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Tommy Robinson paints with a toxic brush. (Peter Summers/Getty Images)
Tommy Robinson is a paradox: he is a brave and enormously successful activist-journalist with a mean right hook. At the same time, he’s prone to sentimentality, sensitive to criticism and sees himself as a victim, tethering his own private troubles — mortgage fraud, travelling to the US on a false passport and an upcoming contempt of court case to name just a few — to the political grievances of the white working class he claims to represent. His greatest contradiction, though, is that while he’s a trenchant critic of identity politics, mercilessly mocking the whiny victimhood of Black Lives Matter, the transgender movement and shady Islamists, he’s also an unmistakable product of that politics, weaponising the language of tribal resentment and self-pity for his own personal and political purposes.
Every multicultural society, it turns out, has the Tommy Robinsons it deserves. Which is to say that if you fetishise identity and create a hierarchy of identities, whereby some are protected and defended while others are stigmatised and attacked, you’ll end up with a less than harmonious society. It also turns out that if you reward “marginalised” non-white identities, many whites will bristle against this and start reasserting their own white identity — or search out those who will do it for them.
It is from this toxic context — the “Lebanonisation” of the UK, as Sam Bidwell strikingly describes it — that Robinson has emerged, becoming the first white “community leader” here. But unlike his counterparts in the “Muslim community”, no British politician or senior police officer would be seen dead breaking fried bread with Robinson. If Robinson has a victim-complex, it is in part because he is one and because he seems to go out of his way to be one. Indeed, it’s almost as if he enjoys being a victim and the sense of righteousness and authenticity this gives him.
Robinson’s arrest on Friday at Folkestone police station, where he was charged under the schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act for refusing to hand over the pin to his mobile phone, and his return to custody immediately after, will further solidify his victim narrative. This will surely be compounded by his appearance today and tomorrow at Woolwich crown court on separate charges relating to repeating libellous statements he made about a Syrian refugee back in 2018.
Though he wasn’t there for it, Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally still went ahead, with podcaster Liam Tuffs hosting in his place. I watched a livestream showing the main speakers and I sat through the whole of Robinson’s new documentary, which was shown in its 124-minute entirety. It is titled “Lawfare: Lust, Fear and Loathing — and the UK riots”, which is a bit of a mouthful, lacking the punch and clarity of, say, “The Rape of Britain”, Robinson’s 2022 documentary about Asian grooming gangs. Robinson must have intuited this, because he spends the first 15 minutes performing the yeoman’s work of explaining its subtitle. In short: lust refers to the greed of the elites and their desire for power, fear is about the elites’ capitulation to Islam, and loathing denotes their contempt for ordinary people and Britain.
The documentary begins with an encomium to Peter Lynch, who last week committed suicide in prison. Lynch, 61, was serving two years and eight months after he pleaded guilty to being part of a violent mob outside a migrant hotel in Rotherham during the peak of this summer’s anti-immigration riots; he had shouted “scum” and “child killers” at police. The judge who sentenced Lynch called him a “disgraceful example of a grandfather”, but for Robinson he is a martyr-like figure whose sacrifice exposes the cruel face of a two-tier system of criminal system in the UK.
A very balanced article.
It seems that my original post has appeared….
Congratulations on having the guts to not completely misrepresent or dismiss him. What has been done to him is an epic and disgusting example of the British deep state.
Agreed. Robinson has described himself as Britain’s only political prisoner. He is surely correct.
He is surely correct.
Not any more. The numbers are growing. No doubt Labour will soon be releasing more criminals in order to accommodate them.
Now that Assange has been released perhaps…
It was refreshing to not discredit him. Also agree if he was less contentious and obsessed with his own victimhood he could make a more positive contribution for all his efforts. He is doing well to rebrand himself as a journalist and organise peaceful protests where nobody wears black hoodies etc. He could become a true hero and I love the Community Leader title….why not.
Except that just like Alex Jones he is a liar for profit, and no prophet at all.
Not that I expect you to under stand the difference between what you wish was true and what is physically, objectively known to be true.
Given that “Simon Cottee is a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent” I should think that the only thing that keeps his job is damning the Tommy Robinsons of the world with faint praise.
“if you fetishise identity and create a hierarchy of identities whereby some are protected and defended while others are stigmatised and attacked, you’ll end up with a less than harmonious society.”
In other words, a two-tiered system is wrong on its face. Discriminatory treatment does not become okay based on who is privileged or punished; it’s wrong period.
Indeed, it’s almost as if he enjoys being a victim and the sense of righteousness and authenticity this gives him. ——> That’s how the game works – victimhood has been valorized and turned into a kind of special status. Robinson is playing by the rules others created.
I Suspect it is based on who the authorities fear
I recently posted to the effect that this is a very balanced article. The post hasn’t appeared. I wouldn’t have thought my statement was controversial.
I’m starting to treat it like a fun game. My posts are like magic at the moment. You never know how long they will appear for before they disappear again.
Safety certificate: this post has been moderated for your safety.
Oh, well if it’s for my safety….
I think it happens to all of us. I don‘t have the slightest clue why. A most innocent post might disappear for a day or so and suddenly pops up at the end of a queue of other comments… UnHerd could you please sort this out!
‘…if he can reign in his narcissism…’. Good luck with that.
