peak4

I guess it depends on ones definition of racism; Yaxley-Lennon is certainly overtly anti Muslim. Tommy Robinson and the far right’s new playbook Grauniad. Many folk, myself included , view the more extreme ends of his hate preaching as racism, in the same way that anti-Semitism should be viewed as racist [ see the linked post below for details relating to The Great Replacement Theory and its connection to anti-Semitism.] Back in 2018 he even seemed to be promoting Generation Identity Analysis: Tommy Robinson’s ‘Day for Freedom’ – a new turning point for fascism and the far right The star figure in this new movement and at Sunday’s protest was longtime fascist “Tommy Robinson” / Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, once a member of the nazi British National Party and later founding member and leader of the EDL. Until recently, he was aligned with Canada based “alt-right” media outlet Rebel Media, before going independent. Yaxley-Lennon has built a huge social media following – and his political positions have hardened to the extent that he is now openly promoting and assisting leaders of the international Generation Identity groups. Generation Hate: French far right’s violence and racism exposed Al Jazeera Al Jazeera investigation reveals Generation Identity members carrying out racist attacks, making Nazi salutes in Lille. What did folk make of the content of an earlier post on a different thread?

My thoughts; I have plenty of sympathy with the concept of same sex changing rooms and can understand many peoples concerns. In this particular case, as soon as I read this bit I start to wonder if there is a greater agenda at play here; "The CEO of Christian Legal Centre who is financially backing the nurse’s legal case, Andrea Williams, said, “This case demonstrates as clear as day that this is an issue of biology not ideology. Once we lose a sense of physical reality all kinds of real and dangerous consequences emerge." If these nurses have any tie-ups with the CLC, I would have serious concerns about them treating/caring for me or any relatives. I guess many people will skip over the CLC reference without realising the potential significance. From Wiki, admittedly not everyone's preferred reference material Christian Legal Centre Evangelical activist and barrister Andrea Minichiello Williams is chief executive of the CLC and Christian Concern. She began public policy work with the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) in the 1990s in opposition to liberalising the laws around the status of embryos and to civil partnerships. As a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, Williams called gay Christians to "repent" and for the expulsion of gay priests from the Church of England, saying that gay people were the "children of the devil". Williams has publicly opposed the Church of England's decision to support civil partnerships. Williams is reported as stating that the Human Fertilisation Bill was "the work of the devil", that homosexuality is sinful, that abortion should be illegal, and that the world is around 4,000 years old. Williams refers to abortion as a "silent holocaust". She sees abortion laws as "the work of satan." Medics quitting jobs over ‘distress caused by rightwing Christian group’ Guardian London-based Christian Legal Centre behind a number of end-of-life court cases ‘prolonging suffering’, doctors say Medics treating critically ill babies are quitting their jobs owing to “considerable moral distress” caused by a rightwing Christian group behind a series of end-of-life court cases, the Guardian has been told. Senior doctors claimed the behaviour of some evangelical campaigners was “prolonging the suffering” of seriously ill infants. They accused them of “selling falsehoods and lies” to families and of using legal tactics condemned by judges. One paediatric intensive care consultant described how he was pelted with eggs and “barraged” inside a hospital during protests over the case of Alfie Evans, a toddler whose life support was removed after a high-profile court battle in 2018. A bit about funding in here Christian Legal Centre The revenue source for the Christian Legal Centre is unclear, though connections exist with a well-funded United States organisation, the Alliance Defense Fund. The ADF and the CLC jointly set up the Wilberforce Academy in the UK aimed at training Christians for leadership roles in public life. There are suggestions it is an organisation with very little income, with almost all legal actions pursued by lawyers acting pro bono (without charging a fee). However, for a while they paid barrister Paul Diamond a retainer of £8000 per month, so they must have had money at some point — it's all very mysterious. Christian legal non-profit funds US anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion organizations Guardian A rightwing Christian “hate group” which is behind a host of legal efforts to roll back abortion rights, remove LGBTQ+ protections and demonize trans people has seen a huge increase in its funding and has funnelled some of that money to a slew of smaller anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion groups across the US, the Guardian can reveal. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a registered non-profit behind the ongoing 303 Creative supreme court case which could chip away at LGBTQ+ rights, saw its revenue surge by more than $25m between 2020 and 2021, a period in which a rightwing obsession with transgender rights and sexual orientation saw almost 200 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in states around the US. [ These two ADFs seem to be the same Wiki link] I'll not bother with selected quotes for this one; if you're still interested, follow the link. On the Naughty Step – the questionable ethics of the Christian Legal Centre NearlyLegal

