LBC Chit Chat #19

[Bobby Chariot]

Good to hear Iain Dale discussing banning Greyhound racing, I have an invested interest having re-homed them for a number of years now.
Beautiful dogs that get treated very poorly, they just want a quiet life, the occasional run about & a nice bed.

 

[thewittowoo]

Cap doffed to Brendan O'Neill....


Imagine getting angrier over a word than a rape. This will go down in history as the week when there was more digital fury over one man’s criticism of mass immigration than there was over the dire impact those untrammelled flows of people are having on Britain’s women and girls.

The conviction of an Afghan illegal migrant for the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton barely seemed to trouble the conscience of the virtuous of our chattering classes. But Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s lamenting of our broken borders? Worse, his use of the word ‘colonisation’ in relation to migrants? That pricked their hollow souls. That got them tweeting. From Whitehall to White City, the wail went up: ‘Something must be done about this awful man.’

The horror in Nuneaton involved 23-year-old small-boat criminal Ahmad Mulakhil taking a girl into a cul-de-sac last July and carrying out ‘extremely horrific sexual offences’. His conviction this week confirmed what working-class women up and down the country have been saying for more than a year now: that Britain’s porous borders pose a grave threat to women and girls, especially in the poorer parts of the UK where these men from afar tend to be placed, at taxpayers’ expense.

Yet within a poxy 48 hours the debate had shifted from dangerous men to supposedly dangerous words. From the real-world atrocities that spring from government ineptitude to the outrage of a rich bloke criticising that government ineptitude. The opinion-forming set was back in its comfort zone: ignoring the plight of working-class women and instead wagging a collective finger at a blunt billionaire.

Sir Jim’s offence was to say the word ‘colonised’. Britain has been ‘colonised by immigrants, said the petrochemicals boss and Man Utd co-owner in an interview with Sky News. Cue much clutching of pearls. From Keir Starmer down, they raged against his speechcrime. They charged him with using language that echoes the far right.

BBC News started a rolling live news feed, as if Sir Jim’s remarks were akin to a natural disaster or a war. Rachel Reeves said his comments were ‘disgusting’ and ‘unacceptable’. Sir Keir even demanded that Sir Jim recant and apologise for his sinful utterance. I’m sorry, what century is this? In what more moral universe is it acceptable for a PM to so publicly rebuke a British citizen simply for saying something he disapproves of?

Sir Jim eventually bowed to the bourgeois mob. He says he is ‘sorry my choice of language has offended some people’. No. 10 is gloating. ‘The Prime Minister asked for an apology, and one’s been issued’, said a spokesman with spectacular haughtiness.

Am I going mad or is No. 10’s brutish extraction of an apology from a supposedly misspeaking Briton by far the most shocking part of this story? Would I use the word ‘colonisation’ about immigration? No. But so what? Britons are either free to express themselves as they see fit or they are not. And the Starmer-led shaming of Sir Jim, the government’s heavy-handed demand that a man publicly retract his deeply-held beliefs, suggests we are not.

The taming of Sir Jim is as pure an act of cancel culture as we have seen in some time. Only in this instance it wasn’t wild-eyed, blue-haired students hollering for a public figure to withdraw his words that so wounded their brittle self-esteem. It was the government, aided and abetted by the public broadcaster, and of course by every tweeting tosspot who loves nothing more than the cheap thrill of being part of a dissident-gagging mob.

For that’s what this was: a savage clampdown on dissenting speech. The government and the digital enforcers of its censorious writ can doll it up as ‘opposing hate speech’ as much as they like. But we’re not fools. We know they went for Sir Jim to make an example of him. To let the rest of us know that the use of fruity or impudent language in relation to immigration will be severely punished. If even one of the richest Brits can be made to genuflect to correct-think by No. 10 and its media minions, imagine what could be done to you, pleb — that’s the speech-chilling undertone of the public dunking of Ratcliffe.

The fact is, millions of decent Brits are worried about our broken borders. And some might express themselves in an un-PC way. They might say ‘swarm’, ‘invasion’, even ‘colonisation’. And guess what? That’s their implacable right in a free society. How about listening to their concerns rather than having a fit of the vapours over the words with which they express them?

The gall of the government is extraordinary. It fails to protect the nation’s borders and then punishes those who point this out. It endangers women and girls and then has the nerve to say ‘Watch your language’ to anyone who speaks too colourfully about this increasingly lethal situation. Now that, Rachel Reeves, is disgusting and unacceptable."