Being concerned about illegal immigration and furthermore whether the values of some are acceptable to modern Britain is entirely legit. What is not is tarring all with the same brush, using lies and then yobbish thuggery to intimidate. It’s a basic distinction.
Yaxley-Lennon made himself pretty rich on the back of this notoriety. Similar to Farage in that respect. What a couple of troopers.
Thanks for mentioning his real name. For some reason the article fails to mention this & the fact he travels on an Irish passport to avoid having to disclose his many convictions. Some patriot.
If only there was someone like an Alan Bates type figurehead instead, then maybe the political class would listen to ordinary peoples concerns, surely?
What is not is tarring all with the same brush
Have you seen Dawn Butler’s poem about how disgusting white people are?
No I haven’t but if you’ve a link share as interested.
However as you know two wrongs do not make a right and saying certain people are disgusting (if she said that) is clearly crass and objectionable but it’s not quite inciting violence against them.
It’s not hard to find if you know how to use Google.
Of course any demeaning of people on the basis of their skin colour is an incitement to violence. It’s also something Tommy Robinson has taken great care never to do. What on earth are you talking about?
“At the same time, he’s prone to sentimentality, sensitive to criticism and sees himself as a victim”
Considering that he is presently the UK’s most prominent political prisoner, he bloody well is one.
I’d also point out that the mortgage fraud that’s always mentioned in conjunction with TR’s name – along with ‘real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’ – was his brother-in-law’s self-certified income for a mortgage for which TR had paid the deposit, hence his involvement. Hardly the crime of the century and one shared with thousands of people at the time. It was only discovered during a fishing expedition on TR’s financial affairs.
Most prominent, yes. Most aggregious example? no. That belongs to Sam Melia, a man who was put into prison for 2 years for running a telegram group that created downloadable images with politicial/social critques on them to be made into stickers. Things like “It’s okay to be White.”, “Labour loves Muslim rape gangs”, “they come to conquer not assimmilate”, “Love your nation”, “White minority by 2066”, among others.
I take your point.
So you favour racism then? Okay, at least you’re honest.
Grow up Liam.
He said no such thing ?
He’s a thug.. he’s imprisoned fir his crimes not his views..
Not as bad as Labour thugs hitting a man with his hands in his pockets
“The draconian severity with which the authorities put down this summer’s riots is synonymous in his mind with what he sees as his own tyrannical persecution by the British state.”
Well they are trying to silence him as the preeminent voice of the dispossessed White working class.
LOL. Black people have been complaining about your white thuslgs posing as cops for centuries. Now they are trying to do there by standing up to White criminals they are the bad guys. Lol. You want the thugs to work directly for your gang eh White Boy?
Oh dear.
The last time TR was in prison, he ate none of the prison food because he feared being poisoned. The threat of violence and murder by Islamists in prison is the Establishment’s ultimate weapon to silence the opponents of Islamism.
I gather that some of those sentenced for the recent disturbances have been confined in conditions that leaves them vulnerable to attack by Muslim prison gangs, presumably deliberately so.
Yes. What really happened to Peter Lynch? I can’t believe this is UK. Starmer is a monster and has blood on his hands.
Yes, this is exactly what it is to be a political prisoner. And one cannot compare him to Anjem Choudary who has also been in prison. I’m waiting for the day when Anjem Choudary is deported and Muhammad Hijab goes with him.
Islamists are the elites militia. Used to intimidate the natives into compliance.
This article has a brief reference history fraudulent activity. Why not actually call him by his real name & point out his Irish ancestry. Weirdly it doesn’t mention that Yaxley Lennon travels around Europe on an Irish passport to avoid having to declare his many convictions. For this reason the article lacks credibility
Good try Hugh, but if that’s the best you’ve got in any attempt to discredit the article then it’s a pretty poor effort, as any “straw manning” usually is
There are many reasons why “Robinson” travels on his real passport, and yes, he does indeed have some criminal convictions.
But what is your point?
SYL may be many things but on anti-radical Islam he’s more than credible. His examples of such are more than bolstered by many sources that most media never mention ; see anything by David Collier esp on GPU at the Excel centre , the speakers there and their views , the other organisations of Jewish hatred. Were the BBC to simply publish the Hamas mission statement it would be enough but as the Asserson report has found, they are wholly biased toward Palestin*. Two tier law, no doubt about this and that he is prepared to say it, he will become a martyr ; Quds marchers ? Nothing. This will not go away with or without SYL.
Were the BBC to simply publish the Hamas mission statement it would be enough
Precisely-the fact that the founding charters of the “freedom fighter” organisations are routinely ignored or misrepresented is an absolure disgrace
There is a fundamental fact that gets forgotten in immigration debate. We are supposedly living in a democracy the last timeI looked. Did anyone ask the people of the UK if they wanted mass migration into the country? I do not recall having been consulted. This crisis was entirely created by politicians. It is little wonder that the nation has lost faith politics, especially with 30% Starmer in command. Our democracy is collapsing.
At every general election there have been parties whose candidates demanded the policies you support and some that are even more harsh, and every time they have failed to be elected. That is parliamentary democracy working as it should be.
If you want a change the election laws to make voting compulsory you should also campaign for that.
Odd to think your two statements, factual and reasonable, met with such disapproval? Of course these two character traits are never approved on by fascists are they?