Maybe worth a re-read Britain was right to sell off its pile of gold Financial Times via Archive.today The Treasury made the right decision not selling On this one occasion, Mr Brown’s decision was the right one. Let speculators go gambling on a shiny metal, if they want to. For most governments in rich countries, holding gold remains a largely pointless activity. With hindsight, of course, Mr Brown could have gained a better price by waiting. At current rates, the $3.5bn the UK received selling bullion between 1999 and 2002 would have been closer to $19bn. The difference at current exchange rates, by the way, would be enough to cover a little over three weeks of the UK’s expected public deficit for the fiscal year 2010-2011 – not negligible, but hardly pivotal.

Is she repeating it, or was that from 2019; it didn't stop her getting elected then though. Tory election candidate says disabled people should be paid less as they ‘don’t understand money’ Indy A Conservative candidate has told voters that disabled people and those with learning disabilities should be paid less because some “don’t understand money”.......................... Tory candidate Ms Hart encouraged people in the audience to read an article in right-wing magazine The Spectator which made the same argument, adding: “It’s about the happiness of work”........................... As she was speaking, a member of the audience can be heard shouting: “I’m autistic, and I want to get paid for the work I do” while another person shouts “how patronising, how dare you”.

We also have a very high re-offending rate; other countries seem to do much better at rehabilitation and re-entering into mainstream society Too late at night now for a long post, though I have discussed it before. A Nation Obsessed with Crime: Prisons in England and Wales LSE Blog It was once a priority that punishments be “humane.” That priority underpinned punishment’s move toward imprisonment and away from torture, the death penalty and other grueling alternatives. But pinning punishment to humanity necessitates no more than the deprivation of one’s liberty. That limiting principle obtains in some Scandinavian prisons, where highly effective “open prisons” replicate life outside prison as much as possible. Yet elsewhere, underpaid labour, infantilization from prison officers, and solitary confinement far exceed that limiting principle and result in making prisoners suffer. Our appetite for prisons transgresses that limiting principle in their widespread use, too: Imprisonment is already an expensive last resort to fines and community sentences, costing upwards of 40,000 per prison place each year. However, if the goal of imprisonment really is reform, re-education and reinsertion into mainstream society, it is – to put it bluntly – not doing a good job. Of those sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, 63% will reoffend within a year of release. Compare this to Norway’s reoffending rate of just 20%, and it is difficult to argue that the taxpayer in England & Wales is getting good bang for the buck. Given the disparity, it is astonishing that the Conservative party’s allegedly pragmatic penal policy is to create more prison places: 10,000 more places were pledged in the 2019 election, since raised to 18,000.

A slightly longer version here, along with a link to a Youtube video; a bit more conversations about the police car, Islam, finance and suggesting a paramedic should deny patients life saving treatment etc. None of this really changes anything for Sheffield residents of course, as I don't think there are any Reform candidates standing. https://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-undercover-inside-reforms-campaign-evidence-of-homophobia-and-canvassers-racism Reform UK campaign figure outlines vision The programme’s report returns to the scene at a Clacton pub where senior campaign figures meet. Mr Jones tells the undercover investigator why Reform UK chose Clacton, saying: “Have a look around. Proper England. You know what I mean? Proper English. Not like in London when you’re a foreigner in your own country, and if you say ‘hello’ to someone they look like they’re about to f****** knife you in the face”. I'm a little curious about this one too, though it's departing from the original thread title. Clacton: Labour 'block own candidate' from campaigning against Reform The National, who may of course have their own agenda north of the border. Owusu-Nepaul's campaign has been sidelined after Labour bosses had been angered over the attention the Clacton candidate was receiving online. “At one point [Owusu-Nepaul] was getting more retweets than Keir Starmer. The officials were furious with him and said he was distracting [from] Starmer’s campaign,” a campaign source told the Guardian. Tracey Lewis, a Labour activist from Clacton, quit the CLP over the treatment of Owusu-Nepaul after he was sent to campaign in the West Midlands. She said: “I’m a lifelong Labour supporter and will continue to be even though I’ve quit my place on the CLP, but if they can’t put a fight up against Nigel Farage, then who are they fighting for?” Another member of the local party, Chris Bee, said: “Our candidate gets some real traction and with a week-and-a-bit to go they pull him out and will not allow him back into the constituency to fight for a place in this area’s most important election in a generation.

