A Right Royal Quarrel - Revisited

 As we know, Charles Spencer has written a new book about his late sister, Princess Diana. It's called "Swan Song: Diana, my sister. Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted". At the risk of sounding cynical, that sounds like a precis of the book and, knowing what we know, why bother to read it? After all, haven't enough books, articles and TV documentaries been made about the late princess already? Well, apparently not. Again, as we know, a huge row has broken out between Spencer and the King. As the BBC comments:

"Earl Spencer claims in a new book the then-Prince of Wales said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession. In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss".

Now, were the Royal family not involved, and were the Earl not an aristocrat, there would have been no publicity at all about Diana's death and no book written about that tragic event 25 years later. Personally, I think this matter should  dropped from the public arena and the princess left to rest in peace. I know that many people will agree with me but, unfortunately, we are going to be bombarded with the issue on all the media outlets, and thus be difficult to avoid.

For people are taking sides on this issue. Rory Stewart, who is a friend of the King, said on BBC Newsnight:

“I know the King, I simply cannot believe that he could have said something like that”. 

And other commentators, such as Gyles Brandreth, are defending the King. I have not found any defenders of the book online, but I'm sure they will make an appearance. Earl Spencer has reacted with matching indignation to the royal denial. Quoted in the Guardian, he says:

Spencer said: “It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I’d lied without the king being able to deny what I’d said. I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the ‘recollections may vary’ quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place. He added that “Diana would be cheering from the rafters at this book”

Which side are you on? If, like me, your answer is "Neither", I wish you well with your other media choices. As for the book, well, all this controversy will do book sales no harm. TV and press interviews will bring the interviewees a few quid. That might sound cynical, but as a musician I know once said: "There's one problem with being a cynic: you're always right".

As for the earl himself, he would be well advised to look through his own back catalogue. I have one of his books - a good one - which should stand as a warning to him. It's called "Killers of the King: The Men Who dared to Execute Charles 1". Now, as we know, the Parliamentary regime that replaced the Stuarts did not last and the King's son, Charles 2, was restored to the throne. Now, as Jennie Erikson says, in her review:

"This book is, at its core, an account of the bloody revenge meted out to all Parliamentarians involved in the execution of Charles I. After Charles I's death, England was briefly ruled by a republic before the monarchy was restored by the dead king's son, Charles II. In Killers of the King, Charles Spencer (the author and, confusingly, the third Charles in this review) delightfully reveals an intense personality trait of the young new king: when it came to bloodthirstiness and revenge, the Count of Monte Cristo had nothing on Charles II! Spencer discusses in detail Charles' life-long quest for revenge against those who had a hand in his father's death."

And the revenge was bloody indeed. Many of the people who carried out the execution were hung, drawn and quartered. Others, who fled abroad were hunted across Europe and even the American colonies. Even the corpse of Oliver Cromwell was dug up and thrown in a ditch. Earl Spencer had better start looking over his shoulder. Charles 3 might show vindictiveness in other ways.

Sitll, as my colleague, Rednev said on Facebook, what does the issue about Diana matter to people under 40 in this country and around the world? In another 25 years, this whole issue will have passed into history.

Nigel and an Opportunist's Dilemma

 I'd rather not be blogging about Nigel Farage (NF) again so quickly, but the current controversy over his refusal to condemn the Southampton riots - fully justified in being regarded as disgraceful - is lacking in one respect, I think. The Prime Minister spoke accurately when he said, in reply to NF's two-tier policing" speech about the Henry Nowak murder,  in the House of Commons:

“His [Mr Farage’s] response has been to appeal for rage, rage. That’s his response to a father who has lost his son and asked for that not to happen. Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying ‘please don’t’ is unforgivable. It shows exactly who he is.”

It certainly shows NF to be an opportunist, as he always has been. We have, for example, seen him attempt to exploit anti-Semitism, among other topics, to his advantage. He keeps quiet about it now, but:

"In 2017, Farage came under fire for antisemitism after an LBC interview in which he described the so-called US “Jewish lobby” as a concern of his.
He has spoken of a "new world order" and the threat of a "globalist" government, often singling out Goldman Sachs and George Soros".

He has sought to ingratiate himself with both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin:

"Farage ... defended Trump’s infamous "grab ’em by the pu**y" comment, saying that, "men say dreadful things sometimes".
If all of us were caught out on what we’ve said on a night out after a drink, none of us would be here," he added."

As for Putin: 

"Vladimir Putin is a nationalist Russian. He wants to get back — at least I thought he wanted to get back — the Russian-speaking areas [of Ukraine] into his country," ... He (NF) said that the invasion was "abhorrent" but also "predictable", and blamed Putin’s actions on the EU and Nato provoking him".

It may be fanciful, but I am certain that, in the awful event of NF becoming Prime Minister, we would see him welcoming Trump and Putin on state visits to this country - perhaps both at the same time.

But this is not the main issue here. I said above that the main issue about NF's blathering over two-tier policing and the anger over his refusal to condemn the riots in Southampton last week is lacking an appreciation of one unspoken fact.

 

This fact is that NF is caught in a dilemma when it comes to violence of this type - but don't expect him to admit it. He cannot afford to be seen as condoning lawlessness - crime is a major Reform UK issue - but neither can he afford to alienate the angry individuals who attend such riots, or the right-wing rallies that blight our capital city periodically. Still less can he afford to upset the organisers and inciters of these events, such as Tommy Robinson, Paul Golding, Katy Hopkins, Laurence Fox, Elon Musk, etc,etc. All these extremist luminaries have supported NF and Reform UK in various ways, but in particular, at the last General Election. If they turned against him, he would lose a lot of popular (not to say populist) support. That, I believe, is why NF is so ambivalent on this issue.

But there could be another problem for NF if he condemned right-wing populist violence, even though he might not be aware of it. The extreme Right thrives on violence, be it physical or online. They are by no means averse to using violence and terror tactics against those they class as being traitors, and while NF might have bodyguards, the neo-Nazi psychopaths, of whom we see many on anti-migrant protests or "Unite the Nation" marches, could well target Reform UK members and officials. 

In other words, NF and his followers could become a persecuted minority. They might then appreciate the feelings of other such minorities, in this country and elsewhere. 

And why so many become refugees...

Nigel Shares the Love!

 

Nonsense, of course, but I thought it would attract your attention. You, dear reader, might be an admirer of Nigel Farage (NF) seen above. If so, you will appreciate the picture. If, like me, you are not someone who appreciates NF, the picture will not be acceptable. Perhaps not, but you, like me, will be amazed that so many people regard this man with such affection. And that is a good starting point for this blog post.

