Tanning In The English Rain

I agree 100%. I am and have always been very proud to be Scottish. That will never change. But I am not proud of what the SNP has done to Scotland (or Labour for that matter), what it has become and I fear we are now in relentless decline, in stark contradistinction to our glorious past. But the Scots have nobody to blame but themselves. Nobody forced this dire mediocrity on them. They voted for it. Again and again and again. Devolution has only made it worse. The politics and ambition of the kailyard.

The conversation in Jewish families is, as Trevor Phillips said this morning, “who among our friends would save us?” We are in an undeniable crisis of antisemitism, and many are asking whether they need to leave Britain. Many have already done so. This is heartbreaking, but the time for weak words is over. We need to be unsparingly honest about what is happening, and what we can do about it. Antisemitism is an ancient disease, and there is no point pretending it does not come from several sources. We saw the surge in antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It has been partly purged, but there are some - like Naz Shah - on the Labour benches who have made antisemitic statements in the past. We saw in the Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal that Labour are up to their necks in corruption and communalism in places like the West Midlands. Starmer and Mahmood got away with this - but they knew the police and council had worked together to ban the Israeli fans. They didn’t intervene to stop it because they didn’t see the problem. But the scandal happened because the authorities took the side of Islamists over Jews. Now we see the surge of the Greens - a party absolutely riven with sectarianism and antisemitic candidates and activists. And on the online right, we’re starting to see some of the antisemitic language we’ve seen emerge in the recent years in America. It’s not at all of the same scale - but that could change and it would be wrong to ignore it. Above all though - and this is where too many find it difficult to tell the truth - we have an undoubted antisemitism problem among the Muslim population. Polls show among British Muslims: - Around half say “Jews have too much power over UK government policy.” - Four in ten say the same for the media and the financial industry. - Only one in four believe Hamas committed rape and murder on 7 October. - Only one in four believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland. - Around half feel more sympathy with Hamas than Israel. When people ask why Britain - for so long previously a welcoming place for Jews - suddenly has such a problem, this is obviously the most significant change. The official Muslim population here has doubled from 1.6 million in 2001 to over four million today. Some studies suggest seventeen per cent of our population will be Muslim by 2050. Only around half of Muslims in Britain today were born here. And the countries from which Muslim immigrants are coming often have entrenched antisemitic cultures. Pakistan, Somalia, the Middle East. We are importing hatred that should never be welcome here. We are faced with a choice between keeping our Jewish citizens and receiving more and more people from these places. The choice we should make ought to be obvious. We should deport any foreigner who espouses this hatred. We should show zero tolerance to any British nationals who incites hatred and violence. We have to clamp down on the hate marches, and lock up those who are guilty of public order offences and incitement - including anybody who calls to “globalise the intifada” and chants “death to the IDF.” Above all, we have to stop importing hatred and extremism and antisemitism from countries where we know these things are rife. I waited a few days after the Golders Green attack before commenting because I wanted to see what the reaction would be. Unfortunately it was exactly as anticipated: weak words, no action, promises to build higher walls around our Jewish citizens. But I am not willing to sit here and watch as my friends discuss with their loved ones whether they should give up on Britain and emigrate. As a country, we have a choice to make - and my choice is to stand unequivocally with Britain’s Jews.

Amongst the best unscripted political speeches I have ever heard. Many said Kemi's focus on trans/CRT culture wars made her too divisive. But it's now clear it gave her the rare moral conviction to recognise what is real & defend what is right. Superb.

@daniel_ashman @gurprinderdeep @afneil The UK isn't carpet bombing anyone

@gurprinderdeep @afneil Are the enemies of the UK carpet bombing millions of people's homes? With holding aid to the UK population?

M’lud, I give you Exhibit A as evidence of a classic attitude to explain why we’re a country in decline. Exhibit B will be about slavery reparations, for which we should pony up a trillion or so.

