Current Affairs Tommy Robinson Bailed

[Armaghtoffee]

Is he for real or some kind of Borat style parody of that EDL culture?

Surely he is a parody?

If he isn’t then I’m amazed he is still at Liberty.

 

[roydo]

Have you ever met any rich people? They're really not that clever, or sophisticated...

I have a sliding scale on people versus wealth, based on the ones I meet.

Seriously rich, are generally, pretty sound. They seem to appreciate a poorer person delivering a service in a cheery manner.

Property rich, upper middle class if a label is needed, are generally pretty rude. Like they almost resent a poorer, (in their mind, if only they knew!) person delivering a service in a cheery manner. Jealous maybe. Why is he cheery and I am not?

Rubbing along ok rich are sound as. Smaller house/renting/young family. They are just ace in the main. You can call them mate or love and they are sound with it

Content with their lot rich. Could be a pensioner couple, a single mum in the benefit system, family been in the same social housing place for ever. Anything really. They will pass the time of day and you can have a chat with them about the weather, and they usually have a dog.

 

[magicjuan]

Have you ever met any rich people? They're really not that clever, or sophisticated...

You're confusing the concept of wealth with monetary worth. Have you ever met any powerful people? Clever doesn't come into it, it's the ability to work the system as long as possible. They are very dark souls. Money is secondary.

 

[abelard]

You're confusing the concept of wealth with monetary worth. Have you ever met any powerful people? Clever doesn't come into it, it's the ability to work the system as long as possible. They are very dark souls. Money is secondary.

Sure... and they don't have secret master plans where Tommy Robinson plays a pivotal side role.

The world is much more random, and chaotic than that, discomforting though it may be to ponder that there's nobody really in charge

I have a sliding scale on people versus wealth, based on the ones I meet.

Seriously rich, are generally, pretty sound. They seem to appreciate a poorer person delivering a service in a cheery manner.

Property rich, upper middle class if a label is needed, are generally pretty rude. Like they almost resent a poorer, (in their mind, if only they knew!) person delivering a service in a cheery manner. Jealous maybe. Why is he cheery and I am not?

Rubbing along ok rich are sound as. Smaller house/renting/young family. They are just ace in the main. You can call them mate or love and they are sound with it

Content with their lot rich. Could be a pensioner couple, a single mum in the benefit system, family been in the same social housing place for ever. Anything really. They will pass the time of day and you can have a chat with them about the weather, and they usually have a dog.

Sure, they're often lovely. I just meant that they don't actually have the rest of the illuminati on speed-dial, secretly co-ordinating intricate minor details through a sinister global clandestine web to gain some small political advantage.

Politics is infintiely more Veep than House of Cards

 

[roydo]

Sure... and they don't have secret master plans where Tommy Robinson plays a pivotal side role.

The world is much more random, and chaotic than that, discomforting though it may be to ponder that nobody is really in charge

5 Live news just 10 seconds ago had him as their lead story. He "thanked the British people for their support".

What has happened to this country when a racist thanks the British people?

 

[magicjuan]

Sure... and they don't have secret master plans where Tommy Robinson plays a pivotal side role.

The world is much more random, and chaotic than that, discomforting though it may be to ponder that there's nobody really in charge



Sure, they're often lovely. I just meant that they don't actually have the rest of the illuminati on speed-dial, secretly co-ordinating intricate minor details through a sinister global clandestine web to gain some small political advantage.

Politics is infintiely more Veep than House of Cards

If you don't get it, you don't get it, you don't have to get sarcy and go the full 'it's conspiracy theory', I'm not some whiff the way you suggest.
You regurgitating the standard theory of illuminati as a rebuff would suggest that's the limit of your concept, and your conceit.
Do you think things ever change?

 

[catcherintherye]

That takes me to Toffler and how technology creates a vacuum. Add Thatcherism, the ideal of entrepeneurs as a tool for eradicating unity, unionism, solidarity, you're not going on strike if you're self employed, and the splintering of communities that empowered each other such as miners, dockers, steel workers and you're left not with a working class but something more akin to 'untermenschen' as defined by fascists.
There has been an almost perpetual class war waged due to the need for mass labour, that need has gone, replaced by consumers, materialistic gluttony. It doesn't matter what is bought, the volume oils the wheels. But that is endless, constantly cyclical with little chance of escape. Pop up Mr Finger Pointer Yaxley. You're stuck in a rut and it's their fault. He's there because he's supposed to be, it's part of a game, just another chess move.

