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ISSN 2632-7910 2 read more at bylinetimes.com

BYLINE TIMES SPOTLIGHT ON: RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

EDITORIAL

TO CELEBRATE THE WINTER SOLSTICE = A RAY OF LIGHT IN ALL THE DOOM AND GLOOM. WHAT uk ISC -10 d st ref 1026/5 This Editorial is based on a thread by our DOESN'T WANT YOU TO US Correspondent Caroline Orr. There’s a lot of doom and gloom around about KNOW how everything is broken, our systems are failing, and we can’t trust our institutions to save us. Although Byline Times agrees most of these With the British Prime Minister personally intervening to suppress a warnings are warranted, those warnings aren’t very parliamentary report into Vladimir Putin’s ‘active measures’ in UK politics during helpful if you don’t offer practical solutions. Britain’s General Election campaign, PETER JUKES looks a what the dossier may contain. It’s important to talk about how our institutions have been compromised, but unless this is paired with talk of actionable items to work around According to its chair- which found Russia had those systems, those warnings will fail. man, Dominic Grieve, Boris directly tried to intervene Johnson personally blocked in the 2016 EU Referendum. There’s an entire field of research on ‘fear- — for “bogus” reasons — the The committee estimated based messaging’. The evidence quite clearly imminent publication of a that the state-controlled shows us that scaring people without offering cross-party report on Russia channels RT and Sputnik’s pro- solutions not only fails to motivate action but meddling in UK politics by Leave websites garnered 134 often induces helplessness and resignation. Fear- Parliament’s Intelligence and million potential impressions based messaging is the last thing we need. Security Committee (ISC). – nearly five times the reach If we can’t trust institutions like the courts or Congress Elements of the sup- of the two domestic cam- or Parliament to save us: What is there to rely on? Well, pressed report have now paigns combined (Vote Leave for one thing, antifascism offers a model for working leaked out. According to CNN, had 33 million impressions outside the system to organize, build coalitions, stop the evidence of Bill Browder, and Leave.EU had 11 million). fascist mobilizations, and protect our communities. the campaigner behind the Had Russia paid for a social anti-corruption Magnitsky media campaign of this scale, In the era of Trump and , it has become Acts, suggests that Russia’s the committee estimated, it popular for pundits to act like prophets because President, Vladimir Putin, has would have cost between they recognized our countries are vulnerable to deployed Russians “to infil- £1.4 and £4.14 million. authoritarian impulses. But antifascists have always trate UK society and to con- Moreover, the report recognized this as a historical continuity with a ceal the underlying Russian revealed how the Internet high propensity for recurrence. Antifascism isn’t controllers and their agendas”. Research Agency (IRA), a based on alarmism about the future; it’s based on a In the meantime, open- Kremlin-backed St Petersburg- sober assessment of history, an understanding of the Democracy revealed that the based troll farm indicted for conditions that allow fascism to emerge and take hold. Conservative Party, which election interference in the So, during this festive season, as the longest night has received more than US, was simultaneously inter- of the year arrives, think twice before amplifying £3.5 million from Russian vening in British politics, with fatalistic narratives and consider giving voice funders since 2010, has a marked emphasis on stir- to those who’ve always understood the threat stepped up its dependence ring up Islamophobia and racial and actually offer solutions to counter it. on Russian donors to at hatred. It “tried to fuel social least £489,850 in the last divisions, including religious year, compared to £350,000 tensions, in the aftermath of in the year previously. the Westminster, Manchester, As Adam Schiff, chair Bridge and Finsbury EDITORIAL INFORMATION of the House Intelligence Park terror attacks,” it stated. Committee in the US, has The Kremlin’s attempts Byline Times is brought to you by: said: “From what we’ve seen, to intervene continue. Last executive editors Peter Jukes and Stephen Colegrave the parallels between the October, Twitter closed editor Hardeep Matharu Russian intervention in Brexit down 3,613 new IRA and editorial assistant Ella Baddeley and the Russian interven- accounts. Analysis revealed tion in the Trump campaign these accounts tweeted Issue Editors: Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes appear to be extraordinary.” about Brexit 1,525 times. The DCMS Committee also Design: Byline Times Team and Yes we work Ltd The Report that HAS been Published found evidence that Russia In February, Parliament’s had access to a Cambridge This annual highlights edition is published by: Digital, Culture, Media and Analytica database – com- Byline Times, 426 Metal Box Factory, Sport (DCMS) Committee, piled through the hacking of 30 Great Guildford Street, London, SE1 0HS chaired by Conservative poli- up to 170 million Facebook tician Damian Collins, into users – and deployed this Contact Byline Times disinformation and fake during the EU Referendum stories and tips: [email protected] news published a report and the 2016 Presidential sales and advertising: [email protected] 3

BYLINE TIMES SPOTLIGHT ON: RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Subsequent attendees the company of the then - Foreign Secretary at a fun- Election campaign to target least three potentially lucra- include alt-right commen draising event in Reading. UK and US voters. This breach tive investment opportuni- tator Milos Yiannopolous. - Meanwhile, Russian-born was referred to the National ties in Russian-owned gold But Nalobin’s most con oligarchs remain close to Crime Agency by the UK’s and state diamond mines. troversial role was helping Boris Johnson, including the Information Commissioner. Though the gold consolidation to establish the Conservative proprietor of the Evening deal was pursued for several Friends of Russia. Launched Targeting UKIP and Standard and Independent, months, Banks says he never in August 2012 by Yakovenko Evgeny Lebedev – the son Nigel Farage’s former took up any of these offers. and Nalobin, it was attended of a former KGB spy. party UKIP has been a by senior Conservatives However, an investment com- Another rich oligarch strong supporter of Russia pany run by a close colleague such as the then chair of born in the Soviet Union, for over a decade. did take part in the privatisa- the DCMS Committee, and Alexander Temerko, has con- Former MEP and party tion of Alrosa diamond mines. soon-to-be Culture Minister, tributed more than £1 million secretary, Gerard Batten, has The Russian diplomat John Whittingdale, who - to the Conservatives since been close to former KGB fig- Udod is reported to be have was the group’s hon he gained British citizen- ures since the 1980s and been the handler of Russian orary vice president. - ship in 2011 and financed identified Alexander Litvinenko spies in the UK. Udod was Whittingdale was accom Johnson’s leadership cam- as a disaffected FSB offi- invited to a drinks party panied by an office aide, paign. According to Reuters, cer six months before he was hosted by Banks on the night Carrie Symonds, who - Temerko describes himself murdered by polonium poison- of the shock EU Referendum was promoted to spe as a “friend” who would ing by Putin’s security ser- result in June 2016. cial advisor when he moved “plot” late into the night vices. He co-authored an anti- In 2018, Udod was expelled into the Cabinet in 2015. - over a bottle of wine when EU book with an aide, Pavel from the UK as a suspected Symonds is now the girl Johnson became Foreign Stroilov, who had allegedly spy after the abortive assas- friend of Boris Johnson. Secretary. He admitted to fled Russia with “smuggled sination attempt on Sergei Though Conservative - being behind early plots secret Soviet documents”. Skripal using the novichok Friends of Russia was sub to remove Theresa May. Farage has twice described sequently disbanded, Nalobin nerve agent in Salisbury. The Russian connections the Russian President as the seems to have established Targeting the Conservatives - to Vote Leave go beyond most impressive world leader some key Conservative con and Boris Johnson its chief executive Matthew and his MEPs have consis- tacts before he left the Elliott. Its director, Dominic tently voted down sanctions It is clear in retrospect that country under a shadow. - Cummings, spent three years packages for Russia over its the Russian attempt to inter- Matthew Elliott, des in Russia from 1994 to 1997. invasion of eastern Ukraine. vene in British politics was tined to become the chief According to the Shadow Farage supports other a two-pronged affair. executive of the official Foreign Secretary Emily European right-wing politi- While Yakovenko and Vote Leave campaign, was a - Thornberry, “an official-level cians such as Marine Le Pen Udod made overtures to UKIP founding member and vis whistleblower” has raised and Matteo Salvini who have and Nigel Farage, another ited the Moscow Duma as questions about his relation- received Russian funding. His expelled Russian diplomat, part of a delegation. Nalobin ships with figures in Russian appearances at the European Sergei Nalobin, first secre- wished Elliott well on his politics, intelligence, and Parliament are regularly cov- tary in the Russian Embassy’s engagement in 2014 and security – and Conservative ered by RT and he was asked political section, was reach- described Boris Johnson as Friends of Russia. onto the channel no less ing out to rebuild ties with “our good friend” in a now- Cummings is now Boris than 17 times between 2010 the Conservative Party. deleted social media post. Johnson’s senior advisor. and 2014. His Leave.EU cam- According to the Russian Influence on Vote With senior staff from paign also regularly recycled Observer, he was keen to Leave and Boris Johnson Vote Leave – a campaign Russian racist propaganda. get involved in fundrais- which benefited from the Though he at first denied ing for the Conservative While direct contacts online operations of the it, Farage met the Russian Party and wanted to know between Conservatives and Russian state – now running Ambassador Alexander of the rivalry between David Russian officials appear to the Conservative Party’s Yakovenko in May 2013. After Cameron and Boris Johnson. have chilled when Nalobin General Election campaign, that meeting, Farage made Nalobin, who now lives was effectively expelled - the financial contributions almost monthly appear- in a Moscow apartment in 2015, intermediar of its wealthy oligarchs, ances on RT. Two years block known as the “FSB ies still made approaches. and with many senior fig- later, at the UKIP Conference block”, is the son of Nikolai In late 2017, Byline.com ures apparently person- in October 2015, a senior Nalobin, a former KGB gen- revealed that the Maltese- ally compromised by past embassy official, Alexander eral. From 2011, Nalobin born professor Joseph associations, the ques- Udod, approached Farage’s met various British ‘social Mifsud, named as a Russian tion remains: what else is in new funder, , media influencers’ at a reg- intermediary in the Mueller the ISC report that is more damag- and invited him to meet the ular ‘Digital Barbecue’. Investigation, was telling ing than what we already know? Russian Ambassador too. The first event was co- colleagues he was going to - What followed was at hosted with blogger Paul meet Boris Johnson “to dis - least four meetings with Staines, who later worked cuss Brexit”. He was sub Banks and the ambassador, for the Russian Embassy sequently photographed in which opened the door to at on political campaigning. 4 read more at bylinetimes.com THE JOHNSON SHOW

Eton Mess gets what Boris Johnson wants get the address of the journal- and stuff anyone who gets in the ist so he could have him beaten hen he was at Eton way. up. Johnson promised to oblige in the early 1980s, Johnson had come to – but only on the understand- by Otto English Boris Johnson did realise that his W The Guppy Affair ing that he would be kept out something that seems to have of things. When confronted Telegraph set the tone for the rest of his t Oxford University, column was with the call in 1995, Johnson Boris Johnson is Britain’s best adult life. Cast in the title role Johnson was part of the his platform in the same claimed not to have actually known politician – but in two of a production of Shakespeare’s infamous Bullingdon A given Guppy the address. He way that Twitter was Richard II, he didn’t bother to Club. It wined, dined and then was reprimanded by Telegraph decades in public life, what learn his part. smashed up restaurants before Trump’s. editor Max Hastings, but no throwing cash at the hapless has our likely future Prime The character of Richard II more was said. Johnson sold proprietors who were left to has 758 lines in his eponymously papers after all. – then I saw no reason in prin- Minister actually achieved? Sit clean it up. titled play. The part requires Having failed to get elected ciple why a union should not be back and enlighten yourself the actor to be on stage for most Leaving university in 1987, as an MP in the 1997 General consecrated between three men, on the life, times and the of the two-and-a-half hours the 23-year-old Johnson landed Election, Johnson was then as well as two men, or indeed running time. You can’t ‘wing’ a job at The Times. In May the hired as editor of three men and a dog.” Richard II. But Boris Johnson following year, he spiced up in 1999 on the understanding The year after his election tried. Pasting his lines on bits some copy by inventing a quote that he wouldn’t try to become as MP, Johnson wrote a piece of paper about the place, he from his own godfather, Oxford a politician. Johnson gave in the Telegraph in which he hoofed the speeches and made academic Dr Colin Lucas, and his word, but we don’t need described Commonwealth citi- up the rest – throwing in jokes was fired. Most young journal- Sherlock Holmes to guess what zens as “flag-waving piccanin- whenever there was an awkward ists who get sacked for lying happened next. nies” with “watermelon smiles.” silence. might struggle to work again, The Spectator’s then pro- Johnson did admittedly apolo- His father Stanley, who was but most young people aren’t prietor Conrad Black – later to gise – but only six years later in the audience, thought it was gifted with the contacts of the find notoriety as a convicted when he was standing to be all ‘a hoot’. Nobody else did. Johnson family. fraudster – was so taken aback Mayor of the most multicultural The others, who had spent Calls were made and soon by his lack of integrity that he city in Europe. hours attending rehearsals and he was at the Telegraph as its dubbed him “ineffably duplici- This was and always has learning their parts, saw their Brussels correspondent – where tous”, although it is unclear as to been the Boris Johnson way: lie, hard work reduced to the ‘Boris he fabricated stories about the whether he meant it as a compli- bluster, blather, offend and then show’. The headmaster, Eric EU. Among the many fibs ment or not. only apologise if it is politically Anderson, was furious. Until directly attributable to him that expedient. then, Johnson had been Eton’s have passed into folklore, are “Watermelon Smiles” When he became Mayor golden child. Known to all, the ones claiming the meddling of London in 2008, Johnson lected as MP for Henley adored by teachers and stu- bureaucrats were going to ban promised to donate a fifth of in 2001, Boris Johnson dents alike. But, his arrogant, prawn cocktail crisps – and that his £250,000 Telegraph salary failed to turn up for self-serving, indolent turn as double-decker buses were going E to local London charities. But, work. In his first four years at Richard II was the last straw. to be scrapped to meet EU once elected, he gave away just Westminster, he was present for When, in his final year, he requirements. Having estab- £20,000. He also decided to just half of all parliamentary was not made School Captain, he lished himself as a Telegraph ‘work from home’ on Fridays to votes and, in his second, a mere unleashed an epic sulk prompt- name, Johnson returned to the irritation of colleagues. 45%. ing his housemaster to write in London as a political columnist. Johnson’s eight years in his end of term report: “I think he Various scandals followed Bothering with the daily grind office in the capital were lack- honestly believes that it is churl- – not least the Guppy affair, of parliamentary procedure lustre by any standard. Never ish of us not to regard him as an when a recording of a 1990 tele- wasn’t his bag. He was a highly interested in details, he obsessed exception, one who should be free phone call between him and his paid journalist after all, with an over vanity projects including a of the network of obligation which old friend Darius Guppy was undeniable knack for connect- line of ersatz Routemasters that binds everyone else.” made public. Guppy had been ing with his readership. Writing came in at three times more In the three decades since, under investigation by the News about gay marriage in 2001 he than a standard London bus. nobody has better summed up of the World for criminal activ- said: “If gay marriage was OK – He also oversaw the planning his character. Boris Johnson ity and he wanted Johnson to and I was uncertain on the issue for a doomed garden bridge that 5

CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE

Londoners didn’t want and which showed that when Johnson was particularly the signal it sends to fallen, things didn’t go quite the already was bad enough, he also never got built. In all, these proj- properly scrutinised, he fell foreign investors.” Johnson had way Johnson had planned. He demonstrated that, by being given ects are estimated to have cost apart. Subsequently, he and his once even made a convincing case didn’t get the gig. But all was not great power, he could show great the London taxpayer a whopping team did everything they could for Turkey joining the EU. lost. Once May came to power, irresponsibility. £940 million. to avoid broadcast interviews. In But, principle was nothing he got the Foreign Office instead. During a select committee Yes, the Olympics arrived in any case, Johnson had come to when set against his ambition. Five of the last twelve Prime hearing in 2017, Johnson wrongly London in 2012, and there were realise that his Telegraph column When you are rich and pampered, Ministers have been Foreign claimed that Nazanin Zaghari- those bicycles which took his was his platform in the same way when you have never lived out- Secretary first and it can pro- Ratcliffe, the British mother cur- name – but Johnson had nothing that Twitter was Trump’s. He side the cloisters of wealth, privi- vide a superb platform on which rently imprisoned in Iran, had to do with either. Both were his didn’t need to subject himself lege and open doors, you can treat to prove leadership mettle on the been training journalists in the predecessor Ken Livingstone’s to potentially hostile journalists. life like a game. He weighed his world stage. country before she was arrested. initiatives. Via his journalism, he could have options. But, Boris f*cked it up. In fact, It was a disaster for Mrs Zaghari- Then in 2014, despite having complete control over his mes- By backing Remain, he had it’s not an understatement to say Ratcliffe who was immediately pledged 17 times that he wouldn’t sage and his image. The Telegraph nothing much to gain beyond a that, during his brief tenure, he hauled in front of an Iranian stand to be an MP while per- was his Pravda. show of loyalty to a man he clearly was probably the worst Foreign judge and told that her sentence forming his mayoral role, Johnson despised. By backing Leave, he Secretary in living memory. would likely be doubled. His dis- sought and won selection for the To Leave or Remain? had a chance to play directly to Diplomacy was not his thing. regard for her safety and the con- safe Tory seat of . David the Eurosceptic grassroots of the In 2016, he caused outrage by s the 2015 General cerns of her family should have Cameron, who had been in the Tory party. If the country voted referring to Africa as “that coun- Election approached, led to him tendering his resigna- year below him at Eton, was now to stay in the EU, as everyone try” before suggesting that the Johnson had a problem. tion. But, Boris Johnson runs on ‘Head Boy’ of the country and it A then predicted, he would have set continent would benefit from Boris Johnson rules. He only quit He was now a middle aged man clearly rankled Johnson every bit out his stall for any future leader- the old colonial masters interfer- in a hurry. Having just turned 50, as Foreign Secretary when he as much as missing out on School ship bid and won the hearts of the ing once more. A year later, he he had, at best, 10 years and two thought it might bring Theresa Captain had in the 1980s. EU loathing rank-and-file. implied that Libya could be the General Elections left to become May down. Johnson – the very rich, very But it got better. If Leave next UAE, but only once the Prime Minister. And so, despite cossetted son of immense privi- won, Cameron would be toast country had “cleared the dead having promised 17 times that he Good Luck lege – sees himself as the main anyway – leaving a vacancy with bodies away”. During a visit to would not run to be an MP while hat this unpredictable character in a film in which every- a Boris- sized space at the top. Myanmar, he thought it appropri- still at City Hall, he did what he and unreliable chancer, one else is an extra. When asked He had nothing to lose and ate to recite a colonial era Kipling always does and went back on his who has spent a lifetime as a young child what he wanted having written both a Remain poem in one of the country’s T word. bluffing, lying, gambling, cheat- to be when he grew up, he would and Leave case for his Telegraph most sacred temples. In India, he ing and reversing his positions to answer “the king of the world”. Johnson won the Uxbridge seat column, fired off the ‘Brexit’ one invoked the Nazis and implied suit his own ends should now be While that childish ambition and was now back at Westminster. to his editor. I need hardly tell that the EU wished to impose within grasp of Downing Street was always beyond the realms of If Cameron wasn’t looking you what happened next. “punishment beatings” on the UK. should terrify us all. plausibility, in the years to come over his shoulder, he should have At a Foreign Office reception he would see his chance to be the been. Pressure was growing for Keeping the Show on the Road in 2018 to celebrate the Queen’s The thought of Boris Johnson next best thing – if only he could the Tories to deliver on a mani- birthday, he shocked foreign dig- with his finger on the nuclear trig- ohnson became the Vote get that damned Cameron out of festo pledge to hold a referen- nitaries by responding to a ques- ger is worrying enough, but he Leave pin up. the way first. dum on membership of the EU tion about post-Brexit trade con- will also be charged with navigat- and, in February 2016, Cameron J He posed in front of cerns by saying: “F*ck business”. ing us through the most hazard- Integrity Deficit announced that the contest buses. He warned about the dan- Foreign counterparts reported ous waters that the UK has faced would be held that June. This gers of Turkey joining the EU, that he was hopelessly ill-pre- since the Second World War. n March 2013, Boris Johnson posed something of a problem for despite having said the exact pared, that he hadn’t done the That, perhaps, should frighten us had appeared as a guest on Johnson: who to back? opposite less than a decade before. most basic homework, that he was even more. the BBC‘s Andrew Marr I It certainly wasn’t obvi- He hammered home the benefits pompous, unguarded, rude and Good luck Britain – you’re Show. The genial Marr had ous, for despite having made a of Brexit. And, he sat back and embarrassing. going to need it. recently suffered a stroke so was name for himself inventing sto- watched the country burn. But, if making Britain a taking an extended break from ries about EU directives, he Only, once Cameron had bigger laughing stock than it was the Sunday morning sofa and, in wasn’t a natural Eurosceptic. His his place, sat the political jour- father Stanley had been an MEP nalist Eddie Mair. Johnson was and Johnson junior was in many then at the peak of his powers. ways your classic Eurotrash. He Consecutive polls showed him to had spent his early childhood be the most popular politician in living in Brussels. His paternal the UK. great-grandfather was Turkish, So, on that Sunday morning, he while his mother’s family were was probably looking forward to of French and Jewish Russian some banter and a subtle plug for descent. his Prime Ministerial ambitions. As a former Mayor of Unfortunately for him, it was not London, he was acutely aware of to be. As Johnson shifted uneasily the importance of EU member- in his chair, Mair took him apart. ship for trade and commerce tell- Why had he made up a quote ing the FT in a revealing 2013 and been sacked from The Times? interview: “The real problem is Why had he lied to Michael the political signal that it sends, Howard about his affair with Petronella Wyatt? Why had he offered to supply Darius Guppy I think he honestly with the address of a News of the believes that it is churlish World journalist – so he could have him beaten up? “Why don’t of us not to regard him as we talk about something else?” an exception, one who Johnson blustered. “Because this is about your integrity,” Mair should be free of the shot back – adding: “you’re a network of obligation nasty piece of work aren’t you?” The ‘bicycle crash’ encounter which binds everyone else. 6 read more at bylinetimes.com

THE HUMAN COST The Household Fallacy Created Austerity and has Killed Thousands WHAT WAS THE POINT OF IT? Stephen Colegrave delves into the real reasons behind austerity and considers whether it was just a political fallacy.