Starmer was elected, unfortunately. Need better campaigning to get that lot out.
By 20% of the electorate, hardly a resounding victory or mandate for the destruction of the country he’s supposed to serve and protect.
Disingenuous remark.. those who didn’t vote should not be counted since it can be assumed, if they did vote, their votes would be distributed approximately in line with the valid vote.. twisting statistics I not a good look.. as we statisticians say.
Starmer was not so much elected as defaulted into office. 30% of those voting voted for him, and of those that did, maybe 5% approve his agenda. And when you factor in the low turnout, the positive vote for Starmer and his party’s agenda is about 1% – hardly a popular mandate.
Twisted statistics.. the lowest firm of lies.
FFS sort out your typing Liam old fruit!
Yes, I believe that’s how a parliamentary democracy works.
Democracy is only useful if it’s advancing a progressive agenda. Otherwise it’s an impediment to the political class.
Nowhere was that more evident than after the EU referendum. And Labour’s constitutional reforms, though vastly more subtle and far reaching, only add to that.
The attitude of the progressives worldwide who thought that the bovine British electorate had voted ‘the wrong way’ in the EU referendum is unsurprising in people who have such a puffed up faith in their own enlightenment and an almost pharisaical certainty in their own rectitude that they lack the humility to realise that the imposition of their portfolio of mighty works on the masses has only broken the functionality of everything, even where that was poor to begin with.
In the 1980s, a Sun journalist wrote of the left’s counterprotests to the marches of the right as ‘drowning out the sound of marching feet with the sound of more marching feet’. Rubbing the right’s nose in diversity has resulted in Yaxley-Lennon smearing diversity all over the place like the material in the dirty protests staged by prisoners in the Maze.
The Brexit election was a pig in a poke.. and it turned out to be a diseased piglet.. The British people were mercilessly lied to and suffered greatly as a result.. indeed the suffering continues. The UK is a great loss to the EU but it works the other way as well. Ireland, still in the EU, just had a giveaway budget.. more money than our govt. knows what yo do with.. what’s your budget going to be like? A giveaway to the 1% maybe? Lots of dosh to murder Palestinians and keep the death toll rising in Uktaine.. but nowt for the Tommy Robinsons except more hardship..
I would say, has collapsed. But I’m still not sure what everybody means by democracy.
300 years ago, landowners and Lords were in charge. No democracy. 100-ish years ago, all could vote and most used that option. After about 1950 democracy was less effective as more and more people chose not to vote. This year 19% of the electorate chose Labour and we are stuck for at least 5 years. I would say that democracy is still there but people have forgotten about it because the main parties are so similar.
You assume 100% those who failed to vote would have NOT voted Labour? You fail your statistics exam I’m afraid.
To be frank, while the Liberals, Labour and the Green Party were all organised to ensure “anyone but Tory” won each seat at the last election – thus ensuring a Starmer victory – Reform was doing exactly the opposite with any anti Starmer vote. The same will surely happen at the next election. If people really want a party other than the one that deliberately started the mass immigration, they need to show they can work together in the same grown up way the left did. In reality it seems unlikely, and if the global economy turns up in the meantime (Ukraine war ending etc), Labour will no doubt take credit for it and the half baked Rwanda plan will be the best hope the UK had at controlling immigration for the next few decades.
Try PR Zif you want to get statistically anomalies out (to a large degree).. it’s one failing is that it favours the smaller parties and independents a little too much and tends to end in coalition government’s, ie broad consensus.. but is that a bad thing?
A question that should be asked of Bliar whenever he rocks up to advise us about how to get with the UN and the WEF. Actually, in terms of the possible votes, TTK and his party got nearer 20% of the vote; hardly a mandate methinks.
20% of the actual electorate.
Just discussing this with my wife. She’s baffled. “Tommy Robinson isn’t a terrorist,” she said, “he’s just a very naughty boy.”
What the writer does not seem to understand is that “Tommy Robinson’s grievances” are not just his, they are shared grievances, but, a bit like Jack Cade and Robert Kett perhaps, his courage and willingness to speak out have made him a “representative” for a considerable number of fed up British people. There seems to be an implied doubt in the article as to this reality.
The riots this summer were in response to a violent attack on little children, whether any or all of those rioters were racists is pretty much beside the point, racism seems to be endemic in the UK today; the anti-white racism of BLM and CRT, the antisemitism of Hamas followers, anti-muslim, it’s everywhere
The government needs to face up to the fact that as a society we have failed and are failing to keep the peace. There needs to be a different approach.
As I said in another post, I don’t think that the government controls the police. The police have their own political ideas.
Once upon a time, the police were tough and resilient and fought crime. Now police are feeble graduates who prefer to sit behind screens, instead of being a police force. Say, as a graduate, you are promoted- you will have your own theories of right and wrong. The law tells you what is right and what is wrong but there are different degrees of right and wrong. An inspector, middle management, can deploy his staff as he sees these ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’.
IMO it is the police which is causing our problems – their own ideas of what they should and should not be doing.
Sorry but that is nonsense. In London the Met are accountable to the Mayor’s Office, elsewhere and overall the police are accountable to the Home Office.
Remember Sir Mark Rowley storming out of the Cabinet Office and breaking a journalist’s mic after a Cobra meeting in August ?
