Thoughts Upon Independent Media.

To the uninitiated eye, or perhaps more the uninitiated ear, into a vast and gaping vacuum stepped one Gary Lineker. Again, and to the sleepy mind, it was as if that space was, anyway, pretty much vacant. But then, isn't that the thing with vacuums, they're supposed to be vacant? 'A region containing no matter.'

Instead, then, merely a figurative vacuum, yet, in its own pernicious fashion, no less forgiving or severe towards all transgressors.

Marcus Rashford seemed, no longer, to be there, in occupation- school meals and poverty re-relegated to the 'sidelines'- so in stepped Mr Lineker. Whereupon, light not comprising of 'matter,' he instantly found himself lit-large, in the full stark beam of angry indignation! Of course, the 'angry indignation' was never quite without flaw but, hasten on, nothing to see here. So instead, briefly, oh so very briefly, in the righteous eyes of the UK's fearless MSM, 'twas as if Babel's Mighty Tower of Shiny Truth was threatened to the very verge of toppling! Because, really, it was all about controlling the narrative.

To the initiated ear, Lineker's initial and causal tweet did more than to insert merely the tiniest wedge of humanity- sadly absent from so many topics of current UK conversation- more, it also elected to accurately reference contemporary history. He wrote,
"An immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s."
A further tweet then went on to reference an additional and minor statistical fact.
"There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s, and I'm out of order?"

Mr Lineker is not overly radical in his thinking or behaviour, but neither has he been lazy with the information he has elected to relay to his 8.7 million followers, onwards and upwards.

Suella Braverman, the foremost 'target' of Mr Lineker's comments, routinely plays far more loosely with the truth, whether this be statistical or historic. Curiously, the House (of Commons) 'protects,' her democratic 'rights' to deflect, evade, subvert, misrepresent, tailor, edit or repackage information (and misinformation) to her peers and thus the wider nation, yet, as Dawn Butler MP recently demonstrated, it does not protect the democratic rights of (at least) her peers, in that House, to more accurately label those same selective utterances as untruths or lies.

There may well currently be 26 million global refugees- again Suella, not billions!- but the vast majority of those have not chosen to travel to the UK by one of the few remaining unsafe routes still in operation. Most individuals driven to the soul-searching decision to flee their home, often poorer than empty-handed, and to join those refugees, actually sought or found sanctuary within their own borders, that is to write that they did not even flee their home nation. Of those (minority) who are driven to travel over the border the vast majority attempted to settle within a neighbouring country. Germany remains the sole 'high income' nation to feature within the top twelve destinations for international refugees who are driven from their home nation. As of 2021, Germany hosted fewer than 9% of this total- 1.2 million 'vulnerable people.' Germany is also the only one of these nations situated fully outside of Asia or Africa. From least to most refugees hosted the other nations (as of 2021) are: Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jordan, Iran, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Sudan, Uganda, Pakistan and Turkey. Germany would slot in at fourth. 74% of all refugees are hosted within low and middle income nations, amongst which Germany would not feature.

Through miscommunicators such as former PM Johnson, former Home Secretary Patel, Dickensian would-be-Poor-House-sponsor MP Rees Mogg, and current Home Secretary Braverman the waters (poor choice of pun) remain muddied- perhaps 'bloodied' is more apt- yet figures often have the means of squeaking through the net. In 2020 the UK featured sixth amongst European nations hosting refugees. 'Reluctantly hosting,' would be a better phrasing. Germany, France, Sweden, Austria and Italy took more. Adjusting figures for head of population the UK fared worse still at 20th, behind all other Western European Nations, excepting Portugal. If we choose to credit others in the miscommunication narrative, we could also number the BBC. Really, we shouldn't be surprised.

With human rights dubious Rwanda looming, it is easy to see that the numbers likely to reach the UK through government approved routes could struggle to breach zero, if Braverman has her way. Little Britain does not currently welcome refugees on a tourist visa and there are no visas being made available for asylum seeking refugees, so small boats or oxygen-starved lorries are the only remaining options. Here are the words of the misnomer UK site- I cannot with clear conscience type 'laughingly named'- 'Full Fact:'
"People granted refugee status in an EU country can get the right to move to most other EU countries if they've been living here "legally and continuously" for five years. But the UK is an exception: we've chosen not to be covered by this law."
Puffed out chests and flag waving are definitely not here justified.

Full Fact is in fact another 'registered charity' in the UK, much like all those unaffordable public schools. The non-profit company- any undeclared profits, quite naturally, being protected elsewhere- is headed by Tory donor and AnneFreud Centre Chairman Michael Samuel. But then, aren't all the 'best' units headed by a raft of Tories and Tory donors? Of course, they are!