Clearly violence, or threats of violence are unacceptable; I'm not sure the message has got through to all the Reform canvassers though

I think a different statute of limitations in Sweden; at least one of the accusations would have run out in 2015, but he didn't leave the embassy until 2019 He had previously offered to meet Swedish prosecutors at the Ecuadorian embassy, which I believe we were told they turned down. Julian Assange agrees to meet with Swedish prosecutors in UK CNN WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to be interviewed by Swedish prosecutors in London, his lawyer in Sweden told CNN. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about 2010 allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another. According to the lawyer, Thomas Olsson, Swedish prosecutors will now have to reach out to British and Ecuadorian authorities to request permission to conduct the interview at the embassy. I'm not sure that anyone really knows what happened regarding this, however, the following subsequently came to light; it seems that maybe The UK were the ones resisting the offer UK resisted Julian Assange’s offer to be questioned in London, emails reveal Guardian Documents show CPS told Swedish authorities it would ‘not be prudent’ to interview WikiLeaks founder inside Ecuadorian embassy

This link is from HNH, but refers to a Twitter post from Bethan Nodwell- look her up yourselves Old Habits Die Hard: Tommy’s Tour of Canada Goes from Bad To Worse A leading figure on the Canadian far-right has publicly accused Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) of a drug fueled binge, spending time with sex workers and using his arrest as a way to raise money after embarrassing ticket sales for his tour. In recent hours explosive allegations about Lennon’s activities in Canada have been made by the Canadian far-right activist Bethan Nodwell. Nodwell was one of the organisers of the so-called Freedom Convoy which protested measures to combat COVID-19. Oh and Yaxley Lennon doesn't appear to have exposed much if anything; rather he has used the plight of many victims to further his personal hate agenda. He appears to be very quiet on exposing his own associate's links to CSE, and risked collapsing a series of trials by his filming at Rotherham. The Yorkshire Post did cover that incident very well. Turn the sound down if there's kids about 😉

I suspect your are being led down a route where someone wants to claim that anti-Islam rhetoric isn't racism, as Islam isn't a race. We must also remember that Yaxley Lennon has also dabbled with The Great Replacement Theory, which many would consider to have anti-Semitic roots. Tommy Robinson vs the media – and the ‘great replacement’ theory that links him to Christchurch Searchlight I'm no great fan of Streeting, but in this case he was on an APPG with Anna Soubry Guardian Yes, Islamophobia is a type of racism. Here’s why ; Wes Streeting we argue that “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”. We’ve produce a series of examples, modelled on the IHRA definition of antisemitism, to help people understand how this manifests One of the pieces of evidence for discussion in such debates is downloadable from here; from my perspective, he makes a strong argument that Islamophobia should be considered in the same light as anti-Semitism. Further written evidence from Professor Tariq Modood (HCL0057) What is Islamophobia? Tariq Modood, MBE, FBA, FAcSS, FRSA Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy,Director, University of Bristol Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship Conclusion: A Definition of Islamophobia My suggested definition of Islamophobia, which may not capture everything meant by ‘Islamophobia’ but which captures the core features of the contemporary phenomena for Muslims in Britain: Islamophobia is the racialising of Muslims based on physical appearance or descents members of a community and attributing to them cultural or religious characteristics to vilify, marginalise, discriminate or demand assimilation and thereby treat them as second class citizens. So the next logical question might be, does Yaxley-Lennon promote anti Muslim hatred/discrimination? If he does, then should he be regarded as racist on this alone, as well as promoting and attempting to stir up religious hatred. Perhaps one for another post.

Sound on, and a little about the speaker in the following link from New Statesman, via archive.ph The tragedy of John Mearsheimer How the American realist became the world’s most hated thinker

I don't have time to search for the links to back this up now, but as I recall , it was the betting company themselves who correctly flagged to The Gambling Commission that a "Politically Exposed Person" had used their own bank account to place a bet on the forthcoming election. Further investigations followed by The Gambling Commission into other PEPs, which is ongoing. The prevention of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism Gambling Commission guidance for remote and non-remote casinos: Fifth edition (Revision 3). ContentsPart 6 - Customer due diligence14 - Politically exposed persons (PEPs) 14 - Politically exposed persons (PEPs)

My Peugeot Expert 2007 is with A-Plan in Worcester SD&P only, I'm retired; might be worth giving them a bell 01905 612 961

They appear to have been managing it (hopefully successfully) since 2017/8 ish Planning Consent Waste Management Plan, including floorplan showing location of bins etc. None of which really helps Chow, who I hope is happy in their new home. I can only suggest contacting the letting agent[ going by the comment in the waste management plan, it looks like a new tenant should be supplied with a welcome pack. Welcome to Sheffield if you're new to the city; most folk are friendly and helpful.

