2% inflation target hit. OBR forecasts are showing big growth for the UK on the back of how Hunt and Sunak have turned it around. Labour are being handed an economy on the rise and doing pretty damn good compared to the rest of Europe. You wouldn’t think it on here. The excuses of ‘it will take the Labour government at least 5 years to sort the economy’ won’t wash now.
A multi-millionaire Muslim entrepreneur has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to Reform UK. Zia Yusuf, who co-founded a VIP concierge app called Velocity Black and later sold his stake for tens of millions of pounds, has said the UK has “completely lost control of our borders.”
They’d have to be I suspect. Abortion and Gay marriage might not go down so well with this gentleman.
It is clear that Mr Yusuf has not thrown his lot in with Reform in spite of its policies on migration, but because of them. Britain, he says, has ‘lost control of its borders’, adding, ‘my parents came here legally. When I talk to my friends they are as affronted by illegal Channel crossings, which are an affront to all hard-working British people but not least the migrants who played by the rules and came legally.’ It shouldn’t really shock anyone, any more than it shocks us to find out that people who pay their taxes are not terribly keen on people who evade them, or that people who took great trouble to stick to the rules during lockdowns tended to be the most upset when it emerged that Downing Street staff treated them with a more cavalier attitude. It is simply human nature: most people who stick carefully to the rules tend to feel affronted when others have cheated. Yet it seems to confuse many people who, over and over again, get confused by the fact that so many of the politicians who have been toughest on illegal migration have been themselves migrants or the children of migrants. Priti Patel, Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, and before them Michael Portillo, for instance. Why are these people taking it out on migrants, their left-wing critics ask when they have benefited from migration themselves? For many progressives, someone like Braverman is a traitor to her own kind; they have to imagine deep insecurities which have led her to this dark place. Progressives struggle with the likes of Braverman because they see people less as individuals than as members of class, racial, and ethnic identities. If you happen to be a British Asian, then you should share the values of all British Asians. Moreover, you should conform to the opinions which grievance politics has assigned to you – which in the case of ethnic minorities is that Britain is astructurally racist country whose white majority population is out to oppress you whether it means to or not. But that is clearly not how Zia Yusuf, Suella Braverman, and others think. To them, they are not betraying their own people by opposing illegal migration – or even in wanting to slow down the legal variety. Rather, they are thinking back to the efforts their parents put into coming to Britain – which might have required many years of study, filling in forms, paying for visas, etc. – and they feel offended when they see young men (and they mainly are young men) who are exploiting the asylum process by pretending to be gay, Christian, or telling whatever other tall stories help them to play the system. It all comes down to a basic sense of fairness. This doesn’t mean to say that a party that focuses on migration doesn’t also risk attracting people who are racists – like Ukip before it, Reform UK will face a constant battle to keep out such people, as we have found with its vetting issues this week. But no one should be surprised if other children of migrants are drawn to a party which is serious about wanting to tackle the problem. Reform UK’s opponents will have to find a moreintelligent way of opposing it than simply trying to denounce it as racist.
It’s thought provoking and makes you ponder on certain things Sadly, I agree with the last part. They’ll have a job keeping out old BNP and NF type of people. If they don’t get a handle on that now. It will forever hold them back.
I remember seeing a critique of Farage from the right, it was a clip from LBC where he laughs at "destroying the BNP with UKIP". It's obvious to me that Farage sees himself as positioned on the right, not centre-right but not far-right or whatever the BNP were considered to be. I seem to remember the BNP being relevant in 2005 (had to look it up), I remember being shocked when a old mate said he liked them, and must have been 2005 and he used to play pool in clubs around Hylton Castle and those areas, where I guess they were going in for talks or something, I was a raging lefty back then so would have had no time for it.
Back then Sunderland was right at the top of the pile for racist Towns/Cities. The BNP had a foothold there and a few places in the NW.
The thing is my mate was a nice lad, I've not seen him for years now but just a normal working class lad, would have been 18, lived with his mam and dad, went to college, I think the characterisation of racist is harmful not only for these places, but ultimately it is incorrect and creates an incorrect view of what is going on, also because being a racist is beyond the pale it damages the chance for genuine understanding and conversation so people are just cut further adrift. I say this as someone who would have done the same thing at one time.
If Labour are as dreadful as some people are saying ... ... what does that say about this government who've had 14 years to improve things. They're just not very good at running the country and too busy fighting each other. The electorate aren't as stupid as they think and will vote them out.
I’ve checked the last 3/4 pages on here and nobody has said Labour is dreadful. Am I missing something?
Their record and policies should be speaking for them ... ... instead they're desperately looking for scare stories to frighten people.
