Russ Harding

Member of Free Speech Union

[Benonwine @benonwine]

I worked for Waitrose for 25 years. In the final years, the company installed sanitary product dispensers in the men’s toilets and allowed men who identified as trans even without any surgery into the women’s changing rooms and toilets.

Many female staff, especially the younger women, came to me as I was a Councillor and Rep in distress. They felt uncomfortable and threatened. In one branch, a man was permitted to use and shave in the women’s changing rooms while young girls were getting changed and it was no secret he abused the power he was given because he said he was trans to get away with anything he wished as he knew he was untouchable as he quite often told everyone.

This is the same company that has now decided “not all people who have periods are women” and dropped “feminine” from their sanitary products.

Waitrose didn’t just ignore women’s boundaries they actively removed them. They prioritised the feelings of men over the safety, privacy and dignity of female staff and customers.

After 25 years on the inside, I can tell you this isn’t inclusion. It’s ideology and virtue signalling. Women who spoke out were silenced, intimidated, and sacked just as I was.

The female staff who actually work there are paying the price while being told to stay quiet or be sacked if they speak out.

[Laila Cunningham @policylaila]

Since it seems you’re either intentionally obtuse, or so deep inside the establishment bubble you can’t tell up from down, let me define what I mean by “the establishment.”

The establishment isn’t defined by wealth, success, private schools or impressive careers. If it were, every entrepreneur, footballer, celebrity and business owner would be part of it. They aren’t.

The establishment is the network of politicians, senior civil servants, quangos, regulators, publicly funded institutions and influential media figures with direct access to the levers of power. They write the laws, allocate public money, shape policy, influence the institutions that govern our lives and have enormous influence over what is treated as respectable or beyond the pale in public debate.

Their worldview is formed largely within the same political, institutional and media circles. Ideas are reinforced by one another rather than tested against the experience of the people they govern.When outsiders challenge that consensus, they aren’t just opposed, they’re discredited by the political, institutional and media networks that protect the system.
Membership isn’t earned with an Oxford degree, a banking career or a successful business. It’s earned by serving and perpetuating the system.

Which brings me to The Times. It suggests I’m somehow part of the establishment because I went to the Lycée Français and became a Senior prosecutor. That’s a category error. I’ve never written Britain’s laws, run a government department, controlled public spending or shaped the political consensus. My education and career don’t make me part of the establishment any more than they make me Prime Minister. They’re confusing personal achievement with institutional power.

The same applies to Nigel Farage. For decades he has challenged the political consensus that has dominated Westminster. While the establishment was running the country, he was campaigning against the direction it was taking. That’s precisely why so much of the political, institutional and media class has spent decades trying to ridicule him, discredit him and paint him as the villain. Not because he’s part of their system, but because he has consistently challenged it.

That’s what the establishment is. It isn’t a social class. It isn’t a school. It isn’t a bank balance. It’s defined by what you protect: a self-serving system that puts preserving its own power ahead of serving the people it exists to represent.

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

Dear Adam,

I have taken time to think about your apology. Mostly because, having made a mistake publicly before, I was keen to accept yours. It hurts when people don’t understand that you are sorry for messing up. I get that, probably more than most.

But here’s the thing… I’m not sure you understand what you did wrong. And so you don’t really understand what you are apologising for or why. With that in mind, I want to help you.

I didn’t know Ann, except as a powerhouse in politics and that so many people have spoken of her friendship and great loyalty. How lovely, I wish I had known her.

I am utterly disinterested in her sexual prowess or the state of her virginity. But I would have enjoyed hearing you speak of her great accomplishments. Not as a woman, but simply as a human being.

Here’s a list.

She served in the House of Commons for 23 years and won five general elections.

She served as a government minister in Social Security, Employment and the Home Office, where she was Minister of State for Prisons.

She rose to become Shadow Health Secretary and then Shadow Home Secretary.

She was appointed to the Privy Council.

After leaving Westminster, she built an entirely new career as an author, broadcaster, documentary-maker, stage performer and television personality.

Then, at the age of 71, she returned to elected politics and became a Member of the European Parliament.

She was a longstanding advocate for Britain leaving the European Union and, when the political establishment failed to deliver the referendum result, she left the Conservative Party after more than 50 years and stood for the Brexit Party.

She was elected as an MEP and took the argument for British independence directly into the European Parliament.