You may be right in theory but not in practice. I have been a part of a large organisation and what people do at the top bears no resemblance to what actually happens. The Chief Constable can say what he wants but his instructions are always open to interpretation.
But without Free Speech how will we be able to discuss that idea?
It’s quite interesting how both the left and the right view immigrant senses one monolithic group. On the right as you portrayed all criminals. On the left, they refused to distinguish between skilled immigration(muchly desired) and open borders, mass migration of illiterate young men
The silent majority are never heard, so aren’t included in the discussions.
Robinson’s tactics are wrong. It doesn’t matter how big the demonstrations get they will be ignored so long as the media is entirely controlled by the globalists.
Those tens of thousands demonstrating on Saturday should be joining the Labour Party and working to seize it back from the middle class carpetbaggers who have been using it to enrich themselves by milking the state and, in the process, destroying public services and every vestige of social solidarity.
Do you really think they would let the working class that support Mr Robinson near the Labour party.
We are gammons, far right nationalists, racists, thugs, deplorables, we get two years in prison for shouting at police, charged under terrorism acts, and on and on it goes.
The labour party can’t even look after it’s own, look at how they treated Rosie Duffield and suspended Diane Abbot.
Why would anyone want to go near the Labour party.
Which is tragic because Keir Hardie would have immediately understood and approved of Tommy Robinson.
Interesting article.
Are we witnessing, what Professor Eric Kaufmann has described as, “…asymmetric multi-culturalism”, whereby one culture, that of the dominant group is deliberately down-played, even deliberately, degraded and openly despised, in order to accommodate minority-culture sensitivities?
Yes
OK, I’ll go along with this. Exactly who is doing these things?
The woke scum.
Hear hear!
The legacy media, for one. Not just the news, but entertainment too, and it’s not a new thing.
Technocratic liberal elites/ liberal legalist elites
In 2012 the UN’s Migration Chief, Peter Sutherland ( ex fianna Fail politician and goldman sachs exec) made a speech in the House of Lords. In it he made the statement that it was the duty of all EU leaders to undermine national homogeneity. The means to do this was by mass immigration. He was convinced it was necessary in order to ensure the success of globalisation (Sutherland was once dubbed the Godfather of Globalism) and in order to delivery dynamic economies to the West. The latter appears to have been something of a carrot and little more.
In 2012 the then newly elected government was making noises about reducing immigration to the “tens of thousands”. This could not be allowed.
Reference to the speech can be found on the BBC news website, 21/06/12
They are many who are saying UN should be abolished. Not fit for its original purpose, just part of WEF now.
I posted a reply to your question that made reference to a speech made in 2012 by Peter Sutherland, UN Migration Chief (2006-2018) to the House of Lords and reported by the BBC – a report can be found on their website dated 21 June 2012.
Unherd – rather shamefully, although it might pop up later – have not allowed my comment but perhaps will allow this shorter version.
Typical anti Paddy discrimination.. I jest; probably a glitch.. Unherd wouldn’t, would it?
Must have been something but God knows what. For some reason the post disappeared immediately after posting without explanation. This led me to believe it had been removed rather than pending any bizarre form of moderation. So I wrote a second and the same thing happened! lol…then they both miraculously reappear. So frustrating! The whole thing is absurd. What a waste of time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18519395
The liberal establishment and their lapdog media.
Yes, that is exactly what we are seeing.
It is worse than that.
The author says “The draconian severity with which the authorities put down this summer’s riots is synonymous in his mind with what he sees as his own tyrannical persecution by the British state.”
But frankly TR is right. He has been jailed this time for repeating a libel after the conclusion of a civil claim, bought by a then Asian school boy, that resulted in a £100k damages award and an injunction barring him from repeating the libelous statement.
Who funds a schoolboy in bring an action for libel and was any organization involved funded by the British state?
Was it the case that whatever the evidence called in the case he was always destined to lose the claim?
Oh fear, you seem very far gone over to the dark side.. if you have right on your side you need not worry too much about the legal costs..
What was that supposed to be?
funded by a ‘charity’ i’d heard and one that’s had grants from government
Hope not Hate at a guess. Probably them who paid off the witnesses as well.
I found it hard to believe, I really did not want to, but the truth of your comment has been made abundantly clear for some years now.
Do you really want to use thd word “culture” in the same context as Tommy Robinson? Seriously? Surely, even Little Englanders can do better.. You’ve got Nogrl Farrage haven’t you? A detestable little sh¡t bit immeasurably better than the thug surely?
wouldn’t that count as an example of non crime hate speech if it was about people on the left?
I will say that the author tries very, very hard to be balanced in his statements but to me it doesn’t quite work.
Yes, the summer riots were about young people who wanted to smash things. Yes, words from Robinson might have fanned the flames. Yes, Mr Robinson should be prosecuted for some of his wrongdoings. But there are a lot of other happenings which need to be explained as well.
Arguably, Just Stop Oil caused far more damage to our lives. Arguably, their members will come out of gaol as heroes in the cause. How many people were injured in the summer riots? How many people died or were injured by the antics of JSO?
Taking into account the actions of the police in the pro-Palestine marches (they clearly supported the politics of the marchers) it does seem that the police forces have their own political agendas. Perhaps they are no longer there to serve the people but, instead, to impose their own politics on the people, irrespective of which government is in power.