The industry has been in decline for rather a long time, but more recently, the Tories and Brexit have a lot to answer for. A pretty decent summary here; Who killed the British fishing industry? Investment Monitor The UK's fisheries were a central part of the debate in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016, but why was such a relatively small industry so important to both sides?

Hmmmmmm. Is this really a good recommendation from a company owner about his associates. "Farage repeatedly insisted that his candidates are not politically savvy". Potential candidates for other parties have been dropped for far less. GMB: Nigel Farage faces questions on Reform's links to fascists National Scot The Reform leader struggled as he was challenged on reports that 41 of his party’s candidates were “friends” on Facebook with British neo-fascist leader Gary Raikes, the founder of the New British Union. Farage repeatedly insisted that his candidates are not politically savvy and when “they see a comment on Facebook, they like it”. But GMB host Susanna Reid pointed out that Reform’s candidates had not liked a stray comment from Raikes, but were actively friends with him on social media. Farage said: “Look, most of our candidates are not political sophisticates. Alright

Following on from reading The Ridley Plan above; any serious commentator really does need to be aware of the content, this piece by Harry Patterson is also worth considering Orgreave: “The fact is that it was a set-up and it worked brilliantly.” There remains little doubt that the violence meted out to the miners was pre-planned, deliberate and sanctioned at the highest level of the South Yorkshire force. Miners, en route to the plant, were amazed to see signs directing them to convenient car parks, smiling officers helpfully pointing the way and guiding them in with no attempts whatsoever to dissuade or turn back the thousands of pickets who had heeded Scargill’s call. Such behaviour stood in contrast to the manner in which all police forces had handled flying pickets up to that point. For the Nottinghamshire miners, their experiences confirmed suspicions that ‘The Battle of Orgreave’ was a set-up orchestrated by the police. Years later, in a 1993 interview, Thatcher’s adviser and strike fixer David Hart would confirm that view: “The coke was of no interest whatsoever. We didn’t need it. It was a set-up by us on a battle ground of our choosing . The fact is that it was a set-up and it worked brilliantly.” The fall-out from Orgreave was considerable although it would be many years before its full truth was revealed. TV viewers were treated to scenes of mobs of violent thugs hurling bricks and stones before embattled mounted police moved in to disperse the offenders. Only it wasn’t like that at all. As Red Pepper reported, nearly thirty years after the event, “When broadcasting footage of Orgreave, the BBC, incredibly, transposed the sequence of events, making it appear that police cavalry charges had been a defensive response to antagonism by stone-throwing pickets rather than an act of aggression. Only in 1991 did the BBC issue an apology for this, claiming that its action footage had been “inadvertently reversed.” The publicly-funded, ‘neutral’ state broadcaster had reversed footage which, in its original form, showed cowering pickets with nowhere to run, desperately fending off charging police with whatever they had to hand. Given the pre-digital era of 1984, with physical tape being used for filming, which required conscious human cutting, splicing and chopping for editing purposes, one can view the BBC’s claims of the footage being “inadvertently reversed” with a degree of contempt. He is sceptical as to whether soldiers were used alongside police though Did Thatcher Use Soldiers During the Miners’ Strike? We know that police spies, agents provocateurs, Special Branch officers and MI5 agents were all used to combat the strikers and evidence has emerged to confirm such actions. But of soldiers dressing in police uniform we have yet to see even a single shred of real proof. Following the release of cabinet papers on January 3rd, 2014, we know that Thatcher was considering using the army in line with the recommendations made in the Ridley Plan, to move coal, breach picket lines and so on, but this would have been an overt action with armed forces in their own uniforms and acting with official state approval. Of course, the use of soldiers dressed as police officers is certainly possible and one shouldn’t, for even a second, doubt that the Tories would have baulked at such a tactic had they deemed it necessary. There is no question that the prime minister would have ruled such a move either in or out based on any legal or ethical grounds; it would have been a purely tactical and strategic decision. But, personally, I don’t think it happened. But we now know there were plans for other use(s) of the armed services Thatcher had secret plan to use army at height of miners' strike Guardian Papers released to the National Archives reveal that in 1984 the prime minister made preparations to use troops to move coal to power stations The 1984 cabinet papers, released to the National Archives, show that Thatcher asked for contingency plans to be drawn up to use troops to move coal stocks, despite official government policy ruling out the use of service personnel. A plan involving the use of 4,500 service drivers and 1,650 tipper lorries was considered capable of moving 100 kilotonnes a day of coal to the power stations. A separate contingency plan, codenamed Operation Halberd, to use troops in the event of a dock strike, had also been drawn up.

