Bronze Age Pervert@bronzeagemantis
I need to tell my audience, much of which isn't either in the United States or England, what this controversy over a new political party in Britain called Restore is about. As I see it, this concerns not just England, but Europe as a whole and indeed the situation in the international right at the moment.
My attacks on Restore are in keeping with my attacks on analogous movements and factions in USA, which seek to hijack the anti-immigration cause to inject instead their own unrelated agenda, which has to do with pre-2015 social and religious "civilizational" conservatism. Thus Trump moment is reframed as an opportunity to inject a Church Lady moralism agenda. This has been consistent in USA since 2017 and I believe it's what will one way or another come after Trump unfortunately.
In the case of Restore I focused on the words and beliefs of their own activsts, principally Charlie Downes; I've cited his own articles and long form tweets, as well as interviews, where he's obviously making an elaborate case that has nothing to do with immigration restriction: he's making an old-form social conservative case RE "atomization," modern "degeneracy," and framing it explicitly as "young people in Britain don't feel oppressed, they feel aimless and have too much freedom." You can check the article itself for the context, which I'm not misrepresenting. This is the line of American social and religious "intellectual" conservatives going back decades. You can find it in old issues of National Review, in Allan Bloom's thinking, and in that also of paleocon-adjacent social conservatives. I've always opposed this as useless and destructive. It's what we called "cuckservatism" in 2015 and it's still that, despite the louder screaming and chest-beating surrounding it in 2026.
I was informed by friends associated with Restore that this wasn't the agenda of the party itself, just the personal views of Downes. If that is so, then Restore should clarify maybe. As it is, here is another one of their associated influencers and de facto spokesmouths (correct me if I'm wrong) Carl Benjamin defending those very views and doubling down. For reference, while Carl Benjamin calls me a subversive "foreign Jew," his own position in 2016 was one of civic nationalism and the head of the Restore party Rupert Lowe is on video two months ago calling for the defense of Israel and of Jews. This kind of cynicism characterizes imo this whole new "mainstream antisemitism" sphere of influencers, who aren't actually "antisemitic," but are engaging in facile rhetoric, speaking out of different parts of their mouths to many audiences at the same time and hoping no one notices. Maybe Benjamin should consult with Luke Turner of the British NGO Hope not Hate and they can decide if I'm a subversive "foreign Jew" or a "Neonazi antisemite."
It's bizarre Benjamin is employing conspiracy theorizing about "subversion coordination" by dark interests against Restore when, if you check the quote tweets to the below, you can see multiple long-time anons from USA explaining exactly what we find objectionable and self-defeating about reframing an anti-immigration argument as a crusade against pornography, "degeneracy," etc.; I've always been against this stupidity in USA so I will attack it when I see it in other countries as well. It would be not in keeping with my views to NOT take this line.
Actually many find extremely distasteful the suggestion that signing up to a political platform based on migration restriction, where the case can be made on common sense that appeals to many different types of people, means that you also need to have ignorant and vulgar internet influencers and closeted "Catholic" 25-yr olds be invited to "infuse your life with meaning."
It's furthermore strange to invoke some kind of "Anglo-Celtic" particularism that other "foreigners" mysteriously can't understand in order to support basically the Karl Rove and moral-majority American-style "don't do drugs, don't watch porn, attend your prayer community center to fight Modern Liberal Atomization" messaging. This isn't an emanation of Merry Old England's volkish soul, but very much an American internet-era import. Carl Benjamin as others have pointed out started his career by commenting on American controversies. And in my opinion the entirety of the Restore aesthetic and platform is imported 1:1 from American religious conservative factions, who themselves misunderstand and distort 4chan internet culture--which was international and not specifically Anglo or anything else. I believe Restore isn't even intended as a vehicle to win elections, but to provide a platform for its associated influencers for more media prominence and media share in the United States. Many of the arguments its spokesmouths like Benjamin, Downes, and Tomlinson are making don't fit in an English discourse very well at all, but are imported echoes from the United States.
This is similar to how Zemmour self-destructed by the way; he could have been just about immigration. But both he and the people around him found it irresistible to engage with American media culture and sign off on all the "based" talking points. This drastically limits your reach as a political party anywhere. But it's more gratifying to be a pundit and media figure...I am that too by the way. But I don't pretend I've ever lead or want to lead a political movement.
None of this is an endorsement of Reform or its own associates, who I understand are also inadequate, and still less the Tories.