The summer riots were in response to the stabbing of eleven young girls, three of whom died – as mentined by a previous poster – assuming you mean the white, working class riots and not that in Harehills.
Given the white working class culture which prevails at a grass roots level in the Met and other police forces, it seems surprising that they come down on the pro-Palestine side as you assert.
I can’t disagree. Compared to some of the Irish Republican terrorists, thugs and murderers who ended up in government, lauded as peace-makers by progressives, Robinson’s an angel.
Progressives created Robinson. My main concern is Robinson v 2.0, the Gen Z who’ll surely replace him, will be worse.
I completely subscribed to the mainstream narrative on Tommy Robinson until I saw the interview with him and Tammy and Jordan Peterson. His principal crime, I now begin to suspect, is that he is not one of the educated elite and so he expresses himself in ways that are unacceptable to that grouping.
Have you seen TR’s address to the Oxford Union? It’s on youtube and before the JP interview was the usual route for changed minds.
Same.
Go back and listen to his two Newsnight interviews with Paxman or his Oxford Union address (where he literally looks like a teenager).
They have aged surprisingly well. Though the sneering Paxman might not wish to revisit his assertions that the grooming gangs were but a figment of Tommy’s imagination.
I too saw that interview with Tammy and Jordan Peterson and it completely changed how I perceived TR. I was expecting a rabid racist but couldn’t find any evidence of racism in the interview.
Many are also surprised when he demonstrates a remarkably detailed knowledge of the Quran!
I also had previously just thought he was the far right thug as portrayed by the media. After watching the Peterson podcast with him I was rocked back on my heels. He is smart and articulate and honest about his flaws.
Myself as well. I wouldn’t even talk about him with my spouse the week before. I was actually emotionally moved by that interview. No name calling, no complaining, and my goodness if anyone has something to complain about it would be that man. Bravo.
‘The documentary begins with an encomium to Peter Lynch, who last week committed suicide in prison. Lynch, 61, was serving two years and eight months’
Two years and eight months for:
he had shouted “scum” and “child killers” at police.
Disgusting state over reach. How was that sentence justice. I’ve heard of convicted paedophiles with shorter sentences. Eight month suspended sentences for paedophiles.
You dare go out and protest against the sham we call government and you get over two years in jail.
I hope Mike Amesbury gets a much longer sentence than Peter Lynch was given in that case. Shouting threats and punching his own constituents. Goes to show how much regard members of the labour party have for their voters. That deserves a much harsher sentence than they gave the man that simply ‘shouted at the police’.
Lock him up.
MP Mike Amesbury has been suspended from the Labour Party after CCTV footage emerged appearing to show him punching a man to the ground.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6244gk9d4po
‘charged under the schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act:
Why are we charging British citizens under the terrorist act.
Charge Mike Amesbury for intimidating and terrorising his own voters under the terrorism act.
FREE TOMMY ROBINSON. JUSTICE FOR PETER LYNCH.
Trigger warning: this post has been moderated.
A good article, thank you. I think you miss the point about the deliberate use of uncontrolled immigration to demoralise western countries. I absolutely believe it is being used as a weapon by those for whom homogenous culture, national borders and patriotism represents a barrier to their global ambitions. Guilty white liberals, as you put it, are not part of this plan, but they are ignorant tools (intended) useful for its implementation. I no longer care if people think I’m mad for believing that because believe it I do.
“Robinson’s main complaint is that the anti-immigration rioters were unfairly demonised as far-Right thugs animated by racism and Islamophobia.”
Then what were they rioting for, the repeal of UK’s current immigration laws?
As of April 2024, the UK has new immigration rules for skilled workers and family visas:
Skilled worker visas
The minimum salary required for a skilled worker visa is £38,700, up from £26,200. The minimum salary for healthcare workers is £29,000. The standard fee for a skilled visa is between £719 and £1,500, plus a healthcare surcharge of £1,035 per year.
Family visas
The minimum income required to sponsor a spouse or partner visa is £29,000, up from £18,600. Social care workers can no longer bring dependants on their visa.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9920/
All too late (and ignored in practice and ignores the illegals who are worse head for head). It is now time for mass deportations of non-British citizens and naturalised ones who commit any vaguely serious offence must be imprisoned, citizenship revoked and then deported.
Then what were they rioting for, the repeal of UK’s current immigration laws?
No, they were protesting the govt’s continued insistence on ignoring ‘current immigration laws,’ but you know that. That much is evident from across the Atlantic, where the same problem is playing out in real-time, too. The issue is not skilled workers or family visas, and you know that as well.
A very interesting and pretty fair article in my view.
The problem is what does one do if he breaks an actual law that isn’t politically motivated such as mortgage fraud? How does the law ensure that he is made to face the consequences of his decisions in a fair way which does not mean he becomes a martyr?
Being scared of angering the EDL fringe does not mean he gets endless free passes, surely?
He’s been given eighteen months.
Nobody is giving him a pass.
What has he been given a free pass for.
There is no EDL.
The protests at the weekend were peaceful and included a broad spectrum of people.
Safety certificate: every post today has had one of these. You are very safe. This comment has been moderated.