 

[thewittowoo]

Brendan O'Neil


I see that the people who took the knee and tore down statues after a man was killed 4,000 miles away from Britain are now yelping ‘Don’t politicise Henry Nowak’s death’. The same leftists who poured onto the streets to rage over the death of George Floyd are barking at the rest of us not to rage over the death of young Henry.

‘Don’t stir up tensions’, says an activist class which in that heady summer of 2020 happily hurled missiles at British cops and danced like Taliban-lite loons on a monument to a slave trader they’d just toppled.

What a festival of cant we have endured since the conviction of Vickrum Digwa for his savage slaying of Nowak. It reached its peak on Tuesday during the eruption of working-class fury at Southampton Police Station. Angry men and women gathered to roar ‘I CAN’T BREATHE’ – Henry’s last words. How crass, said snooty leftists all over social media. But you did the same thing, lads. You marched to the US Embassy in London in May 2020 crying ‘I can’t breathe’, which were Floyd’s last words too.

There’s more than hypocrisy at play here. We are witnessing the drawing of a line between the well-informed, righteous fury of the middle classes and the apparently low-information rage of the lower orders. If you are from leafy London, have a university degree and use phrases like ‘structural racism’, you’re allowed to vent your fury. If you read a tabloid newspaper, have never darkened a university door and say ‘Nigel Farage is the dog’s b*llocks’, you are not. This is a campaign to pathologise working-class anger.

Fear of the masses is in the air. You can almost smell the establishment dread that the wrong sort of people are about to hit the streets – not graduate leftists in keffiyehs but gammon-hued blokes in white t-shirts. The front page of Wednesday’s Independent is a classic of this fretful genre. ‘Family’s plea for calm ignored’, wails the headline over a photo of the protest in Southampton. But the people in the pic are perfectly calm. It’s just rows of mournful folk carrying the England flag. Are you okay, Independent?

The Guardian, too, seems consumed by foreboding. It says there are ‘fears’ that ‘the populist right’ will ‘whip up racist resentment’. Demagoguery is always the chief dread of the bourgeois left, given their view of the little people as a coiled spring of bovine fury that might be unsprung at any minute. The Guardian blasts Farage for calling for ‘pure, cold rage’ in response to Nowak’s death. It’s a complaint that would carry more weight if the Guardian hadn’t published pieces in the wake of Floyd’s death saying ‘We need the rage that abolished slavery’.

So it’s okay to ‘rage’ over the tragic demise of a career criminal a whole ocean away but not over the horrendous death of a sweet kid right here in Britain? The theatrical gasping over Farage’s use of that r-word is absurd. Leftists love a ‘rage against Israel’ or a ‘rage against the Tories’ or, indeed, a ‘rage against the police’. Yet the minute Farage-supporting oiks propose a new ‘rage’ against Southampton’s sloppy cops, the left is dashing for the fainting couch. Their rage is noble, you see, while yours is scary.

The media angst over Farage’s ‘rage’ was superbly exposed by Zia Yusuf in his clash with Cathy Newman on Sky News. She badgered him about Reform’s stirring up of anger over Nowak’s death. But he’d done his homework. He reminded her she once wrote a column on the ‘fury’ of 2020. It’s fab, she wrote, to see ‘the fury over Floyd’s death’ being transported to ‘all four corners of the globe’. Got that? Fury over Floyd – good. Rage over Nowak – don’t even think about it.

Some are putting this down to the fact that Floyd was black, and thus sympathetic, while Nowak was white, and thus ‘privileged’. I think it’s more to do with the different social make-up of those who are ‘raging’. In 2020, it was primarily bourgeois leftists who broke out of lockdown to mourn Floyd. It became mandatory in polite society to join their orgy of performative virtue. ‘Silence is violence!’, they yelled at any sinful mortal who refused to bend the knee in the fashion of the liberal establishment.

Now it’s mostly working-class non-Londoners who are fuming about what was done to poor Henry. Some are even wrapped in the St George’s flag, and nothing is more alarming to our betters than a swarm of patriots. The elitism is rank. It feels as though some people are more unnerved by the growing rumble of working-class anger than they are by what happened to Henry. You can feel the wheels of the discussion turning, away from that horror in Southampton and towards the supposed horror of ordinary people saying: ‘We’ve had enough.’

Yes, there were ugly scenes in Southampton on Tuesday night. A breakaway mob threw bins at police officers. I have no doubt that the decent mourners for Henry gathered at the police station would condemn such behaviour. And you know what? Their condemnation counts for a hell of a lot more than the hypocritical bluster of leftists who whooped when their mates threw bottles at cops after a man died in Minneapolis.

 

[thewittowoo]

If the races were reversed, large parts of the UK would be on fire now. And Corbyn, Abbott, Jones, Butler, and various other c u next tuesdays would be agitating at the front of marches. "I can't breathe" would be everywhere.