NF, I think, is becoming a complete megalomaniac. As we know, there is understandable controversy over the horrible murder of Henry Nowak and his death under arrest by the Southampton police. As we know, there is an issue of racism involved, and questions raised about "two-tier policing". We know from previous incidents, such as the Southport murders in 2024, that NF feels impelled to speak out publicly on such matters. NF blamed the murders of the three young Southport girls on Muslim asylum seekers. Well, we know how accurate that was. NF blamed the police for not providing full information, but that didn't stop the rioting in Southport and elsewhere. He is at it again, seeking fit to "address the nation" on the topic. This, to me, is evidence of NF's megalomania. Only the Monarch or a religious leader has the authority to "address" the nation. 

As for NF's "address", he says of the Henry Nowak murder: "... the rights and privileges of white people matter less than ethnic minorities”, adding that “white lives matter…” and there needs to be “an end to anti-white prejudice”. This echoes what Zia Yusuf, a Reform UK associate of NF, has said elsewhere: “White people are now demonstrably the biggest victims of racism in Britain”.

The Byline Times comments: "Now I’m not sure what definition of “demonstrably” Yusuf and Reform are using here, but official figures demonstrate that black people in the UK are around 16 times more likely to be the victims of racial hate crime, per head of population, than their white counterparts, with Asian people being around nine times more likely".

Not that such details will concern NF. He has other fish to fry. Henry Nowak's father has appealed for calm, but he has been ignored by NF, along with the right-wing press, the Tories, Tommy Robinson and the Far Right. In much the same way, appeals for calm by parents of one of the three murdered Southport girls were ignored by NF and the rioters in Southport, who staged a violent confrontation with police outside the  Southport Mosque, despite the fact that the murderer did not come from a Muslim family. Well, as NF would say, quoting Lenin, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. NF had his reputation to consider - and an opportunity to exploit, as he has now. I believe he has condemned last night's rioting in Southampton, but I cannot find any trace of it. What is remembered of NF's address is his call for the public to act with "pure, cold rage". There is a picture of it below.

This leads to a question that has not been examined yet. In fact, I haven't seen any comment about it anywhere. The riots that happened in Southampton last night concern me because they have been organised suspiciously quickly. I don't know how many of the rioters were locals, but I remember that, during the post-murder riots in Southport, 2024, the majority of the rioters were said to be outsiders, inspired and mobilised in part by Daniel Thomas ("Tommo"), an associate of Tommy Robinson, who was on holiday in Cyprus.

Well, Tommy Robinson was present at the protest/riots in Southampton last night. Thanks to Searchlight magazine, we know that other far Right luminaries: Paul Golding (Britain First); Nick Tenconi (UKIP); "Tommo" and Laurence Fox were also present. And there were overtly fascist and neo-Nazi elements in the crowd. Searchlight says here: 

"Then, following a call from Robinson himself that Digwa’s family should be driven out of Southampton, the demonstration moved towards Digwa’s family home in Portiswood.

Now, the mood and character of the demonstration changed. Masked figures moved to the front, nazi salutes were being thrown and ‘White Power’ was being chanted.

Officers were targeted with stones in St Denys. Bins were set alight and rolled towards police lines. Riot shields went up. Hampshire Constabulary deployed its helicopter, additional riot vans and mounted officers as the situation deteriorated across multiple locations. By late evening, the violence had not abated".

To conclude, I think that we should be concerned that many non-political people are being drawn to such events and are being influenced by extremist ideas. I can only hope that there will be no more riots inspired by the Nowak murder and/or Farage's "two-tier policing" nonsense. I also think that we who oppose right-wing extremism should review our ways of dealing with it. The beast needs to be tamed and caged.

Essa Suleiman and Several Recurring Themes

 

The Golders Green attacks have raised a number of issues of concern. The growth of anti-Semitism is prominent among them, quite rightly. British Jews see it as another manifestation of hatred directed against them and which has caused a number of British Jews to leave Britain for Israel. Richard Manville (see link) told the BBC:

Richard says he now lives in a constant state of anxiety.

"I don't feel safe walking down the street," he says. "I have to look over my shoulder. I'm constantly aware when I drive my car and I'm checking the wing mirrors."
"This isn't happening in a distant place," Richard points out. "It's the United Kingdom. It's England. It's Manchester. It's Salford. And it's round the corner to me."

Richard is not an isolated case, As The Guardian reported:

"British Jews feel under siege and worry about their children displaying religious symbols in public, community leaders have said. There have been a series of attempted arson attacks at Jewish sites ... including incidents at two synagogues in London and one at a building used by the charity Jewish Futures. Four Jewish community ambulances were also set on fire in north London in the early hours of 23 March. Parents are picking children up from stations, fearing drop-offs at nurseries and schools, and choosing universities based on safety rather than academic fit. Some avoid wearing religious or Hebrew symbols, while many think twice before attending large Jewish events".

The concern for the safety of British Jews is set to have political consequences. Keir Starmer has said that there is a case for some protest marches against Israel to be banned. As the BBC reports today:

"Asked if he wanted tougher policing of language used during marches, or if he wanted to stop some protests altogether, Sir Keir Starmer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think certainly the first, and I think there are instances for the latter."

The "instances" include chants which call for violence against Jews. I doubt that policing of language will go unchallenged, as, unless the chants and slogans are overt calls for violence, forms of words can be interpreted in different ways. But it needs to be discussed.

Another issue is that of the anti-Zionist lobby and their role in promoting, or rather not promoting, anti-Semitism. Stop the War Coalition says:

" We believe that the statements by Jonathan Hall KC, suggesting that the Palestine marches should be subject to a ‘moratorium’ because of the series of antisemitic attacks in North London, are unacceptable. 

We condemn unequivocally these attacks, as we do all forms of antisemitism and racism. No one should be attacked for their race or religion. 

...Our marches are against the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza in protest at the role of the Israeli government, and the complicity of the British government in these attacks. 

These marches are supported by many Jewish people who attend. They are not the ‘hate marches’ described by right wing politicians but expressions of solidarity and support for those under attack".

Now, I have maintained from October 7th, 2023, that the whole Gaza tragedy was deliberately provoked by Hamas, who launched vicious attacks against Israel in the full knowledge that there would be a ferocious Israeli reaction. I believed then, and believe now, that Hamas wanted to lure Israel into a war of attrition which would bring international opprobrium, with the possible beneficial side-effects of (1) widening the conflict and (2) causing political and social turmoil in the lands of Israel's allies. I hardly need to spell out that, thanks to considerable help from Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the first of these strategic aims has been remarkably successful. The rise of anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian activity in the UK are examples of the success of the second strategic aim.