“The Royal Society of Medicine stated that austerity measures were likely to have been responsible for 30,000 deaths in and Wales just in 2015”

‘household fallacy’, even right at the begin- This added to the Coalition ning of her career. Government’s blatant policy of confusing “The Government should do what any the electorate about the deficit and debt. good housewife would do if money was Most of the electorate thought that the short,” Thatcher told her adoption meeting deficit was as real as debt, but the deficit as a Conservative Candidate for Dartford is always only a forecast of spending and on 28 February 1949. “Look at their expected revenue. Of course, the less you accounts and see what was wrong.” plan to spend, the less activity there is and Even if it just started as a great way the less tax revenue you expect to earn so to connect with her middle-class voters, the the deficit expands and you need to cut problem was that the rhetoric soon infil- more drastically. trated policy. The Government apparently never “I can’t help reflecting that it’s taken a played around with the forecast to see what Government headed by a housewife with happened if you invested and increased experience of running a family to balance tax revenues because that would ruin the Austerity didn’t end when Theresa May deaths would have occurred between 2015 the books for the first time in 20 years austerity story. It even set up the Office first announced its demise at the Conservative and 2020. – with a little left over for a rainy day,” for National Statistics to add a stamp of Party Conference in October 2018. If anyone tells you that austerity was Thatcher told the Conservatives Women’s approval. Many public services were still starved essential, ask them if 100,000 deaths were Conference in 1988. So, like the ‘household fallacy’ 30 years of budgets and local councils were unable necessary for an economic theory. Didn’t This way of running a country went before, austerity was a political construct. to reinstate important services after a 60% John Maynard Keynes debunk all of this in out with Henry VIII, when bankers were It was a great way to talk to voters and decrease in Government funding. When the 1930s? Why on earth did we inflict self- needed to finance wars. The ‘household appeal to their personal finance experience. Sajid Javid, nearly a year later, said that the harm on such a huge scale? Was it simply a fallacy’ is like holding on to the Gold We were all made to feel excited because Government had “turned the page on aus- political conceit? Standard, which even Churchill couldn’t Moody’s gave us an AAA rating – but at terity”, millions of people on benefits had defy economic realities to retain. what price? not seen their payments rise in four years. The reality is that a household does not In 2018, the UK ranked 24 out of This General Election looks likely to The ‘Wisdom’ of Housewives have to invest in jobs, pay for the sick and 32 OECD (Organisation for Economic finally kill austerity, with both Conservative maintain infrastructure like governments Co-operation and Development) coun- and Labour economic plans pledging to People will say that it all goes back to do. Unfortunately, however, the fallacy was tries, with public investment at 2.6% of overturn its principles. But, what was the the 2008 banking crisis. However, I think used to justify austerity. GDP – 0.6% lower than the OECD aver- point of it in the first place? it goes back to and her It even affected Gordon Brown, who age. It is no coincidence that our transpor- It certainly doesn’t appear to have con- corner shop upbringing. accepted the 1997 spending limits he tation infrastructure is crumbling, espe- tributed to the economic well-being of the It was her over-simplification of eco- inherited from Ken Clarke, and continu- cially in the north, as now identified in the country. The New Economics Foundation nomics and her appeal to the middle-class ally talked about “economic prudence”. Northern Powerhouse proposals from the estimated that the UK economy was up to housewife that led to a perversion of eco- Admittedly, prudence wasn’t austerity and Conservative Party. £100 billion smaller because of the policy of nomic theory that cast a long shadow over New Labour did finally give the NHS the It is interesting that the Tories were austerity. Apart from hedge funds, bailiffs Conservative policies and even aspirant money it needed. But, Blair and Brown con- only prepared to drop one policy of self- and pay day loan companies, we all suffered Labour Governments which wanted to be tinually needed to show prudence because harm based on fallacy because it has been the effects of austerity – but some much fiscally responsible. the British public had been told that the trumped by another – Brexit. worse than others. Historians will see this as a battle national economy behaved just like that of Suddenly, the fundamentals of aus- The impact was brutal and deathly. between the economics of Keynes and a household. terity have been wiped away in the face Following the Welfare Reform Act in 2012, Milton Friedman – or a British version of of recruiting potential northern Labour the number of children in relative poverty the classic Democratic large government leave voters. It is almost as if shrink- rose by 650,000 in 2019. In 2017, The Royal and Republican small government divide. Austerity Trumped ing the economy by £100 million is not Society of Medicine stated that austerity Some of this may be true, but it is not enough and another 2.5% is just enough measures were likely to have been responsi- enough to push us all like lemmings over In 2010, the year of the General to teach us all a lesson in economics and ble for 30,000 deaths in England and Wales the austerity cliff. Election that would end Labour’s power, politics. just in 2015. Sadly, I believe that the real reason for the Chancellor Alistair Darling admit- It is ironic that the Conservative Party, On this basis, it is not outrageous to this was ‘the household fallacy’ – a phrase ted that his planned cuts in public spend- which has prided itself on not being taken estimate that austerity killed more than coined by Roger Farmer and Pawel Zabczk ing would be “deeper and tougher” than in by political dogma like the Labour Party, 100,000 people and probably more if in their NIESR report of 2018, and its Margaret Thatcher’s in the 1980s. It was has been responsible for the two biggest researchers at UCL are to be believed – in chief and charismatic promulgator, Mrs another example of the long shadow of Mrs political conceits for the past 100 years: aus- 2017 they estimated that more than 150,000 Thatcher. She was a great advocate of the Thatcher. terity and Brexit. 7

LAW AND ORDER A Day in Court with our Top Conservatives Crime writer Duncan Campbell takes his seat in the press bench for a most satisfying trio of cases.

sentence of five years under the Offences “I disregard in passing sentence claims the word ‘terror’ in a loose and reckless VIOLENCE Against the Person Act. You would nor- made by the prosecution that you had way. You must be well aware, Ms Patel, mally be released after serving half of this form in that, in 2016, you had ‘stabbed that many people who casually threaten term but, because you have just announced Boris Johnson in the back’, as I accept that terror in this country can find themselves ill the defendant please stand? in your so-called ‘crime week’ that pris- the stabbing was metaphorical rather than arrested and jailed or lose their citizenship. “W “Alexander Boris de Pfeffel oners will now serve their full term, you physical and that you have very clearly “You have already shown yourself to Johnson, you have been found guilty of will serve the whole sentence, regard- shown complete contrition for your behav- be an unreliable person more interested conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. less of whether you behave yourself well iour in that matter. in your own advancement than in the The evidence against you is overwhelm- in prison, regardless of what efforts you “However, your government has done condition of others in that, in 2017, you ing. The jury has heard how, in 1990, your make at rehabilitation and regardless of nothing to address the issue of drugs and were sacked by the then Prime Minister, fellow Old Etonian, Darius Guppy, asked the state of overcrowded in prisons which has ignored the urgings of many senior Theresa May, because you, as a govern- you to find out the address of the News will mean that you will have to share a cell. police officers who have called for their ment minister, abused your position and of the World journalist, Stuart Collier, so “And I – silence! – take him down and decriminalisation. You are hereby sen- carried out a series of private meetings that he could be seriously harmed because bring in the second defendant.” tenced to 12 months. without her knowledge. On that occasion, he was carrying out an investigation into “Please bring in the next defendant.” you admitted that your actions ‘fell below Mr Guppy, who, as the jury heard, was the high standards that are expected of a later jailed for insurance and VAT fraud. DRUGS secretary of state’. To put it mildly. “A tape recording of the conversation TERROR “Now as Home Secretary, rather than between you and Mr Guppy – a record- addressing the serious crime problems ing made by an associate of Mr Guppy caused by the reduction by 21,000 of the for his own reasons – makes it quite clear numbers of police officers in the country, that you were prepared to help him in his the catastrophic privatisation of parts of endeavour. the probation service and the chaos within “I will remind the court of exactly the courts system – all caused in the name what was said: you asked him ‘how badly of austerity in order to protect the richest are you going to hurt this guy?’. When Mr of our citizens from an increase in their Guppy replied: ‘not badly at all’, you said: taxes – you resort to empty rhetoric. ‘Really, I want to know because if this guy “You have also once stated that you is seriously hurt I will be fucking furious’. would be in favour of the re-introduction The exchange continued thus – Guppy: of capital punishment. Like Mr Johnson, ‘He will not have any broken limbs or a you should know that, although Great broken arm and he will not be put into Britain jails more of its citizens per head intensive care or anything like that. He than any other western European coun- will probably get a couple of black eyes try, it also has a higher murder and violent and a cracked rib’. Johnson: ‘A cracked crime rate than its neighbours. rib?’. Guppy: ‘Nothing which you didn’t “I hereby sentence you to 180 hours ichael Andrew Gove, you have suffer in rugby, OK? But he’ll get scared of community service. The first 60 hours been found guilty at your own riti Sushil Patell, on 3 August this and that’s what I want him to do. I want “M you will spend cleaning prison cells so that admission of being in possession of the year you said that you wanted crimi- him to get scared. I want him to have no “P you can appreciate the extent of the col- class A drug, cocaine. To your credit, you nals ‘to literally feel terror at the thought idea who’s behind it, OK? And I want him lapse of the prison system which you now have made a full confession of which I will of committing offences’. to realise that he’s f*cked someone off and aim to over-burden with more inmates. remind the court. whoever he’s f*cked off is not the sort of “Under the new offence, ‘murder of the The second 60 hours you will spend as person he wants to mess around with’. “You said: ‘I took drugs on several occa- English language’, brought in last week by a cleaner in a probation office and the After the conversation continues, you sions at social events more than 20 years Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, you have been third 60 hours you will dust the offices of reply: ‘OK Darry, I’ve said I’ll do it. I’ll ago. At the time I was a young journalist. found guilty on two counts. Reprieve, so that you can learn that capital do it, don’t worry’. It was a mistake. I look back and I think I “Firstly, the splitting of an infinitive punishment is not only ineffective, vindic- “The jury rightly disregarded your wish I hadn’t done that’.” and, secondly, for the inaccurate use of the tive and uncivilised, but can often result in claim that you were only ‘joking’. Your “Many offenders now serving long word ‘literally’, which, as you must well the death of innocent people. main concern, as also evidenced by the sentences in this country, which jails more know, is constantly and lazily employed “I would add that – fortunately for all tape recording, was that the crime would people per head than any other country in when people wish to emphasise a point. three defendants – hypocrisy has not yet not be traced to you. Despite the fact that western Europe, may, like yourself, look “Because of the overcrowding situation been declared a crime. you were yourself a journalist, you were back and ‘wish they hadn’t done that’, as in women’s jails since your government’s “Court rise.” more than happy to assist in a plot to cause you put it. But the law is the law and a decision to sell off Holloway Prison, I am physical harm to a fellow journalist. prison term is appropriate, in your case to inclined to spare you from incarceration “I am sentencing you to the maximum a maximum of seven years. on these offences. However, you also used 8 read more at bylinetimes.com

BREXIT AND EMPIRE

The Myths of Immigration Just Don’t Add Up By Jonathan Portes The professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London on why the UK has long been a country shaped by immigration and immigrants – and how the reality of this is not as bad as the rhetoric portrays.

heap labour from Eastern Europe is true. But, that doesn’t mean that the British workers, the author himself, emi- has been severe. While immigration did pushes down wages, increases overall level of unemployment goes up – nent economist Professor Steve Nickell, not in itself ‘cause’ Brexit and the UK’s C rents, and takes jobs away from that would only follow if the number of dismissed it as “infinitesimal”. current slow-motion political crisis, it is British workers. Vote Conservative! These jobs was fixed. This is the so-called ‘lump But, while it is reasonably clear that difficult to imagine that the UK would were the cries of the MP for Bethnal of labour fallacy’. the net impacts of migration are broadly have voted to leave the EU without it. North-East, Mancherjee Bhownaggree, The same logic implies that encour- positive, it is impossible simply to add This also has parallels elsewhere, in the an Indian immigrant himself, in 1895. The aging women to enter the workforce up all the evidence on social impacts United States and in continental Europe. “foreign pauper aliens” he spoke of were would push up unemployment or that and come to a clear-cut conclusion, both Perhaps most worryingly, the back- mostly Jews. the Government could reduce unemploy- because those impacts are more diverse lash against immigration has both been Although recent immigration levels ment by forcing people to retire early. and harder to measure and because some exacerbated by and, in turn, worsened a are unprecedented, in my new book, What Immigration adds to both supply and of them are subjective. But, equally we do general sense of alienation among large Do We Know and What Should We Do About demand. have some evidence, both quantitative and sections of the UK population. This, in Immigration, I explain why the UK has If an immigrant gets a job, they will qualitative, and it does suggest that some part, was driven by economics, made long been a country shaped in many ways earn money, most of which will be spent. The of the rhetoric is, at the very least, grossly worse by austerity, but perhaps even more by immigration and immigrants, and that business they work for may see its profits rise; so by cultural concerns, driven by geogra- political controversy over – and hostility that money has to go somewhere. The result phy, class and age. This is not just or even to – immigration is anything but new. is higher demand for goods and services in mainly about immigration, but it makes In 1955, Winston Churchill wanted the economy, and hence higher demand for "Despite everything, it far more difficult for politicians to for- to fight the upcoming election on the labour. Over the medium-to-long-run then, public attitudes to immigration mulate or implement sensible immigra- slogan “Keep England White”. And, almost all economists think that the labour tion policies. while the right’s favourite “intellectu- market will adjust. And a quick glance at the in the UK are at their But, I remain optimistic. Partly als” of today, like Roger Scruton and UK data confirms this. Over the period 1997 most positive in decades." because I believe that, despite everything Douglas Murray, prefer to target to 2017, the proportion of the UK workforce – xenophobic newspapers, cynical politi- rather than Carribbeans when they claim born abroad rose steadily to about 17%, but cians and ‘respectable’ intellectuals and that immigrants and their children will the unemployment rate is now about 4% – commentators who are quite happy to never be really “British”, the continuity the lowest since the mid-1970s. exaggerated. legitimise racism – the experience of the between ’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ What about wages? Again, it is easy Most importantly, there is very little last two decades has been hugely positive speech and contemporary Islamophobia is to make a simple, indeed simplistic, argu- to substantiate the claim that the UK is overall, both for the UK and for immi- obvious. ment of ‘more workers mean lower wages. becoming more segregated or more divided grants who have made the UK their home. In the book, I look back over the eco- It’s just supply and demand’. Looked at on ethnic grounds – overall, the opposite Indeed, despite everything, public nomics, history and politics of immigration in isolation, more workers might reduce appears to be the case – or that groups are attitudes to immigration in the UK are at to the UK – but focus on the last 20 years, wages, but immigration will also increase choosing to form self-perpetuating enclaves, their most positive in decades. There is a and how recent immigration has shaped our labour demand. physical, social or attitudinal. window of opportunity to reset, not just economy and society. Overall, recent immigration may have Fears about the wider impact of immigration policy, but our broader per- About one in seven of us were born depressed wages slightly for some work- immigration – on public services, crime spective. This will take courage and initia- abroad, up from less than half that at the ers, particularly lower paid or low-skilled or ‘cohesion’ – are overstated. The UK tive, not just from politicians but from the turn of the century. So, does immigra- ones, but not by much. One analysis found has coped with the challenges of integrat- rest of us. It will be contested, messy and tion reduce job opportunities for those of that a 1% rise in the proportion of migrant ing large numbers of migrants reasonably imperfect, just as in every previous histor- us who were born here? Push down wages? workers in the low-skilled service sector well, and not just people coming here to ical episode. Nevertheless, I am hopeful What is the impact of immigration on led to a fall in wages for UK-born workers work, but refugees and others. that, if I come to revise my book in five public finances and public services? in that sector of a little more than a tenth The UK is far from perfect, but from or 10 years from now, I will still be able to It seems obvious that, if an immigrant of 1%. While this was often cited during my perspective, the glass is (at least) half- paint a positive picture. takes a job in the UK, there is one less job the Brexit campaign as proof that freedom full, rather than half-empty. for a British worker. And in one sense this of movement was indeed hurting low-paid Nevertheless, the political backlash 9

UK POLITICS THE EXTRAORDINARY COST OF GRAYLING

As we finally say goodbye to ‘Failing Grayling’ from the heart of Government, David Hencke presents Part 2 of his investigation into the Epsom MP’s human and financial cost as a minister in 2016-2019.