I think what we are seeing here is a parallel situation, I think it was either Steven Pinker or Jordan Peterson who described it, where when a young person encounters a correct idea that they’ve not been prepared to handle, they’ll have a hard time dealing with it and risk falling into extremism. This could be in crime or intelligence research etc. where there are scientifically correct yet taboo findings.
Tommy Robinson is the mirror situation of this but at a societal level. Because all the decent people who could argue for better migration control and assimilation topics are chased out of the discussion or otherwise terrified of saying something wrong, a literal hooligan and criminal steps into the discourse discovers he’s the king of the intellectual jungle on topics where no one else is willing to talk about publicly – so he starts writing books about the Koran and pontificates about intercultural studies for which he has elementary school level knowledge.
This is all a joke of course, what we need is for Woke to be defeated and open discussion to be resumed on a marketplace of ideas so that discussions get a chance of being driven by experienced and well-meaning people instead of hooligans. The only way I can see this happening is to bring back elements of classical liberalism to institutions in particular to higher-education.
The way things seem to be headed today is towards an Orwellian anarcho-tyranny which people will be forced to accept in order to avoid a full on anarchy.
He is brave and the rest of us are not.
Or alternatively, having had his businesses and family harmony destroyed, he’s simply got nothing to lose any more and the rest of us have.
He’s acting just like a football hooligan – or a Woke activist for that matter: seeking social positions where having narcissistic (and violent) personality traits is an advantage. He made quite a lot of money and fame out of this.
“a literal hooligan and criminal … [with] … elementary school level knowledge.”
A long-winded way of saying that White working class people should not be allowed to speak their minds.
If I were to use that definition to identify all white working class people like you’re doing, I’d be accused of anti-white racism. It’s a very negative and unhelpful lens to look at a large number of people.
I merely pointed out that that’s what you’re doing.
Then I’ve to say it’s more a reflection of how you think, not me. One should be able to criticise a member of a group without damning the lot – granted your view may have merit. In any case, I’m not saying he shouldn’t be allowed to speak his mind, only saying what he says wouldn’t have mattered all that much if people who knew what they were talking about could speak their minds also.
‘ pontificates about intercultural studies for which he has elementary school level knowledge’
We live in a democracy. Should only people educated beyond a certain point be allowed to talk? That doesn’t sound very democratic.
Isn’t it the educated university lot that run the country at the moment?
They have only bankrupted the country with lockdowns and sanctions, got involved in a war we are loosing, exploded the national debt, can’t protect our borders and as usual the NHS is in a sh*t state and the schools are literally falling down in some places.
Isn’t all this social justice stuff prevelent in universities? All that ‘woke’ stuff you mention, isn’t that where it’s coming from? Academia?
‘This is all a joke of course, what we need is for Woke to be defeated and open discussion to be resumed on a marketplace of ideas so that discussions get a chance of being driven by experienced and well-meaning people instead of hooligans.’
Ironic you use the term Orwellian when those statements scream of
‘Some animals are more equal than others’.
How do you define experienced and ‘well meaning’.
Safety certificate: This post has been moderated for your safety.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t be allowed to talk – I’m asking for the inverse. Other people should be allowed to talk who may have more nuanced or well-thought out opinions on the problems. At the moment, the inhibition levels of a football hooligan are needed to speak out on these topics.
Others are allowed to talk.
Nothing is stopping them, apart from their inhibitions and their fear of what others will think.
Branding Mr Robinson as a football hooligan incapable of nuance and accusing him of a lack of intellect, of having elementary school level knowledge I’m afraid just shows your prejudices.
What is stopping you for example, from speaking on these topics. Why don’t you go do a better job than Tommy, I take it you are educated to a higher level and capable of the nuance you accuse others of lacking.
This post has been moderated. I should say, you can talk, but expect to be vetted, moderated and possibly not liked very much. That is what politics is like.
He has just been jailed for 18 months: this is going to fuel a massive re-ignition of his followers and draw many more to his persecuted cause… I weep for the appalling new National Socialist state that Britain has become, and forsee an Ulster ’69 situation of rebellion against woke….
Impressed to see someone write an article not ludicrously damning towards Robinson. Pratinav’s attempt was total trash and an embarrassment to Unherd.
But still – Cottee suggests Robinson is exaggerating his victim status. But is it normal to be thrown in jail for ‘fraud’ due to your cousin lying about his age on a mortgage application? An application for money which he had already repaid?
TR needs to ham up his victim status in order to raise money, we all know that. No one cares because it’s pretty obvious he has been legitimately targeted by the state. If Cottee thinks that is exaggeratted, he ought to explain why.
I still find it nauseating how smug middle class people can write someone off because they were jailed, without much investigation into the salience of the case. That is falling for the trap that was intentionally set by the police and judges – so wreck someones name.
The whole reason why TR activism is important to regular people is because we know if they would do it to him, they could do it to us.
“No doubt the elites are full of self-hating guilty liberals, but the idea that they’re deliberately trying to orchestrate the downfall of the West credits them with an agency they might not possess.”
Sure the elites may not have the agency to manage the downfall of the West but they sure as hell are trying very hard to achieve it (and doing a pretty good job).
What a truly admirable man, a leader , a man to follow, a man who inspires love, and who reminds me of my love for my country.