Handcuffing an essentially dead kid because he might have done a racism is basically the UK in a nutshell. Those supposedly paid to protect us have lost their fucking minds.

 

[HowVery]

I think J O'B is a tit so I just don't listen.
Hate-listening and then moaning about him is bad for your blood pressure and good for his listening figures!

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

He mentioned yesterday that he'd got a new contract, the last 4am presenter to get that was binned a month later

Please not again

I don't think Ian will. For starters he's never that controversial and secondly he can do serious when he needs to which Steve couldn't. They used to bring Ferrari in an hour early if something major happened. Ian's covered just about every slot on LBC at some time. He was their super sub during covid so he's a lot more versatile than Steve ever was.

 

[thewittowoo]

Not that we're going to go back in, but if we did it would be on much worse terms than we had in 2016. Would still be more grist to the mill for the perpetually offended

I voted leave, I'd vote the same if there were a referendum tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that.......

 

[thewittowoo]

Jess Philips resigning because she's upset at Harmann taking over her important role of ignoring abuse against women and girls.

 

[i10gal]

I did hear yesterday that it has been reported in Australia that the ban on social media for under 16s has gone down quite well with many young ones not realising how addicted they were and now find themselves speaking to friends in person rather via SM.

I fear the next generation in this Country as screens have been a way of life even for babies. I absolutely hate seeing a mother pushing her baby in a supermarket trolley with the baby entertaining itself with the mother's phone. No wonder these young ones are growing up with absolutely no social skills whatsoever.

Yes I am a grumpy old lady

 

[karma4klattie]

Is LBC still wall to wall Iran or have they filtered in some other topics yet?

I've been basking in hour upon hour upon hour of the blissful Steve Allen the Whole Show podcast, I've been at it for months if not years, and I'm still amazed how he rattles on in an inconsequential and amusing way without repeating himself or ever getting boring. When he left LBC, so did I. Whoever gave him the push cheated the station out of their best and most devoted presenter (he wanted to work until he died at the microphone remember) ,and his fundraising for Make Some Noise was heartfelt. I really really miss him still.

 

[Fledgling Psycho]

My son and I took an arduous journey to a show of his in Croydon. The night was blowing a gale, the kind where an umbrella turns inside out and your trousers get wet to above the knees. It really wasn't worth it, sad to say.
I imagine though he now has a lot to catch up on? Best of luck to him though. He gave me many a chuckle with his witterings.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

He'll be blaming anything and anybody for this shambles. He'll be chucking everything he hates under the bus: Brexit, Boris, Trump, especially Trump, who was keen on Mandelson getting the job. It should be entertaining listening.

You forgot Farage ... it will definitely be Farage's fault somewhere along the lines.

The arrogance of these people to override the vetting. Who pulled the trigger to override? I don't believe it's some random civil servant. He's just the fall guy. Pretty sure someone will have gone to Sir Keir's right hand man at least and said 'there's an issue'.

Then again these are also the people who decided to ignore the advice of MI5/6 and allow a huge Chinese Embassy to be built.

Morons. We're surrounded by morons.

 

[thewittowoo]

I'd imagine the people who went along were confused. We've had years of commentary about 'righteous anger' and legitimate protests / riots when scumbag criminals like Mark Duggan and Chris Kaba were shot, not to mention a national period of mourning over George fucking Floyd, overdosing so it is logical they'd think the same rules apply when a white kid is murdered and then ignored by the Old Bill.

 

[Fledgling Psycho]

Good to hear Iain Dale discussing banning Greyhound racing, I have an invested interest having re-homed them for a number of years now.
Beautiful dogs that get treated very poorly, they just want a quiet life, the occasional run about & a nice bed.
View attachment 3929317

What a beautiful dog I know what you mean, they seem so innocent and unobtrusive. I feel the same about donkeys which are abused so awfully, I can't bear to see the adverts on the cruelty they suffer.

 

[FunkyPhil]

I always enjoy Ian Payne when I catch him in the mornings, usually after six. He has made the early morning slot his own and is excellent at balancing the light and shade. He sounds like a genuinely friendly guy.

 

[thewittowoo]

I like Ali. Unlike most LBC presenters, he doesn't always parrot the views you'd expect from his side of politics.

 

[FunkyPhil]

Really enjoyed Tom Slater in the 4am slot this morning.