4,500 years ago, on this island, people walked their pigs from Scotland to Wiltshire. 🇬🇧🏛️ They came from the Scottish highlands, the mountains of Wales and the moors of the north. And they brought their pigs with them. Bones found by archaeologists at Durrington Walls, right next to Stonehenge, told the story. The teeth of those pigs locked in the chemistry of the water they drank and the grass they ate. The chemistry was Scottish. The chemistry was Welsh. The chemistry was northern English. The animals weren't local. They had been brought hundreds of miles. And carcasses don't survive a journey that long. They walked. People drove herds from one end of these islands to the other. On foot. Every year. To meet at the same place at the same time. Britain already had engineered roads by then. Older than the pyramids of Egypt. We've told that story before. But this was a different problem. Bringing whole herds. From Scotland. From Wales. From the north. To one place. At one time of year. Every year. For generations. We have found no maps. No written language. No way to send word ahead. How do you think they did it? We don't fully know. But here's what we do know. These British islands were a community before they were a country. ⏳ Lets keep that spirit going. proudofus.co.uk/support 🙏🇬🇧 Be part of us. Be Proud Of Us.🙏🇬🇧

@xsteven123 @PaulEmbery Wu Yize waving Chinese flag immediately after winning at the Crucible is highly unusual. World Snooker Championship has never had a strong flag tradition—UK winners never did this. With Zhao Xintong before, this looks less like a one-off and more like a new, China-driven shift.

@TanningRain @PaulEmbery Most sports men and women are happy to hold or wear the flag of the country of birth after winning a championship so I dont see why it would be any different in a snooker world championship match

What a gripping world snooker final. And, Wu Yize: what a lovely, unassuming young winner.

@xsteven123 @PaulEmbery That flag was thrown around him by his handler. It's not a team sport. You obviously don't know China. Snooker is in danger

@Chalkie100 @xsteven123 @PaulEmbery Team GB....team sport. Snooker is not

@xsteven123 @TanningRain @PaulEmbery Agreed!

Exceptional poise, moral clarity, courage and grace from @KemiBadenoch in the face of the Gaza mob. (Total 🔥 too.) Free Britain from jihadism!

My word. What a spontaneous burst of raw energy and political authenticity this is. Moral character and eloquent principle of the sort we haven't seen since Mrs Thatcher. No script. No rehearsed platitudes. No regard for focus-group sensitivities. Just authentic Kemi. Marvellous.

@TheExtremeMusi1 If I Fell This Boy Because We Can Work It Out Ticket to Ride Baby’s in Black And I Love Her A Day in the Life I’ve Got a Feeling Getting Better

Are John Lennon and Paul McCartney one of the BEST duets in music HISTORY???

@TheExtremeMusi1 Not one of . THE best

@000Angus000 @BeatlemaniaUK Maybe I'm Amazed?

@BeatlemaniaUK Lennon. McCartney is a brilliant musician but has produced nothing that inspired me since the Beatles. Lennon on the other hand.... youtu.be/HS5SdnrqZvs?si…

Do you prefer John Lennon's or Paul McCartney's songwriting style? #Beatles #TheBeatles

@BeatlemaniaUK No preference

@MahyarTousi Greens want them!

This is so wrong. It's bullying the British voters. Don't threaten voters with illegal migrants. Put them off-site and then deport them.

@BeatlemaniaUK both

@PaulEmbery Well I vote Conservative but have to put up with the incompetent bollocks Labour is imposing on us,

This is not a serious way of doing politics. There will be many in Green constituencies who did not vote Green, and many in Reform constituencies who did not vote Reform. No government should set public policy with the purpose of punishing or rewarding an entire constituency on the grounds of which candidate it returned at the polls. Reform should withdraw this stupid commitment pronto.

@NickBuckleyMBE @AEHALL1983 How is it punishing voters who vote for open borders & welcome dinghy arrivals, Nick? How is placing boatloads of men from 3rd world patriarchal cultures in a detention centre near to them a punishment when @rachelmillward wants them roaming around free, in our areas, not hers?

@NickBuckleyMBE @joeyjojojunior_ Why is it punishment? I see it as reward

@joeyjojojunior_ The 'location' is the point of my tweet. Punishing people specifially for the way they voted is tyranny.

This stunt has backfired and unfortunately, that is all Reform UK are - a PR company hoping to be elected. I despise the Greens, but a serious democracy does not punish voters for voting a certain way. That is called tyranny.

@NickBuckleyMBE How is it punishing? Greens WANT immigrants