hris Grayling, or ‘Failing THE RAIL TIMETABLE DEBACLE THE GREAT BREXIT Part 2 bill of ’ as he is often OF MAY-JULY 2018 FREIGHT FERRY DEBACLE C called, racked up £790 mil- Grayling was held to blame, alongside Grayling authorised the expenditure of Grayling's blunders: lion of losses through failed schemes Network Rail and rail unions, for com- more than £107 million for ferry compa- in his first two jobs as an Employment plete chaos on Northern Rail and Govia nies to handle extra freight if Britain had Minister and then Justice Secretary. Thameslink which brought misery for mil- left the EU on 29 March this year. He became Transport Secretary on lions and took an age to sort out. The ferry companies involved were £2.7 billion 14 July 2016 and has, thus far, cost the The final report by the Office of Road and Brittany Ferries and DFDS. Seaborne country at least another £2.7 billion. Rail watchdog demanded a huge overhaul Freight, which didn’t own any ferries, was Here are the highlights. of the planning system for rail timetables also awarded a contract. The £13.8 million and said “nobody was in charge”. This came Seaborne freight contract was cancelled Transport Secretary: 2016-2019 on top of a National Audit Office report in February and the tender disaster led TOTAL COST OF which criticised the original Govia contract, to Eurotunnel suing the Government for GRAYLING’S “HOGWARTS EXPRESS”: warning: “The Department also expects allegedly breaching procurement rules and CHRIS GRAYLING: CANCELLING THE ELECTRIFICATION to pay Govia Thameslink for the addi- receiving £33 million in compensation. P OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY tional costs, potentially amounting to tens & O Ferries is now suing for a further £33 Grayling inherited spiralling costs of elec- of millions of pounds a year, resulting from million.. trification from predecessors, but used changes to the Department’s requirements”. £3.5 BILLION underhand methods to make the decision Cost of failure: to cancel it. The National Audit Office Cost of Failure: Currently unquantifiable, but likely • £116 million – £50 million in revealed he took the decision in April 2017, to run to tens of millions to be paid out by the cancelled contracts, but delayed its announcement until July . • £33 million in compensation to Eurotunnel, The total cost of Chris that year – after the General Election. • and possibly another £33 million in New “bi-mode” electric/diesel trains were Misery Index: Huge. Figures in the Office of Road compensation to P & O Ferries. Grayling’s decisions will run going to replace electric ones – except and Rail report reveal that more than 578,000 they don’t yet exist. The decision had con- commuters on Govia Thameslink services claimed Misery Index: More to companies than to to at least £3.5 billion and sequences across the UK as the replaced late train compensation over two months, and the public. Passengers may benefit from trains were going to be used to improve more than 72,000 commuters from Northern Rail improvements by Eurotunnel using the £33 there will be more to come other railway services. Ex-Tory cabi- over three months. million to spruce up terminal facilities. net minister Nicky Morgan roasted him as further costs emerge. for the decision: “We see the decision to cancel it was based on fantasy trains that EAST AND WEST COAST THE SALE OF The misery he has caused didn’t even exist and the Midlands being RAIL FRANCHISE DISASTER NETWORK RAIL a guinea pig for an untested technology.” In 2018, Grayling allowed Virgin and RAILWAY ARCHES has affected millions of Stagecoach a two-year extension to run Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Cost of Failure: £337 million, plus an unknown the West Coast mainline from London to and Chris Grayling decided to force people from commuters to extra sum for untried technology. Glasgow, while knowing that Stagecoach Network Rail to sell its railway arch port- and Virgin’s running of the East Coast folio worth £1.17 billion in 2018 – to part prisoners, small business Misery index: Worse and slower train services to line from London to was about pay for rail improvements. Swansea, Windermere and Sheffield, and improve- to collapse. The decision gave an extra The move raised £1.46 billion, but prop- people, victims of crime ments for services in Scotland cancelled. boost for West Coast mainline sharehold- erties were sold to Telereal Trillium and ers and relieved East Coast sharehold- Blackstone Property Partners, both huge and discrimination at work ers of the burden to improve services by offshore and private equity companies. THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY taking it back into public ownership. Neither minister took measures to legally and those on the dole. FRANCHISE DEBACLE protect some 5,000 small business tenants Announced with fanfare by Grayling in Cost of Failure: A big boost for private operators who now face eye-watering rent rises. Only March 2017 as part of a new era, by April who made £51 million in dividends on the West £500 million is going to help Network Rail, 2018 he had to announce an independent Coast mainline, with the taxpayer picking up with the rest snuffed by the Treasury. Perhaps one silver lining of review into South Western Railway’s the tab for the East Coast line contract which The decision was celebrated by the prop- poor service. The row over driver-only still had five years to run. The loss of promised erty industry as “the deal of the year”. Boris Johnson’s coronation trains had led to strikes and fury from income to the taxpayer was as much as £2.3 bil- commuters. lion, according to the original contract. Cost of failure: None, it made more than the as Prime Minister is waving Treasury thought it would. Cost of Failure: A big increase in claims for com- Misery Index: The public may get a better deal goodbye to Chris Grayling pensation for late trains. by public ownership of the East Coast line – it Misery Index: Huge for small business and start- previously made a profit for the taxpayer while up companies which are facing rent rises by as as a Government minister. Misery index: Commuters faced utter misery to in state hands. much as 84-100% by the new owners. get to and from work 10 read more at bylinetimes.com

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

from Johnson himself at his most Clearly, neither Rees-Mogg, nor feeble, made any effort to pretend that through him, the Prime Minister did so. The Prorogation Crisis the Government’s description of its The monarch was misled as to her Prime motives was true. No member of the Minister’s Government’s true reasons for Government was willing to swear an closing Parliament and he breached his affidavit or appear in court for cross- ancient pledge of faithfulness in doing Has Revealed the Queen examination about its decision-mak- so. The Queen should have replied: “Mr ing. Indeed, in his memorandum to Rees-Mogg, as a Privy Councillor, you the Supreme Court, Johnson in effect may kiss my royal arse, but you are for- conceded this and merely stated: “The bidden to pull my royal leg.” as the Hollow Heart of courts have no jurisdiction to enforce She did not do so because she fol- political conventions… because those lowed a lifetime practice of never doing matters are determined within the anything that might be deemed political. political world.” In other words, he can Had she been a president, or had the British Constitution do what he likes and break conventions she sworn to uphold a documented con- at will for they are not legally binding stitution, it would have been her duty or, to use the technical term, justiciable. to expose Johnson’s request for what it The court’s conclusion that Johnson was. But Elizabeth II has survived a By Anthony Barnett acted unlawfully shattered the separa- lifetime on the throne by never appear- tion of the judiciary from the executive ing to be an agent. She preserved the he Supreme Court’s ruling that increasingly redundant. that is the hallmark of the British con- regime through unprecedented change Boris Johnson acted unlawfully For, not even the most admiring stitution, and points to a constitutional by floating. Her reward for being true T in asking the Queen to pro- wish to be ruled by a useless crown. revolution. to this extraordinary abnegation was rogue Parliament will have an enormous The justification of deference is that What does this have to do with the having to give the go ahead to the toxic impact on the future of our country – one feels enhanced by the special Queen? Well, quite a lot. In a narrow cynicism of Johnson and his Svengali, both on our politics and our constitu- enchantment of royal meaning and can way, she was correct. She wielded her Dominic Cummings. The greatest dis- tion; on our entire public life. share in its aura. If this drains away authority to prorogue Parliament on the tinction of her reign – that she has This leads on to a question which and the monarchy becomes irrelevant, advice of her Prime Minister, given to always been ‘above’ politics – has led people are uncomfortably aware of: allegiance to it becomes more shame- her in her Privy Council. This advice to her historic humiliation. what is the role of the Queen? ful than enriching. Who would pledge was transmitted to her by Jacob Rees- In 2017, I set out why Brexit was like Many, perhaps most, think that the one’s loyalty to a cipher? Mogg, the Government-appointed a supernova, a great flash of democratic Queen has amazing political judgement. The monarch’s nothingness is draw- Leader of the House of Commons, who energy that would collapse into a dark Some may even think that this is what ing the entire political system into the void wrote in the Spectator about the advan- hole. What I hadn’t foreseen was the part has held the country together for more that Elizabeth II has so meticulously and tages of prorogation for Brexit. that would be played in this by the absent than 60 years. But, in reality, the crisis understandably defined as her role. The rules of the Privy Council centre that is the British monarchy. over the prorogation of Parliament dem- To understand why this has hap- are written in obscure language, in the Thanks to its passivity, the singular onstrates that the Queen has no politi- pened with respect to the Supreme oath its councillors take, but are basi- majesty that has endowed the United cal judgement whatsoever – good or bad. Court case, it is necessary to grasp cally clear. Everything said in Council Kingdom with continuity could not She is a nothingness, the hollow heart of the nature of its quandary. Its decision is secret. What anyone says in the pres- withstand Johnson’s brutal carelessness the unwritten British constitution. hinged on how it perceived the blaz- ence of the monarch cannot be revealed. with its vital conventions. The result The more the constitution is now ing deception of Prime Minister Boris But, the councillors are obliged to be is that the Supreme Court cannot now debated in the way all constitutions Johnson, who claimed that his unprec- truthful with the Queen – it is not just preserve them, and that Elizabeth II should be – as something vital, conse- edented closing down of Parliament what they say which has to be true, it and the constitution have entered their quential and therefore relevant to the had nothing to do with Brexit and was has to be the whole truth for they must final reckoning. way we live – the clearer this becomes. merely normal. “faithfully and truly declare” their “mind As it does so, the monarchy becomes It is striking that no one, apart and opinion”.

“Mr Rees-Mogg, as a Privy Councillor, you may kiss my royal arse, but you are forbidden to pull my royal leg.” 11

DEMOCRACY IN DANGER

oris Johnson, Michael suggests data sharing between role in Vote Leave that, fol- Gove and Dominic different Leave organisa- lowing my questions, he now B Cummings were all tions, including Vote Leave, denies responsibility for data central characters in Vote in the 2016 Referendum. protection and electoral issues Leave, the official campaign The evidence also indi- in his own department. for the UK to leave the EU cates that data may have Three years on from the in 2016. That campaign broke been shared between Leave Vote Leave campaign, Johnson, the law. organisations and and Cummings are run- The elections watchdog, Gove’s 2016 campaign for ning our country – and are the Electoral Commission, the Conservative Party lead- about to take us out of the EU fined Vote Leave £61,000. ership. This is currently on the basis of a referendum This has now been paid and being investigated by the in which electoral offences they have thereby admitted Information Commissioner. were committed and two their offences. If established, such data shar- unresolved investigations, by The offences were not ing could be illegal. the Metropolitan Police and minor. They involved delib- Thus, we know that, not Information Commissioner, erate collusion between dif- only did Vote Leave commit are outstanding. ferent Leave campaigns to electoral offences, but it is I find these issues avoid restrictions on cam- subject to two continuing deeply troubling and have paign expenditure. Dominic investigations into its 2016 spent recent months high- Cummings, campaign direc- campaign. lighting my concerns, with tor of Vote Leave and now The DCMS Committee speeches and interven- chief advisor to the Prime wanted to question Dominic tions in the Commons and Minister, is quoted exten- Cummings about these mat- a series of letters to the sively in the evidence pro- ters to get answers – but he Prime Minister, Gove, the duced by the Electoral refused to give evidence. He Information Commissioner JOHNSON Commission to substantiate was found to be in contempt and the Cabinet Office. I the offences. of Parliament earlier this have given Johnson, Gove In addition, the watchdog year for this refusal, but was and Cummings every oppor- referred further matters relat- swiftly appointed as a chief tunity to answer but they ing to false declarations by of staff to Johnson after he have not done so. GOVE Vote Leave to the police for became Prime Minister. We are now in the run-up investigation. That investiga- The Committee wrote to a General Election. We tion continues. to the Prime Minister asking know from independent Michael Gove, the co- him to direct Cummings to sources such as the Electoral convener of Vote Leave’s give evidence, but he has Commission and the CUMMINGS campaign committee has refused to do so. So, we have Information Commissioner admitted that he knew of the a situation where the Prime that our electoral law needs payments giving rise to the Minister is obstructing a par- change. We also know that The Trio Behind electoral offences. But, he has liamentary inquiry. wrongdoing was committed refused to disclose to me the Michael Gove is now by Vote Leave during the date he found out about them the Secretary of State for the 2016 Referendum campaign. a Law-Breaking or who told him – despite Cabinet Office, the depart- Three of the people who held repeated questions from me ment with conduct of the key positions in that cam- in the House of Commons Electoral Integrity Bill. I paign are now running the Campaign chamber and in writing. have put these questions Government. In addition, the Digital, about his role in Vote Leave How can we have any Culture, Media and Sport to him many times, but he faith in them to cure the glar- Obstructing Further (DCMS) Select Committee refuses to answer. He is so ing defects in our electoral Investigation: secured evidence which keen to avoid questions on his law? What are they Hiding?

Ian Lucas, who retired as an MP this month, asks why Boris Johnson and his team would not appear before Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee to answer his important questions about electoral law. 12 read more at bylinetimes.com

US POLITICS Trump’s Toxic Legacy By Caroline Orr

Racism Corruption Misogyny espite Trump’s claims n the short time since he rump’s misogyny was of being the “least racist launched it by calling Mexicans took office, no secret when he the allegations weren’t attractive person that you’ve ever “rapists” who are “bringing crime” has built quite a legacy of announced his intention enough to sexually assault. D and “bringing drugs” into the coun- I T During his presidency, Trump encountered”, his life tells quite self-dealing and shady business to run for the presidency, and a different story. While his racist try. Much of his campaign was built practices. it has only become more blatant has repeatedly been accused of comments and support for white on his proposal to construct a phys- since he hit the campaign trail silencing women with whom he supremacists have made head- ical wall to keep Mexican immi- A recent review of filings and took office as President. has had extramarital affairs, includ- lines in recent years, his legacy grants out of the US. made with the Federal Election ing adult film star Stormy Daniels. of racism goes back more than Throughout his campaign and Committee (FEC) found that Like his corruption and racism, When Daniels lost a defamation law- four decades: into his presidency, Trump has Republican candidates and cam- Trump’s misogyny has shaped his suit against Trump, he celebrated in repeatedly refused or hesitated to paign committees have spent more decisions as a man and, ultimately, a tweet in which he referred to her In 1973, the US Department of condemn white supremacists who than $4 million at Trump-owned as leader of the United States. as “horseface”. Justice – under the leadership of the express support for him and his pol- properties since he was inaugu- He has repeatedly made it clear Trump also infamously mocked Nixon administration – sued the icies, and he has frequently shared rated in 2017. That’s just a drop in that he values women based on their the physical appearance of Dr Trump Management Corporation tweets from known white suprema- the bucket, though. According to sex appeal and physical appearance. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman for violating the Fair Housing Act cists and neo-Nazis. the activist group Public Citizen, In 2004, long before he was a presi- who accused now-Supreme Court after a federal investigation found After a white supremacist Trump has collected more than dential candidate, Trump admitted Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexu- evidence that Trump had refused rally in Charlottesville resulted in $15 million from government in his book How to Get Rich that the ally assaulting her when they were to rent to black tenants and lied the death of anti-racist protester agencies and political organisa- success of female contestants on in high school. That same week, he to black applicants about whether Heather Heyer in August 2017, tions including the Pentagon, the his television show The Apprentice lobbed an insult at a female reporter apartments were available. Trump repeatedly said that “many National Security Council, and the was “dependent on their sex appeal”. during a press conference, telling In 1980, Trump was accused sides” and “both sides” were to Republican National Committee. Not long after becoming President, her: “I know you’re not thinking, of racial discrimination by a former blame for the violence – assigning This money, much of which came he showed that he still holds these you never do.” employee who alleged that “[w]hen moral equivalence to violent white from the pockets of taxpayers, was same beliefs when – with the whole Trump’s misogyny has also Donald and [then-wife] Ivana came supremacists and the counter-pro- spent at Trump’s restaurants, golf world watching – he awkwardly manifested itself as policy. One of to the casino, the bosses would order testers who showed up to oppose resorts, and luxury hotels. commented on the “physical shape” the first actions he took as President all the black people off the floor…. their racism. Trump also said there Ethics watchdogs say that of Brigitte Macron, the first lady of was reinstating and dramatically They put us all in the back”. were “some very fine people” among many of these payments may vio- France. expanding the “global gag rule,” also In 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel the white supremacists. late the emoluments clause of the This belief system explains known as the “Mexico City policy,” and Casino was ordered to pay a This pattern has continued Constitution, while an even greater why he so frequently invokes which was first enacted by President $200,000 fine after it was caught through Trump’s presidency. He concern is that Trump’s hotels have women’s appearance in his insults Ronald Reagan, but later repealed transferring black and women deal- once referred to the entirety of become a conduit for foreign money against them. Like a classic misog- by President . The ers off tables in order to appease a Africa as a “shithole”, mocked the and backdoor lobbying. ynist, Trump assumes that women, rule prohibits international organ- racist high-rolling gambler. horrific act of ethnic cleansing In perhaps the most strik- too, prioritise physical appearance isations receiving US global health In 2004, Trump fired Kevin known as the Trail of Tears, cele- ing example, Trump’s family busi- above all else, and thus he believes assistance from providing informa- Allen, a black contestant on The brated the pro-slavery Confederacy, ness has taken in at least $250,000 that taking digs at the way a woman tion, referrals, or services for legal Apprentice, for being too educated. and made dehumanising immi- in hotel fees alone from the Saudi looks is the ultimate insult. During abortion or advocating for access to The next year, he pitched an idea grants a routine act at his rallies and Government during his presidency his 2016 presidential campaign, he abortion services in their country for a new season of the show that speeches. – and, coincidentally, his stance on tried to discredit Carly Fiorina, his – even if they do it with their own involved “creating a team of suc- This isn’t simply misspeaking – Saudi Arabia has taken a 180-degree then-opponent in the Republican money. The policy severely restricts cessful African Americans versus a this is who Trump is. turn since he was a candidate, when presidential primary, by sneering: access to healthcare for women in team of successful whites”. he regularly talked tough about “Look at that face! Would anyone need, resulting in increased rates In 2011, Trump launched the Gulf nation. Today, he and his vote for that?” of unintended pregnancy, preg- the so-called “birther” conspir- family are cozy with the Saudi royal After becoming the GOP nom- nancy complications, and maternal acy theory, alleging that Barack family. inee, Trump launched one of the mortality. Obama – the first Black president Trump has also used the office most sexist campaigns in modern The Trump administration in American history – was not actu- of the presidency to enrich himself American history. During the cam- has also rolled back the clock on ally born in the US. Though Trump through business deals and loans paign, he referred to his opponent, women’s reproductive rights, taking has stopped talking about this con- with China, construction projects , as a “nasty woman” actions to imperil birth control cov- spiracy theory in public, he report- in Argentina, building licenses in and tweeted that if she couldn’t “sat- erage, restrict abortion access, elimi- edly still brings it up in private India, and many other shady finan- isfy” her husband, she couldn’t sat- nate funding for evidence-based sex conversations. cial deals that show a pattern of put- isfy America – a reference to Bill education and pregnancy preven- Trump’s presidential cam- ting his personal interests before Clinton’s extramarital affair with tion programs, cut federal funding paign was one of the most the public interest. Monica Lewinsky. In Trump’s mind, for Planned Parenthood, make it racist in modern American Hillary Clinton’s experience as a harder for victims of campus sexual history. He infamously former senator and secretary of state assault to get justice, and slash was worth nothing if she didn’t have the US Agency for International the sex appeal he desired. Development’s family planning When he was accused of sexual budget, among other things. misconduct by nearly two dozen women, Trump responded by sug- gesting that the women making 13

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY THE RETURN OF THE NASTY PARTY The Dangers of Racial Gatekeeping Musa Okwonga explains how politicians with immigrant backgrounds are using this identity to win popular support for regressive policies against minority groups.