I wonder how may of the folk contributing to the forum generally, not just this thread, have read and understood The Ridley Plan. This website version is easier to digest as it has been scanned and OCR'd from the original document Final Report of the Policy Group on the Nationalised Industries Read the whole document, but be sure not to skip over the final bit. Confidential Annex — Countering the Political Threat A couple of excerpts Secondly, we might try and provoke a battle in a non-vulnerable industry, where we can win, This is what happened when we won against the postal workers in 1971. We could win in industries like the Railways, B.L.M.C, the Civil Service and Steel. A victory on ground of our choosing would discourage an attack on more vulnerable ground...................... The most likely area is coal. Here we should seek to operate with the maximum quantity of stocks possible, particularly at the power stations. We should perhaps make such contingent plans as we can to import coal at short notice. We might be able to arrange for certain haulage companies to recruit in advance a core or lorry drivers to help us move coal where necessary. We should also install, dual coal/oil firing in all power stations, where practicable as quickly as possible. Fifth, we must be prepared to deal with the problem of violent picketing. This again is a matter going beyond policy for nationalised industries. But it is also vital to our policy that on a future occasion we defeat violence in breach of the law on picketing. The only way to do this is to have a large, mobile squad of police who are equipped and prepared to uphold the law against the likes of the Saltley Coke-works mob. It also seems a wise precaution to try and get some haulage companies to recruit some good non-union drivers who will be prepared to cross picket lines, with police protection. They could always be used in the crunch situation which usually determines the result of any such contest. Conclusion These five policies seem all that is available and if integrated and used wisely they provide a pretty strong defence — particularly when there no Incomes Poilicy against which to strike. They should enable us to hold the fort until the long term strategy of fragmentation can begin to work. For those unfamiliar 40 years on from the miners' battle of Saltley Coke works Business insider 2012 Jon Griffin marks next month’s 40th anniversary of a Birmingham industrial dispute which signalled the beginning of the end for Prime Minister Ted Heath. It was a day that changed the course of UK history – and ultimately brought down the Government. February 10, 1972, saw 30,000 Birmingham engineers walk out in support of the nationwide strike by the miners, the coal industry’s first national action since the General Strike of 1926. When you've got your heads round The Ridley Plan, this longish analysis of some backgrounds make interesting reading. Thatcher’s civilising offensive: The Ridley Plan to decivilise the working class Matt Clement University of Winchester Abstract: Central to the agenda of the 1979 UK Government of Margaret Thatcher was the necessity to degrade the level of organisation and sense of well-being enjoyed by British Trade Union members. I argue that this represented a reversal of the civilising process – rather a civilising offensive conducted against one of the industrial classes, the working class, in order to strengthen the other, the bourgeoisie. This article discusses how this objective was realised, and evaluates its role in shaping the contemporary context. [One bit which I'm not sure if anyone had mention whilst I was typing this, was the role some of the media played in falsely shaping the narrative; certainly relevant to Orgreave.] The media coverage of these events notoriously adjusted the audience view so it appeared as if the miners had charged the police – causing their civilised reaction to re-impose order – when in fact later enquiries proved police culpability for the violence that day (see Williams 2009). This was just the most notorious episode in the controversial militaristic policing of the strike which involved the occupation of mining villages and the arresting of 11,312 people, of whom 5,653 were put on trial (Percy-Smith & Hilyard 1985: 345–54).

This chap I believe Kobach teamed up with Wichita businessman to sell COVID-killing device. An investigation found no validity to their claims. Kansas Reflector NEW YORK CITY — In early October, Kris Kobach, Kansas’ former Secretary of State, and Daniel Drake, a Wichita-based venture capitalist-turned-CEO, made a sales pitch to Kansas legislators. The duo wheeled in what looked to lawmakers like a “refrigerator” — a shiny metal box Drake called a “revolutionary” device that would “kill COVID” and bring “several hundred jobs back to Wichita.” “This stuff is very cutting-edge,” Kobach said. The local development of such exciting technology was why, he told lawmakers, he wanted Kansas to get the “first bite at the apple.”

