor and disadvantaged people cheer loudly and prostrate before overpaid/over-privileged oiks who literally care nothing for them, whose very lifestyles serve as a neon flashing sign non-repentantly illustrating grotesque inequality. Honestly, we're just mugs.

Oh yes, and the most useful and committed players also happen to usually be foreigners, plugging the woeful gaps and inadequacies Brits leave wide open.

Sound familiar at all?

Okay, I know this will not be a popular, or even sensible thing to admit. And I do apologise to friends who enjoy the game. But football has always seemed so backward to me: a mind-numbing pastime that mostly attracts yobs, that should have had its day alongside public flogging. I've just never understood it. If even half those fans spent half the same time reading, learning, or developing a skill of their own, how different British society might be.

So it's really hardly a surprise that I shouldn't understand where Brexiters are coming from either. Or their desire to turn Britain into a mortal battle between two competing teams, where there can only be winners or losers. It's literally our national sport, after all.

The only difference is, sadly unlike football, the rest of us cannot really afford to ignore this particular 'game'.

THE DAILY MAIL HAS TANGIBLY THREATENED BRITISH LIBERTY. IT’S TIME WE DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

I bang on quite a lot about how dangerous the UK right-wing press has become: it's one of the factors that made me want to start writing in the political sphere myself. But I, like many, have arguably gone on about it too much now. I can't help but wonder whether there’s been a touch of ‘Crying Wolf’ effect; that even those who agree and recognise the danger, have now become desensitised.

I say that because what The Daily Mail have come out with today (at the time of writing), December 14th, regarding the recent Parliamentary vote on the Brexit bill, is absolutely categorically and unequivocally NOT okay.

The fact the tabloid thinks it can behave like this, posting vindictive and antagonistic bile to rouse a rabble against conscientious MPs, is troubling to the extreme. The fact it will doubtlessly continue unless we do something about it, and that the British public probably won’t even bat an eyelid any way – even more so.

Yes, we’ve heard it all before. Senseless Brexiters rattling on about politicians supposedly “betraying” 17.4m Brexit voters. Presumably inferring that the remaining 16.1m Remain voters (not to mention those who didn’t vote) are apparently not entitled to any representation within Parliament at all: we must simply do as we’re told. In their minds, we lost our rights the day they won their referendum.

Choice of words

Just look at the language on that Daily Mail front page: it’s horrifying. ‘Self-consumed’ (as if anyone who disagrees with this coup is automatically doing so for selfish or nefarious reasons). ‘Malcontents’. ‘Betray’. ‘Damning’. ‘Marxist’. ‘Treachery’. It’s the language of dictatorship, and of fascism. Evocative terminology deliberately designed to stir up anger, hostility, and even violence. You’d think The Daily Mail might have learned a lesson from the death threats Anna Soubry reportedly received the last time they plastered her face on their front page, practically with a bullseye on her forehead. That they’ve been as callous and as confident to do exactly the same again, and so soon afterwards, really begs belief. How did we ever allow them so much power?

Whereas the supposedly ‘responsible’ Telegraph formerly opted to describe Soubry and other Tory ‘rebels’ as “saboteurs”. The exact same term far-right nationalist Thomas Mair used in court to justify his murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, shortly before the referendum.

We really should all hear the alarm bells ringing, loud and bloody clear. But we don’t. Or nowhere near enough of us are hearing them, any way.

I'm genuinely upset by this, and very angry. To be frank, I thought my capacity for anger had been pretty much exhausted; the endless onslaught of bad news and scandal since June 2016 has taken its toll. I imagine even some of the most politically engaged are weary, now just wanting to bury their heads in the sand and/or see an end to it all. To be fair, that was probably the idea all along: a war of attrition.

However for me, this most recent and grotesque assault on parliamentary democracy by The Daily Mail is a whole new level of malevolence. I certainly wish there was something more physical or effectual I could do to protest beyond simply writing an angry opinion piece, but hey, we use the tools at our disposal.

It's just not morally acceptable to me. I cannot and will not accept that such evil and unscrupulous people have such a grip over public opinion in the UK. That a singular powerful and non-accountable/non-democratic faction can literally spew whatever hatred and overly partisan poison it wants, and know with absolute certainty it will form the categorical basis of belief for vast swathes of ignorant/hostile people across the country. The non-domicile Lord Rothermere, and his editor Paul Dacre, are truly two of the most dangerous men alive in Britain today.

I think they define as operating in Britain, even if their paper's money is mostly shielded from paying British tax, offshore in Bermuda.

A Momentary Reprieve of Reason

The UK should be celebrating this small victory for democracy (actual democracy, not the mob-rule/pitch-fork variety that’s become so popular). Celebrating that, for the first time in eighteen months, reason seems to have been granted a momentary reprieve. We should all feel positive and buoyed that a small number of brave Tory MPs finally tipped the balance. A courageous minority had the guts and decency to put their country before their party, insisting that Parliament should be permitted to do its job – eg: be allowed to scrutinise a planned course of action that could theoretically make or break our country. That is its very purpose, after all. And thousands of men, women and children died over the course of British history to preserve that balance, specifically to keep would-be absolute governments and monarchies in check.

Hear that Brexiters, that is the patriotism and pride I take in my nation and its history. Not the ideology of this nationalist backwater you’re trying to turn it into, a place I no longer even recognise as my home.