 

[thewittowoo]

It's a long read but hits the bullseye

It’s not Farage who’s ‘stoking division’, Sir Keir. It’s Lefties like you
In the wake of Henry Nowak’s murder, the cynical playbook deployed by the PM and his ilk exposes them as blame-shifting hypocrites



If you want to know what sort of man Sir Keir Starmer is, consider these two clues. First, note how slow he was to make any public comment about the murder of Henry Nowak. And second, note how quick he was to condemn his political opponents for speaking up about it.
“Nigel Farage is completely wrong to use this to try and create division,” fumed the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Countless other politicians of the Left joined in, darkly warning the public about the dangers of “stoking division” among “our communities”, and denouncing “the far-Right” for “politicising a tragedy”.
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Do these words sound a touch familiar? They should. Because, in recent years, this is exactly the same script that politicians of the Left have taken to reciting immediately after every atrocity inflicted on the British people. They use it every time Islamists have carried out a terror attack, or serious crimes have been committed by supposed asylum seekers.
They also used it when Elon Musk helped revive demands for a national inquiry into the Pakistani rape gangs. And they used it after Axel Rudakubana slaughtered three little girls in Southport. After every horror of this kind, they automatically start lecturing us about “division” – and ordering us to reject anyone who seeks to “stoke”, “sow” or “create” it.
Frankly, however, I’m sick of hearing these people read from their nakedly cynical playbook. For one thing, it’s so hypocritical.
Put it like this. How did politicians of the Left respond to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests of 2020? Did they condemn those leading them for “stoking division” by “politicising a tragedy”? Quite the opposite. They all rushed to proclaim that they shared the protesters’ anger, and declared that the “tragedy” in question should prompt a radical transformation of our society.

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner were quick to take the knee for George Floyd in 2020
Sir Sadiq Khan said the death of George Floyd “has rightly ignited fury and anguish not just in the USA, but around the world”. Sir Keir himself said it “must be a catalyst for change”.


Meanwhile, Shabana Mahmood – who, as Home Secretary, is currently telling protesters that “there can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder” – wrote an open letter in June 2020, in which she said: “Many constituents have been in touch with me regarding protests across the United States after the murder of George Floyd. I share their anger at this unspeakable outrage.”
Curiously, her letter didn’t mention any violence and disorder stirred up by BLM protesters. But she did condemn “the appalling scenes of police violence across the US” and “the divisive and appalling rhetoric from President Donald Trump”.
Even more nauseating than the Left’s hypocrisy, however, is their shameless blame-shifting. Because the truth is, it’s not Nigel Farage who has made our society so dangerously divided. It’s the Left itself.

For decades, our country has been relentlessly destabilised by rocketing immigration and multiculturalism. A development fuelled by the Left-wing conviction that just about everyone on the planet has an inalienable right to come and live in Britain, and that once they arrive, they don’t need to make any effort to follow our customs or even, it sometimes seems, our laws.
It’s because of this toxic Left-wing fixation – and the many gormless Tories who swallowed it – that Britain is now home to so many people who hate us and our culture. It’s why Islamists have been able to wield such influence over policing, rape gangs have been able to operate with near-impunity, and illegal immigrants are free to roam our streets.
This, therefore, is where the blame really lies for today’s seething divisions. And the Left’s response? To smear, or try to silence, anyone who dares point it out.
This, however, is not the only reason we should ignore politicians who hector us about “division”. There’s another. Which is that, in one sense at least, we actually need more division, not less.
Most British people, I tend to suspect, don’t much like being forced to live side-by-side with wannabe jihadis, or machete-wielding psychopaths, or alleged “refugees” who assault underage girls within days of hopping off the dinghy. And because of this, I do want a government that divides us. By which I mean a government that divides the peaceful from the violent, the innocent from the predatory, the good from the evil.
And the way to bring about this particular form of division is not just to put offenders in prison. Wherever possible, it’s to kick them immediately out of our country. Or, better yet, prevent them from entering it in the first place by taking rather firmer control of our borders.
Here, then, is the message we need Sir Keir and co to heed. Remove the people who wish us harm. Because if you don’t, we’ll remove you.

 

[Redvers36]

I forgot to listen this morning. How did Jobby react to the Greens' success? I got the impression on Wednesday that he wasn't entirely averse to them.

It would appear so. He must be hoping that people will forget all the client journalism that he did for Kier Starmer and Labour.

 

[thewittowoo]

Ian Payne doing a bike ride to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. Wasn't sure if he was allowed to mention it, but went on to give us the precise details. He's passed his target, bless him

Ian Payne is fundraising for British Heart Foundation

Steve used to give us in detail how he kept cool in heat, but it must be a nightmare trying to sleep in the day when it's so hot. Ian describing a french woman loudly berating someone over the phone for 45 minutes in the Novotel car park