I accept not local to Sheffield, but neither am I these days; 50 Chingford and Woodford Green Labour Party members resign over Faiza Shaheen Waltham Forest Echo In an open letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer, the members, who include a local councillor, and seven senior local party officers say that Faiza was deselected in an ‘anti-democratic’ way, reports Marco Marcelline 50 Labour party members from Chingford and Woodford Green have resigned their membership over what they call the “inhumane and degrading” treatment of the deselected parliamentary candidate Faiza Shaheen. In an open letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer, the members, who include a local councillor, and seven senior local party officers say that Faiza was deselected in an “anti-democratic” way. They wrote: “Our democratically elected candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green, Faiza Shaheen, has been deselected in an appalling and unfair manner. Faiza was selected by the constituency members in a fair and open contest, accruing more votes than the other three candidates put together. The process of deselection overturned this election result. and is anti-democratic.”

Given that it's unlikely that Reform will form a majority government, I wonder who Farage would prefer as a future Tory party leader?

No it's not OK, and the assailant was arrested & I think charged for two offences (relating to chucking a paper cup and a drinks can) Some may well have been misogynists, they occur in all walks of life, but the majority were attacking their political and moral stance, as well as their raging hypocrisy.

Did you read the two more recent links in my earlier post? It's not got any better since 2019

It's a serious issue with the rise of social media particularly with some of the more extreme outlets, 4chan, Gab, Telegram etc. I don't have any kids, but I wonder how many parents really do know what their offspring get up to on the internet. 'I was radicalised by the far right aged 15' BBC post Manchester Arena attack; the whole article is worth a read Former right-wing extremist has described how he was radicalised as a 15-year-old boy in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing. John said he wanted to speak out as a way of warning other young people, particularly about the dangers posed online. "It was unbelievably easy as a young teenager to access propaganda and now it's just as easy - maybe easier," John told BBC North West Tonight. Night after night, he said he would sit in his bedroom, scrolling through far-right forums, watching videos and scouring social media until the early hours. Not just the far right of course; Brain scans show social exclusion creates jihadists, say researchers Guardian report of an international study International studies of young Muslim men show that radicalisation follows a sense of isolation from society The research challenges the prevailing belief among western policymakers that other variables, such as poverty, religious conservatism and even psychosis, are dominant drivers of jihadism. “This finally dispels such wrongheaded ideas,” said the study’s co-lead author, Nafees Hamid of UCL. “The first ever neuroimaging study on a radicalised population shows extreme pro-group behaviour seems to intensify after social exclusion.” Personally I'd suggest that this issue of isolation/exclusion doesn't just relate to Islamist radicalisation, but to the very nature of preying upon those who are mentally vulnerable, even though they might not identify as such themselves. Many of the instances of far right terrorism also seem to involve social loners who are easy prey for extremist groups. Also a number of suicide bombers have a past history of petty criminality; Manchester, Paris for example. Lots of these terrorist ,and other group murders/suicides, seem to involve social misfits, Plymouth, Norway, New Zealand, plenty in USA etc. Some of you will realise I now live in Buxton, where there was a proposal to convert a disused hall of residence to asylum seekers accommodation. It was rightly opposed locally by many townspeople of all political persuasions, but we also had groups like Homeland, dressed in HiVis, and bearing clipboards, apparently carrying out an official survey of local residents, whilst they were handing out recruitment cards to likely candidates. Local Facebook groups show they had some support from folk who didn't know their backstory. Patriotic Alternative split results in 'dangerous' Homeland group National Scot. via archive.ph Read the whole article if you've never heard of them. Britain's “largest and most significant fascist group” has undergone a “catastrophic split” - with a new splinter group described as the "most dangerous group on the British far right".

Some weird theories out there; Why is electric car insurance so expensive? The Electric Car Scheme According to Confused.com, the average insurance premium for all car types has gone up by 58% in the last 12 months, reaching a record £924 from £586. However, this overall increase doesn't fully capture the higher surge in premiums for electric vehicles (EVs), which spiked by 72% during the same period. In comparison, premiums for petrol and diesel cars increased by 29%. A report from Thatcham Research, a specialist in automotive risk intelligence funded by insurers, sheds light on the challenges insurers face when covering EVs and the factors contributing to their higher premiums. These factors include more expensive incident claims for EVs compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, lengthier repair times, and the costly necessity of safely storing damaged EVs. According to the Association of British Insurers, claims for EVs are 25.5% pricier than their petrol and diesel counterparts, and their repair times are 14% longer.