Hamas knew they could count on support from pro-Palestinian organisations in the lands of their enemies. This is not to say that organisations such as Stop the War support Hamas directly, but they can be relied upon to side against Israel. After 7/10/23, had Israel held back from retaliation and just fired one artillery shell into Gaza, killing one dog in a Palestinian family's back yard, Stop the War and others would have been demonstrating in London, protesting against this wicked Zionist murder of a family pet. This does not mean that I blame anti-Zionist organisations and individuals for the rise in anti-Semitism, but their campaigning, combined with the Gaza and Iran wars themselves, has undoubtedly raised the political temperature whereby real antisemites, be they fascists, IRGC/Hamas supporters or just plain anti-social psychotic thugs, feel empowered to attack Jews.

Which leads me to my last cause of concern: the man in the picture above, Essa Suleiman. Regular readers of this blog know that one of my recurring themes has been, and still is, the unprovoked attacks on innocent members of the public by dangerous mental health patients. This issue continues to haunt us, as we have seen in the inquiry into the Valdo Calocane murders in Nottingham, June 2023. At the inquiry, a former psychiatric nurse, Gary Carter said of the triple murderer, Calocane: 

"Asked what went wrong with Calocane's care in the community, he said he had learned 95% of what he knew about Calocane since the fatal attacks in June 2023.
"Basically, this man in a nutshell, he lied, he deceived, he out-manoeuvred medical staff in particular, on the ward and in the community. He wasn't honest," he said.

It looks as if something similar happened with Essa Suleiman. If anything, his being at liberty is even more baffling, as he had a history of violence, a hatred of Jews and mental instability. 

In December 2008, when (incredibly) working as a security guard at a primary school, he was jailed for 9 years for stabbing two policemen and an Alsatian police dog.
Besides this, it has been reported that he had other convictions for assaults on police officers. He had been referred to the Prevent deradicalisation programme in 2020, but it was - obviously - unsuccessful. There are also reports that he haunted vigils held for the hostages formerly held by Hamas in Gaza, where he was verbally and physically abusive towards Jews.

As for his mental instability, the Jerusalem Post says:

"In court on Friday, it was revealed that Suleiman was living in supported accommodation for people discharged from a secure hospital. South London and Maudsley NHS Trust then confirmed that Suleiman was under the care of their mental health services until the start of this week".

The similarities with the Valdo Calocane case are pretty clear to me. We can only be thankful the the three knife attacks he carried out last Wednesday did not result in three deaths, as did those carried out by Calocane. In turn, let's hope that the victims make a full recovery, that there will be a full investigation into why Suleiman was at liberty and serious action taken to prevent dangerous individuals like him being released from secure incarceration.

Donald Trump: Who's a Nice Guy?

 

I didn't actually want to write another blog post about DT so soon, but present events make it necessary. As we know, Trump's war against Iran has not gone according to plan, even though he does not admit it. Instead, he has followed the rule espoused by an old secondary school teacher of mine: "When in the wrong, attack!". Most offensive to most people, of course (i.e. all Roman Catholics), are Trump's denouncements of the first American Pope. DT has accused the pontiff of being "WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy" in a long Truth Social post. He later said to reporters he was "not a big fan". He has been scathing of Keir Starmer and NATO over what he sees as lack of support for his undeclared war with Iran, His insult to British and NATO casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused considerable (and justified!) resentment. Even the Royal British Legion, not known for taking a critical stance in political matters, issued a critical missive refuting Trump' remarks. 457 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, yet, according to Trump:

"They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan ...and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".

In my previous post, I said that Trump would turn on his domestic critics in the US, should the war go against him. I was wrong. He is moving against them now. As "The Hill" reported, his first targets were the Democrat Party:

“The Radical Left Democrats, a Party that has completely lost its way, are complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack, by the United States and Israel, on Iran,” Trump wrote in a Monday evening Truth Social post.
“What most people understand is that they are only complaining BECAUSE I DID IT and, if I didn’t do it, they would be screaming — Why didn’t ‘TRUMP’ attack Iran, he should do it, IMMEDIATELY? There’s nothing surprising about this!” the president added.

Even former supporters have received the lash of his tongue. The BBC says here:

"In launching his attack on four conservative commentators who have been critical of the joint US-Israeli war against Iran, Donald Trump wrote that they were "stupid people" and that "nobody cares about them"...The US president singled out two former popular Fox News evening-programme hosts, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, and right-wing conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Candace Owens, for criticism".

US citizens who oppose the war should beware; DT's hostility is bound to get worse.

But no-one has noticed Trump's latest insult - this time to an American singer, long-venerated by fans of heavy metal, heavily disguised though it may be. He has been threatening Iran again. His war of choice has not gone his way, despite his blustering and absurd claims of victory. He has said:

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan - They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he writes on social media.
"We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran," he adds. Warning there will be "NO MORE MR NICE GUY" if talks fail, Trump says these bridges and power plants will "come down fast, they’ll come down easy".

Have you spotted the insult? The metal music reference was a clue. "No More Mr Nice Guy" is an old metal standard by that grand old stager, Alice Cooper. How he must feel being quoted by Trump is beyond imagination. Known to Rock history as "The Godfather of Shock Rock", Alice is 78 years old and unlikely to be fazed by any snide references by Donald Trump. As a lyrics writer myself, I wouldn't like one of my songs to be quoted by Trump. I do hope Alice replies, musically for preference.

Now, there has been a lot of speculation about Donald Trump's mental health. As Ariano Baio says in The Independent:

Ty Cobb, an attorney who served as White House counsel during President Donald Trump’s first term, once again raised alarm bells at the president’s cognitive decline, claiming it has “accelerated” and that Trump now shows signs of dementia. Cobb, who has repeatedly raised similar concerns about Trump, told MS NOW’s Ari Melber Thursday that Trump, 79, “is somebody who is just lost.”
“His vocabulary has shrunk, he’s resorted to profanity and threats, totally impulsive– suggestive of the absence of any frontal lobe controls,” Cobb said.

I am sure that is accurate, but. speaking personally, Trump remains an example of what can happen when the type of bloke that we in the UK would call "the pub loudmouth" is put in charge. This is the type, usually right-wing, usually racist, who stands at the bar and propounds all manner of evils that he could resolve at a stroke. I suppose a US version of the term would be "Barfly"? I am informed that DT is teetotal, but he's still the type. The pub loudmouth usually has a coterie of admirers who feed his ego and no criticism from any outsider is allowed. Does this not sound like Donald Trump, albeit on a smaller scale? And we can all see that Trump is failing to learn a lesson that the pub loudmouth never has to face - the fact that simple solutions lead to far more complex problems.