his daughter of immigrants is a flimsy intellectual premise – after mere careerists; these are political posi- racial element to paedophile rings, needs no lectures from the all, our recent politics continues to tions that they honestly hold. Neither tweeted about “sick Asian paedo- “Tnorth London, metropoli- remind us that gay people can support are they self-loathing, or ashamed of philes”. By contrast, Javid has been tan, liberal elite,” said Priti Patel, the homophobic policies, and groups of who they are – if anything, they are curiously silent on the subject of pae- Home Secretary, as she addressed the women can support misogynistic poli- supremely proud of themselves, a defi- dophilia in English football, a case Conservative Party Conference. A glee- ticians. But, the premise is not there ant minority. which broke earlier that year and the ful smile played across her face as she to provide debate-winning logic, it is They typically tend to believe numbers for which are astonishing continued, stating her pledge to “end there to provide a sense of emotional that the problem of racism is exagger- in their scale – 300 suspects identi- the free movement of people once and validation for their audiences. Priti ated by the left, whom they see as all fied, 849 victims and 340 clubs named. for all”. Patel knows this, and that is a probably too ready to complain; in the case of There were no tweets from Javid about Patel’s remarks were greeted, one a key reason why she was smiling when James Cleverly, the co-chairman of the “sick white paedophiles”, even though suspects, with much of the reaction she gave her speech. Conservative Party, they have down- the overwhelming number of coaches that she desired; applause from her Racial gatekeepers are an inter- played the use of blackface by their col- and therefore abusers are likely to have audience, condemnation from those esting contradiction: they pride them- leagues. For them, society seems to be been white. There were no public ques- appalled by the joy she seemed to take selves on their rebellious streak, defy- a sort of assault course, and those who tions from Javid about what cultural in the removal of their EU citizenship. ing what people expect them to think, rise do so by right; that with the right reasons in the white community might We can focus here, though, on her use yet the positions which they take rig- amount of intelligence and diligence have led these men to abuse boys, lead- of words, which has two interesting idly reinforce the racial status quo. they can conquer all. If Patel can work ing to, in the words of FA Chairman elements. In the US, Candace Owens has her way up the political ladder, then Greg Clarke, “the biggest crisis in the First, there is the phrase “north urged black voters to abandon the why can’t others who look just like her? history of the sport”. It is interesting London metropolitan liberal elite”. Democratic Party and throw their Their tragedy, though, is that they to see where and how Javid chooses to This is a use of language which has electoral weight behind Donald have fallen for the myth of meritocracy. talk about race, and where and how he been identified by leading commenta- Trump, arguing that the Democrats At times, they have apparently told chooses not to. tors as having anti-Semitic connota- are not entitled to the black vote. That themselves that if they embody the Despite these exhaustive efforts, tions. Even if this wording was merely is of course entirely true, yet Owens most hardline aspects of their political though, several of them may privately reckless or negligent, it is unaccept- has gone a step further – disregard- parties – normally involving what they wonder if these lonely roads – roads able in any political climate, particu- ing the testimony of a renowned aca- would call “hard questions” about law which they assuredly chose – will ever larly this one; there are far smarter demic that white national- and order, race and immigration end in the warm embraces which they ways to critique and ism is a grave problem – then they will be embraced seem to seek. Diane Abbott, who we could charita- in America. She by their peers. Javid, despite having shown his bly assume were her intended targets, has most recently And so, as recently tough-on-refugee credentials by return- than reaching immediately for age-old been welcomed as 2011, Patel voiced ing early from a family holiday to patrol racist tropes. by Marion her support for capi- the English Channel, found himself Secondly, there is the implication Maréchal-Le tal punishment, a inexplicably shunned by Donald Trump that as the “daughter of immigrants” Pen, a French view from which she when the President visited the UK ear- she will somehow not act against the politician has since retreated. lier this year. Cleverly, despite routinely rights and interests of immigrants, with presi- Last spring, Kwasi showing his party extraordinary loyalty, even as she seeks to usher in an era dential ambi- Kwarteng mounted was not rewarded with the same support where freedom of movement will end. tions. In an a defence of the when he ran for its leadership, dropping This implication is what we might call era where the Government’s out of the race only a few days after an act of “racial gatekeeping”. far-right has policy on Windrush announcing his candidacy. Racial gatekeeping, put simply, is seen startling that was striking for Meanwhile, Patel’s ascent contin- the assertion that the political figure electoral gains its lack of empathy. ues. On the same day that she made her in question could not possibly be criti- across the world, Last winter, then speech about ending freedom of move- cised for regressive policies against a these supposed con- Home Secretary Sajid ment, in order to enable the arrival particular racially marginalised group, trarians on the subject Javid, keen to empha- of the world’s finest scientists, a story because they themselves are members of race have rarely been sise what he saw as a broke about how her Home Office had of that group. After all, how could a so utterly conventional. k e y denied access to the family of one of proud daughter of immigrants intro- Racial gate- those scientists. It was grimly fitting: duce laws so severe that they might k e e p e r s a preview of Patel’s world where the have prevented her own parents from are not rhetoric will be brutal, the policies entering the country? more brutal still. The racial gatekeeper is a crucial It is unclear where Patel’s role because it allows a group of white journey will end; all that people with racially regressive views appears clear is that, before to say: “Look at us, we have found a she is done, the happiness of non-white person who agrees with many more people will be us, our policies therefore do not mere collateral damage for have racially regressive effects.” It her ambition. 14 read more at bylinetimes.com

BREXIT & EMPIRE THE STORY OF BREXIT IS THE STORY OF EMPIRE Why Did So Many Asian Immigrants Vote To Leave The EU?

By Hardeep Matharu

hy, in pro-Remain than white British administration,” he told The complicated love-hate British public life, people, “ethnic minorities waraj, the first name of me. “It was a very nice place to W do we almost never showed a non-negligible level S my father, means ‘self- be and that’s how I’ve always speak about Empire? It was a of support for leave, which was rule’ and was a term used by had this loyalty to Britain relationship of immigrants question that struck me again twice as high amongst Indians Gandhi to describe India’s and I always wanted to come recently as I was watching the as amongst other minor- quest for independence from to England and I wanted to from former colonies with news with my parents. Another ity groups”, according to an hundreds of years of British be part of this country. I had day in Parliament with Theresa ‘Understanding Society’ report. rule. My grandfather gave him no problems settling here. the British Empire cannot be May embroiled in the con- The relationship of the name as he was born in “I used to read magazines tinuing chaos around Brexit. Britain’s long-standing immi- August 1947, when India finally like Time magazine, Life maga- ignored if lessons are to be Having migrated to grant communities with the achieved self-governance. zine, Reader’s Digest and the Britain from Kenya and India Empire is a complex one. At Raised in Nairobi, Kenya, old Daily Mirror papers, Eagle learned in post-Brexit Britain. over 40 years ago, I still once, Britain’s colonisation until he was 18, my Dad comics in Kenya. I learnt to find it perplexing that they has created a patriotic alle- spent two years in India, speak, read and write English at both voted to leave the EU giance in immigrants who see before coming to Britain school because we had English in the 2016 Referendum. themselves as British rather in 1967 aged 20. His family, teachers so I had no problem Responding to their dis- than migrants, while at the Indian Punjabis, had origi - when I came over to Britain.” illusionment on Theresa What about racism? May’s attempts to deliver “Brexit is the story of Empire. I asked him. Brexit, I asked them whether “Racism was something I they would still vote leave An unfinished, untold story on which the was used to in Kenya as well. now, knowing what they do sun won’t set for a very long time.” I knew that it existed, over about all that was to follow there they used to call it ‘colour “Yes,” they both said bar’. There were certain hotels without hesitation. “It was same time demanding repa- nally gone to Kenya to build that were only meant for white still the right thing to do.” ration and recognition for all the railways for the British. people and there were cer- That the Brexit vote was, the damage Britain inflicted While recognising the tain parts of Nairobi where in no small part, about Empire on countries such as India. violence of colonisation, my only white people could buy for Commonwealth immigrants In many ways, Brexit is the father enjoyed growing up houses and live, Asians weren’t and their love-hate relationship story of Empire. An unfinished, under British influence. allowed. So I knew from a very with its legacy has long needed untold story on which the sun “I liked the way of life young age that this went on. discussion in British society. won’t set for a very long time. when I was in Kenya under the “There was a lot of racism Although non-white British rule, everything was [when I came to Britain], but groups were generally more run properly, all the laws, the one had to learn to live with it.” 15

BREXIT & EMPIRE

On voting for Brexit, my that Britain does not need played a role in immigrants For Shahmir, notions of Pakistan and countries like father admits harbouring immigration from Europe. voting to leave the EU. the Empire and immigrants Nigeria, not with the EU. I “resentment” at how Britain has “People like me were born from former colonies feel- also think it’s unfair that changed, in his eyes, for the peaking to other immi- here, my parents migrated ing an allegiance to Britain European migrants get privi- worse – something he feels is grants from former colo- here,” he said. “If it wasn’t for had a huge part to play in leges over non-EU migrants. linked to being part of the EU. S nies, it’s clear that – like the British Empire and the rule why they voted to leave. You can argue that there are “My allegiance is to my parents – the reasons why of India we wouldn’t be here. “Previous generations people of colour in Europe, but Britain, I don’t see myself as Asian communities voted to “My uncle fought in the weren’t educated in the way that these countries have been des- part of Europe, I don’t want leave the EU are nuanced Second World War in Burma we were as young millennials ecrated by Britain and it has to be,” he said. “Europe is and difficult to assume. and our ancestors have been who are hyper aware of colonial- an obligation to cater to that.” trying to impose its own rules, One second generation entwined in the British Empire ism and imperialism and the These are clearly difficult regulations and laws onto immigrant I spoke to said and Britain, but we have been effect it had on our ancestors,” conversations for some to have. this country. Britain should some Pakistani people cam- given less rights in terms of he said. “If you look at it from have kept on its own. We paigned to leave because they migration into this country the frame of immigrants then oliticians over a number were better off that way.” wanted to “control immigration as compared to some eastern who saw no opportunities back of years have made a He believes that Britain in a way that was favourable European countries who were home and came here and were P mistake in not chal- was always renowned for its to the Indian subcontinent”. actually fighting the British suddenly comfortable, and very lenging inaccurate narra- fairness and that it seems unfair “One of their arguments during the Second World comfortable, even if they were tives around immigration, as that immigrants from Europe was that, if we leave, we’d be War. So, what’s that about?” working class, the fact that they well as not engaging with the can come here relatively easily better able to accept people had a council house if they were views of immigrant commu- to work and make their lives. from the Indian subcontinent, hahmir Sanni, who was working class was a blessing. It nities long settled in Britain “It’s changed the professionals such as doctors, born in Pakistan, worked was huge. ‘The Government of and their thoughts about our whole culture of this coun- rather than taking them from S for BeLeave, an offshoot this country gave me a home’.” relationship with Europe try now,” he added. Europe,” he said. “There was of the Vote Leave campaign for He said his work at and the rest of the world. The issue is not that simple, that strand that we’d lost con- the EU Referendum. He turned BeLeave was designed to As the British-born child however. My father often trol of immigration, that lots whistleblower last year, when play on this allegiance to the of parents who were born in speaks about how wrong it was of people from eastern Europe he exposed electoral wrong- Commonwealth over Europe. countries of the Empire, I of a morally corrupt Britain were coming over, but, there- doing at the organisation. “It stirred this colonial was taught nothing about it to impose its rule on countries fore, people from the Indian Tasked with targeting and mindset within non-EU immi- at school. Even when I did more prosperous than itself. subcontinent weren’t getting persuading black and ethnic Both my parents made a fair crack at the whip and it minority people to vote leave, a point of telling me about was that disparity. They felt the Shahmir said many of the the Jallianwala Bagh mas- immigration system was unfair.” second generation immigrants sacre in Amritsar in 1919, in While EU migrants gener- he spoke to in areas such as which Colonel Reginald Dyer ally benefit from freedom of London and Birmingham were killed hundreds of non-violent movement, those from coun- already set on voting for Brexit. Indian protestors, when I was tries such as India and Pakistan “They would say ‘we don’t younger. Upon visiting the are subject to visa and work need the EU, we were born site of the killings last year, I restrictions – a distinction that here, we were bred here, we was shocked by how close it was played on by Vote Leave’s have worked here, we don’t was to the Golden Temple, a Michael Gove during the ref- need it, we have never associ- place of profound peace. erendum campaign when he ated with it so why would we But, paradoxically, because suggested that Britain’s immi- focus on it?’ he told me. “They of this brutal history, my father gration system was “racist”. would also say things like ‘it feels Britain owes a loyalty to Another second genera- takes so long for my friends its former colonies over Europe. tion immigrant, whose par- and cousins to get a visa’. “They had a very good time ents also migrated to Britain “There was a lining of in those countries and they from Pakistan, said he voted xenophobia towards eastern benefited a lot from them and for Brexit because he had con- Europeans among Asian and they built their own country cerns about the EU “being an Afro-Carribean communi- as well during those years of economic bloc to the detri- ties. There was the perception the Empire,” he told me. “This ment of the rest of the world”. that people from Europe have Hardeep's father Swaraj with his sister in Nairobi, Kenya country was built on the Empire, “I had no animosity towards got a free pass to come here.” they took a lot of money from the eastern Europeans because, He believes such com- grants that the Commonwealth learn about the slave trade India… They should have if I was in their position, I munities have “a huge feel- and Britain have so much more and Britain’s industrial revolu- some allegiance to those coun- would do the same for eco- ing of being left behind”. in common than the EU,” he tion, these were not set within tries as well, whereas Europe? nomic reasons and my par- “In the last 20-30 years told me. “So there was this the context of colonialism. I don’t see what Europe has ents did the same when they they’ve seen greater integration false idea that we would be It may be an uncomfort- ever done for Britain.” came to Britain,” he told me. with Europe and not with their back with the Commonwealth able, ugly and challenging area My mother Baljeet agrees. But, he now believes a own communities and they have again. An older generation of of our history to probe, but not She left India for Britain second referendum should be seen the benefits the Europeans non-EU immigrants do feel like doing so ignores the effect is aged 26 in 1975 to marry my held as Brexit is “fragment- have gotten, particularly in Britain has a solid connection still has on how many feel and father and sees herself as ing our society” and fuel- terms of immigration and free with places like India. That we think about Britain today. British, having worked hard ling far right racism against rein to go back and forth. have a relationship and a friend- The longer we refuse to to contribute to the country the very immigrant commu- “But, then there’s also a ship with Britain and that stems hold a mirror up to Britain’s and assimilate into life here. nities that voted to leave. huge population of the south from colonised minds.” past, the longer we will fail She said she voted to leave “The day after I voted, there Asian community who have a And why did he vote to properly understand how on the grounds of British sov- were people in white vans with very strong sense of patriotism, to leave the EU? we have arrived at the pres- ereignty because “we should Union Jacks driving around who are very proud to be living “Because I didn’t like ent and the consequences have our own laws and poli- where I live and that shocked in the UK and, sure, they will Europe as a white super-state. of this for the future. cies to run the country”. me,” he said. “I didn’t vote for criticise the British Government, “Britain has a moral obli- In a post-Brexit world, this We have had many a pas- nationalistic reasons so to see but they are still very proud gation to reconnect with the will be more vital than ever. sionate discussion in which I the way the white racist com- Britons and that’s where you can Commonwealth and I con- have argued that Britain is sov- munity behaved on winning the have the same sort of mental- sider that a form of repara- ereign, and that only a minority vote gave me serious concerns ity among the majority of leave tions. That, if we’re going to of laws emanate from the EU. about the dynamic in Britain.” voters which is that Britain have free movement, it should My mother also feels For him, notions of Empire can be better on its own.” be between Britain and India, 16 read more at bylinetimes.com

GENDER POLITICS WHY MASCULINITY MATTERS ‘The Idea is Trump and Boris are Alpha Males and their Ludicrous Sex Drive Tells You they are Winners’

Hardeep Matharu speaks to cultural the 1980s – toxic masculinity is being talked about The infidelities, affairs and degrading behaviour more now than 30 years ago because more fearful and of both he and Johnson towards women have been well commentator and writer Peter York about lost men are flocking towards it. documented. why ideas of toxic masculinity seem to “One of the things that is so obvious in the Brexit In the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election, debate and the Trump debate and the idea of the ‘left a tape of Trump bragging about sexually groping be more relevant in politics than ever. behinds’, which I don’t entirely buy, is that in the glory women – “Grab them by the pussy. You can do any- of the 1950s and 60s – and it started falling apart in thing” – was released, followed by a number of allega- the 70s – was the idea that things were getting better tions made by women of sexual misconduct by Trump. generally, that inequalities were lessening and that it A new book, All the President’s Women, adds another 43 here’s a lot of international examples of was quite good if you were male, white and straight,” allegations to that list. machismo and macho men saying ‘this is York tells me. “That would make up for a very modest Meanwhile, recent revelations regarding Johnson “Tthe way I’m going to do it – you’re either achievement in life. The world would tell you that include police being called late at night in June, when with me or against me’,” said former MP Amber Rudd. you’d inherited the earth – and you absolutely hadn’t. the Conservative leadership race was in full swing, “In my experience, women tend to want to build “But at least you weren’t a woman… There were to the home of his partner Carrie Symonds, who had consensus.” quite a lot of ‘at least I’m not’ as sources of status. Now been screaming at Johnson to “get off me” and “get out Rudd was speaking about the “whiff of sexism” that there is greater inequality and the forward march of my flat”. Then, in September, a female journalist she believes accompanied Eurosceptic MPs’ will- of progress for all seems to have stopped, it’s made claimed Johnson had squeezed her thigh without per- ingness to back Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, having people go sour and toxic masculinity’s part of that.” mission under a table when they worked together at rejected Theresa May’s. York says he has observed the “nasty cyber rabbit The Spectator. He has denied this. “There are certain behaviours that particularly holes full of people who are going on about being per- Such scandal “doesn’t make a bit of difference” to men in politics want to see, that women don’t do much, secuted because they are men”, which he dismisses as them and causes little damage, York acknowledges. and that Boris did adopt, which has given the ERG ridiculous. “Nothing of the type happens, but they’ve “The more we learn about Boris, the more [European Research Group] members a lot of confi- been told that they’re being persecuted because they’re Trump-like he becomes and his base shrugs if off with dence,” she said. men. That is the popular rhetoric.” ‘it’s just what blokes do’,” he says. “The idea is that Chucked out of the Conservative Party by Johnson “If you live in a low information world, you sort of Trump and Boris are actually alpha males and their after voting for a law blocking a ‘no deal’ Brexit crash- buy some of that,” he adds. “If your expectations have slightly ludicrous sex drive tells you they are winners out, Rudd said she believed that this move itself was an gone sour, which includes having had a certain status and they were both, in rather different ways, told they example of the type of “aggressive behaviour” lauded by virtue of being a bloke, an implied inheritance of were winners as children because they had dads who by the Prime Minister’s uncompromising supporters having a job and at least being the major wage earner, believed in them being winners.” who are attracted to his “machismo”. Rudd will not if all this is being wound up for you by seeing smart While many will see through the projection of be standing as a candidate in next month’s General comedians who are women or brown or brown women, these masculine traits by leaders looking for popu- Election. you go into quite a spluttery mood.” list gain, for some, they will resonate – feeding the The rise of the era of hardline strong men, sup- York believes that leaders such as Johnson and very damaging masculinity, festering in everyday life, posedly fulfilling masculine ideals, is clear to see Donald Trump like to present themselves as “alpha which needs to be tackled, not promoted. around the world – from a half-naked Putin on horse- males” and cater to, and reinforce, notions of toxic Are we talking about masculinity enough? I ask back to the arrogance of Modi, Erdogan’s aggression masculinity – which is part of a “cluster of fears” that York. and the motorcycling Duterte. But, while politics has has contributed to their rise. “It is a real contributor to “We’re talking about it. But the people who should always been seen as a man’s world, how is masculinity political inflections,” he says. be talking about it, who are trapped in the idea of what in politics manifesting today? Clearly, some have credited a not insignificant it is to be a man and maintain one’s status as a man, For the cultural commentator and journalist Peter amount of Donald Trump’s appeal with the sense that aren’t talking about it and they’re precisely the people York – known for his coining of the term ‘Sloane he is restoring American masculinity and defending it who should be talking about it – those who can’t artic- Ranger’ to describe upper-middle class Londoners in against the march of women’s rights. ulate this stuff.” 17