"An immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s."

As the compliant, the gate-keepers and the sheeple lined up to condemn Mr Lineker's words, those more wary about being seen to weave just the pitch-perfect pathway across the thin ice tended to target either one or both of two aspects of his tweet. These manifesting as: 1. mock horror at the BBC breaking away from its 'impartiality' guidelines, and/or 2. Lineker's reference to 1930s Germany. In reporting the latter, the Daily Mail, as per, endeavoured to pretend not to notice a painful historical satire evident within its own shouted objections.

The BBC being a 'secretly harboured nest of lefties' has alternated, through the decades, between a cached finger-tip slogan- never mind that 'twas never the case- and that of heavy duty artillery, never yet permitted to rust away in forgotten storage. As it currently stands, the BBC is in perhaps its sorriest state since its founding in 1922; even then influence from the likes of the Daily Mail (1st Viscount Northcliffe) was highly significant. Who better than a viscount to 'guide' and 'direct' the UK's first public service broadcasting? Or not!

If we, today, peel back the shiny veneer and peek beneath it all looks very unedifying. If there is any justice Richard Sharp- facilitator of hefty loans, loafers already skipping along the red carpet to likely honourdom and possible red throne for life- may not survive as Chairman of the Service. But then, there's Tim Davie CBE, current Director-General, dutifully singing from the same hymn sheet. And, as of May 2021, squatting at the BBC Board- helping to ensure political impartiality, one must understand- we find Sir Robbie Paul Gibb, brother to Conservative MP, Nick. See, very unedifying! Records show that Mr Sharp has donated in excess of £400,000 to the Conservative Party and that he headed Thatcher's think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies. Mr Davie twice stood as a councillor for the Conservatives (Hammersmith 1993 and 1994) and was Deputy Chairman for Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party in the 1990s.

Engendered within the British psyche, learned from the US model, there exists the all-pervading, nation-wide and justifiable concern for one's continued employment- an anti trade union rhetoric and push towards the rental gig economy- so, upon the face of it, current diatribe towards further underfunding, ultimately disbandment, of the Corporation would (again) seem to have Misters Sharp and Davie occupying that Schrodinger existence that too often substitutes for reality. But Sir Robbie Paul Gibb's current position upon the BBC Board, as Non-Executive Director, may serve to enlighten. It reveals the revolving door that operates for British Exceptionalists. Initially a pseudo journalist with the BBC... through the revolving door to serve as Chief of Staff for Conservative MP Francis Maude... back through the door to blight, for years and as Deputy Political Editor, programmes such as 'Newsnight,' 'Daily Politics,' 'Andrew Marr,' 'This Week' and others. Several of those serving under Gibb's somewhat Stalinist regime, who wished to pursue a more journalistic approach in their roles, have, since parting ways with the Corporation, openly expressed the 'ever-present threat' that they observed during their years of hedged political reporting at the Corporation. In 2017 the spinning doorway saw Gibb back in the Conservative Party, as PM May's Downing Street Director of Communications. For Gibb the door appears always open, or spinning. The BBC, a veritable 'nest of lefties!' don'tcha know.

Allegra Stratton, Matthew Parris, the insufferable Gyles Brandreth; who amongst the observant can forget fast-tracked Laura Kuenssberg's pioneering journalism, reporting 'Labour activist assaulting Tory staffer.' Hardly a stand-alone piece was it, Laura? Doubt Ms Kuenssberg will have much to fear from Mr Gibb. Or Fiona Bruce, bumbling her way through BBC expectations? All those raised eyebrows, at Refuge Ambassador Ms Bruce's appearance at trivialising domestic abuse, on behalf of ex PM Johnson's soon to be knighted father, Stanley Patric Johnson, will count for little against such a mighty current. But, don't worry, just for further clarification, Rachel Sabiha Johnson (journalist, ha-ha) thinks Stanley deserves it. He certainly deserves something!

Oh, and whilst we're listing Conservative donors, Nigel Sharrocks, husband of Fiona Bruce (also former journalist, ha-ha), has shown 'the BBC license fee the red card for reporting him to be another Conservative donor.' Mr Sharrocks retains a very low profile and is not shy of threatening litigation. Instead he prefers the vague label 'businessman.' An ad-man, then, who has worked with political messaging on behalf of the Conservatives.