I am well aware that some people will criticise me for treating what is a highly serious matter with a degree of levity. No levity is intended about a conflict that Donald Trump wanted and which has led to the deaths of thousands of people. Wikipedia reports up to 3, 636 dead in Iran alone. By no means am I seeking to trivialise this war, but I hope that one thing is clear: it is absurd for Donald Trump to speak of "No More, Mr Nice Guy", when his actions before and during this war prove him to be nothing of the kind.

Alice Cooper - will he be a nice guy to Trump?

Donald Trump - His Legacy

 

Donald Trump, like the rest of us, is not getting any younger. As a not-so-venerable old age approaches him, perhaps we can come to an assessment of the man and his future legacy. In other words, how will we remember him?

I think we will remember him, putting it simply, as The Master of Disaster. Looking back over what he has done in his two terms as US President, there is ample evidence to support his claim to that title. Not that the disasters he has caused have affected him personally, of course. He retains supreme confidence in his abilities, as do a depressingly large number of people in the USA, and here. This is in spite of the fact that he has besmirched the office of President with a long list of unpleasant incidents, allegations and, putting it delicately, legal difficulties. Cosmopolitan has listed most of them:

1970s: Discrimination against Black renters

1980s: Sexual misconduct allegations begin

September 2005: Trump is caught on tape advocating “grabbing women by the pussy”

April 2016: Trump is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl 

October 2016: A journalist accuses Trump of assaulting her in Mar-a-Lago

21 June 2019: E Jean Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in a department store 

And, of course, it does not stop there. Among others, there are the murky affairs of alleged Russian interference in he 2016 election campaign, the Hush money payment  to Stormy Daniels and the allegation that he incited the Capitol building riot of January 6, 2021, by his supporters. Now, Trump has pleaded not guilty in all these matters, and has, in some cases, been exonerated by the senate and/or the US Supreme Court, but this is hardly a record to be proud of. I would argue that this is a disaster of itself, and I can only wonder at how he has survived into his second presidential term.

But it does not end there. Into his second term, Trump has responded to populist demands in two ways. He has released all the rioters convicted after the Capitol riots, overturning the decision of the courts and showing contempt for the US Capitol police who faced that riot and the feelings of the relatives of the five policemen who lost their lives as a result of that riot - four by suicide. If no-one else, it was certainly a disaster for those relatives. It also calls into question Trump's respect for his country's democratic traditions by what can only be described as his condoning of anti-democratic political violence.

The second way Trump has pandered to the wishes of his admirers is by unleashing the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in a hunt for illegal aliens. As we know, ICE agents have conducted themselves like an occupying army in their own country, using violent tactics when carrying out arrests and being confronted by protesters. ICE have done their work so enthusiastically, that they have even arrested US citizens - and shot two dead. I am sure that many US citizens would concur with my view that Trump has been a human relations disaster for the United States. I can only offer my support to all such sane Americans - especially since Trump has admirers here who would like to emulate his "achievements".

But, having caused disaster in the USA, Trump seems to have decided to impact internationally. He has made some surprisingly ineffective efforts to end the war in Ukraine. He has made statements that appeared to menace the independence of Greenland. There was his Boys' Own adventure into Venezuela, where, as we all know, US Special forces made an illegal entry into that country and arrested its president. He then imposed his terms upon Venezuela, justifying it by saying he was protecting the interests of the USA. 

This Venezuelan affair, I would argue, has led to Trump's biggest disaster yet. Because he, to his satisfaction, "succeeded" in dealing with an apparent Venezuela threat, he has jumped to the conclusion that he could carry out a similar short, sharp, operation against Iran. It's becoming clear that is not going to happen. Like a good PC war games player, Trump has listed all the "victories" of the US/Israeli action so far: the missile strikes, the Iranian missile sites destroyed, the liquidation of the Iranian leadership, etc.  

Alas for Trump the PC wargamer - the Iranian regime isn't playing by the same set of rules. Despite fearful punishment, the fighting arm of the Iranian government - the Revolutionary Guard - is still fighting. And, as we know, the Middle East is ablaze with missile strikes from both sides. Al Jazeera says:

"So far, Iran has launched strikes across nine countries in the region: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An Iranian drone also struck a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus".

And, in just 14 days, thousands of people have been killed and injured. The worst casualties, of course, have been in Iran. According to Al-Jazeera , 1,444 Iranians have been killed and 18,551 injured - so far. For an up-to-date casualty list in all countries involved, click on THIS LINK. 

Now, as regular readers of this blog know, I absolutely detest the dictatorship in Iran. I shall shed no tears for any casualties they suffer, but widespread killing of civilians is not the way to change a government. If anything, the regime will be strengthened by the common suffering inflicted upon the Iranian population. Trump has shown himself to be be utterly insensitive on this matter to the point of stupidity. He previously encouraged the Iranian people to rise against their government and promised to send help. He didn't. Then, after this war began, he said:

"...to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere".

Nobody seems to have told him that houses are not bomb proof and cannot withstand direct hits from either bombs or missiles. The school building certainly didn't protect 168 children who were killed at the Minab elementary school. Mass casualties are not the best way to make friends and influence people. The new Ayatollah Khameni is hardly likely to want to negotiate with the people who killed his father. The economic war against America's allies will continue, perhaps leading to a worldwide recession. This war is already a human and economic disaster - and is set to get worse.

But back to the Donald himself. If the war goes to his satisfaction, he will become even more confident that he has a role to play on the world stage. Greenland, Mexico and Ukraine could well become targets for his imperial ambitions. World War Three could become a lot more likely to happen.

However, if, as is more likely, the war does not go his way, he will immediately start to find scapegoats. He will blame allies, especially the UK, for not supporting him properly. He might turn on the Iranians, blaming them for not seizing their chance to rid themselves of the Mullahs. He will blame everyone but himself, apologising for nothing and explaining nothing. The human(and humanitarian) disaster he has inflicted upon the world will mean nothing to him. But he won't stop there...

If Trump's war fails, I have no doubt that he will seek every kind of retribution against opponents and critics of the war in the United States itself. He will regard them as traitors and saboteurs, absolving himself of any blame, and be out for what he sees as justified revenge. And this will be nothing new. In September last year, Anthony Zurcher of the BBC In Depth wrote:

 

"Donald Trump swept back into the White House this year promising, among other things, retribution against his perceived enemies. Nine months later, the unprecedented scope of that pledge – or threat – is fully taking shape.
He has vocally encouraged his attorney general to target political opponents. He has suggested the government should revoke TV licences to bring a biased mainstream media to heel. He has targeted law firms he sees as adversaries, pulling government security clearances and contracts".

