David Arrjay

[Toby Young @toadmeister]

If your child is referred to prevent for sharing or liking something 'far Right' on social media -- a clip of @rickygervais telling a joke about transwomen, for instance -- please do contact @SpeechUnion. We can help.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: MAJOR VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH! HAMIT COSKUN WINS HIS APPEAL AGAINST ISLAMIC BLASPHEMY LAW

The Free Speech Union is delighted that Hamit Coskun’s appeal has been successful.

Hamit was convicted under the Public Order Act for burning a copy of the Koran during a lawful protest against the rise of political Islam and authorities in Turkey under President Erdoğan’s regime.

The court conflated his political protest against Islam with hatred of Muslims, effectively reviving blasphemy law by the back door. It ruled his action as “disorderly” — not because of what Hamit did, but because it provoked violence against him, namely a man called Moussa Kadri slashed a knife at him and shouted “I’m going to kill you”. Kadri was spared jail time, and actions were used to prove Hamit’s guilt. Meanwhile, Hamit is forced to live in hiding due to multiple threats to his life.

Hamit’s conviction has now been overturned. Had the verdict been allowed to stand, it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder.

Instead, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message - that anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated.

[David Arrjay @deej240]

Hey @grok , from 1 to 100, what’s my political lean? 1 is extreme left, 100 is extreme right.

[David Arrjay @deej240]

Hey, @grok, who was the most famous person to visit my profile? It doesn't need to be a mutual, don't tag them.

[Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon]

The greatest political interview of all time.

[Collingwood 🇬🇧 @admcollingwood]

Sadly, it should now be clear to everybody paying attention that Reform is simply not up to the once a century electoral opportunity that presents itself. In fact, the election of Reform would likely set back significantly the cause of breaking the two party duopoly and pursuing a counter revolution/restoration against the liberal progressive, professional managerial class grip of the country.

Reform is, and will continue to be, a repository into which a massively disaffected electorate can protest. It will therefore poll well, and might indeed win the next general election. Alas, not only will this singular opportunity be wasted, but it might in the long run aid the establishment parties.

First, Reform is led by instinctive Thatcherites, an ideology designed to solve the problems of the late 1970s. We do not today face over-mighty trade unions and economically disastrous labour relations. Nor do we suffer untamable inflation. Nor have a state that controls vast swathes of the economy through nationalised industries. Nor a top rate of income tax of 83%.

Our problems today are entirely different. They include excessive migration; high housing costs; inadequate infrastructure build and R&D spend; the absence of a serious industrial policy; identifying a grand strategy that fits the nascent multipolar world, the return of realism, and Britain's actual means; unfit public administration; and third world levels of inequality across the rich-poor, north-south, and intergenerational axes. And that's before the existential issues of the Celtic secessionist impulse, the legacy of multiculturalism, and the unmooring of the elite's values from those of the people they govern.

Addressing these problems will require seriously considered policies drawn from first principles, not rewarmed Thatcherism. Furthermore, as 'events, dear boy, events' happen far too rapidly in government to think for very long, instincts are important, and the right wing liberalism of Messrs Farage and Tice will neither be able to make sense of the world nor put forward useful solutions to Britain's problems.

You see it already. Reform gives no sense of having thought seriously about policy, and gyrates between their right wing liberal instincts and what would actually be popular like a drunk slaloming home. There is therefore no coherent policy platform, and individual policies—such as their energy policies, or introducing a wildcat burqa ban policy at PMQs—are disgracefully amateurish. This matters because in government the lack of policy coherence and the paucity of serious thought will mean a Reform government is either easily controlled by the Civil Service or goes Truss-on-Steroids and absolutely smashes the country.

Both outcomes would obviously be wonderful for the establishment and the political duopoly, which will say to an increasingly demoralised and disenfranchised electorate "See? We told you so".

The second problem is Nigel Farage himself. Mr Farage is a brilliant media performer. He is greatly responsible for Reform's success so far. Yet he is also happiest running the party, as @Dominic2306 puts it, himself with the aid of a mobile phone. That simply won't do. He needs to build a branch network and an army of election ground game volunteers, but he doesn't look as if he has the energy for this dull, exhausting and detailed work. Likewise serious policy thought and the hard choices about who to upset. He also needs to build a great senior team with the policy knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, energy and managerial skill to take over running the country from day one. Mr Farage, on the contrary, looks as though he struggles to share the party with anybody other than anonymous lackeys, or make decisions based on anything other than his mood in any given morning. This has been the case since his UKIP days, and the treatment of @RupertLowe10 and @benhabib6 suggests it's still the case.

Reform is a ticket to nowhere.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

The prosecution of Hamit Coskun, who burnt a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish Consulate earlier this year, won't be concluded until tomorrow. The Free Speech Union and the National Secular Society are paying his legal fees and several member of the FSU and the NSS were in court today, observing the proceedings.

The prosecution sought to argue Hamit Coskun should be convicted for causing harassment, alarm or distress -- an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act -- because while he was burning a copy of the Koran he was attacked by an onlooker, who kicked him and spat on him. After all, the prosecution argued, if the onlooker hadn't been distressed by Hamit's behaviour, he wouldn't have attacked him. Talk about victim blaming!

This misguided prosecution should be withdrawn and, instead, the CPS should bring charges against all the men who have attacked Hamit Coskun both outside the Turkish Consulate and since, only one of whom is facing any charges.