When Thatcher took up the cudgel of UK premier, in 1979, the UK Government was spending £6 millions upon consultants- helping to guide the nation in much the same fashion as certain figures in the BBC do today- but when her claws were, far-too-late in 1990, prised from the bloody sceptre, those costs had risen to £246 millions, more than forty times as much. All good causes?

In so far as Mr Lineker's observation upon Braverman's use of language being,
"not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s,"
it seems unlikely that many of his fiercer critics have bothered to properly research any true comparisons. Of those (critics) who may have done so none appears to have had the courage to have 'held him to his chosen words.'
"An immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s."
Of sad note, even the Independent 'reported' Lineker as comparing the UK to Germany in the 1930s. To the twitching, red-flag sensitive, citizen this is enough to endorse preconceptions, flawed as they may be. Client journalism has fallen thus far in pursuit of the narrative, but upon who's behalf? Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar, 'understands' better than to 'respect' any BBC impartiality guidelines; upon the dawn of the 2019 General Election, Lord 'Apprentice' Sugar, wrote:
"As a former Jewish man, this is a difficult thing for me to write."
He went on to blurt:
"Corbyn getting into power would affect everyone, from the person earning the minimum living wage up to the CEOs of Britain's biggest companies."
Ah, caring or what? What! Only a full-blown cynic would surmise that Mr Sugar is aligned entirely to the latter.

Professing to understand the working classes far better than lowly Labour members, in 2017 Gary Lineker then tweeted:
"Yeah, bin Corbyn..."
The BBC's Jeremy Clarkson stepped a tad further when asked about Britain's striking workers in 2011:
"Frankly, I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean, how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living?"
How might we compare this sort of language to that being spoken by Germany in the 1930s? In 1937 Adolf Hitler himself often managed a whole speech without once aking for people to be 'taken outside and shot in front of their families.' This was, after all, only 1937 but, as closer observations have repeatedly shown, most of the more violent historical events began with words. Hitler may not have had a Rwanda Asylum Plan but he did have a Madagaskarplan. Ken Livingstone once dared to make this observation but someone with the ability to substitute volume for thought intervened, in front of another chance tier of the UK's fearless client journalists. History duly recorded yet another elevation to the Lords.

“I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession,”
I think that these words would have fitted quite seamlessly into some of Hitler's rhetoric in the 1930s (plane reference aside); obviously we'd need to substitute 'Madagaskarplan' with 'Rwanda Asylum Plan.' The news scoop could even have been offered to one of his greatest fan bases in the decade, the Daily Mail. Tah-dah! Same daily newspaper slant, same rhetoric.

"Life doesn't forgive weakness."
"Winning without problem is just victory, but winning with lots of trouble creates history."
"Generally, readers of the press can be classified into three groups: first, those who believe everything they read; second, those who no longer believe anything; third, those who critically examine what they read and form their judgements accordingly."
"We have to put a stop to the idea that it is a part of everybody's civil rights to say whatever he pleases."
citizenship is “a privilege, not a right.”
“so citizenship can be deprived where it is not practicable to give notice, for example if there is no way of communicating with the person,”
“we need to change” a “professional legal services industry [that] has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day in, day out at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid.”
“seriously prejudicial” conduct; and the Secretary of State should have “reasonable grounds” for thinking the person can acquire citizenship elsewhere.
"The Big Lie is a major untruth uttered frequently by leaders as a means of duping and controlling the constituency."
Trawling through the historic words of Mr A. Hitler is also unedifying, if very much an eye opener. Then I compared some of what I found with the UK today. Originally, all the above quotes were attributable but then, out of devilment, I shuffled and un-attributed them. I think I could still pick which belong to which decade but I'm no longer certain. If I removed the time-specific 'tags' I'd be on shakier ground. When Hitler spoke about sending Germany's Jewish citizens to Madagascar wasn't he essentially 'citizenship stripping?'

“Let’s be clear about what is really going on here: the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not."
“So let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true."
"illegal migration is out of control... I am serious about ending the scourge of illegal migration..."
The three above quotations are all attributable to the current Government but are they really any less concerning?

Two World Wars may have skewed the UK's trajectory, stirred the ruling British Exceptionalists, but signs are that Little Britain is setting to sail out again into 'empirical' waters. Those waters may be that bit more clogged, the Empire may have slipped shamefully beneath an international tsunami of shame, but Brexit seems to demand that we, through our trusty MSM, continue to set our sights, just... over... the horizon. Just... that little bit further. One... more... shove! Have faith!

Listen to the narrative.