Reuters looked at this in detail, saying that Trump had 470 people who had upset him in his first stint as President, and afterwards, marked down for retribution. They commented:

"The Trump vengeance campaign fuses personal vendettas with a drive for cultural and political dominance, Reuters found. His administration has wielded executive power to punish perceived foes – firing prosecutors who investigated his bid to overturn the 2020 election, ordering punishments of media organizations seen as hostile, penalizing law firms tied to opponents, and sidelining civil servants who question his policies. Many of those actions face legal challenges".

All this was bad enough, but, should Trump fail over Iran, his campaign against those he perceives as being internal enemies will be much worse. He will bring his disaster home, and blame others for it.

To conclude, I know that some people will say that I have only scratched the surface of this topic. Perhaps, but I intended to show why I believe Trump to be eligible for the title of "The Master of Disaster", and I hope that I have succeeded.

Mind you, there could well be someone who is happy at Trump's (mis)adventure in the Middle East. Guess who...

Fascists and Others - High Street to Whitehall

 

Back in the 1970s, the Tom Robinson band recorded a song called "Up Against the Wall", which contained a line of contemporary significance. Here's part of the lyrics, with the said line in italics;

"Consternation in Mayfair
Rioting in Notting Hill Gate
Fascists marching on the high street
Carving up the welfare state".

Well as we saw yesterday, the Fash don't just march on the High Street any more, they now feel free to march in Whitehall. With dismay, I saw the large numbers of marchers - up to 150 000, some say. Now, I am not saying that every one of yesterday's marchers was an avowed Fascist or National Socialist. In fact, if you look carefully at the photo above, you can make out the face of a lady of colour. A lot of commentators hold the view stated here by Sky News:

"...it's clear that simply writing off protesters as far right doesn't really capture what's going on either. The audience is too broad to fit just that label".

To a limited extent, that is an accurate statement. Many of the marchers have concerns about a number of issues, and react strongly to the charge of being far-right wing. These issues include immigration, small boat passengers and what they see as threats to the "British way of life" - whatever that means. The problem is that the extreme Right exploit those issues and see the wider concerns as opportunities to profit from. And the plain fact is that it was far Right elements that organised the march on Saturday. 

Foremost among those elements, of course, is the prophet of the far Right, Tommy Robinson, aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. There can be no doubting this man's far Right credentials. He has been a member of the BNP and the British Freedom Party. He was leader of the English Defence League (EDL) from 2009 to 2013, and since that time he has been an adviser to the leader of UKIP and, according to Searchlight magazine, is now a member of Advance UK.

While Robinson might change his political allegiances frequently, he cannot escape his burgeoning criminal record. He has convictions for assault, mortgage fraud, travelling on a false passport, stalking and Contempt of Court - one of which latter convictions are for breaching a court order relating to allegations he made about a 15-year old Syrian refugee. He has served a number of prison sentences - and he's only 42!

And this is the person that stood on a stage in central London along with such "inspirational" luminaries as Katie Hopkins and Laurence Fox, to inspire unity in the kingdom! It is a sad day for Britain when oddballs and jailbirds can bring 100,000 people on to the streets, but that's what happened on Saturday.

The point is here that while not every marcher is a right-wing extremist, right-wing extremists are organising the marches and mobilising anger over issues such as Islamism, asylum seekers and alleged threats to women and girls. For this reason, then, it is surely reasonable to describe events like the Unite the Kingdom March as Far Right events, given that they have a Far Right agenda.

But of course, there were marchers with "non-political" intent. The far Right, of course, have a talent for attracting violent, thuggish elements. This dates back to the days of Mussolini's Squadristi and the Nazi SA. Well, followers in their footsteps were out in force on Saturday, and violence did break out as many commentators had expected. As Searchlight magazine said:

"Needless to say, this being a Tommy Robinson event, it degenerated into violence later in the afternoon when large groups of his supporters tried to break through police lines and attack anti-fascists".

 George Monahan, of the New Statesman, saw what happened:

   "The Unite the Kingdom protesters aimed projectiles at the counter protesters, at the police and, if one of their own had climbed to an appealing spot such as the top of a letterbox, at him. When a thrown bottle hit a horse in the face, causing it to cry out and rear back, the crowd cheered".

This is reminiscent of the violence that broke out on National Front marches in the 1970s. And there was another similarity. Monahan again:

"Earlier a man had explained to me how the “top blokes” of both Millwall and Charlton, who were playing their derby, had arranged that the fans would not fight as usual but unite and head to the protest. A man with a Millwall Loyalists flag gave the “No one likes us, we don’t care” chant. Men came down from scaffolding they’d climbed to shout asking if anyone had “any fucking packet”, meaning cocaine".

Here is another feature of far Right activity; in the 1970s, the National Front (NF) and British Movement (BM) tried to recruit from Britain's soccer hooligan "firms". As NF leader, Martin Webster, said then: "There's a lot you can do with a soccer hooligan". Times haven't changed, really. 

By way of a conclusion, if I were to have spoken to a non-Nazi Unite the Kingdom marcher, I would have warned them about the nature of their "leadership" and its true aims. I would point to the fact that there were neo-Nazi/thug elements marching with them and stress that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I would have tried to make clear - especially to people of colour who were marchers - the way fascism adapts to the "solution" of what it perceives as "problems". In political science terms, fascism is an unstable force that has to be kept in motion to remain intact. In practical terms, that means it has to have a focus for attack, some hatred to feed upon. As soon as one enemy, say "small boats", is dealt with and eliminated, the focus would swing to another group as a target for hate. The people of colour and other minorities who now march with Tommy Robinson and his ilk could one day become targets themselves.

  

Hamas, Israel and Gaza - Some Correct Predictions

 On Thursday, I was reading that day's iPaper. I don't read newspapers much, but when I do, it's usually to find something of interest. In the edition I bought, I found a column written by the Tory peer, Ros Altmann, seen above. The title resonated with me, as it reminded me of something I have contemplated since October 7th, 2023. According to Baroness Altmann, "The UK has walked straight into a Hamas trap". The Baroness is referring to the Starmer deal which would lead to recognition of a Palestinian state. Now, that rang a memory bell.