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

I don’t understand people who keep the window shade down on a plane. We’re 35 thousand feet in the sky. You don’t want to check out the view? We’re above the freaking clouds, for God’s sake. Humans could only dream of a view like this for millennia. And you have the shade down.

[Andrew Griffith MP @griffitha]

The @elonmusk purchase of X may have saved humanity.

With X becoming a true freedom of speech platform, the common ground of public opinion is no longer determined by a left-leaning elite.

Recent political earthquakes in the US, the UK and now Canada are a release of pent up democratic will as citizens regain their ability to speak freely.

Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press created the preconditions for democracies to replace bad kings or clerics.

X is now doing the same for unaccountable and failing bureaucratic states.

[Robert Jenrick @RobertJenrick]

End mass migration.
Revoke visas/deport those who hate us.
Give no quarter to extremists.

We don’t have to live like this.

[Adam @AdamJoseph]

There were exactly 115 seconds between Bruno Fernandes penalty & Amad's goal.

You couldn't script it better if you tried.

[David Davis MP @DavidDavisMP]

At the start of the pandemic, any discussion over whether Covid originated in a lab was shut down.

Yesterday, in the US, @COVIDSelect published its two-year investigation, which found that "COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China".

https://t.co/Bl4DofxOmf

[Lewis Brackpool @Lewis_Brackpool]

NOW: Myself and @Con_Tomlinson have submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office.

We’re investigating whether the government, particularly RICU (Home Office’s propaganda unit), coordinated the identical front pages published by The Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Guardian, and The Times on August 8th.

All four featured the same photo of a Stand Up to Racism protest and ran headlines celebrating a “united front” against the “Far Right.” This, despite ideological differences between the newspapers, and despite Hope Not Hate’s Nick Lowles admitting the protest was based on “a hoax.”

Was this a government operation to quell unrest following the Southport murders?

We’ll share their response with you as soon as we have it.

[Colby Badhwar @ColbyBadhwar]

🇪🇺🇮🇪🇬🇧 There is not enough attention being paid to Ireland in the discourse on European security.

Despite an eye-popping ~€24 billion budget surplus in 2024, their 2025 budget is allocating just €1.35 billion on defence, a paltry 0.25%.

After 100 years of independence, they exist solely at the benevolence of the United Kingdom, which they have outsourced their security to. The Royal Air Force & Royal Navy are the only thing protecting their sovereignty, and the British government is getting tired picking up the tab.

Ireland's high tech sector, the engine of it's economy, is dependent on the security of the undersea cables that surround their waters. Yet they do nothing to ensure the integrity of this critical infrastructure. It's only a matter of time before the nefarious activities the Russians & Chinese are up to in the Baltic make their way west.

[NZ BOSS @NewZealandBoss]

Douglas Murray deconstructing New Zealand's false version of history.

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

🚨”IF THIS IS TRUE” - I am Bernadette Spofforth… you know me as Bernie.

And this is the story of how the State silenced an ordinary citizen, through arrest and bail conditions, to ensure only State truth was heard.

With special thanks to @sdavieslaw @speechUnion

[David Arrjay @deej240]

@HumzaYousaf @oxfamgb @savechildrenuk You are so disingenuous it’s unreal.

[Luke Robert Black 🌳 @lukerobertblack]

I knew Labour would be bad. But - to be honest - I really didn’t expect this. Error after error, cash for jobs, cronyism, political appointments shoved into the a supposedly impartial civil service, Labour MPs literally acting as slumlords, announcing things that already exit and pretending they’re new, Labour ministers saying they got better NHS treatment because they’re pro-Palestine, rewarding their union paymasters with inflation busting pay rises, scrapping school inspections, openly lying about the UK economy and a supposedly existential risk from winter payments.

Now risking a major diplomatic fallout with the US and a slap down from the Chief Rabbi on their Israel policy.

This is why we needed scrutiny from the media. These guys are drunk with power and shown in short time just how badly suited they are to govern.

Whoever wins - @MelJStride, @KemiBadenoch, @pritipatel, @JamesCleverly, @RobertJenrick or @TomTugendhat - must help us get our act together so we can save the UK from this appalling Labour government in 2029.

[Christopher Lupine @LupineLives]

THE NEW POLITICAL TRIBES OF BRITAIN!

British politics is entering its Game of Thrones era with various groups battling it out for control of the Iron Throne or in our case the Houses of Parliament.

As we approach election year it should be the normal boring contest between Tory and Labour to see who gets to play Government and Opposition.

However something strange has happened!

New factions are emerging, these factions have either been sponsored by the Regime itself, or they are forming spontaneously and independently due to their concerns being ignored and rejected by those in power.

This is now reaching a fervour pitch, as the election year combines with global events, and a general sense of decline and decay all creating a sense of unrest, and dissatisfaction with the status quo.

So who are the new political tribes of Britain?

- The Uniparty
- The Rainbow Coalition
- Political Islam
- The Dissident Right
- The Football Lot
- The Royalists
- The Mandem
- The Old Bill

I have identified six key groups that I see as all having influence on the direction of travel, I'm going to take a deep dive into each and discuss the key power that each has, their strengthens and weaknesses, and the shifting alliances between them, and I will discuss also two additional tribes who are superficially apolitical but culturally important.

The next post begins the journey with the first tribe...