But far from acknowledging the good sense of keeping options open, Brexiter factions are just stamping their feet, trying to whip up yet more division and hatred. Posturing how the very same British laws and sovereignty they supposedly champion is ‘treacherous’ when it doesn’t work in their favour. They don’t even seem to care if people are killed, or have their lives threatened in the process.

I just can’t bear how unreasonable this Brexit bunch are; it’s beyond farcical. The Tories are almost a secondary concern now, just hapless. As if every pantomime villain in the country was rounded up and told to form a government. I almost feel sympathy for Theresa May and her leading negotiators now, so hammered have they been from all sides.

It’s the Boris Johnsons and the Michael Goves, the Daniel Hannans and Julia-Hartley Brewers, the Nigel Farages and Jacob Rees-Moggs, the Tommy Robinsons and Katie Hopkins of this world shouting from the wings who are causing the most carnage now. Listening to them on social media, you’d think we were engaged in The English Civil War part two; that anyone not willingly aboard the Brexit-train should be shot for treason. Let’s face it, they all ache for continued division and confrontation though: it’s quite literally been their gravy-train. What’s terrifying is how many people agree with them, eating up every word they say.

Threat to Liberty

Why are they so outraged? It’s not like Brexit has been cancelled. It's not like we've totally extinguished the dream of the tax-dodgers and nationalists, or reversed their intended coup of Britain. Not like the adults have totally regained control of the kindergarten, or that someone with nouse has stepped up to suggest we forget the whole sordid nonsense: that we go back to being a sensible nation and economic powerhouse.

No. All that’s been agreed is that IF the deal is too horrendous, IF it’s likely to cause such harm that millions of people could realistically be plunged into poverty and economic chaos, our parliamentary representatives would have the right to say no. They’d have a chance to save their people from unnecessary hardship. So in other words, these Brexit factions, with The Daily Mail at the vanguard, deem the simple preservation of our well-being and long-term interests as ‘betrayal’. As ‘treachery’. They believe our refusal to accept potentially being disadvantaged is effectively a crime worthy of punishment.

Enough is enough. That’s a direct and tangible threat to our liberty as far as I am concerned. Not hyperbole, not exaggeration; simply a realistic assessment of what’s going on here.

Decent people in Britain must no longer stand for this poison being so liberally disseminated and so unaccountable: it’s time we did something about it, before it’s too late.

BANNON AND REES-MOGG: THE CORRELATION BETWEEN BREXIT AND WHITE SUPREMACY FINALLY LAID BARE

I wanted to give politics a rest for a while. It's mentally exhausting even keeping up with the news nowadays. But then as usual, something else unthinkable or cataclysmic happens.

This. This, this... THIS.

I genuinely don't know whether to be pleased or not. On one hand, I'm glad the smokescreen is coming apart - that finally the leaders of Brexit are showing their true colours. Only days ago, Julia Hartley-Brewer mocked me on Twitter for suggesting Trump/Trump supporters and Brexit/Brexit supporters are different sides of the same coin, like it was a ridiculous assessment. IT IS NOT. It is the truth they don't want you to see; a symbiotic partnership.

So what's happening now? Well, as more reasonable/rational and moderate Brexit voters realise they've been sold a pig in a poke, that this whole thing has been a straight-up catastrophe for our country, the Brexit lobby are forced to enlist and massage support among extremists and unapologetic fascists. They're the only group propping this madness up. And as a result, even supposedly 'respectable' MPs like Jacob Rees-Mogg can now flaunt their true allegiances, actively courting these evil people. The mask has well and truly slipped.

Even a couple of years ago, this would have ended Rees-Mogg's career. That is how much the political and social landscape has changed in Britain. It's just chilling. And those of us who were ridiculed for warning where Brexit would lead, dismissed as hyperbolic, are now being proved demonstrably and unequivocally right.

Whereas many see a series of events, I see a meticulously planned domino effect. It is not coincidence that days ago, Trump endorsed Britain First. That a group formerly overwhelmingly reviled in the UK is now getting MSM attention, appearing on the BBC etc, and swathes of people now argue Trump was "only stating his opinion", and/or the POTUS is above being held accountable. These fascist ideas are in the mainstream again, endorsed by the most powerful man in the world, and yet again, xenophobes and nationalists are emboldened beyond measure.

Then, despite outcry, Downing Street refuse to cancel Trump's state visit, or condemn his words entirely. The fascists are emboldened a little further. It becomes a little more acceptable. And then, out of nowhere, it's suddenly 'revealed' that a British Conservative politician - who many bizarrely revere as a man of probity and reason, who's tipped to be the next Conservative leader - is openly in meetings with Steve Bannon of Breitbart! The only man who was widely acknowledged to be more dangerous than Trump when he initially took office. A truly evil, abhorrent man. An insidious master manipulator and white supremacist, who's openly admitted he wants to see some kind of 'final solution'.

Now? Now many Tory voters will rationalise that 'if Rees-Mogg is dealing with Bannon, he can't be that bad'. Not only that, but Boris wouldn't condemn Trump either. And though Theresa May told Trump he was a 'naughty boy', she stepped way short of taking a stand. It's a very deliberate, step-by-step process being rolled out.

The ideals of fascism are being normalised in Britain, right before our eyes. And as usual, those of us who recognise it are just flailing our arms around, desperately trying to warn everybody.