Back in October, 2023, just days after the Hamas attack on Israel, I wrote a blog item which I grandiosely titled: "Hamas - a Provocation Too Far". At that time, most of the dead and injured of the conflict were Israelis. As we know, that balance has shifted drastically. The latest number for Israeli dead on October 7th is 1.139; according to Wikipedia, the number of Palestinian dead from action in Gaza is 64,260. It gives me no pleasure to read my blog of two years ago, when I made this assessment of Hamas strategy. I said that the October 7th attack was part of a classic guerilla modus operandi: 

" It involves attacks by the terrorists that sting their enemies into using excess force as retaliation, in order to alienate the civilian population. The retaliation, such as it is, will cause deaths to innocent and uninvolved civilians and thus lead to an increase of support for the guerrillas".

Well, it looks like I got that right. In response to egregious Hamas provocation, Israel did exactly as Hamas had hoped, planned for, and anticipated. The Israelis launched a protracted assault that has lasted nearly two years. It has devastated Gaza and, as said already, killed thousands of Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians. The Israelis dispute the figures of Palestinian dead. given by the Hamas-run health ministry,  as being propaganda, but even if the Hamas figures are inflated by 50%, that would be a casualty total over 30,000 and still too high. If there were many thousands of Palestinians violently opposed to the state of Israel before the Israeli invasion, there will be many more now. Besides this, there has been widespread international condemnation of Israel - 147 countries now recognise Palestine as a state. And Hamas are still fighting.

Which leads me back to Ros Altmann's article. She says: 

"...without requiring Hamas to end its rule of terror...the UK has handed a propaganda victory to a terrorist organisation...it plays directly into Hamas's hands".

Starmer's "deal", as Baroness Altmann sees it, is simply a caving in to protesters, inside and outside of Parliament. She concludes:

"The terrorists have played a brutal but calculated hand. And this government has walked straight into the trap".

At the risk of sounding immodest, that could almost sum up my post of 13/10/23. Almost, but with one alteration. Instead of  "this government", substitute "the Israelis", and it would fit perfectly. The Israelis have devastated Gaza and slaughtered so many civilians that some people regard them as a genocidal power. I have never taken part in any marches on this issue, as I am critical of both Hamas and the Israelis, but I flatter myself that I understand the feelings of both sides. If I was Israeli and had lost a relative on 7/10/23, I would want revenge upon Hamas; if  I was a Gaza resident, Israel's onslaught would have instilled into my soul a deep-seated hatred of Israel. But what is lacking here is analysis of Hamas strategy and the Israeli response. In my post of 13/10/23, I wrote:

"Hamas has clearly been planning for this war for some time, and will have prepared defences, and defensive plans. Part of the planning is to cause massive civilian casualties (i.e. among their own people) in order to elicit widespread international condemnation (of Israel). Besides this, Israeli bombing will have created huge areas of ruined buildings. As the Red Army showed in WW2, ruined buildings can make formidable fortresses, difficult to capture. I think Hamas are hoping to turn the defence of Gaza into one big battle of Stalingrad, making the Israelis pay a high price in both blood and prestige".

Well, I stand by that, and am bold enough to say this: if anyone has played into the hands of Hamas, it is the Israelis. Please note - I am not saying that the Israelis were wrong to retaliate to the October 7 attacks. I think they should have been aware of Hamas strategy, modifed their campaign, ended it sooner and retained something of the moral high ground. The plain fact is that Hamas have won the propaganda war (so far), but it is not the British government that has walked into a trap. It is the Israeli government and the IDF. Having said this, and we acknowledge that the Israeli state deserves condemnation, let's not forget that Hamas wanted it this way.

Some very happy Hamas members.

Release of Murderers and a Kick in the Teeth

 It hasn't featured much in the media, but there is a new bill at the report stage in Parliament. It is called the Victims and Courts Bill and began its progress through the House of Commons in May. As regular readers of this blog know, I have been writing about  mental health patients who commit unprovoked murders for a number of years. I have written about their crimes, the impact on their victims' families and the fact that many of these individuals "respond to treatment" and are released after several years, often to kill again.

One change postulated in the new bill, of particular concern to myself and many others, is a change in the law relating to the early release of these killers. As LBC note, the bill proposes:

"... removing the statutory right for victims to be informed about decisions concerning an offender’s detention, leave, or discharge.
Instead, such discretion would be left to hospital managers and probation services, with no legal obligation to inform, consult, or allow appeals from victims or families".

One such killer would be Valdo Calocane, who murdered the three innocent people seen in the pictures above:  Barnaby Webber, 19,  Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, and Ian Coates, 65. Emma Webber, mother of  Barnaby, has described the putative change as "utterly outrageous". I totally concur in this, and share Ms Webber's view that it is all part of a wider failure to support victims and their families. As she goes on to say: 

“So egregious are the failings by every single agency involved in every aspect of our tragedy that a statutory public inquiry is under way. A significant part of the inquiry will focus on the failings of ‘hospital managers’ and ‘clinicians’ who failed to do their jobs properly. Resulting in the monster who killed my beautiful child be allowed to roam the streets and hide in plain sight.”

I have no doubt that the relatives of other innocent victims are feeling the same way. One such relative, and campaigner on this issue, is Julian Hendy, who, along with other campaigners, has called on victims minister, Alex Davies-Jones, to amend the Bill to ensure victims are consulted, informed, and given the right to appeal when denied information.

“This isn’t just a loophole—it’s a kick in the teeth,” Mr Hendy said. We are talking about offenders who have been convicted of the most serious of crimes, which cause extreme concern amongst the public. This is not about punishment. It’s about basic fairness, compassion, and transparency. Victims and their families should not be shut out of decisions that affect their personal safety and recovery".

Now, I have written about this matter for a long time. I have come to see that for our media, and for a great number of people, this is not a major issue. After all, what does the murder of one, or several, people compare to the slaughter in Gaza, Russian war crimes in Ukraine or starvation in Africa? That has never been stated explicitly to me, but it's difficult to avoid assuming this question is being postulated as a valid query. If this question is being asked, though, there is a very simple answer.

The answer, of course, is that any one of us, or any one of our friends and relatives, could fall victim to these murderous mental health patients. We could be peaceably going about our business and suddenly, randomly, attacked and killed, for no good reason. I have written about these incidents often enough to be familiar with the details of these killings; many more can be read about on Julian Hendy's "100 families" website.

My concern about the proposed change to the law is that of the victims' family members, as expressed by Emma Webber and Julian Hendy, but there is another angle. One example of the early release of a mental health killer (there are many others) is that of a man long forgotten by the media: Robert Ashman. This man, in 2000, attacked Nigel Jones, MP (now Lord Jones) in his constituency office with a samurai sword. Jones was injured, but a local councillor, Andrew Pennington, who went to help Jones, was killed. Incredibly, Ashman was released in 2008. Unlike others of his ilk that have been released, Ashman does not seem to have reoffended.

