Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Richard Hakluyt]

Lionel Shriver

I would - incidentally - note that she's American. But, I'd guess, not what she means by "foreign-born mothers".

She lives in London of course, she should move to my hometown if she wants to be surrounded by 98%+ native Brits 

[Sheilbh]

She lives in London of course, she should move to my hometown if she wants to be surrounded by 98%+ native Brits 

Well quite.

She does the standard Muslim panic/"no go areas" for the right-wing American press I think which I always find particularly astonishing/knowingly dishonest from people who actually live in London.

[Tamas]

I love the nice touch of pretending this is about Americans. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

She lives in London of course, she should move to my hometown if she wants to be surrounded by 98%+ native Brits 

Well quite.

She does the standard Muslim panic/"no go areas" for the right-wing American press I think which I always find particularly astonishing/knowingly dishonest from people who actually live in London.

I mean, Preston is about 10% Muslim and they are by far the best-behaved section of the population.....and I walk through the high Muslim areas regularly. This no go area nonsense is astoundingly dishonest.

[Sheilbh]

I mean, Preston is about 10% Muslim and they are by far the best-behaved section of the population.....and I walk through the high Muslim areas regularly. This no go area nonsense is astoundingly dishonest.

The most insane was the Daily Mail's take on Didsbury which went from "Hotpot in the outskirts! Posh and leafy Manchester suburb" on 13 May to "no-go area for white people" on 4 June

And frankly, as someone who's been to Didsbury, the idea that it's a no-go area for white people or some Muslim-dominated enclave is extraordinary. I mean it's a no-go zone for people who can't afford Waitrose but that's about it

I think that was based on Ed Hussain's book and given the career trajectory of Maajid Nawaz we probably need to ask WTF was going on with Quilliam Foundation.

Edit: I actually did a double-take when I saw it because I assume he meant Dewsbury but that was already on the list.

[Syt]

She lives in London of course, she should move to my hometown if she wants to be surrounded by 98%+ native Brits 

Well quite.

She does the standard Muslim panic/"no go areas" for the right-wing American press I think which I always find particularly astonishing/knowingly dishonest from people who actually live in London.

I mean, Preston is about 10% Muslim and they are by far the best-behaved section of the population.....and I walk through the high Muslim areas regularly. This no go area nonsense is astoundingly dishonest.

This is all for foreign consumption, of course.

The other day I read an article by a German who spent time in the US, including celebrating Thanksgiving with a family there. I don't recall where this was, but they said that it was a shame what Merkel had done to Germany, what with Muslims overrunning the country, creating no-go zones etc. So he explained what things really were like, that Germany was doing fine, explained the numbers etc. The listened and were happy that he's doing fine, but their perception of Germany didn't change one iota.

[Sheilbh]

This is all for foreign consumption, of course.

The other day I read an article by a German who spent time in the US, including celebrating Thanksgiving with a family there. I don't recall where this was, but they said that it was a shame what Merkel had done to Germany, what with Muslims overrunning the country, creating no-go zones etc. So he explained what things really were like, that Germany was doing fine, explained the numbers etc. The listened and were happy that he's doing fine, but their perception of Germany didn't change one iota.

There's a market for it in the UK too - so people in rural England can add another reason to their list of why London is awful

But there's definitely an American interest in this - I think looking from now where we have Trump and pretty explicit racist/great replacement stuff in the US I think that was maybe prefigured by things like Christopher Caldwell's book "Reflections on the Revolution in Europe" on the impact of Muslim immigration to Europe. It continues with Andy Ngo's reporting on London and the weird way that Sweden is only ever covered on Fox News as permanently slouching towards a caliphate.

From the UK there's a market for it domestically in the Telegraph, Mail, Spectator etc but I think there's also a bit of a pipeline of doing that stuff in the UK to trying to do it in the US where there's more money - so Farage, Katie Hopkins, Douglas Murray (with the added benefit of being a gay man worried about Muslim immigration a la Pim Fortuyn), Shriver (as an American, so it's easier) etc have all made their appearances at Trump rallies or on Fox News.

Plus the ones who failed more dramatically like Milo, Kassam etc. There's a market in the UK but I always get the sense it's a bit like for actors or bands/musicians that breaking America's the real goal and there is a route for people willing to say Europe's on the edge of becoming dominated by Muslims to make money in the US. Weirdly I think the most successful is probably Steve Hilton (David Cameron's bald, bare-footed guru - married to someone senior in Facebook) who now has a Fox News show about the populist revolution

[Sheilbh]

Re. an unserious country. Geronimo-cam shows the police have arrived and are escorting the alpaca away - protesters aren't causing much of an issue but do appear to be outnumbered by police:

[Tamas]

 

[The Brain]

The perp walk is a fairly uncivilized tool I think.

[Sheilbh]

Breaking: Geronimo the alpaca is dead.

Goodbye England's rose

[Josquius]

Truly a dark day

Right. Now that's done can we try and sort something out? The busses are a bit of a mess, can we fix the busses?

[The Brain]

He was like a candle in the wind. Unreliable.

[Sheilbh]

One of my favourite lines.

[garbon]

I wonder if he'll get to keep his wiki page.