Ultimately, although they will not admit to this- well, Lee Anderson might- they're employing smoke and mirrors, steering the narrative, always so very much simpler if one pretty much owns the media. If not, instead, we could have been addressing the internationally legal definition of refugees as 'not illegal,' or the 'rights' of refugees to seek out any country that might, for example speak the language of their original coloniser (English), or already house members of their own family. Incidentally,anyone curious as to how an MP can slip so seamlessly, across the floor of the Commons, and fit so 'neatly' at the more extreme end of the Conservative Party? The right honourable Lee Anderson. No?

We could have been talking about France's citizens being outraged at the raising of their pension age by two years, to 64. Vive la France! Maybe we should instead have been pondering one major unspoken factor in the displacement of global citizens, the UK's burgeoning international arms sales! I wonder how many of our 'outraged' MPs has ever lobbied for an international arms company? Or, for that matter, any company with an eye on undermining the systems and/or services upon which we depend? We could ask Wes Streeting, see what he thinks?

But really, barely hidden at all, the thing we weren't talking about whilst we were considering the words:
"An immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s."
... was the cited
"immeasurably cruel policy"
itself, more its internationally questionable legality.

A Third World War currently, fingers crossed, still seems less rather than more likely- no thanks to the efforts of Johnson or Truss- far better to stand well back and to poke with a pointed stick (goading words and shipped arms). Wars often have the additional and ugly hidden (later) consequences of skewing things- and dragging on for many years- which is why so many of them are nowadays remotely fought and funded, frequently upon the behalf of the US (NATO). The last two 'global' conflicts almost totally derailed the show, throwing up a functioning NHS, copious social housing and generally rewriting the social contract. But ask yourself, now, 'Where does the current narrative appear to be headed?' Reassured?

Cameron spoke of,
"a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean."
Hammond stirred up the image of
"marauding" refugees negatively impacting the UK's "standard of living."
One could more accurately surmise that the Conservative Party in Government are coping well enough on their own. Home secretary Braverman- capable of fronting down a solitary WW II refugee, unarmed and with only moderate security assistance- bravely reaffirmed the
"invasion" the British people (that's you and me) are undergoing.
Different Generals, all with their own take? When MP May now stands in the Commons, we are invited to observe the voice of 'reason,' to forget the shameful legacy regarding Windrush. When MP Hunt regained some of that power, for which he was so thirsty, we were invited to forget his shameful record at undermining, selling off and closing down hewn-off chunks of the NHS, to the point where it almost certainly cost thousands of lives when subsequent waves of the Covid-19 Pandemic washed up against the sacred shores. The "grown-ups" are back in charge, the narrative read. Brave Ken Clarke portrayed as standing alone in the House, against the dangers of Johnson; Ken Clarke, the man who so admired, almost worshipped, the woman (Thatcher) under whom he so faithfully served. "Grown-ups!"

In a 2017 interview with the 'Competition and Markets Authority,' Kenneth Clarke spoke of his time as Justice Secretary, under Cameron. He talked of hearing from Rebekah Brooks (then Chief executive of Murdoch's News International) that she was "running the government now in partnership with David Cameron." He enlightened that Ms Brooks went on to instruct Justice Secretary Clarke to purchase prison ships:
"She wanted me to buy prison ships because she did accept that the capacity of prisons was getting rather strained, putting it mildly. She really was solemnly telling me that we had got to have prison ships because she had got some more campaigning coming, which is one of her specialities."
The narrative will not be drawing the neatly ruled line from this recorded meet, onward to 2023 and the Sun's tabloid front page: "Oh Ship!" Mention of "Illegal Refugees."
So there is talk of "invasion," "swarms" of "Illegal Refugees." It does all seem to hark back to the old Dunkirk Spirit, times of War and Glorious Churchillian memories- quite naturally esponged of all that British death toll, probably too close to the Pandemic debacle! (Not) Illegal refugees housed in boats that do tend to look very prison-based, in abandoned army barracks, barbed wire and, maybe, watch towers. All highly 'evocative.' Bubbling along on the back burner, we have the 'Madagaskarplan'- Sorry, the 'Rwanda Asylum Plan.' The switching of attributors here might need some heavy lifting on the narration front but, I think that's a wrap!

Now- 'scuse me_ off to indulge myself with the "Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati," worrying unnecessarily about yet another major oil spill on the south coast, instead of celebrating the UK's international oil ties with global polluters. Who could possibly have predicted that one coming? Will the narrative be steering us onto the pathway to carbon capture, magic faerie dust and all that prestidigitation guff? Refashioning the current leaking and broken pipelines, perhaps, now you see me, now you don't!