She was also an unapologetic defender of free speech. She continued to speak openly on difficult and unfashionable subjects when others chose silence, it was easier to do that, she accepted the criticism and hostility that came with it rather than surrendering her convictions.

Her Catholic faith was central to her life. She converted to Catholicism, met Pope John Paul II in Rome and was later made a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI for her service to politics and public life.

She remained a powerful public voice well into her late seventies, defending her beliefs despite decades of ridicule and hostility.

That is an extraordinary life of public service, courage and reinvention.

Yet, when asked to speak about her after her sudden and violent death, you chose to tell the country that she was a “spinster”, an “old maid” and a virgin. You discussed a failed relationship and suggested that afterwards she simply dedicated herself to other activities.

Do you understand the reduction involved in that?

You took the life of a highly accomplished woman and assessed it according to whether she had married, whether she had sex and whether a man had wanted her.

That is what was wrong. That is what you should have known.

It wasn’t simply that your words were poorly chosen or badly timed. It was the instinct to view a woman’s entire life through her relationship with men, even when her achievements should have rendered that completely irrelevant.

Nobody discussing the death of an accomplished male politician would think it necessary to tell viewers whether he was a virgin, speculate about his sex life or describe him as an ageing bachelor whose romance had failed.

I don’t want you cancelled. I don’t believe that people should be denied forgiveness when they make mistakes.

But a meaningful apology has to identify the actual wrong.

Ann was murdered after a lifetime of public service. At the moment her achievements should have been remembered, you diminished her to an unmarried woman who apparently hadn’t had sex.

She deserved better than that. And I’m still not sure you get it. But every woman who watched you speak of her and then read your apology does.

Bernie.

[Andrew Lawrence @andrewlawrence]

Looks like they just arrested the nearest random white guy they could find, so that the legacy media could put his whiteness at the centre of their coverage. Almost as if we're all being lied to and manipulated by an establishment that hates us.

[Chris Rose @ArchRose90]

If England fans rioted in London last night, like the Moroccans did, Keir Starmer would post how appalled he was.

Shabana Mahmood would want the culprits to be fast tracked through the courts.

Sadiq Khan would be sickened and randomly blaming Reform.

So far, nothing from them.

[Adam Brooks AKA EssexPR 🇬🇧 @EssexPR]

If the Prime Minister or the London Mayor doesn’t address the riots in London last night.

That’s the final proof of
Two Tier Britain 🇬🇧

[Zia Yusuf @ZiaYusufUK]

🚨Pakistan has declared it will not take back the Rochdale Monster - Shabir Ahmed - “under any circumstances”.

Over the last 20 years Tory and Labour governments have sent £6 BILLION of your money in foreign aid to Pakistan in real terms.

They issued 2 MILLION visas to Pakistani nationals.

All in the name of “soft power”.

Yet the Rochdale Monster - Shabir Ahmed - convicted of raping 30 girls as young as 12 - “cannot be deported” because Pakistan is refusing to take him back.

How POWERFUL do you feel right now?

The Tory Labour uniparty have betrayed hard working Brits, sent our treasure abroad and allowed the rape of British girls by foreign nationals.

Do not fall for the Tory and Labour talking heads and their assets in the press pretending they’re angry.

They sold you out.

They are traitors to their country.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

[Fiona goddard @fionagoddarduk]

17 year ago today I went into labour, on my 16th birthday. 3 days later I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I thought I was saved from the horror I was living, being raped daily by gangs of men for years. I thought that we would both be saved and we would get to a safe place and live happily ever after. Instead they took her from me because "i was exposed to a pedophile ring and it wasnt safe for a child", yet they left me there to carry on being raped.
17 years ive lived without her. Without knowing where she is or if she is even alive. Ive missed her first everything. I sometimes lay and imagine hiw she will look or what she is like. There will always be a part of me missing that went when they took her. There will always be grief for every second I live without her in my life, and no amount of justice will ever bring that back. No amount of accountability on failings will ever fix that.
Every year on my birthday I struggle knowing that 3 days later im missing her birthday and that its another year added onto my grief.
This year has been harder than normal with everything else going on and the trauma this has all dragged up for me.
Im normally the strong one. The one that picks things up for the others and helps them fight. Thats there listening to them and helping them through their suffering. But right now im barley even getting through each day and I feel like im letting everyone down.
Im trying to pick myself back up and face everything head on but its not as easy as I wish it was. Im 33 year old today and what happened to me as a child still haunts each and every day, each and every dream and every part of my life. Its left scars that will never heal and a burden thats hard to carry. Im sorry to everyone thats having to deal with seeing my statuses as I know they are alot different lately than they normally are but I really think its important that people understand the level of trauma left for the victims to deal with and the failings still coming along with that. Everyone sees me holding things together on TV and fighting all the time, but in reality I still have to deal with so much that sometimes the load can become unbearable.
Recently is one of them times.