Keep Scotland well out of all this
As Tommy Robinson knows to keep Scotland well out his rants
And his life and limb would be in serious threat if ever he attempted to organise and lead a rally up here
Scottish Police would simply not allow any local authority to accommodate any such rally
So what’s it like living in a quasi-authoritarian state?
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”
– George R.R. Martin
“Where Robinson goes wrong, however, is his tendency to paint all migrants with the same toxic brush” – I agree
If there’s anything that is going to affect the immigration rate upwards its collapse of the birthrate. Noisy gatherings in london aren’t going to solve that.
I’m not an expert on T.R but this is the fairest and most balanced article that I’ve come across on him. He is naturally the outcome of 25 – 30 of multicultural and identatarian policies by what has now become the uni party.
If you change the name Tommy Robinson to Donald Trump you have the same story in the United States. The elite left has done everything in their power to suppress him, silence him, convict him, and imprison him. Yet, in spite of this, he is likely to be elected the 45th President of the United States in a couple of weeks. Hang in there Tommy Robinson.
Agree, but DT was 45th President and likely to be elected 47th….
He does help them quite a bit by doing lots of criminal things.
He’s just now been jailed for 18 months
Establishment hoping the Muslim prisoners will finish him off this time.
Hear hear!
Another political prisoner
What a stupid hit piece ! If you are going to write about a person who has become so famous and targeted by his own government as to BE a MOVEMENT WRIT LARGE, you ought to have some respect for, or at least understanding of, what the MOVEMENT stands for.
Tommy Robinson began his movement as an ANTI-ISLAMIST. Unfortunately too many people don’t want to acknowledge that Islam is an ideology and not a religion which deserves protection. When the leaders of Islam such as Anjem Choudary and Muhammad Hijab openly espouse HOLY WAR and carry signs that say ISLAM and SHARIA will dominate the world, don’t criticize Tommy Robinson for wanting to bring a world of pain down on these bastards. He opposes Pakistani grooming gangs and he opposes the government that shelters them. Good for him. He’s a Patriot.
Britain is headed for civil holy war if these promoters of the ideology of Islam and Sharia are not stopped in their tracks and sent packing back to their Islamic Republics where they belong.
” No doubt the elites are full of self-hating guilty liberals, but the idea that they’re deliberately trying to orchestrate the downfall of the West credits them with an agency they might not possess.”
Andrew Neather was the Blair speech writer who is recorded as stating that the policy of ramping up mass immigration was at least partly designed to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’. So I’d say thats a pretty good bit of evidence that TR is correct in his assertions regarding the intentions of those who made the decision to open the flood gates.
What Tommy is seeking to point out is that as State (woke) idealism seeks to dominate Societal realism, the mediating conviviality of the civic sphere shrinks.
Ironically, the basis of State idealism overreach is common law in terms of harm, loss and damage but State idealists have taken it upon themselves to turn tort law into criminal law as a result of the universalistic consequences of equality legislation that is bound up with protected characteristics.
Thus the natural (or legal) person associated with tort law is subsumed into the institution of the State so that any harm, loss or damage associated with the edits of multiculturalism becomes an injury felt by the State.
Essentially, under Wokeism, the State has coopted its citizens to the point that there is no distinction between the State and Society and in turn no distinction between the Nation and the State.
This is totalitarianism however it might be justified and in particular woke totalitarianism.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism
The common justification for woke totalitarianism is migration led population growth and multiculturalism which actively seeks to suppress natural territorial instincts and sublimate them into interethnic economic competition to support economic growth.
Overall, it is understandable that people like Tommy who have testifiable lived experience of a State that turns a blind eye to harm, loss or damage in order pursue woke idealism feels aggrieved both personally and as a British citizen.
What’s missing in this fair minded article is that there should be an open-minded national conversation about the costs and benefits of economic growth, especially migration led economic growth which increasingly requires the capture of foreign land, energy and materials to support it.
https://www.wwf.org.uk/riskybusiness
It is migration led population growth that is incentivising the appropriation of foreign land, energy and materials, whether through the market or proxy conflicts, which in turn incentivises State woke idealism despite its two tier justice effects in relation to those that oppose migration led population growth.
Similarly, the global impacts of migration led population growth and the need to capture foreign land, energy and materials is the primary reason for traumatised refugees and asylum seekers.
As such, we have a State and a woke civil movement that appears incapable of acknowledging the negative global impacts of national policy, which ironically from an internationalist leftwing perspective amounts to neocolonialism and globalised racism.
Instead we have a woke State and its affiliated woke civil movement that goes to great pains to paint objectors to this racist neocolonialist state of affairs as anti-immigrant racists and fascists when the reality is that Western migration-led population growth is both destabilising Western countries and the natural planet as a whole.
Good article. Of course, since publication TR has been imprisoned for 18 months. Don’t mess with the Woking Class is the message to all of us!
Among the commentariat I’ve noticed an elephant in the room. Organised riots and counter riots are not led by overt rebels. Not since Wat Tyler met his end, betrayed by the King. The modern Robin Hood would be caught on camera, betrayed by text message or WhatsApp, incarcerated in no time. As we see today, the naive angry TR.
TR should study the Scarlet Pimpernel, General Brock and David Stirling. Notable upper class types, Eton, Sandhurst, club ties descended from robber barons. Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, Peter Hitchens; far too middle class, in the public eye. Even Robin Hood was a nobleman.
