Marxist Madness Medley

I don’t know how many, if any, of the following news items from Britain over the last week have been reported in the US. I thought I’d gather them together for your delectation. I’m trying desperately to keep a level head and a sense of humour about the tsunami of BLM BS but it’s getting harder and harder to do.

 

Three killed in stabbing attack

On Saturday 20^th June a man walked up to group of friends enjoying an evening drink in Forbury Park in the middle of the Berkshire town of Reading. He attacked them with a knife. Three folk were injured and three men were killed. James Furlong, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails. Ritchie-Bennett was an American from Philadelphia, living in the UK.

All three of the dead men were gay. A 25-year-old Libyan refugee, Khairi Saadallah, who was known to MI5, was arrested at the scene and is being detained under counter terrorism powers. It has been described as a terrorist incident by the authorities. It is interesting that mental health issues have been the only motivation mentioned in the British press. It has been mentioned that he did some volunteer work at a church for a couple of months and some reports have tried to spin this into him being a convert to Christianity but there seems to be no evidence of this. I have not seen the words Moslem or Islam used in any report. One witness is quoted as saying the man shouted “something unintelligable” as he attacked. The trial should be interesting.

I would say that someone who murders strangers is pretty much by definition not right in the head. Weirdly, on the very rare occasions when a mentally ill man who is in anyway right wing commits a violent act (such as the murder of Jo Cox MP) the words FAR RIGHT are splashed and screamed almost at random, often with precious little justification, while the mental health issues are distinctly discreet and sotto voce.

Football Fiascos

One from the nasty abomination that is soccer and one from proper rugger.

Having been delayed by the CCP virus pandemic Premier League soccer has started again, but with matches played behind closed doors. The Premier League have fallen over themselves to signal all the virtue they can. The teams are all taking the knee at the start of matches and the players’ names on the back of their shirts have been replaced with the words “Black Lives Matter” for the first twelve games of the season. It would be stretching understatement, even for an Englishman, to say not all of the fans are happy with this.

Jake Hepple, in Burnley, Lancashire, went so far as to hire a plane towing a banner saying “White Lives Matter Burnley” to fly over the stadium where Burnley were playing away to Manchester City. If he wanted a reaction, he certainly got one. Lancashire police, having investigated the incident, have gravely stated that no crime was committed, they went to Hepple’s house to inform him of this in person and that they weren’t going to arrest him. To be fair, they also offered protection. Burnley FC have condemned the stunt as racist and banned the young man for life. His employer, Paradigm Precision, have sacked him and his girlfriend has been sacked from her job in a beauty parlour.

Jake is a classic footie fan and has posted in support of the EDL and been photographed with Tommy Robinson; but doesn’t seem to be especially politically involved. I bet he, and many other lads, will be from now on. There is a history of overlap between politics and soccer in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. There’s no doubt, some of the more thuggish and vociferous fans are genuine racists. Over the last few weeks many of the majority who are just intense, but not especially well informed, patriots will have been driven into the arms of the racist rump.

Leave our songs alone

From the effete, money sodden swamp of soccer, the “gentlemen’s game played by thugs” to the much more agreeable field of rugger, the “thug’s game played by gentlemen.”. Rugby has a strong tradition of singing, not just at the games, but in the bars and pubs before and afterwards. The various national anthems are, of course, belted out with gusto, hearing the Welsh fans sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers) always sends a shiver down my spine. I live not far from England’s national stadium in Twickenham, some years ago I was on the high street doing an errand when England were playing at home. The town was rammed when I got there and like a ghost town when I finished my business. I was standing on the empty street when the crowd sang God Save the Queen before the match. The stadium is nearly a mile from where I was, but I could hear it clear and strong. The national anthem being sung by tens of thousands with heart and passion. I don’t mind telling you guys, I welled up.

Rugby clubs have their own songs, many of them not suitable for a family audience, some of them adopted from other genres. One of these club songs made the jump from club to the national stage is Swing Low Sweet Chariot, which had been sung in various clubs since the 1960s. In 1987 fans started singing the song in tribute to the winger Martin “Chariots” Offiah (the big guy in the picture). The next year England were 0-3 down to Ireland at Twickenham. At the start of the second half a small group of fans started Swing Low and it was taken up by the crowd. England won 35-3 and Swing Low Sweet Chariot has been a favourite English rugby song ever since. Until now that is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToJIY1PjhM8

Yup, you guessed it. Swing Low Sweet Chariot is now officially under review by the English Rugby Football Union. English people singing an African-American Spiritual? A song from a different culture? Black culture?! How monstrous. A writer in the New York Times (a former newspaper) called its use into question some while ago and the current frenzy has brought it up again and the RFU may well ban it…

Sorry, back with you. Boris Johnson and Martin Offiah are for the song staying. Prince Harry thinks it should be banned (it will soon be time to change his title from Duke of Sussex to Duke of Berkeley.). The idea that the fans don’t know where the song comes from is ludicrous. It was popularised when being sung to honour a black player. Rugger fans are generally well read and intelligent folk. It was apparently a Paul Robeson rendition that first introduced it to English fans. Its adoption is a mark of affection and respect. The monumental arrogance of the RFU deserves mention, who the @$%! do they think they are to tell us what we may and may not sing? What do you want to bet that if the BLMers get their way there’ll be pieces written in five years or so twisting the narrative stating that the ‘racist’ English fans dropped the song when they found out where it came from?

The various football authorities are incredibly lucky that there are no crowds at matches just now. You may be aware that soccer crowds can express themselves physically when upset and, as I said, politics and soccer can overlap. The incident that was the starting gun for the break-up of Yugoslavia was violence at a soccer match between a Croatian team and a Serb team. Watch this space.

A lovely party in the street

I’ll just let the Sun tell you about this one. You can tell it was a party, as only about twenty coppers were injured while being run off the street.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/uknews/11949260/brixton-riots-thug-brandishes-sword/

And finally

A whole area of London may be getting a name change, including a park and a tube station. The very well-heeled enclave of Holland Park, nestling between Kensington and Shepherd’s Bush, is on the hit list.

The posh area is named after the 1^st Earl Holland, who was, of course, a slave owner. If you filled a room with late 17^th to early 19^th century British merchants and nobles it would be very hard to throw a brick and not hit someone with a direct or indirect involvement in slavery. This could run and run, if this loose thread on this particular sweater keeps being pulled, we’ll be lucky if we’re left with a boob-tube by the end.

Well, apart from that it’s all been pretty quiet here. :–)