OLIGARCHY THE MARCH OF THE OLIGARCHS

Since the Industrial Revolution, that one of the Russian pupils kept a the middle classes have been the back- permanent driver outside the school bone of England. Their energy and gates to fetch her pizza. The school entrepreneurism saw them create wealth The Strange Death also provides stabling for horses. in Victorian Britain. Engineers like Parents didn’t just have second homes Brunel created a world leading transport in France but ski chalets and a nice system, pioneering an infrastructure we of Middle Class little place in Cornwall. Private jets still use today. The upper classes knew and super yachts abound. So, even a good thing when they saw it and wel- if you can afford to send your chil- comed them into the new public schools England dren to these schools, to keep up with and married them to keep their stately super rich parents a £1 million salary homes from falling down. is probably the very minimum. In the last century, the middle Running faster, keeping up – but what This was already happening in classes provided much of the officer 2008 when the banking crisis struck. class in the First World War, with has been the impact of the new super At the time, traders in the City had Wilfred Owen its soundtrack for his- rich on the English middle class? base salaries of between £120,000 tory. As senior civil servants, they and £150,000. Many had children at oversaw the creation of Beveridge public schools, second homes in the and Bevan’s welfare state. They won UK, a house in France and a Range more Nobel Prizes for Cambridge By Stephen Colegrave Rover. This would have been com- University than any other in the pletely impossible on their base sal- world. At the Foreign Office, they aries. It all had to be paid for from prevented wars. As lawyers, they 2008 banking crisis when average sal- beyond the grasp of the middle their bonuses, which were based on breathed life into the rule of law and, aries were much less than half of that. classes. Resentment festered and – commission. as hospital consultants, they played It looks like the professional middle more dangerously – money-making At that time, the average commis- god with our lives. Their ascendancy classes would need to be twice as rich schemes and bending laws seemed the sion for traders was around £350,000. was assured when they provided to enjoy the same lifestyle as they did only way to compete. It is difficult to be sure, as regula- Margaret Thatcher with her Cabinet. 25 years ago. It wasn’t just the impossible rising tions about recording them was lax, The upper classes, on the other hand, Of course, that’s not to say that costs, it was also the new definition of but a number of traders interviewed were clinging on to conventions such private schools are good or that our what success and wealth really looked confirmed the figures. The traders as debutante balls, the summer season Civil Service would benefit from like that was even more pernicious. would get their bonuses once a year. of Ascot and Henley and unheated those with a public school education, Much of our current corruption, They spent their salaries and then stately piles. but it is a fact that most of the pro- the banking crisis and perhaps even built up huge overdrafts against their However, the 21st Century has fessional middle class in the UK is Brexit can be traced back to this. Not expected bonuses, placing a huge not been kind to the middle classes. priced out of the elite lifestyle they all middle class people started bend- pressure to make the bonus or every- No longer able to afford homes used to enjoy – and how they cope ing the rules, many simply gave up thing would come tumbling down. in London, to educate their children with this is of public interest. and moved to where the few remain- This led to the pressure to cut corners in public schools, to be members of The UK, and particularly London, ing grammar schools were or bought across the whole banking sector and the most exclusive golf clubs, drive is an attractive playground for oli- houses on the coast in Deal – now sell sub-prime mortgages. the latest Range Rover and rent a garchs to use as a safe haven, business, populated by more than its fair share And it didn’t stop there. Lawyers proper villa in the south of France, tax location and a place to educate of senior civil servants. But, enough and accountants spotted that they they have had to resort to new sur- their children. However, the rise of decided to stay in the game and make could make many times their normal vival techniques. this growing class of super rich who enough money no matter the risk or salary by helping people hide For example, fees at top public corrupt whatever they touch has been the contradiction with traditional money offshore and be less consci- schools are £40,000 plus for boarding troubling. middle class values and morality this entious about spotting dirty money. and £30,000 for day fees – and that’s As the oligarchs sent London involved. Incorporating shell companies before the thousands needed for kit property prices sky high – with a This new definition of wealth became big business. Speaking at a and skiing holidays. So, to send three trickle-down effect on middle class could be seen when top girl’s board- Byline event last year, Bill Browder children to public school, you would houses in Islington and Clapham – ing school Benenden provided par- observed that the “UK (especially need to earn £120,000 a year before filled public schools with their chil- ents with information about where London) is one of the most corrupt tax – equating to a required income dren and bought up top golf clubs helicopters could land when visit- countries in the world in terms of of around £250,000 a year – just to such as Wentworth, they put them ing their daughters. Another story is money laundering”. pay the school fees before you can eat. Even middle-class politicians This means that a permanent secre- are not immune from this attempt tary in the Civil Service would not to keep up with the new super rich. be able to afford to send two children openDemocracy has revealed that “the to a top public school on a salary of Conservative party received at least £140,000 and definitely not a senior £498,850 from Russian business civil servant on £60 to 80,000 a year. people and their associates between But, 25 years ago, they probably could November 2018 and October 2019” – have. versus less than £350,000 the year In the 25 years to 2016, school fees before. rose by 553%, versus average wage The middle classes are nearing increases at 217%, according to fig- extinction and, in their bid to survive, ures cited by . Some seem to have split into two groups. professions did not even keep up The first: genteel poverty, where they with this salary increase – especially cling to middle class values in strait- senior civil servants. Similarly, if you ened circumstances. Or the second: wanted to buy a house in London, a group that has aped the super rich, house prices in the 24 years to 2019 taking on risky business behaviour, or rose by 538%, even accounting for the found a way to feed off them. 18 read more at bylinetimes.com

BYLINE TIMES SPOTLIGHT: BORIS JOHNSON – BANNON’S PRIME MINISTER: The Transatlantic Triumph of Trumpism

hurchill College, its US origins. – had been their favourite. But, UK Ministry of Defence, were Though most people assume Cambridge, 2013. A The YBF was an offshoot of since his victory in the mayoral hurriedly setting up an office Steve Bannon-style populism C December weekend out the Young Americas Foundation campaign in London in the previ- in Cambridge, staffed by new of term time, and a hundred (YAF), based at the Reagan ous year, Boris Johnson was now recruits, to impress Bannon. arrived with Brexit in 2016, or so right-wing libertarians Ranch in California, which relied openly discussed as the preferred Bannon and his backer are gathered in a lecture hall to heavily on funding from US choice. Mercer wanted to use the mili- Peter Jukes reveals the hear an American talk with two hedge fund billionaire, Robert How could they win? tary grade SCL ‘target audience planning, the people, and the rising stars of the Young Britons Mercer. And 2013 was a par- The Obama campaign had acquisition’ technology on the US Foundation (YBF) on its 10th ticular moment in this particu- shown the power of online activ- population. He was impressed by project first came together anniversary. lar transatlantic bridge. The ism and digital propaganda, and both British culture and academia three years earlier – and Self-described as a sister YAF was flying delegates matching that was a constant and wanted to give the new com- ‘Conservative ’, the YBF over to Cambridge for a 2013 question in the YBF since his vic- pany the same kind of kudos. So they are now converging was a youth insurgency move- Special Relationship Scholarship tory in 2008. According to one Cambridge Analytica was born. ment within the Conservative programme. The relationship attendee, Harsimrat Kaur, the Three years later, the com- Party and the right in general. between Mercer, Bannon, the rallying cry at the 10th anniver- pany would shoot to fame for – The foundation’s dolphin symbol Trump campaign and the young sary was: “If you are able to go in Nix’s own words at the time was a play on this badge of ideo- ideologues from Britain would to war, then you can affect policy. – winning the surprise Leave logical purity: the founder, Donal very special indeed. We are the party of ‘yes we can’!” vote in the EU Referendum, and Blaney, would reward young Given the influence of the How could the right tap into the then powering the shock election activists, journalists and would- US republican right, YBF mem- same energy and enthusiasm of Donald Trump. It was closed be politicians with a ‘Golden bers were sceptical of Prime among the young? down in 2018 when a history of Dolphin’ award for being ‘ultra- Minister David Cameron’s mod- One man had an answer. election manipulation worldwide and extensive hacking of millions Digital Warfare of Facebook users was revealed. The YBF was just as scan- teve Bannon, destined to dal-prone. It was closed down be Donald Trump’s cam- in 2015 when a young activist, paign manager, had spent S Elliott Johnson, committed sui- the last decade or so as a film pro- cide claiming he had been bul- ducer and then mining ‘World lied by the YBF’s director of of Warcraft’ gold. He had devel- outreach , a former oped an understanding of both Conservative parliamentary can- the cultural dimension of the didate. He had organised the battle ahead, and the need to take Roadtrip Battlebus for young that battle online. volunteers, which itself came Two years earlier, he had under investigation for multiple started discussions with Nigel examples of overspending during Farage (reportedly introduced the 2015 General Election. Mr to him by the YBF’s executive Clarke has denied the allegations. director Matthew Richardson) In retrospect, the Cambridge about starting a British-style Analytica form of online electoral populist ‘Tea Party’ movement manipulation would have much to respond to the crisis after the wider repercussions. credit crunch. In 2012, Bannon had entered into an alliance with Why 2013 was so Pivotal YAF funder Robert Mercer to he dark arts of digital become executive director of the ‘information operations’ ‘Alt Right’ Breitbart publications. and data mining, which At the panel session with the T would play such an important YBF in Cambridge the follow- role in both the Trump campaign ing year, Bannon shared a stage and Brexit referendum three with Raheem Kassam, a conser- years later, all began to converge vative activist and campaigns that winter of 2013. manager for the Henry Jackson Churchill College, Cambridge, December 2013. The sound’. This wasn’t, however, a ernisation project, which was Society. Seated on his other side In December, Prime Minister YBF 10th anniversary conference with (left to right) home-grown movement. more closely aligned to President was Harry Cole, news editor of David Cameron, facing a rebel- Raheem Kassam, Steve Bannon and Harry Cole Low tax and deregulation Barack Obama who had just been the Guido Fawkes blog. They were lion from hardcore Eurosceptics were old Thatcherite themes, but re-elected for a second term. there to discuss digital activism. in Parliament, agreed to a ref- the group’s emphasis on untram- The YBF and its affiliates No record remains of what was erendum on membership of the melled ‘liberty’, relaxing gun like Conservative Way Forward said. EU within a year of winning the control, privatising the NHS (a longed for a more ‘ultrasound’ But, just around the corner, next election. But, a wider con- 60-year “mistake”, according to leader. For years, the YBF presi- Chris Wylie and Alexander flict would make the stakes even YBF president Daniel Hannan) dent Daniel Hannan – by then a Nix, of SCL Elections, an elec- higher. and an odd strand of right-wing prominent Eurosceptic Member tioneering and digital opera- That November 2013, evangelical intolerance, betrayed of the European Parliament tions company contracted by the another crisis was brewing to the 19

BYLINE TIMES SPOTLIGHT: STEVE BANNON

east. campaign went on to create a cam- allowed to co-ordinate or have a As for the second panelist, Though Cambridge Analytica Vladimir Putin had initiated paign of fear around migration, common plan, but there’s nothing Harry Cole, he was destined to is now defunct, no one knows what his long-term plan to bring Ukraine especially from Turkey. to stop the various players behind become a parliamentary reporter has happened to the voter targeting back under Russian domination In a sense, all candidates are them having a common project. at The Sun and is currently deputy data deployed so effectively during through his puppet Yanukovitch, actors in search of an author. Apart This common project, to wrest political editor of the Mail on the EU Referendum. “Everyone only to be met by a surprise resis- from the blonde bouffant, both the UK away from the EU and Sunday. But, his employer at the tries to walk away with the data,” tance from students in Kyiv who Johnson and Trump have some- closer to the US, is clear from the time, Paul Staines, has a direct a Vote Leave insider told Byline occupied the Maidan to oppose his thing else in common – they are YBF conference. The foundation’s connection to the other strand of Times in April. ‘Eurasian Union’ replacement for opportunists willing to move with director of research, Alex Deane, digital electioneering and data Meanwhile, with major donors the EU. the times. And, at the YBF that went to head up the Grassroots gathering coming out of the YBF. who backed Vote Leave and Leave. Putin’s close associate Yevgeny year, the backroom boys were Out movement, which formed Earlier that year, Staines EU all coming on board with the Prigozhin had set up the Internet creating two main prongs which the basis for the Leave.EU cam- formed a digital campaigns oper- Boris Johnson campaign to lead the Research Agency to provide online would dislodge the UK from the paign. A former operations man- ation with the future Vote Leave country, the money and the data is social media propaganda against European Union and provide a ager, Christian May, then at the executive director, Matthew Elliot. converging. Ukraine. More than a thousand vehicle to topple David Cameron. Institute of Directors, was unex- It was a partnership with data More than a million was spent bloggers would be employed. pectedly made the editor of City experts Andrew Whitehurst and on Facebook ads in early 2019, Within a year – when Yanukovitch AM, London’s pro-Brexit business Jag Singh and was called WESS by shadowy organisations like had been ousted and Putin sanc- If you are able to go to daily newspaper. Digital after the initials of the Britain’s Future and Mainstream tioned for annexing Crimea – it war then you can affect Speakers billed to have four men. By April 2013, WESS Network, targeting Tory MPs who was hiring dozens of English- attended the YBF 10th anniver- Digital had already compiled a oppose a hard Brexit, and Leave. speaking graduates, mainly to pro- policy. We are the party sary in Cambridge include Paul political database called METIS EU has successfully campaigned mote pro-Donald Trump but also of ‘yes we can’. Staines of Guido Fawkes, who which contained data on half a mil- online to get them deselected by anti-EU propaganda. was due to speak about ‘blogging, lion people previously involved in their local constituencies. Another New alliances were forming. YBF 10th Anniversary attendee new media and freedom’; as well online campaigns. They planned murky online advertising cam- Steve Bannon’s friend Nigel as Douglas Murray, of the Henry to increase that database to a for- paign urging Conservative MPs Farage met the Russian ambas- Jackson Society, who was billed midable 10 million in the follow- to vote against Theresa May’s sador in November 2013, having Two Sides of the Same Coin to talk about Jihad, Islamism, ing year using “aggregated census doomed deal was linked to employ- declared that Vladimir Putin Israel, the War on Terror and records, social media profile data, ees of Sir Lynton Crosby, who is uch has been made of was the political leader he most Neo-Conservatism. and online political advertising currently advising Boris Johnson. the personal antipathy admired. Farage started appearing Previous attendees at YBF response data”. The website created by Paul between personalities regularly on Russia Today (later M conferences included many young The combination of data gath- Staines in 2012, Boris2020.org, has in the official Vote Leave and unof- RT), largely considered a state-led politicians and commentators who ering and political campaigning spent the spring of 2019 urging ficial Leave.EU campaigns. But, Russian propaganda network. went on to become bigger names was not new for Paul Staines. In members of the public to get “Boris they began a joint project three As yet, Bannon and Mercer’s including: Alan Mendoza, direc- 2006, just as he was starting up On The Ballot”, claiming there is years before the EU Referendum, powerful new online tool was a tor of the ; his infamous Guido Fawkes web- a “plot” by pro-EU Conservative just as they are now converging populist campaign still looking for former Times comment editor Tim site, he had created his own com- MPs to stop him becoming leader. three years later. a candidate to back. But, one was Montgomerie; and Mark Wallace, pany, MessageSpace, with Jag At the heart of this is the dig- emerging. Back in 2013, Matthew of the Institute of Directors and Singh. Messagespace offered “tech- ital warfare first set up by Steve For that November 2013, Elliott – who was then expanding the Taxpayers’ Alliance, destined niques used by campaigners for US Bannon in 2013 in Cambridge. Donald Trump was in Moscow, his opaquely funded Taxpayers’ to become editor of Conservative (‘Republican’) politicians, includ- Bannon has made no secret actively discussing running for Alliance to other campaigns run Home. Future MPs like Steve ing targeting based on behavioural of backing Boris Johnson, the presidency in 2016 – with the from his base at London’s 55 Tufton Baker, Louise Mensch, and James data and viral ads” when it was secretly advising him since late support of Putin’s “internet guru” Street – was both a panellist and Cleverly all also attended YBF formed. The company worked for 2016 and openly preferring him Konstantin Rykov. host at the Churchill College week- conferences. the Boris Johnson mayoral cam- to Theresa May in the summer of end. He had previously convened There’s little doubt the YBF paign in 2012 and, with some pre- 2018. Around that time, emerg- The Two Matthews – the a ‘ career development was a Brexit establishment in science, Staines registered the site ing from purdah after his res- Transatlantic Strands of Brexit workshop’ for the YBF and would embryo, and nearly all of them are Boris2020.org in April that year. ignation as Foreign Secretary, become executive director of Boris now backing Boris Johnson to be A few months later, as Private Eye Johnson began to deploy classic hile the media and Johnson’s Vote Leave campaign in Prime Minister. reported, MessageSpace was work- ‘culture wars’ Bannon themes – digital operations that 2016. Back to that panel in the ing for the Russian Embassy. calling Muslim women “letter- W connect the Trump Meanwhile, Matthew winter of 2013. boxes” and talking of a “deep campaign to the Brexit referen- Richardson – then executive direc- The meeting was held under 2019: The Two Streams Converge state” pro-EU conspiracy. And dum were all given birth to in the tor of the YBF and reported to be Chatham House rules so there are Again – Around Boris Johnson then, in June this year, on a cradle of the YBF conference in Robert Mercer’s lawyer in the UK no reports of what Bannon said state visit to the UK, President Cambridge in 2013, they had yet to – would join Nigel Farage’s rival (and many YBF web pages have ooking back on 2013, it’s Donald Trump explicitly nomi- find their candidates. UKIP a few months later, becom- been taken down since the 2015 obvious that – whatever the nated Johnson as his anointed Trump would not become ing its secretary in the years lead- scandal) so we don’t know if he L personal differences and British partner. the choice until late in the presi- ing up to the Brexit referendum. discussed with the audience his policy nuances – the leading fig- Whatever the rhetoric, what- dential race and Bannon was only He worked closely with Leave. nascent Cambridge Analytica elec- ures in both the Vote Leave and ever the personalities, the money appointed his campaign manager EU and Bannon’s Cambridge tioneering machine. Leave.EU campaigns had a joint and the data have now come after the success of his work on Analytica to provide membership But, Bannon would go on point of interest, and a joint inspi- together to find Britain’s Donald Brexit in August 2016. details for online targeting. to appoint Raheem Kassam as ration through the work of Steve Trump in the form of Boris To many, Trump appeared Vote Leave v Leave.EU; editor of Breitbart London, and Bannon. Johnson. like a New York Democrat until Johnson v Farage; witty Etonian Cambridge Analytica would have Both campaigns used the And, with his election as the 2015. And, before his momentous versus beer-swilling man of the unique re-selling rights to Breitbart services of Bannon’s Cambridge head of the UK Government, the decision to lead the Vote Leave people. Was this a real dichotomy data. The media and digital opera- Analytica to some effect: Leave. transatlantic triumph of Trumpist campaign in 2016, Boris Johnson or two sides of the same coin? tion was symbiotic. EU directly, according to its own populism will be complete, fulfill- had projected himself mainly as a The Johnson-Farage double Like the YBF director words at the time; Vote Leave ing those plans hatched back in cuddly, cosmopolitan centrist, cel- act of Brexit managed to achieve Matthew Richardson, Kassam indirectly through spending most Cambridge in the winter of 2013.. ebrating his Turkish roots. Faced the shock Leave vote and all that would switch to UKIP in a few of its campaign budget with AIQ with the ‘two columns dilemma’ in has ensued – with some help months time, becoming leader (formerly billed as ‘SCL Canada’), his well-rewarded Daily Telegraph from Bannon’s digital operations, Nigel Farage’s companion, aide which accessed the same databases gig, what made Johnson file the Russian troll farms, and multiple and speechwriter and even running and was an offshoot of Cambridge pro-Leave article rather than the instances of over-spending and for the leadership of the party him- Analytica, according to the whistle- pro-Remain? His Vote Leave illegal data use. Campaigns are not self in 2016. blower Chris Wylie. 20 read more at bylinetimes.com