Now, Ashman's release was known to the public, and, presumably, to his victims' families - not that it would make matters any easier for them to know this killer was free to walk the streets.

 But I ask the reader to imagine, if one of your relatives was killed by a murderous mental health patient and, after a relatively short period of incarceration, their murderer was released without your knowledge, how would you feel when you found out? You could find out indirectly, or you could be walking in the park, shopping in the supermarket, enjoying a pint in the pub, on the bus or train, etc, and unexpectedly encounter this individual. He or she would be rebuilding their lives, after taking the life of your family member. Horrible to contemplate, but it could happen. It would certainly, to quote Julian Hendy, feel like a kick in the teeth, however you found out - especially so, if the released murderer went on to kill again. 

I hope the Victims and Courts Bill makes very slow progress through Parliament.

Looking back on the 7/7 Bombings - 20 Years on

 

Like so many other Londoners, all with differing memories of the event, I have never forgotten the 7/7 bombings of almost exactly 20 years ago. While I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone, I can still piece together how I, and my colleagues, learned of the attack. The first memory I have is of our headteacher advising us to go straight home after school, as there appeared to have been an attack on the Tube system that morning. At lunchtime, I had to phone my mother up in Southport to get a clearer idea of what was going on. Anyway, I can't recall any problems getting home that day, and the extensive TV coverage explained everything.

Next morning, I left the house as usual and began walking to Hounslow East tube station. As I walked, I began sulkily to wonder if the Tube system was disrupted and, oh blimey! - how long would it take to get to work? Well, I've told this story before, but I shall tell it again:

 Almost immediately, I felt a wave of self-reproach sweep over me. I scolded myself for selfishly wondering about how long my journey would take when so many fellow Tube travellers were lying injured in hospital, or at home - 770 of them, according to the BBC now. And, of course, for 52 victims, there would be no more tube journeys ever again. All of them, I realised, would have loved to change places with me. Having thus chastened myself, I caught the Tube to Acton Town, and from there journeyed to Alperton Station, seen above. To my surprise, the journey was as normal, except for one thing. Both trains were almost empty, and there was an eerie atmosphere of being in a city at war.

Well, I arrived safely at Alperton, feeling somewhat shamefaced. I had faced no danger, nor had I been delayed. Over the next few days, the idea for a poem to remember the victims came to me. I have posted it before, and post it here again. To me, it remains fresh. It carries something of my self-reproach and, hopefully, still serves as a tribute to all the victims, those who have gone, and those who live on with their injuries and memories.

ON ALPERTON STATION

(July 8^th, 2005)

 

I stood on Alperton Station,

“Uncertain and afraid”***

Of sudden, unseen terror –

My train was undelayed.

 

I left the silent platform

To start my working day,

When, on the darkened staircase,

A young girl barred my way.

 

She shimmered like the summer dawn.

“Please stay, my friend”, she said.

Her face was bright with metal shards

That garlanded her head.

 

“For you still have the working day,

The breakfast and the train,

The coffee break, the journey home

That I won’t make again.

 

My laughter lit the London skies;

I loved, and I was loved.

I filled a hole in many hearts

Till Hate had me removed.

 

If you’re in town at Christmas –

A time that I won’t see –

Please find my favourite wine bar

And raise one glass for me”.

 

Before I spoke – she vanished.

I slumped against a wall,

Shivered like a windblown leaf

And hoped I’d dreamed it all.

 

I walked from Alperton Station

And wondered what was real –

So glad for hands that trembled,

So glad for nerves that feel.

 ***Line taken from “September 1, 1939”, by W.H.Auden.

Reform UK: Proportion and Resistance

 Well, some people around the world are glad to see the recent electoral success of Reform UK. Vladimir Putin, seen above, must have been greatly encouraged to learn that newly-elected Reform UK councils are stopping the flying of Ukrainian flags on council buildings. As their chairman, Zia Yusuf, said, quoted in the Guardian:

“Reform-controlled English councils will move at speed to resolve that the only flags permitted to be flown on or in its buildings will be the union jack and St George’s flag,” he said on X".

There is nothing new in sympathetic nods in the direction of the Kremlin by Reform UK, of course. Back in 2014, Nigel Farage named Putin as the world leader he most admired. Since then, as Searchlight magazine has said:

"Farage has repeatedly echoed Kremlin talking points. Most notably, he argued that NATO and EU expansion “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a claim strongly condemned across the political spectrum".

Of course, gloating behind the walls of FSB headquarters in Moscow is trivial compared to the celebrations of Reform UK here, be it by elected representatives or grass roots supporters. Farage's deputy, Richard Tice, boasted to Politics Home: 

“This is a seismic shift in British politics. Millions of people have hope again. People have voted with their feet for Reform in huge numbers. The old tired uni party of Labour and Tory is in terminal decline. We are just warming up," Reform deputy leader Richard Tice told PoliticsHome."

While the obnoxious Tice's boasting can be taken with a lot of salt, another leading member, Gawain Towler, said:

“It’s not a protest vote – it’s a voice"...Towler said it was “incredible” Reform came as close as it did in the North Tyneside and West of England mayoralties. “We spent no money in North Tyneside at all, and did no campaigning whatsoever".

There's nothing new in far Right and "new" parties proclaiming their arrival on the political/electoral scene. We have seen it before with the National Front, Respect and the BNP. The difference this time , however, is that Reform UK have actually gained significant electoral success. Without detailing the actual, admittedly depressing figures, it is undeniable that Reform UK now appears to be a political force to be reckoned with. Those of us who oppose Reform UK should perhaps be feeling intimidated.

Or perhaps not...

Reform UK have made a lot of sweeping claims about what they intend to do about Local Authority financial waste. Yet, as Tony Travers, professor of public policy at the London School of Economics said recently on the BBC Today radio programme, there have already been been 15 years of cuts to local council budgets. Professor Travers warned it would be extremely difficult to find substantial savings in this part of the public sector.

Like the National Front and the BNP, Reform UK have railed against immigration - illegal immigration. They say that they have no problem with legal migrants and are not a racist party. Their party chairman is a Muslim and they claim to have ethnic minority members. It would be a mistake to be taken in by this; the BNP had token Sikh members who appeared on BNP election broadcasts. According to Farage, Reform UK has a robust vetting system for weeding out extremists who seek to stand as electoral candidates. But, as the BBC says:

 "Hope Not Hate, an anti-racism campaign group which has clashed with Farage in the past, said the examples it had found undermined his vetting claims. On Thursday last week, the group published details of social media posts it had found from 14 different current Reform UK candidates."