The Left is notoriously well organised, sinister, effective and patient. Does the Left instigate protest to bring down the Right or vice versa?
My question is, who gains from civil unrest? Encouraging and fomenting anti muslim hatred can only enrage the hitherto peaceful muslim hothead and hence escalation. With strong family ties and the Imams, with bitter resentment from the recent harshly imprisoned the results are inevitable and rainbow Police cars won’t cut it.
Is it to give government special powers, never to be revoked,? Covid did, temporarily. Or is it to stoke a revolution? To what end? It would seem the institutions can only be deloused by violent force, Guillotine / Gestapo style. Only the upper echelon can fund and organise that. A Scarlet Pimpernel? Or a reborn Lenin? Either way two tier Trotsky Kier should watch his back, he needs eyes in the back of his head.
It would be political interference with the judiciary to step in and prevent a prosecution where a crime has been committed, just as much as if pressure was exerted to prosecute.
A well crafted article that subtly underplays the enormity of the problems of the modern version of ‘multiculturalism’ and wrongly purports to show balance. Lets be clear, If immigrants (legal or illegal) do not share the existing values of the British culture then it is correct to assert that the UK is sliding into the cesspit of ‘Lebanonisation’ . A cesspit, by the way, which will be impossible to recover from. The article simplifies the devastation of Rotherham and claims that young people in Rotherham were ‘sexually harassed’ …No… over 8000 young people were sexually groomed and subjected to rape. Only eight men were charged. One man for every 1000 victims. Let that sink in on multiple levels. Tommy Robinson for all his flaws sums up the absolute frustration that the majority feel with the gross stupidity of open borders. The bigger shame is that the silent majority who are frustrated say nothing and do nothing to stop this slide into the abyss.
A statement is mot legally libel if it is substantially true.
And the alleged contempt of court is for actions outside the UK by parties other than TR himself. And the court injunction against publication is itself improper and teh real contempt for the rule of law.
Globalisation was always an ill disguised class war.
Starmers’s signature clumsiness in overtly attacking the white working class over the riots just lays it bare.
They can put whoever they want in gaol but there will be a reckoning for this wanton destruction of our country.
One less thug on the streets has to be good for Britain surely? If any faction in Britain is depending on this ignorant, Zioniist stooge to represent them God help them.. Stick with Farrage is my advice..
If you think Robinson is wrong go and see what Churchill was doing during the second world war with respects to future Muslim/Arab immigration. Just Google ‘churchill Muslims, mosque in London’ and the subsequent history it facilitated
Churchill scheduled and put aside hundreds of thousands of pounds for building a Mosque in London which did come to fruition. In essence there’s nothing wrong with that, however it was for his political purposes, for emboldening the empire and with the idea to build it off of the backs of Muslim labour, families and soldiers. Blair just finished the project and brought home full circle.
Tommy Robinson is a modern analogue of the unconscious British mind: full of contractions but not blind to the truth. You can’t fault such a man for his honesty and his resistance, it’s a bewildering painful existence and what he’s done to communicate his understanding and findings in various spheres is beyond remarkable.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Central_Mosque see history here also
I think that the writer gets this both right and wrong. Part of the Left/liberal “self hatred” that he does acknowledge, is an infantile “Student union belief set” which includes an unfocused hatred of Western society, and the nation state.
Unchecked migration is rapidly undermining both of these, (much to the delight of the Marxist Left). The liberal elites are just too stupid to see that they and their families will go down the toilet with all the rest of us.
While I accept that they may not be “orchestrating” the overthrow of Western society, it’s quite wrong to say that they don’t have the agency to achieve it, as most of these gormless people happen to also be those in charge.
So they do have the agency, and whether by accident or design, these fools will indeed topple Western society with their blinkered, and complacent view that their it can withstand the cultural and societal disruption they are inflicting.
It can’t. This is obvious to everyone, it seems, except for the few that actually matter. Our governing class, in its imbecilic desire to appear “nice”, are going to destroy the society that’s taken a thousand years to create.
It is heart-rending.
‘He is especially aggrieved by the accusation that he circulated misinformation that stoked the riots and had egged on the rioters;….’
The ‘Christian British boy’ who slaughtered little girls at a Taylor Swift offence, has now been charged with terrorism offences involving ricin and downloading Al-Qaeda terrorist manuals.
I know nothing of the man . But I do know that if Police can charge you with terrorism (a very serious offence with huge penalties) for not giving your phone pin number something is seriously wrong with fairness and justice.
Given no one else has the balls, yes, Britain doesn’t “deserve” a Tommy, we need him, badly. Yes he has faults but the sort of person who didn’t have these sorts of faults would be as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Tommy Robinson is the bravest man in Britain. End of.
The idea of “open borders” is a pet project of the “elites”. Absolutely Nothing good for the West will come of open borders. It is a precursor that sets the stage for political, economic, and demographic demise. The end game is totalitarian control of an enslaved global population.
Observing how Trump has used his indictments and convictions to claim victimhood and boost his support it would appear sensible for prosecutors everywhere to try to avoid putting any political activists in prison, even if this involves bending the rules a bit. A hefty fine and community service might even be more effective deterrent