SPECIAL REPORT: EUROPE’S FORGOTTEN WAR

the staff would crowd around coal and “While the hospital had enough medi- need of an upgrade, but any repairs are wood burners, urging their frozen fingers cines in reserve, what we lacked most was costs that come on top of a budget already A Hospital back to life so that they could operate on manpower. Before the war, we had 80 doc- stretched thin by the war. the incoming wounded. tors, now we have just 40. We had 450 With the poor conditions and over- The war changed everything. workers in total – now just 190.” work, his job seems Sisyphean. “Doctors Today, swathes of the hospital lie This drop in his workforce came along- who have left, ring us up and call us crazy,” on the unused. Meanwhile, the lands that sur- side a sharp increase in patients demand- he says. “The levels of work, the conditions, round the hospital are filled with late ing care. In addition, the establishment of the lack of specialists, all falls on our shoul- summer wheat that undulates in an eastern an artificial border between Avdiivka and ders. One doctor does the job of two here.” wind; beneath those golden waves, land- Donetsk, where the main regional hos- He claims tens of thousands of doctors have Edge of mines lie. The doctors call them the “for- pital stood, meant they had to take on an left Ukraine in the past five years, with as bidden fields”, and the legacy that explosive added burden. At the same time, damage many as 16,000 in 2019 alone. It is hard to violence has visited on this medical centre to the hospital meant that they were forced confirm this, but it is easy to see how an seeps into everything. to shut down crucial departments. In turn, attractive job in Poland or further afield Civilisation This war has done as much as diseases the infectious diseases, paediatric and neo- attracts. His secretary earns just $130 a can ever do. It has contaminated all that it natal clinics closed. month and has to ask her mother to help touched, including the people and places “We just lost specialists,” Dr Sytnik support her and her child. Iain Overton reports from that survived. says. “First a cardiologist, then an endo- When asked if he feels supported by crinologist, then more.” Now, they have to the Ukrainian Government, Dr Sytnik eastern Ukraine on the toll the r Vitaliy Danylovych Sytnik has a refer patients to clinics 40 or 50km away. goes quiet. He cannot leave a city where six region’s unexpected war with nervous tic. He rolls his wedding Even their ambulance crews struggle to generations of his family once lived, where Russia has taken – a war which D ring in his fingers when he speaks, find staff. There is also a crucial shortage of his pregnant daughter is expecting her but his voice resonates with the authority family doctors and the few specialist clinics first baby, where he has to take out a loan has transformed everything. that comes with his position: the deputy they can operate are over-run. to afford the renovation for the newborn’s director of the hospital. A specialist in sys- For those with life-long disabilities room in a shared flat. If you ask him how temic diseases, he oversees the care for in– caused by explosive weapons, this lack this war has impacted him personally, he shrugs. “What can you do?” he asks. He bandoned hospitals are, like former knows what a psychiatrist will say: go away, asylums and empty prisons, places go to the seaside, go camping. But he has A that unnerve. Leprous walls, where no money to do this and, besides, he has wallpaper peels off like a diseased skin. to spend his weekends repairing his par- Dark corridors that lead to locked doors, ents’ house which has been destroyed by silent as a morgue. Empty chairs waiting the fighting. for patients who will never come. The stuff And with that, this softly-spoken man, of nightmares. in his canvas shoes and plaid shirt, rises to In Avdiivka hospital’s abandoned wing go. He has a clinic. Heart attacks are on though, this nightmare is born from a the increase, he says, along with mental living one. In the Spring of 2014, this hos- health issues, suicide attempts, depression pital was caught in a whirlwind of violence. and physical disorders related to poor psy- What first began as dispute over a trade chological health. The list goes on. His agreement, transmuted into what became work is never done. the bloodiest conflict Europe had seen “We will survive,” he says, and extends since the former Yugoslavia was engulfed his hand. This is what war does: it reduces in war in the early 1990s. Russian troops, everything to a simple binary. Survive or and those they supported, launched a major die. assault across this region, after annexing the Crimea. The eye of that bloody storm he three male doctors gather in was to become the eastern Ukrainian city their faded common-room. A dusty of Donetsk. Avdiivka lies 20km from that T games console sits to one side. One city centre, and just 6km from the regional of them, Alexandrz, is in his late 40s. The airport. other two – Orlov and Arkatov – are in Separatists in Donetsk and nearby and outpatients for a region that now covers of specialist care can be devastating. The their sixties. The youngest doctor in this Luhansk declared independence after 34,000 citizens in the local city, and some hospital has no rehabilitation centre and hospital is 42; the younger doctors left long unrecognised referendums and, as fighting 15,000 in the regions surrounding. even lacks an operating lift. Incredibly, ago, before the roots that tie a person to a intensified, the numbers of civilians harmed He has spent the past 25 years working its x-ray department is up four flights of place grew too deep. began to rise significantly. Avdiivka hospi- in this hospital – half his life – and the staff stairs. Patients have to be carried up the The sound of patients comes from out- tal found itself over-run with casualties – are, to him, like family. He was here when broken steps cradled in blankets carried side. Opposite, is a room garishly covered more than 500 civilians wounded, many by the news on their television screens turned, by relatives. One doctor later complained in flock wallpaper where nine beds are shrapnel from explosive weapons. At least terribly, into reality, and the first patients of having hurt his back carrying an injured squeezed in. Two patients lie inert, facing 54 more locals were killed. began pouring into the emergency clinics. patient up those flights. the wall, curled up in sickness. But others The hospital was to see the war unfold They bore injuries that a civilian centre Dr Sytnik points through a dirty have their families there, and bread is being terrible chapter by terrible chapter. Water rarely saw. Bullet wounds in the arms of window over to the abandoned wing of his shared, slices of meat offered up, cheese laid and electricity were cut off. Eight missile children. Shrapnel embedded in the heads hospital. It could once accommodate 220 upon thick black bread. Spirits are raised strikes hit the medical centre; two doctors of pensioners. Flesh ripped apart by a patient beds, he says. Now it’s down to where they can be. were killed and one nurse badly wounded. storm of steel. For every death, 10 more 150. Some rooms have eight beds in a space The three doctors speak above the Patients died on operating tables with the were wounded. designed for four. noise. They talk to each other in the way sound of mortar-fire creeping inwards. Without urgent medical intervention, Below us, the sound of drilling can that soldiers do. One begins a sentence, the Mothers gave birth in crowded corridors. he estimates that at least 50% would have be heard. They are renovating an entire other finishes it. The oldest seems frail, Medical supplies ran dangerously short, died. And the same percentage needed floor, he explains, funded by the local even beyond his 68 years. and all but the most urgent of medical pro- blood transfusions too – a sudden descent Avdeyevskiy Coke Plant, which produces “We have two psychologists,” he jokes, cedures were abandoned. into conflict surgery for him and his team. 18% of Ukraine’s coal coke output. The “three stars and five stars.” He is referring to Throughout those dark months, the “We did what we had to do,” he says, his repairs are much needed, judging by the brands of cognac in the region. The others staff worked tirelessly. Three-day shifts glasses perched upon his forehead, under chipped floors and peeling wallpaper of do not laugh. became commonplace, doctors taking brief his cropped, greying hair. “We were cov- the doctor’s office, but they are expensive – The lack of electricity was one of the naps where they could, sleeping upright ered in blood, but we went into autopilot.” costing as much as seven million Ukrainian hardest things about the war, they say. wrapped in borrowed blankets. It was still The conditions worsened and soon they hryvnia or some $300,000, a fortune in a They froze. They had to operate without April, the cruellest month, and the winter were doing surgery by candlelight, shadows place where some junior doctors get paid x-rays. One man with a subclavian arterial winds had not lessened. With no heating, cast against the operating theatre’s walls. just $120 a month. The hospital is in dire rupture died under their knives as they just 21

SPECIAL REPORT: EUROPE’S FORGOTTEN WAR

didn’t have enough blood in the bank for that one. Then there were the children who were brought in with head traumas. That was the hardest of all They lacked supplies. Basic pain relief, antibiotics, dressings all ran perilously short and, while they were able to treat every- one, they had to make hard decisions as to how much treatment they could give. They became experts at triage – who needed help and who did not. Without assistance from aid groups – the Red Cross, Medicin Sans Frontiers, the Premier Urgence – they do not know what they would have done, they say. Dozens of medical items around the hospital are labelled as gifts from the Germans, the Czechs, the French and the Swiss. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” the anaesthesiologist says, as the older surgeon trembles. “You know the US have ‘Vietnam Syndrome’?” he con- tinues. “And in Chechnya, they have the ‘Chechen Syndrome’? Well, here you have the ‘Donbas Syndrome’,” he says referring to the region of eastern Ukraine and south- western Russia. You see it, he explains, in the mass of internally displaced people, in the inhibited economy, in the reduced qual- ity of life, in the people whose paths in life things you cannot understand.” And he risky behaviour amongst young people – all That attack led to her having to have been disrupted so deeply. looks down at the pockmarked floor, where of these have led to a spike in sexual dis- shut down one of her testing laborato- A list of the things that have been a broken tile reveals a square of crumbling eases such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea and ries: the bacterial infectious disease unit. lost begins. Access to transport, access to concrete, and no one answers. “We are Hepatitis C. The vials of disease that she, as head of study, access to entertainment, the theatre, living in a strange reality,” he continues. “A What starts as explosive violence has Avdiivka’s testing laboratory, once stored cinema. They have seen a rise in alcohol- lost time. A lost dimension. We live on the transmuted into other healthcare impacts, there could easily have been weaponised. ism. A rise in drunk drivers. Traffic acci- edge of civilisation.” transforming into deep, private tragedies. Besides, if a shell had wiped out that dents have spiked in a population for whom Ill-health stalks bomb craters. centre… Today she makes do with what death’s presence became all too familiar. he hospital bears scars, just like its “Some tests you have to pay for per- she has. She urgently needs modern test- Data, too, has been a victim of the conflict. patients. Outside, a group of medics sonally too,” the man says, and because of ing devices, but the budgets have already During the fighting, the internet was down, T huddle, dragging at contraband cig- this, all too often a disease goes undiag- been depleted, and the war has delayed computers not working. Much evidence arettes. Dying from lung cancer is the last nosed. It then spreads through a commu- countless upgrades. recording the harm of the conflict was lost of their concerns. They stand next to a man nity unchecked, transmitted by people for “Stagnated,” she pronounces – a state- in the chaos. slumped to one side. On his bandaged hand whom intimacy might offer the kindest ment that shows her love of getting to the What they do know is that, today, they can be traced a line of blood, from a finger relief from the trauma of war. heart of the matter. It’s a skill she devel- have seen a spike in tuberculosis – caused lost in an industrial accident. oped during the conflict. She used to have by the fact that many were forced to shelter Beside him is a man from UNFPA, the he radiologist, Marina, dreams of 30 people working for her in the testing in damp cellars for months at a time, herded United Nations sexual and reproductive army tanks. “They are not night- facilities, now they have just six, and they together under the threat of shellfire. The health agency. Yes, there has been a rise T mares,” she says, but it is hard to have to cater for the military wounded, too. exodus of the young to Kiev and abroad has in HIV rates here, says the official, pulling see how a line of attacking soldiers can be Hers is a burden that is unrelenting. also brought a shortage of young medical at a cigarette. Where there are more men anything but. During the height of the conflict, when personnel. Underpinning everything is the than women, he says, referring to the mas- She sits alone in a building abandoned the power was cut, they really struggled. shadow of the war, leaving them perplexed sive influx of soldiers, you’ll get that. It is by everyone. The only operating part of Even when the generator was in use, they and filled with sorrow. not just the HIV virus that is spreading. A the hospital in this building is the one she only had time to recharge their cell phones “How is it,” the anaesthesiologist says, shortage of medicines to combat the spread oversees – the x-ray department. There, and do some urgent testing. Complex tests “that here, in the middle of Europe, in the of sexually transmitted diseases; a lack of she records every visit from every patient became a rarity and, instead, their focus 21st Century, you have such a war? Such funding for condom disbursement; a rise in in neat blue lines in her neat blue folder. was on emergency analysis – white blood Three days ago, there were 53 x-rays taken. cell counts became the mainstay. All they Yesterday, 37. Today, 50. had left was glucose tests and urine analysis. She will input them into the computer Even running water they could do later. When the war took away the electric- without. They took it from the pond, fil- ity, she says, it seemed that a written record tered it, boiled it, filtered it again and then was the best thing to have. In the meantime, used that to wash their implements. But she sits alone, four floors up, waiting for her without electricity, testing devices, commu- patients to come. When you ask her what nications, email, data – all was impossible. she would like most, she replies: “Another She wonders what western Europe would Marina. To keep me company.” do if they ever had such a descent into the pre-modern. r Tatiana Teplyakova points to a Complex tests have to be sent 70km hole in the desk. “Shrapnel,” she away. Once, she could send samples to the D says. She points to a hole above the laboratories of Donetsk. No longer. This door, and another above a lintel, and says means she can no longer test for drug-resis- the same. tant MRSA. Luckily, basic sputum tests A burst of shellfire pierced her labora- mean that tuberculosis can be identified. tory, shattering glass and plaster. Luckily, it But the rest? She shrugs. “We do what we was deep into a night shift and no one was can,” she repeats. hurt, but these are pockmarks that haven’t And here, in this hospital on the been fixed. Perhaps they are there as a edge of civilisation, it seems that is all reminder. they can do.. 22 read more at bylinetimes.com GENOCIDE IN CHINA Harvesting Hundreds of Thousands of Organs from Mass Murder

CJ Werleman documents Ethics has revealed what appears result of China attempting to hide Sub-Committee has said that illegally to be China’s effort to cover up what the International Coalition harvested kidneys and livers fetch alarming evidence of the its harvesting of body parts from to End Transplant Abuse in China as much as €150,000 each, emphasis- marketing and selling of the Uyghur Muslim detainees by fal- describes as an “elaborate cover- ing one of the driving motives behind sifying organ donation data. up that disguises the state-run China’s organ harvesting programme. remains of Uyghur Muslims It suggests that more than mass murder of innocent people”. In June, the China Tribunal, a being held in 500 camps in 90,000 Muslims and other politi- Earlier this year, Enver Tohti, an panel of lawyers and experts, con- cal prisoners are being executed exiled Uyghur oncology surgeon, who cluded that “China continues to China illustrates the scale each year for the purpose of profit- is credited by human rights organisa- kill prisoners of conscience for of the horrors facing them ing from the sale of their live organs. tions with carrying out the first live organ transplants”, with murdered “A variety of evidence points to organ removal of a political pris- members of the Falun Gong spiri- what the authors believe can only oner in China, described to me the tual group and Uyghur minority hat will it take before the be plausibly explained by system- grisly details of the CCP’s grisly “being used as a bank of organs”. international community atic falsification and manipulation live organ harvesting programme. “The conclusion shows that very W does anything meaning- of official organ transplant data-sets “I was called by my chief surgeon many people have died indescribably ful to pressure China into ending in China,” the report states. “Some to go to a room near the Urumqi execu- hideous deaths for no reason,” said Sir what has become the world’s largest apparently non-voluntary donors tion grounds to remove the liver and Geoffrey Nice, the tribunal’s chair- industrial-scale persecution of a reli- also appear to be misclassified as two kidneys from an executed prisoner,” man, in the judgment. Many were “cut gious minority since the Holocaust? voluntary. This takes place along- said Tohti. “It turned out he wasn’t open while still alive for their kid- Will it take photographs of dead side genuine voluntary organ trans- fully dead because they [Chinese neys, livers, hearts, lungs, cornea and bodies piled on top of each other? plant activity, which is often incen- execution squad] intentionally shot him skin to be removed and turned into Or satellite footage of chimney tivised by large cash payment.” through the right chest to knock him commodities for sale,” he added. stacks spewing the smoky remains of The Chinese Communist Party out [without killing him], so I would Two months ago, China gassed Muslim concentration camp (CCP) claims that the total number have time to remove his organs.” Tribunal lawyer Hamid Sabi told detainees into the atmosphere? of legal organ transplants in China Tohti said that his chief surgeon the United Nations Human Rights These are reasonable questions are roughly 10,000 per year – but demanded he perform the opera- Council that “forced organ harvest- given no amount of alarming evi- the authors of the report are able to tion without giving the prisoner ing from prisoners of conscience, dence – including a trove of recently demonstrate that the actual figure anesthesia, and that he could also including the religious minorities leaked Chinese Government docu- is far greater, falling somewhere see the man’s still-beating heart as of Falun Gong and Uyghurs has ments has rallied the world into ending in the range of 60,000 to 100,000, he removed his kidneys and liver. been committed for years through- Beijing’s crimes against humanity. using data obtained from the coun- This deliberately botched execu- out China on a significant scale”. We now know that there are try’s three largest hospitals. tion of a Uyghur prisoner took place in China is not only attempting more than three million Muslims According to the Chinese 1995 and would be the first time Tohti to systematically erase 12 million being held in 500 camps. We also Government, only 100 hospitals unwittingly participated in China’s Uyghur Muslims, but also profit- know that children are being sepa- are approved to carry out organ live organ harvesting programme, tell- ing from their annihilation by mar- rated from their families; that the transplant operations. But the ing a UK newspaper in 2013 that it keting and selling their remains. wives of detained Uyghur men are researchers have “verified and con- wasn’t until years later that he realised In 20 years from now, when forced to sleep with male Han Chinese firmed 712 hospitals which carry what he had been a part of and just Hollywood produces films about the Government officials; and that detain- out liver and kidney transplants”. how widespread and systematic the Muslim Holocaust in China, we’ll ees are subjected to pack rape, forced The report’s authors con- grotesque practice had become in the forget we did nothing to stop the sterilisations, torture and even death. clude that the discrepancy between Uyghur Muslim-majority region. genocide, scratch our heads and ask: Now, a new report pub- Beijing’s official figures and esti- The European Parliament’s Public “How did we let this happen and lished in the journal BMC Medical mates made by researchers is a Health Committee and Human Rights why did we do nothing to stop it?” 23

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WHEN WILL THE WORLD DO SOMETHING TO SAVE THE ROHINGYA MUSLIMS?