While it's undoubtedly true that Britain has moved to the right over the last 30+ years and Thatcherism struck a major blow to many communities, it is not been done so uniformly and I always take a slightly more optimistic analysis! I think many of the struggles for ideas now exist outside of the economic (which I'm not saying is a good thing as some do) but the anti-war movements have been extremely impressive. It's partly why I think the ruling class, and therefore sections of the Labour Party are so keen to box Corbyn in on the question.

I'd also say, particularly in the communities discussed neoliberal solutions to problems are not really accepted. It always makes me laugh when Tories argue that the Brexit vote was avowedly a Thatcherite-Neo-liberal vote. It was anything but, in reality it was a vote for more protectionism and they will struggle to sell such a vision back to said people (indeed this is much of the root of the problem they have).

However yes, the destruction of opportunities within those communities has led to a desperation and figures like Tommy Robinson being seen as a solution. I've always seen him as more Ernst Rohm than Hitler. When you reduce what being working class is, to doing physical work (that is not intellectually stimulating) and enjoying a punch up (which is about as good as it gets for most thinkers) he fits that void. The fact that he's a small business owner and relatively well off is often lost in such an analysis. The left contributed to this too, by often becoming fixated on what working class meant and not offering enough detail beyond cliches.

The truth is, the modern working class work for deliveroo and are increasingly part of the gig economy. The experience of university for students (nearly 50% of young people) is a far more likely experience than working in construction and should be seen as such. However the left needs to find policy and solutions for how it can collectivise areas it's weak in and re build communal bonds if it is to truly defeat the ideas of your Tommy Robinsons. The taboo around Nazism weakens with every generation.

That is the great challenge for any Corbyn government. To move beyond it's strongholds and pandering to it's core voters, and develop solutions in suburban areas and smaller towns.

 

[catcherintherye]

5 Live news just 10 seconds ago had him as their lead story. He "thanked the British people for their support".

What has happened to this country when a racist thanks the British people?

The truth is, the "British people" he speaks of is a handful of people there to greet him today, a couple of thousand at his last demonstration and around 10,000 at the one before that. There were hundreds of thousands of people who protested against Trump. That gives an indication of the balance of forces and "British People" who support him. It's a small number of committed activists, who are adept (alongside US money) at inflating a social media presence, often through bots and other such means.

 

[Huyton Layne]

Why the hell do legitimate news agencies refer to this cretin by his made up name rather than his legal name. Giving the fantasist a lot more credibility and respect than he deserves.

 

[catcherintherye]

Is he for real or some kind of Borat style parody of that EDL culture?

They are real oddballs. I am not sure if he understands India is not an Islamic country (and actually do far more to combat Islam than any of him and his loser mates).

I have seen no such story, I strongly suspect he's dreamt the whole thing up. You ave to ask yourself what sort of person dreams up that sort of stuff, or goes into such detail and a fictional analysis of it (if it were true). If he isn't already he needs to be on a register, I certainly wouldn't my kids anywhere near him!

 

[catcherintherye]

If you don't get it, you don't get it, you don't have to get sarcy and go the full 'it's conspiracy theory', I'm not some whiff the way you suggest.
You regurgitating the standard theory of illuminati as a rebuff would suggest that's the limit of your concept, and your conceit.
Do you think things ever change?

Have you ever read Poulantzas and his discussion of the state? I always think he explains the chaos underpinning it pretty well.

 

[Redstarrob]

The truth is, the "British people" he speaks of is a handful of people there to greet him today, a couple of thousand at his last demonstration and around 10,000 at the one before that. There were hundreds of thousands of people who protested against Trump. That gives an indication of the balance of forces and "British People" who support him. It's a small number of committed activists, who are adept (alongside US money) at inflating a social media presence, often through bots and other such means.

Did the same hundreds of thousands protest against the emir of qatar ??

 

[catcherintherye]

Did the same hundreds of thousands protest against the emir of qatar ??

I think we both know they didn't, though I'm not sure what your point is?

 

[magicjuan]

Have you ever read Poulantzas and his discussion of the state? I always think he explains the chaos underpinning it pretty well.

I'm limited in my knowledge of his work.

 

[catcherintherye]

I'm limited in my knowledge of his work.

He basically said the state is not made up of 1 class/group of people, but a reflection of the class antagonisms that already exist. While there might be an overall goal to uphold capitalism, there are tensions within that, and at different moments those tensions swing in different directions.

For the sake of Tommy Robinson, he clearly has some support within elements of the state but there's also a motivation to oppose him.