[Katie Hopkins @KTHopkins]

This is a fair point.

I have been ridden hard and put to bed wet.

Against the odds, I am still alive and I don’t regret a fucking thing.

[The Nowhere Photographer @thenowherephoto]

French gendarmes stopped me on Wissant Beach today and demanded my identification.

Meanwhile, around 30 migrants were sitting on the beach just metres away.

Three of us were asked for ID.

None of the migrants appeared to be asked for theirs.

If the priority is preventing illegal Channel crossings, shouldn’t enforcement be focused on those suspected of attempting them, rather than photographers documenting what’s happening?

What do you make of these priorities?

#Wissant #France #ChannelCrossings #BorderSecurity

[Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson]

Labour Party received a £4 million donation from a Cayman Islands hedge fund days after the general election was called - and just before election campaign rules came into force.

How convenient!

Please confirm no one from that hedge fund has been given a cushy job in a quango.

[Laila Cunningham @policylaila]

We get our mandate from the people, not political insiders.

It’s not for the political establishment to decide the future of this country, it is for the people.

[Robert Jenrick @RobertJenrick]

Sky News really didn’t like it when I called out their disgraceful behaviour.

[Katie Hopkins @KTHopkins]

Pure brilliance from the master of political comms @Nigel_Farage

1) strategically: we need successful people
2) tactically: channelling rebellion
3) emotionally: don’t mess with peoples kids.

Sometimes ‘Unite the Right’ means backing people who happily watch you hurting

[Freyja. Missing Children Advocate🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @FreyjaBakke]

Let's make her famous
Credit Andy brook's

[HIN News🇬🇧🇺🇸 @HerdImmunity12]

News🇬🇧🤡: Sir Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in the UK, has singled out Reform UK as the party of 'political hate and violence' in the country.

We never heard Mr Davey openly call out Labour MP Mike Amesbury who violently assaulted a local constituent, for merely asking about road repairs.

Like fellow Labour Councillor Rickey Jones, who asked for right wingers throats to be cut, Mr Amesbury didn't serve a single day in jail for his disgusting crimes.

@reformparty_uk @EdwardJDavey @UKLabour

[Russ Harding @RUSSV10]

@JeremyClarkson Recently visited the Northumberland coast for the first time. Banburgh Castle etc. it's a fantastic coastline.

[Skint Eastwood @Skint_Eastwood1]

🚨UK Police Threaten Arrest for “Future Crime” – Minority Report Comes to Britain

UK police officer threatens to arrest a man for peacefully filming in public, because his presence “might” wind people up and cause someone else to lose their temper.

This is straight-up Minority Report policing.

They’re not arresting him for any actual crime. They’re not even claiming he’s breaking the law. They’re saying: “We can arrest you to prevent a breach of the peace” meaning, we’re going to punish you in case some random person gets angry at your legal activity.

Think about that. If someone gets so wound up by a camera that they want to attack the person holding it, the rational response is to arrest the aggressor, not the person exercising their right to film in a public space.

How on earth can you justify detaining someone for something that hasn’t happened and might never happen? It flips justice on its head: the person minding their own business (and their rights) becomes the problem, while potential troublemakers get their feelings protected by the state.

Officers should be de-escalating and protecting lawful behaviour, not threatening people with arrest for hypothetical future crimes by others.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[ripx4nutmeg @ripx4nutmeg]

There have been at least two major rape stories in London in the last 24 hours.

Neither of these were mentioned on BBC London's lunchtime news, which devoted almost half of the entire bulletin to an item that revealed a drag queen is performing in a stage show.

[Kevin Sorbo @ksorbs]

Definitely don’t share this video of them forcing the man into the car backwards and then becoming aggressive when he (obviously) doesn’t fit.