CJ Werleman on why the militias, launched a wave of and the injured were taken to the Security Council members to four of the country’s generals in attacks on Rohingya villages hospital in Buthidaung, which resolve the Rohingya crisis ranks 2018 for their respective roles in international community in the north-west corner of the is running out of medicines and among the least of the interna- the ongoing genocide. should hang its head in country, including mass kill- anesthesia,” he said. tional community’s failures – Politico observed that the ings, gang rapes, looting, and But, despite these ongo- given the fact that a number of US has been “permitting the shame over its failure to the destruction of homes and ing atrocities, and the desperate countries have continued to sell children of some past and pres- help stop the genocide property. pleas of more than one million weapons and provide military ent Myanmar military leaders The violence carried out Rohingya, the international assistance to the junta-controlled to travel to the US – despite a still ongoing in Myanmar. against the Rohingya was so community has stubbornly “democracy” in Yangon, even as years-old law prohibiting such vicious that the international resisted any serious attempt it carries out verifiable crimes immediate relatives from obtain- t’s been almost two years aid group Doctors Without to provide security, comfort, against humanity. ing US visas.” since Myanmar security Borders estimated that at least and a long-term solution to China, Israel, and Australia While the European Union forces launched their most 10,000 Rohingya had been those trapped at the border of are notable examples of countries has enacted a ban on arms sales I killed and thousands more Bangladesh and within Rakhine who maintained their military to Myanmar, its assistance to recent campaign to annihilate the country’s Rohingya Muslim raped and injured. It has stated state. ties with Myanmar long after the the Rohingya has been limited minority – an effort described by that 700,000 were forced to flee In fact, there has been UN had identified the human to refugee and humanitarian aid, the United Nations as “textbook to the Bangladesh border in the almost no collective action to rights violations against the with the UK alone contributing ethnic cleansing”. three-month period spanning hold Myanmar accountable for Rohingya to constitute ethnic more than £129 million, accord- It is still ongoing today, but the end of August to the start its crimes against humanity cleansing. ing to UKAID. the international community is of December 2017, while other within the United Nations, aside For instance, one investiga- Refugee aid and assistance doing little or nothing to resolve aid agencies have documented from a draft resolution that was tion by a human rights group only constitutes band aid mea- the humanitarian crisis. 18,000 incidences of rape. put forward by the UK at the found that Israel sold more sures, however, and do nothing Today, roughly one mil- These atrocities con- UN Security Council, one that than 100 tanks, light weapons, to provide long-term security or lion Rohingya Muslims remain tinue today, with Amnesty was ultimately boycotted by and a number of patrol boats, guarantee human rights to the homeless and stateless in International recently find- permanent members Russia and which have been used to attack Rohingya Muslim minority. squalid refugee camps along the ing “fresh evidence” that the China. Rohingya fishermen. “The international commu- Myanmar-Bangladesh border. At Myanmar security forces are car- Earlier this year, the UN Moreover, Myanmar mili- nity should push for account- the same time, 200,000 remain rying out attacks on Rohingya launched an inquiry into its “dys- tary officials were spotted at an ability for atrocities against the trapped in small villages and villages, while at the same time functional” conduct towards the arms expo held in Tel Aviv last Rohingya in Myanmar,” John townships throughout Rakhine blocking all humanitarian aid, as Rohingya genocide after inter- week, despite the fact that Israel Quinley, a human rights special- state or – what Mohammed they carry out military opera- national human rights groups has claimed that it has stopped ist at Fortify Rights, told me. Salam, chairman of a local tions in the area against the sepa- accused the UN of ignoring the selling weapons to Myanmar. “We believe this will have a pre- Rohingya welfare committee, ratist Arakan Army. warning signs of escalating vio- The manner in which the ventative effect and stop future described to me recently as – a When I spoke with lence prior to the commencement US has dealt with Myanmar attacks in Rakhine state.” “genocide zone”. Mohammed Salam in April, he of widespread atrocities commit- could be described as even more As for Rohingya refu- The Rohingya’s current told me how a Myanmar military ted by Myanmar security forces duplicitous, given the fact that gees who have been displaced plight began on 25 August “gunship” attacked a Rohingya in August 2017. an investigation found that the to Bangladesh, Malaysia and 2017, when Myanmar’s soldiers, village in the township of Alarmingly, the ignoring of Trump administration isn’t fully further afield, the interna- accompanied by local Buddhist Buthidaung. “warning signs” and the boycot- enforcing the very limited sanc- tional community must increase “A half dozen were killed, ting of draft resolutions by UN tions it had imposed on a mere its pressure on the Myanmar 24 read more at bylinetimes.com

BREXIT AND HISTORY A Brexit Hard Border in Ireland Threatens a Return to a Murderous Bigotry

The poet and playwright Frank I was born in Buncrana, a town The customs post on the southern side of the Irish border beside the Border, reared in its shadow, with Ulster, at Swanlinbar, County Cavan, in 1974 McGuinness recalls the UK-Eire border our big city, Derry, 14 miles away. of his youth in Donegal, and fears for It stood divided, Catholic and Protestant sides, within itself, and we our future under the cruel arrogance in Donegal were divided from it by of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. a small stretch of land no more than 50 yards, with two rather wretched custom houses manned by bored men in uniforms of not too impres- sive regalia, trying to do their job of stopping butter and cheese, clothes and curtain fabrics passing ille- gally between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Free State of Eire. One defender of the economic realm was possessed by a particular mania to stop chicken being unlaw- fully consumed. An eminently, respect- Clever ways can be radically borders, in division, in their country ably dressed woman put a stop to his devised to defy red tape and lunatic and my country at each other’s throats, gallop when he challenged the contents restrictions on free movement. But I do wangling, dealing, corrupting all good- of her sandwich, she loudly imperson- hope we will not, on either side, resort will that had managed to secure some- ating a clucking hen, the whole bus to the tactics that left one of those thing more than a semblance of a truce joining in, the lady having patiently wretched customs houses standing for to end the sickening conflict that disfig- explained to no avail it was the remains years as a ruin, bombed to oblivion ured for too long relations between us. of her lunch brought home from work. and then its ghostly shell dismantled I was born in 1953, grew up That was the type of daily again and again, an act of hatred per- shaped by The Troubles, and the idiocy travellers faced in those petuated by those who considered it a one consequence of that histori- dark days, now threatening to valid target for demolition purposes cal reality is that I know men and return to torment us. Or will it? long after it served no practical func- women of violence when I see them. tion in the partition of the island. Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, I never ceased to register a slight Dominic Cummings, Michael Gove spasm of fear passing it on the road, and their allies in all parts of the UK, a ghostly reminder that war stirred conform to the cruelty that arrogance always in the hinterland, threaten- always embodies. Bring back the ing to erupt and do what all wars border, you bring back bloodshed. do – change our lives for the worst. On their heads and on our heads be it. They will feel that as profoundly as they ignored it before and during The long fight to stop these condi- the accursed referendum. The signs of tions prevailing in Ireland North and a return to murderous bigotry are there, South now meet their sternest chal- and have been there for the past three lenge in the contemptuous madness years for all to see. And I cannot say shown by those mismanaging Brexit. how much I hope I am wrong, for this They believe most profoundly in time, no security blanket will save us.

Northern Ireland Customs Preventative Officer Thomas Bradley checks a car to see if there have been any replacements, or a new engine installed, in July 1949 A former customs post in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, on the northern side of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland 25

HONG KONG PROTESTS The March for Freedom Steve Shaw reports from Hong Kong on the revolution sweeping through the streets of the island and its fight for democracy.

ain poured down from the lead China in 1997 and guaranteed that the Another 72% developed skin conditions, China in recent weeks. The largest has grey sky hanging over Hong island’s citizens would have a “one coun- while 40% experienced gastrointestinal been the airline Cathay Pacific, which has R Kong as thousands of protestors try, two systems” arrangement until 2047, symptoms such as diarrhoea or vomiting. been denounced by Hong Kong residents neared the end of a two mile march to granting them the same freedoms as those Empty gas canisters collected in the for firing staff members that took part in a town in the Western New Territories in western democracies. China says that aftermath of police clashes also revealed demonstrations. This escalated further called Tseun Wan. the agreement “no longer has any practical that much of the gas being used is out of when a note was sent to all staff members On the final stretch, anti-government significance”. date, potentially posing even greater risks warning them that the company has a “zero chants – mainly shouted in Cantonese The total breakdown between the to public health as the gas becomes more tolerance” policy when it comes to “illegal” – faded away to be replaced with a quiet government and the citizens was written toxic. protests. sense of unease; a result of the massive on the walls around the protestors march- Protestors seem to have accepted For many people, including myself, deployment of riot police taking up posi- ing toward Tseun Wan. Graffiti was every- that all demonstrations – legal or not – safety out of Tseun Wan eventually came tions all around the town. where declaring “absolute power corrupts, will result in a violent response from the in the form of one of the few buses still fer- The crowd, people young and old and absolutely”, “we shall never surrender” and authorities and, like a well-oiled machine, rying people out. But, minutes after the bus from all walks of life, had no idea how safe a new term coined by many to describe they rapidly transformed the industrial reached the highway, the town was trans- they would be from the trigger-happy offi- the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) town of Tseun Wan into one poised for an formed into an urban battlefield. cers waiting to launch the first round of tear – “ChiNazi”. invasion. Protestors and police exchanged gas but relied on each other for guidance, Walking among the protestors, it was All around, metal clattered along the petrol bombs, bricks and tear gas and the exchanging maps, photographs and warn- striking to hear what has become the norm ground as large roadside barriers were rap- police used a water cannon for the first time ings over encrypted messaging services. in one of the world’s most influential cities. idly dismantled and dragged off to form since the demonstrations began. As night “You are a journalist?” one protestor A young protestor who had accompanied makeshift barricades. In front of them, fell and running battles continued to erupt asked me. “You should be careful here, the me on the march, Alan, casually explained fishing wire was strung between lamp posts on the streets, a group of protestors tried police try to target journalists now, I guess that he had never experienced being tear and dish soap poured on the ground – all an to charge officers with sticks and poles but so they cannot take away evidence.” gassed but felt that he should because so attempt to slow down an impending charge were met with pointed handguns. The march on 25 August marked the many people he knows have. “It sounds from heavily armoured riot police. An older man dropped to his knees twelfth week since ordinary citizens began crazy I know,” he continued. “But this is Small groups dressed in black and with his arms outstretched, begging the pouring out of their homes and offices to what it is like in Hong Kong now.” ready take to the frontline huddled officers not to shoot. Their response was to join what they have dubbed “the revolu- Later, another protester – no older together to check over gas masks and pull kick him to the ground – a response they tion of our times”. Close to 2,000 tear gas than 15 – asked if I knew the taste of tear on helmets. Many were no older than teen- would later describe at a press conference rounds have been fired at them, as well as gas before pulling a face, disgusted by the agers with their whole lives ahead of them. as a “natural reaction”. rubber bullets and many have been brutally memory. “First you get the chemical taste,” Warning that it was time to leave, Alan By the end of the night, the ‘peaceful’ detained and beaten. he said, “then your eyes will stream”. explained that, at previous demonstrations, demonstration resulted in 15 police offi- The protests had initially centred on Hong Kong’s youth have faced the police had given people the chance to get cers being sent to hospital and 36 arrests, an extradition bill introduced in Hong gas so many times that many have become away before charging – but not anymore. including that of a 12-year-old boy. Police Kong’s legislature, which would have experts in dealing with it. Umbrellas have “No one can predict when they will come,” said the following day that protestors had made it legal for Hong Kong citizens to become shields against gas grenades, water he said. “overstepped the bottom line of a civilised be extradited to mainland China to stand sprayed from bottles are used to defuse But escaping the area presents its own society”. trial. Those early demonstrations had lim- it, and some have even turned it against set of challenges. The company behind the None of the protestors I spoke to ited success, with the city’s leader, Chief the police by throwing it back like a hand city’s vast subway network MTR has begun could predict how this would end but they Executive Carrie Lam, suspending the bill grenade. closing down stations at the start and end seemed to have little doubt that the vio- but stopping short of withdrawing it – a But, their resourcefulness has not pro- points of marches. They claim it is due to lence was going to get worse. “We can get move she has since agreed to. tected them from the side-effects of expo- “passenger safety”, but unverified pictures the attention of the world,” one explained. Week after week the protests have sure. One city councillor, who also works as circulating on social media show the trains “But our own government won’t listen to continued, evolving to be about far more a doctor at a public hospital, told reporters being used as transportation for more riot us. What else are we supposed to do?” than just extradition – the goal now is in August that medical experts investigat- police. The closures also came just days to prevent the city from slipping further ing the effect the gas had on those exposed after Beijing accused MTR of aiding the towards a totalitarian state under the com- during a night of clashes in June found protestors. mand of Chinese President Xi Jinping. that 96% experienced difficulty breathing, The transport operator is one of many Britain handed Hong Kong back to persistent coughing or coughed up blood. businesses to have caved to pressure from 26 read more at bylinetimes.com

RACE AND REBELLION

lies. and propagation of lies and 26 March 2018. This I made it clear that, if mistruth. action and public outcry didn’t They will hide behind was the first – and stop them now, the path we libertarianism or conserva- apparently last – were going down would lead tism, but the truth is they are opportunity Britain to the very desecration of our solely driven by key perfor- democracy. I made clear that mance indicators and popu- had to stop these “democracy will be destroyed” larity drives. They just want people in their tracks. if Cummings and his cult to be noticed, to hold power were not stopped in one of and to be able to end their many radio interviews I did political careers with enough with foreign press. media appearances to soothe 26 March 2018 was Andrew Neil referred to their egos. my story as hearsay. Within It is a game of chess for a confirmation of the corridors of the BBC, these people, and politics in how far these fanatics Andrew Marr referred to my this country has always been were willing to go in revelations as a lovers’ spat. a white man’s game of back The BBC press office made and forth gerrymandering perverting the course me out to be a liar while, at the and vilification. And under- of our democracy same time, Laura Kuenssberg neath them, there is a network and the BBC coordinated an of groups with millionaire – that they would entire prime time show with donors that pay for reports never stop, no matter Matthew Elliot, the former and research papers that are chief executive of Vote spread throughout the politi- the consequences, no Leave, to talk about how the cal sphere to be presented as matter the amount Electoral Commission was factual and sometimes front- biased,and how I was a liar. page news. of laws that needed I was silenced, Carole To understand how we to be broken. was humiliated, and all of us got to this point, the British involved in this campaign for public needs to be made aware truth were mocked by politi- that this has been brewing for cians across the benches. Yes, quite some time. That break- 26 March 2018 was many politicians stood up ing electoral law during the and spoke up for us, and for referendum was them test- an opportunity for them I am extremely grateful. ing the waters, seeing how Britain to take back But, the response to Johnson’s far they could get. Politicians control of its failing proroguing of Parliament has and the media proved to them made one thing very clear: that they could get as far as democratic system that the severity of the Vote Downing Street. and reinstate a new Leave crimes did not perme- Brexit was an opportu- ate the public consciousness nity for charlatans and ideo- and improved order in the way that the proroga- logues to achieve their dream that would protect tion has. That’s okay. Better of a Britain that resembled now than never. But things America. A seemingly liber- The Vote Leave the rule of law and have gone too far, and the tarian dream where every- hold the perpetrators people that I named are sit- thing was privatised, owned of democracy’s ting – yet again – in Downing by the market. Where any Wrongdoers are Street. And the only reason semblance of justice and perversion to account. a public outcry did not stop equality was driven by the them from entering office market and the market alone. Now in Power and was because the media and I’ve heard the conversa- ut the cogs in this the archaic social circles of tions these people have and system are strong and – Westminster made sure that they are conversations about Britain is Under B almost – impenetrable. my revelations were silenced, ridding this country of the When I first came forward kept quiet, shut down. NHS, letting the poor starve through Carole Cadwalladr So, who is sitting in and returning to a world that Threat Like Never with the revelations that Downing Street? Who are only benefits the rich. Yes, it implicated individuals such they? Why is the state-funded is clichéd, but these people as Dominic Cummings, Boris broadcaster so adamant on have encapsulated themselves Before Johnson, Michael Gove, not revealing their dirty past? in a bubble that reaffirms Stephen Parkinson, Rob Why are lobbying groups that these values and makes them Oxley, Priti Patel and the have facilitated campaigns think that this is the only way. dozen others involved in the against democracy still being They are blinded by ideology Last March, in interviews with the running of the Vote Leave platformed? How did we get and this is why they sincerely campaign, I made one thing to this point? believe that what they are Electoral Commission and the police, absolutely clear: that if these These are a few of the doing is right. people were willing to break many questions all of us have. The only way to stop BeLeave whistleblower Shahmir Sanni the law by manipulating and But the important point now them is to be unapologetic in grooming two young volun- is that the public must under- our fight against them. There named various individuals involved in teers to carry out their bid- stand that these people are are those of us on the side of ding, they would be willing not driven just by Brexit, but law and democracy and those electoral wrongdoing during the 2016 to manipulate and groom an by a perverted ideology that who are not. Whose side are is rooted in the dissemination EU Referendum – now they’re in power. entire country to fall for their you on? 27

REFLECTIONS

Otto English tells a tragic story of how the social media civil war of the last few years has cost him dearly.

first met Nick in the early 1990s Eventually we escaped. He by Brendan O’Neill and Spiked Nick in a staff room in Essex. got a job in Spain and I moved to Online and I began to wonder what I It was the year after I had left London. Two or three years later, he the hell had happened to him. I university and after some protracted rang and asked if he could stay and couldn’t stop myself. If this had dithering. I had found myself living we had a bizarre night out in Brixton been in the pub, we’d have been & me with my parents and working as an that ended with us sleeping in a car. fine, but in the arena of social English teacher at a language school He’d lost God and found politics. media we both began to square up The Great Brexit on the fringes of Harlow. The rest of So now we could argue about that. to each other and dig in over our the staff was made up of borderline We weren’t that far apart respective positions. It felt nastier. Storm Uprooting sociopaths so when Nick turned up politically, but just enough, and we “What’s happened to Nick?” like- one day, looking the very essence of enjoyed arguing. It was our thing. It minded friends who had seen his Old Friendships ‘normal’, it was as if the cavalry had sustained us over the next decade. posts and my replies would ask. But, arrived. We quickly became mates. I got married and settled they might as well have asked what Neither of us wanted to be there. down, but it was hard for Nick. His had happened to me. Our relationship I longed to be free. I had plans former friends and teammates had became frostier and sometimes I’d and ambitions – and Nick – well gone on to be household names find myself feeling a bit sad about it Nick wanted to be where he had and big sporting stars and, while and suggesting we go for a drink. been before. For just a few months he never complained, it clearly “Yes,” he’d reply, “pint would before we met, he had been a gnawed at him. Of course it did. The be good next time I’m in London”. professional cricketer, playing for weight of what might have been. I’m not sure if he meant Surrey. Destined to go right to the He and his partner had a son it, but I certainly did. Either top of the game, an injury had cost and, when the relationship ended, he way, it never happened. him his career aged 25 and he was moved to Cheltenham to be closer to On a Tuesday morning in struggling to find a new purpose his boy. But, I’d sometimes get a call May, as I sat on the district line in his life. Perhaps he had thought or a text or a thumbs-up on Facebook trundling towards Hammersmith, that becoming an English teacher and every now and then we’d go for I discovered that Nick had died. would open up the chance to travel pints if he was around and laugh about He had been ill for almost a to exotic places. But, like me, he had that time we got drunk in a field and year. In the past he would have ended up in Harlow New Town. that other time when we slept in a car. told me, and I would have gone to Nick had found God in the wake Then Brexit happened. see him, but, given the state of our of his accident, but he wasn’t a holier Nick voted Remain, but, having friendship, at the end of his life he than thou Christian. I was an avowed done so, he believed we should accept didn’t even tell me. In the back of my atheist and we had one of those the result and leave the EU. By now, head I had always imagined that we great friendships where we could be he had become a psychotherapist and would one day sit down over a beer completely straight with each other. talked a lot about the importance and thrash it out. It was not to be. One night, the two of us tumbled of moving on from trauma. Nick was one of those people out of an Essex pub and into the I have realised since, thinking that make life worth-while. He fields behind my parents’ house. The back, that his whole adult life after was funny, engaging, larger than “It’s rare to have a friend countryside bristled with barley and his accident had been dedicated life, thoughtful and poetic. It’s we made a den in the middle of a to that aim. But, instead of trying rare to have a friend you can so you can so understand and who field and smoked and drank wine to engage with his point-of-view, understand and who so understands I’d managed to purchase before I started to clash with him. you. And now I’ve lost him. so understands you. And now last orders. We talked about all the We argued a bit on Brexit has cost us all so stuff you talk about when you’re Facebook and then a lot. many things – and now it has I’ve lost him.” wasted and in your 20s beneath the It was friendly at first, but cost me the chance to say sorry stars – neither of us ever forgot it. then he began to post articles and goodbye to my friend. 28 read more at bylinetimes.com

