From UnHerd ➤ Crackpot thinking thrives in anxious times. But not on the This Morning sofa, for pity's sake.

By Matthew Sweet
Dear Eamonn,

We’ve never met, but we do have a connection. We’ve both lived in the same house on Heathbank Road in Stockport. The Sweets moved out in 1983; you moved in about three years later when you started working at BBC Manchester. Coincidence? Well, yes. Even David Icke would have trouble drawing a sinister line between those two dots. But it’s a coincidence that means whenever I clock you on the telly, I think of my mum and dad.

I thought of them this week, when I saw you on ITV, sharing the contents of your inquiring mind. I found myself remembering a taxi ride I took with my mum in September 2017. We were going to visit my dad after his cancer operation, and the driver wanted to tell us why he’d voted for Brexit. The EU, he said, was a secret plot to re-establish Nazi rule across the continent, and it had to be stopped. As you might appreciate, this wasn’t what either me or my mum wanted to hear at this moment. After we came back from the hospital I rang the cab firm to ask them never to send that driver to us again — rather, I suppose, as hundreds of people rang your employer this week to complain about you.

Continue reading @ UnHerd.

Enough With The Crazy Talk, Eamonn Holmes

From UnHerd ➤ Crackpot thinking thrives in anxious times. But not on the This Morning sofa, for pity's sake.

By Matthew Sweet
Dear Eamonn,

We’ve never met, but we do have a connection. We’ve both lived in the same house on Heathbank Road in Stockport. The Sweets moved out in 1983; you moved in about three years later when you started working at BBC Manchester. Coincidence? Well, yes. Even David Icke would have trouble drawing a sinister line between those two dots. But it’s a coincidence that means whenever I clock you on the telly, I think of my mum and dad.

I thought of them this week, when I saw you on ITV, sharing the contents of your inquiring mind. I found myself remembering a taxi ride I took with my mum in September 2017. We were going to visit my dad after his cancer operation, and the driver wanted to tell us why he’d voted for Brexit. The EU, he said, was a secret plot to re-establish Nazi rule across the continent, and it had to be stopped. As you might appreciate, this wasn’t what either me or my mum wanted to hear at this moment. After we came back from the hospital I rang the cab firm to ask them never to send that driver to us again — rather, I suppose, as hundreds of people rang your employer this week to complain about you.

Continue reading @ UnHerd.

14 comments:

  1. Got to be honest, what jumped out at me from that article was him phoning the cab company and reporting the driver. Tell him to be quiet, you're a grown man. Everybody's a tout nowadays.

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  2. I am with David above however the key thing is, why did thousands of Irish women and men fight and die to free our country from the British empire to then surrender it to the EU?
    By their own admission they are building an empire which will soon stretch over the Mediterranean.

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  3. Menace

    The EU is an association of 26 (used to be 27) democratic nation-states which have freely sivgned up to the Europdean project.

    The British Empire, like all other colonial empires was built on coercion not consent as the EU is. These swere based on conquest, dispossession and often mass killings amounting gto genmocide. Those wnho were colonmised were subjects of a far-off Crown; the population of EU member states are autonomoius citizens who freely consented to joining the bloc.

    Didn't we not hear enough rubbish by the likes fo Boris Johnson about an EU empire during the Brexit referendum?

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    Replies
    1. A cara Barry,
      You are of course entitled to your opinion, as is everyone else per an Bunreacht and the current UK Constitution however, I recall in 1974 a sign appearing on the wall at the bottom of Irish St. Armagh saying 'EEC No' I was used then to seeing graffiti saying UTP or UVF however this was different so I asked my Mammi what it meant, she explained that the idea was permitting the free movement of goods which as the son of a farmer doing business purchasing cattle in the Free State seemed a great idea, eventually the long waits disappeared, I then went, visa free to work in Europe which was great however I returned in 1987 to read law's and, as a first year student,on foot of the Crotty Judgement I went to the library to read, first the Treaty of Rome followed by the Single European Act, a Treaty rather than Legislation, and then the Crotty judgement from both the High and Supreme Courts, this early experience of EEC, then, laws enlightened me to the truth of the European project, federal rather than economic, I quickly abandoned my previous gra for this project.
      On Easter Sunday 1916 my Great Grandfather led his circle out to Coalisland to prevent trains making their way from Derry to Dublin, later my Grandfather ran errands as a 'runner' for him, later still his father in law, my other Granda was a quartermaster for General O Duffy, none of these close family members fought for a Republic which was to be a part of a new Reich, rather those who brought us into the new Reich, Germany's new attempt at 'libenstraum' made worse by the fall of the CCCP in 1989, did so for a real Republic instead of an Ireland where 86% of our laws are imposed within no say by civil servants while the remaining 14% must comply with the various Treaties, this is an Empire rather than a Republic, strangely the only 'member state' which can, and recently has upset the move is Germany which Constitutional Court can throw out EU law, I should love to see An Cuirt Uachtaran doing so, it cannot since Lisbon.
      Sorry Barry, these are facts, what I trained in, please read the Treaties of the empire, this will show the plan.