And those posts are very interesting. This is what some of those candidates had to say:

1.A Reform UK candidate saying "one big nuke bomb" should be used to remove Islam from the world
2. Another saying Bradford has a large Muslim population and is a "shithole"
3. Others promoting the conspiracy theory that Muslims are seeking to "supplant the native population" in the UK

And then there was the interesting claim by Andrea Jenkyns, Reform UK's mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, who said, in her victory speech: 

"I say no to putting people in hotels. Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain."

This simplistic (simple-minded?) "solution" to the problem of migrant accommodation would create more problems that it set out to solve. Tented settlements require support networks, such as water, power and medical facilities. They provide ready targets for racist attacks, as has happened in Dublin. And there would undoubtedly be local resentment and hostility towards such settlements. Ms Jenkyns has thrown a juicy bone to the xenophobic sentiments of many Reform UK voters, but she has clearly not thought carefully about what she has said.

It's my personal belief that Reform UK is a Trojan horse for the extreme Right. Besides the examples given by Hope not Hate, the leader of the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative, Mark Collett, has advocated infiltrating "clean skins" into Reform UK in order to move it further to the Right. This was previously noted by Hope not Hate during the General Election campaign, commenting:

"The most telling endorsement so far has come from Patriotic Alternative’s beleaguered leader, Mark Collett. While maintaining that Farage is “controlled opposition”, Collett seems excited that Farage looks set, “to genuinely challenge and possibly destroy the Conservative Party at this election and they are doing so by running with genuine nationalist policies".

Collett, and others further to the Right than Farage or Tice, will be even more excited now. 

To close, it's clear that we need to keep a sense of proportion about Reform UK's success. They may have won some councils, but can they deliver on their promises? However, they are carrying within their ranks a more sinsiter threat, which we must monitor and resist. 

Understanding Autism - No Excuses for Crime

 

I liked to think that there was nothing much that could shock me. As regular readers of this blog know, the darker side of life gets covered a lot on here. Vladimir Putin, Axel Rudakubana, Nicola Edgington and many other pitiless killers have featured in blog items over the years, and I was happy at being able to cope with these matters, despite my feelings of revulsion.

Then, to disturb my complacency, there erupted the case of  Nicholas Prosper, seen above. As the BBC says:

"Nicholas Prosper used a shotgun to kill his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, his brother Kyle, 16, and 13-year-old sister, Giselle, at their home in Luton on 13 September 2024".

Seldom has a single sentence seemed so shattering. The Southport murders last year were devastating enough, but this mass killing of a family by a family member seemed to violate all the normal feelings and principles of human relationships - an act of unmitigated, blatant evil, to rank with the Southport stabbings. Prosper, however, wanted to go further than Axel Rudakubana in his vile, anti-human crimes. Beyond the heinous crime of killing his family members, Prosper wanted to wipe out a class of young children at the primary school that he had attended when younger. And he would have done, had the police not caught him in time. 

Well, it comes as a relief to know that according to Prosper's defence counsel, David Bentley, his client is not a psychopath but (quoted in The Metro): 

"socially impaired with autistic traits...a young man who has gone down an internet wormhole".

Yes, I was being sarcastic. That is no relief at all. Addiction to the internet is no excuse for such a despicable atrocity. But we can now discern something that Rudakubana and Prosper have in common: Autism. And I have to admit that I did not fully understand this condition. So, I have made some effort to understand it better, especially as people as diverse as Elon Musk, Chris Packham (the naturalist) and Anne Hegarty (of "The Chase") have been diagnosed as autistic.

So what is it?, I asked myself. I turned to the website of the National Autistic Society (NAS), where I found a happily straightforward explanation:

"Autism influences how people experience and interact with the world. It is a lifelong neurodivergence and disability. Autistic people are different from each other, but for a diagnosis they must share differences from non-autistic people in how they think, feel and communicate".

Autistic people may feel and react to stimuli differently to non-autistic people. They might find social mixing bewildering and tiring, and could become overwhelmed in noisy, crowded places. They can have absorbing hobbies which reinforce their sense of social isolation by providing a personal refuge from society. They could prefer regular routine, and move or act in repetitive ways to calm themselves down or express feelings. Often, they mask their discomfort to fit in with others, which can lead to unhappiness that leads to mental illness.

So then, I learned that the two killers under discussion were not actual psychotic murderers. Simply being autistic did not make them mentally ill, but disabled. The so-called "autistic traits" manifested themselves in a fascination with mass murder (Rudakubana) and for Prosper down his internet wormhole, a fixation with a book called (unbelievably) "How to Kill Your Family". Were it up to me, the author of that book would be serving a Life sentence along with his acolyte, Nicholas Prosper.

It needs to be said then, that these two are not typical of the murderous mental health patients that I have blogged about so often. Rudakubana and Prosper knew what they were doing.

As Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Prosper: 

"You intended to unleash disaster on the community. Your plans were intelligent, calculating and selfish. Your ambition was notoriety...The lives of your mother, brother and sister were collateral damage on the way".

The remarks of the judge were highly appropriate to Prosper and, incidentally, about Rudakubana, who applied his intelligence to the careful planning of the Hart Street murders.

But is there a wider issue here? After all, there have been other senseless murders by socially isolated individuals before. There was the Hungerford Massacre by Michael Ryan in 1987; the Dunblane Massacre by Thomas Hamilton in 1996; the mass slaughter in Cumbria by Derrick Bird in 2010 and, in 2021, the mass shooting in Plymouth by 22-year old Jake Davison.

In the London Standard of March 20, Maddy Musseen wrote perceptively of the Netflix series, "Adolescence" which she relates to the women-hating "incel" online "community". She writes of Rudakubana here:

"Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, who stabbed to death three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class last July, was remembered by a former classmate in The Times for “how a look would flash across his face whenever the topic of women’s rights came up in class”."

Perhaps, then, absorbing online misogyny played a part in the planning of the crimes of Rudakubana and Prosper. I believe, however, that any explanations of their crimes must not be allowed as excuses. Personally, I have read a number of explanations and am still shocked at their deeds. The words of Detective Chief Inspector Sam Khanna about Prosper describe Rudakubana also:

 "...truly evil...I've never encountered anyone capable of such horrific acts, showing no remorse".

My final words on Nicholas Prosper and Axel Rudakubana is that I hope that they are never released.