HISTORY UNBROKEN THE INSPIRATIONAL TALE OF ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI

by Mike Stuchbery fact, she was considered a drawcard for factually incorrect statements regarding Eventually, Gentileschi left her the studio. her abilities. husband and opened her own studio The next year, in 1611, when Following the trial, Orazio mar- in Rome, which employed a number of A Renaissance artist who Orazio was called away for a commis- ried Gentileschi off, perhaps to secure painters. Again, this was a remarkable sion, another artist, Agostini Tassi was her reputation, and the pair moved to achievement for a woman at the time. overcame the predatory hired to supervise her artistic education. Florence, where they had a daughter, The sheer breadth and quality of sexism of her day Tassi, a painter of landscapes, had Prudentia. her work was remarked upon during a considerable reputation for attacking This is where Gentileschi’s fight- her lifetime, although she did have her survives as an emblem of women, so it is puzzling why her father back began. critics. There were many who refused feminist persistence. would have chosen him to tutor her. In 1616, she was admitted to the to believe that this woman was creating True to loathsome form, during city’s Academy of Design – an almost such forceful, masterful pieces, while these sessions, Tassi raped Gentileschi, unthinkable honour for a woman. Soon running her own studio. telling her that he planned to marry her. after, major commissions came flood- Indeed, following her death, pre- n one of the great public art moves The charade was kept up for months ing in from luminaries from the Stuart sumably from plague, in 1656, many in recent years, a baroque painting before it became clear that Tassi had court to the Medicis. The latter, Duke of her pieces were attributed to men. I has been touring the UK from the no intention of doing so. Cosimo II in particular, were frequent Her reputation was dimmed for cen- National Gallery’s collection, appear- At this point, Orazio, who had customers. turies, before scholars and art his- ing in the least expected places – a returned, took Tassi to court. During Over the next few years, torians began to piece together her school, a prison, a GP’s surgery. the trial, Tassi’s record of rape, incest Gentileschi moved between cities such story, and identify her works. Accompanying the £3.6 million and attempted murder was verified and as Venice, Genoa and back to Rome, It was not until the second half self-portrait of the artist, Artemisia he was eventually sentenced to prison, taking commissions that played to of the 20th Century that she began Gentileschi, is a tale of transformation, albeit briefly. her strengths – portraits and biblical to receive the attention and critical courage and defiance that blazes down Gentileschi, meanwhile, was sub- scenes that featured martyrs, suicides reception she deserved in life. While the centuries. jected to the most degrading and abhor- and defiant women. undoubtedly a human being, with Gentileschi was born in Rome in rent treatment during the course of the One such motif she would return her flaws and quirks, Gentileschi 1593 into an artist’s family. trial. to more than once was the Biblical has come to stand both as a femi- Her father, Orazio, had a thriv- Due to the niceties of Roman story of Judith and Holofernes. In the nist icon and a fierce avatar of per- ing studio in which the young woman civil law, if she was not a virgin, the tale, Judith, a beautiful woman, is able severance, a symbol of willpower and learned, from not only her father, but charges against Tassi would be to save her city from an Assyrian gen- determination. others working on a steady stream of dropped. Therefore, she was ques- eral by seducing him before decapitat- Therefore, her self-portrait, in commissions. tioned, examined and even tortured ing him. which she presents as St Catherine, Gentileschi was already show- with thumbscrews in order to ascertain Speaking of seduction, during who broke the wheel which she was ing precocious talent aged 17, creat- her virginity. this period, Gentileschi found time strapped on, is the perfect painting to ing biblical scenes that demonstrate a Tassi also constantly slandered for a passionate affair with a nobleman, travel the country, inspiring those who more naturalistic, expressive hand than Gentileschi during the trial, calling Francesco Maria Maringhi. Strangely come across her. many of her older contemporaries. In her “an insatiable whore” and making enough, her husband consented. Defiant, unbowed, unbroken. 29

OBITUARY “There is no time for silence of others. She was a symbol work needed to lift each other, to of courage. help others to help others, to seek despair, no place for self- And, for me, it was as if heroes in the everyday, discover pity, no need for silence, by magic Toni Morrison’s work the undiscovered, make space and appeared, it came from some glam- room for the indie and the under- no room for fear. We orous desk in far-away America ground, the others and the outsiders, speak, we write, we do and somehow reached me. I loved the counterculture. Rise and raise my local library, I went there to up the work of black women, the language.” Toni Morrison discover others’ stories and to find visibility of the working-class and Iconic and prolific, the myself in books. But I couldn’t find marginalised. Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning a story of a UK childhood like mine, author Toni Morrison passed away the 1970s and 80s, and being the “Tell us what the world last month at age 88. only brown girl in the school and living on Thatcher’s breadline and has been to you in the Now, in the future when they so I began to write Springfield Road. dark places and in the ask me ‘where were you when your That childhood memoir took around heard Toni Morrison died?’ I will a decade to write and fight to get light. Don’t tell us what to tell you how I was sitting at my into print, it was finally published believe, what to fear. Show kitchen table holding a Crucifixion by Unbound. I took Toni’s most figurine in my hand. It was a plas- famous quote quite to heart. us belief’s wide skirt and tic and tacky thing I just found in the stitch that unravels a market stall, all cheap and gaudy “If there is a book that with pink plastic flowers at the fear’s caul.” Toni Morrison feet of the Christ. I was trying to you want to read, but it remove the plastic Jesus from the hasn’t been written yet, So after you’ve all re-vis- cross, so I could swap the Jesus ited the entire life work of Toni figure to a She-Ra superhero doll you must be the one to Morrison, I’ll leave you with this on her period. I won’t forget I was write it.” Toni Morrison quick recommended reading list doing that at that moment. of a handful of the UK’s power- When I heard Toni Morrison As an avid reader I needed there ful female writers, alive and living died, I was immersed in making a to be Toni Morrison, a someone authors and poets from across the new piece of art for an upcoming to look up to, a someone to try to diaspora, please raise each other exhibition and replacing Jesus on TONI MORRISON be as strong as. I needed her shin- up, make some space, make some the cross with a bleeding woman. ing there, unapologetically, just noise, buy some books, listen to The synchronicity and symbolism 1931—2019 as I also always needed Maya the work of these women: Reni of that moment isn’t lost on me. I Angelou and Nina Simone and Eddo-Lodge, Irenosen Okojie, feel like I’m running out of saviours, Aretha Franklin and all the other Candice Carty-Williams, Mona losing alive and living superheroes. working-class black women who Arshi, Patience Agbabi, Jackie For those that aren’t familiar came up through poverty and rose Kay, Victoria Adukwei, Catherine with Morrison’s work, I’d recom- to use their craft and artistry as a Johnson, Hannah Lee, Vanessa mend The Bluest Eye, Beloved or Sula passport to some freedom. Kisuule, Theresa Lola, Dorothea as great books to start with and get Smartt, Zena Edwards, Ysra Daley Pessimism you hooked in. The Bluest Eye is my Ward, Selina Nwulu, Chimene favourite as I read it at a time when “The function, the very Suleyman, Malorie Blackman, I was vulnerable. Sometimes books Vera Chok, Coco Khan, Imitaz is for find you when you need them. This serious function of racism Dharker, Kat Francois, Malika book affected me most profoundly is distraction. It keeps you Booker, Kit De Waal, Bernadine as a brown girl born with light Lightweights Evaristo, Hannah Pool, Diana eyes. It gave me insight, it was the from doing your work. It Evans, Patrice Lawrence, Sabrina first book that had me examine my keeps you explaining, over Mahfouz, Lisa Luxx, Zadie Smith, relationship with shade, with self Hafsah Aneela Bashir, 4 Brown loathe and self doubt, and belong- and over again, your reason Girls Who Write, Deanna Rodger, ing in the state of unbelonging. The for being.” Toni Morrison Warsaw Shire, Jane Yeh, Elizabeth weight I have carried of feeling Thank you for all the work you Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke, I’m not enough and that I’ll never did, Professor Toni Morrison. and many more… be enough, black enough or white NO ROOM Thank you for speaking up and enough or just enough-enough. Please read and share and speaking out. Thank you for blaz- remember the golden rule: every ing a trail and smashing through, good book leads to another good “You wanna fly, you got thank you for showing us the path, book, as every author leaves a trail to give up the thing thank you for making our stories FOR FEAR of breadcrumbs that take you to the heard and making us feel that work of the author they read and that weighs you down.” our stories were worthy of being every act of kindness and courage printed. Thank you for empower- Toni Morrison can only lead to encouraging others ing brown girls like me with wild and more acts of kindness and cour- and unruly hair, wild and unruly By Salena Godden age and more resistance and hope. Toni Morrison was significant passion and wild and unruly and vital for over five decades. mouths to use that wild and unruly Black women were at the centre fury and not get distracted. “There is no time for of her work and as an editor she As we hurtle into the carnival despair, elevated and encouraged new work of chaos that is the roaring 2020s, and new black writers. no place for self-pity, we will lose more and more of our Toni Morrison was more than heroes. This is a horrible fact. The no need for silence, a deft writer, a successful and well- 2020s already mirror the 1920s in no room for fear.” loved author. She was much more so many terrifying ways, politically than that, she was a lighthouse in and economically, and so the roar- Toni Morrison – a stormy weather of rising division, ing we do must be loud, resilient and Rest in power! inequality and racism. She sang resistant. And now more than ever, loud to drown out the deafening we must not get distracted from the 30 read more at bylinetimes.com

RADICALISATION How I Fell Down a Right-Wing Brexit Rabbit Hole AND CAME OUT THE OTHER SIDE

Steve Jones with a personal Reconnecting image to Facebook. The platform had bans My dad was a huge Corbyn supporter and raging from seven days up to 30 for repeat it was easier for me to just not get involved. tale of the dark side of edically discharged from the offenders. As a collective, we all giggled One bloke did try to intervene with “it isn’t Facebook and its key role in forces after suffering a traumatic about it. Corbyn” but he was instantly ambushed radicalising those looking for M brain injury – an injury which I cannot pinpoint the exact time, or and bullied out of the group with accusa- put me in hospital for a year – my life was the how, but the humour gradually became tion after accusation. connection and belonging beginning to settle down. darker. The group’s admins were punish- A tsunami of anti-Muslim, anti-immi- Through determination, a lot of tears ing more and more people. They were grant and anti-Corbyn images swamped and with a lot of laughter and love from stamping their foot of authority down and Facebook. There was no escaping it. Back n 2016, I blindly voted to leave the my family, in 2014 my life was begin- the members respected them for it. then, I needed Facebook – I needed the life European Union. It was my vote and, ning to settle down. Waking from a coma Away from Facebook, my dad would it gave me; a belonging I longed for after I although not fully comfortable with some years earlier, unable to talk, walk or grumble about the rise of UKIP in our becoming detached from the forces and the way I voted, I felt part of the demo- even recognise my own family, I had reha- area. My dad was an old union rep and society. At the time, I felt I was me again cratic process. bilitated to the point where I was starting Labour flowed through his veins. “Where and living the life I should have had if it Sitting comfortably at home with a university. were UKIP during the strikes? Where wasn’t for this wretched brain injury – an glass of Jack Daniel’s on the night of the EU What made 2013 more significant for was Farage then?” My dad instantly hated injury that has left me reliant on my family. Referendum, Nigel Farage popped up on me was that military veteran groups were Nigel Farage, so much so that he would On the Facebook group, I was the black the TV. He conceded that Remain “would appearing on Facebook and I was recon- change the channel if he appeared on the sheep of the flock and not fully comfort- probably edge it”. My phone rang immedi- necting with people I had lost contact with, news. able with this new, dark humour. Yet, like ately and, before looking at it, I instantly some for more than a decade. We bantered On Facebook, the odd anti-Muslim an ordinary sheep on that fateful day of 23 knew it would be my dad, gloating. He had like we had never been apart, used old nick- post would appear, usually shared by a June 2016, I put my ‘X’ next to Leave. spent the referendum campaign urging me names that had been lost in a civilian world UKIP supporter. I came to expect it and, I deleted my Facebook account the to vote Remain – advice, I wish now, I had and my old life in the forces had now been with ignorance powering my thumb, I day Boris Johnson became Prime Minister taken. resurrected on social media. scrolled past without taking any notice. I this year. Everyone had turned into a poli- “I told you Remain would win” he kept I was invited to a group reunion in ignored the slow rise and popularity of tician again. More images were appearing repeating. My automatic comeback to him Birmingham. I told my family, who were UKIP, much of which was powered by and the threads that followed were hor- was “no, ‘project fear’ had won.” We ended reluctant to let me go. Posting on the Facebook. rendous. It was a repeat of 2016, but on the conversation laughing. In that moment, group that I would not be attending, due steroids. on that night, it didn’t really matter who to my family’s apprehension, I was flooded At the start of the 2019 General had won. I went to bed giving the referen- with offers of people wanting to take me. Disconnecting Election campaign, curiosity got the dum no more thought. Finally, a friend turned up at my door, put better of me and I resurrected my deleted Before getting out of bed the next my family at ease and we departed for n June 2016, everyone turned into a account. morning, I took my phone from the bed- Birmingham. I felt I belonged to some- politician, everyone had an opinion Instantly, I was bombarded with anti- side cabinet and checked Facebook. It was thing again, something we all had respect I and they were always right. Corbyn images. I knew not to comment on alight with “freedom”, “we’re leaving” and – for – a belonging I was missing. On the military veterans’ Facebook the posts as I witnessed the rage if anyone unsettlingly – “when can we kick them out?” Fast forward a year and the secret groups – which felt more like home than did. Instead, I reported them to Facebook Jubilant post after jubilant post. Within a Facebook group began to take structure. my physical home – anti-Jeremy Corbyn for being fake news. Slowly, they disap- few hours, the atmosphere had changed – There was a hierarchy of ‘admins’ who images appeared. One was of the Labour peared but I am filled with dreaded angst an atmosphere reminiscent of the Liverpool kept us under control. Every now and leader alongside Gerry Adams at an IRA that they will turn up again. comeback of 2005. Let me tell you the story then someone would post a below the belt funeral. The hatred for Corbyn went And that, like 2016, we’ll have another of how I came to vote Leave. but comical image. Admins reported the nuclear. Like the UKIP ads, I ignored it. Facebook Election. 31

FILM JOKER A Dark Tale of Austerity Gotham and Hellish Populism

Chris Sullivan gives his take on the controversial new film starring Joaquin Phoenix and compares its dystopian vision with 1970s New York and the UK today.

he rather deft and undeniably excellent new Phillips’ Gotham is very much the same place. and funny, there is not one moment when the audi- motion picture Joker, directed and scripted What we see is a dirty, forlorn, corrupt city reminis- ence doesn’t believe that this comic book character T by Brooklyn-born Todd Phillips, is set in the cent of the New York portrayed in Scorsese’s Taxi might exist. There is not one second when we don’t mythical Gotham City of the 1970s – a clever move Driver. Crime is out of control. Social empathise with this victim and not one minute when because, as we all know, Gotham is based on New services have been cut, while there is a marked we don’t enjoy his presence on screen. York. To subliminally use the history of the Big Apple animosity towards the rich, who parade their wealth An Oscar winner? Damn right, he should be. in this dystopian realisation reminds us of what might with unfeeling disdain. To play this emaciated, malformed victim of life, happen to our cities if we slide into populism. “It is steeped in that world,” said Phillips of the Phoenix lost so much weight and became ill. Because Undeniably, 1970s New York was as much a mess comparisons with Taxi Driver in an interview with of this, the director could only do one take of each as the Gotham portrayed on screen and it is hard to IMDB. “But it’s more of a jumble of the movies made scene and wrote the script on set as he went along. separate the two. between 1973 and ’81 – Network, Taxi Driver, King of The film undeniably creates a new spin on Back then, New York suffered strikes from elec- Comedy, Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Batman and changes his future role as a crusader for tricity workers causing 48-hour blackouts and looting Nest. We wanted to make a film that came out in 1979.” the establishment and his nemesis, Joker, a man of – resulting in more than 3,000 arrests while the city’s Indeed, it is an amalgam of all of these and a the people. prisons were so overwhelmed that some suggested whole lot more. We shouldn’t just dismiss this as a world which reopening a jail recently condemned as unsafe. The Joker, Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin could never emerge in the UK. Many people feel dis- There was also a 17-week long garbage collectors’ Phoenix, is a man who has been certified as men- enfranchised and have suffered terribly under auster- strike which left mounds of garbage in the streets for tally ill and is entirely disregarded by society. He is ity, while the Government is currently spending mil- four months, attracting rats the size of cats and a pre- refused treatment because of budget cuts to social ser- lions of pounds on adverts for Brexit and pre-election vailing stink that might have even shocked Dickens. vices and is almost pushed into a life of crime, only to campaigning. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of the become a hero for the disenfranchised. Alongside record-breaking homelessness, there Teacher’s Pension Fund in October 1975, the city is a generation which sees no way of bettering would have been bankrupt. It was unable to pay more themselves. than 10% of an urgent $453 million debt, while federal his timely film is nothing less than a warn- When Margaret Thatcher originally set this ball aid was repeatedly refused by President Gerald Ford ing to the likes of Donald Trump and Boris rolling, I am not sure she saw the dystopian future of and his advisors. T Johnson, that they cannot simply ride rough- a society bereft of reason that we are now suffering. If the city had gone bust, President Ford prom- shod over the poor and marginalised without certain But, with Trump and Johnson now focusing on the ised the bare minimum: “The Federal Government recompense. elite and ignoring the poor, this is a dangerous game will work with the court to assure that police, fire and As Joker proclaims: “What you get when you to play. other essential services for the protection of life and deny a crazy man his medication is exactly what you Many people might feel, as Joker says, “why not? property are maintained.” deserve.” I have nothing to lose.” In other words, health, sanitation, social services Certainly, this utterly incredible movie would Joker is truly amazing. A very special film, one of and all the myriad amenities a city needs to run would be nothing without Phoenix who delivers one of the the finest I have seen in decades. Do not miss it on have ceased. finest performances for decades. At once chilling the big screen.

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bear in mind that they aren’t drunk, drunk, aren’t they that mind in bear their larvae are. This is the sad bit, my my bit, sad the is This are. larvae their

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32 read more at bylinetimes.com bylinetimes.com at more read