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    2. well, whether we agree with Menace or not, it is the most dignified return of serve that should set an example for everybody else in how to go about the business of debating with people who hold different views. No aggression, no bullying, no nastiness, no macho man posturing - a straightforward presentation of a different argument. There is something that every user of this site can learn from that.

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  4. Anthony,
    I haven't the academic prowess that others on here have. Now this isn't oh love me I'm stupid statement for I'm far from it. It's maybe what you call bullying or nastiness is just how that individual communicates and nastiness etc isn't intended. Not everybody is as measured and polite. People have different sense of humour etc. We're all adults.

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    Replies
    1. David - you present your perspective pretty clearly and avoid any attempt to degrade your opponent. I'm around long enough to smell a bully. The blog encourages debaters not dick wavers. It allows a fair measure of rough and tumble but free speech is never a licence to bully. I think the type of adversarial exchange between Barry and Menace is the way things should be conducted. THere is nothing sickly sweet about it or false in tone - but no gratuitous insulting. We are all adults but adults are no more immune from the bully than children: workplaces are full of bullies.

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  5. I agree with staying in the EU not because it is an institution to laud but because the conditions on which we might best pull out do not exist and in present circumstances seem only to offer a leg up to the right. But to argue that it is not an empire seems without foundation. It is very much an empire in an ideological sense, determined to spread neo liberal ideology. There is a great interview in
    Spiked with Wolfgang Streeck– he is no raving right winger.
    Here is a critique of Streeck’s
    nationalism

    Both are worth a read

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  6. Anthony,
    I agree mostly. It can work the other way though, i.e you can be having a back and forth, make an off the cuff remark with no intention of offence, somebody will take offence call you a sexist, racist etc the virtue signalling brigade will pile in then the debate loses all meaning for me and becomes boring. Some people simply haven't got the same analytic or debating skills as you or others or a sicker sense of humour. I feel if we overuse the bullying and pc argument people will end debating likeminded people, I don't see much good to that. The never ending reasons to be offended anybody could cry bully.I am risking sounding obtuse but how is it even possible to be bullied from a name on a screen? I mean if you were to call me all sorts on here, would it matter? It's not going to have an effect on my day to day life.

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    Replies
    1. David - online bullying is very much an acknowledged malaise. We see it so often - stalking, trolling, demeaning, degrading, abusing, slandering, smearing. It is a very real issue for people and can cause them great stress. If somebody is trying to get ideas out and is being continually howled at rather than out argued, it can have a detrimental effect on their health. - Bullying is rarely a one off. There is a pattern of behaviour. The PC mob is up its neck in bullying. There is also the fact that some people will say they are being bullied when in fact their ideas are being criticised. Online bullies are as easily spotted as offline ones.

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  7. Anthony,
    First off I had to look up malaise haha we're not all journalists. Secondly I suppose you're right I've never been on social media so I don't experience the material and consequences. Just because I wouldn't be bothered about these things doesn't mean others wouldn't. It just seems tame to me you had crowds of proper bullies picketing your door. aye you're right if it affects people it affects people. Retract my point

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    Replies
    1. I had that alright! That is why they put so much emphasis on the use of Shinnerbots on line - it is to grind people down and bully them. We are careful on the blog not to intervene too much. But we will not allow it to be used by grandstanders to bully others.

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  8. Go raibh maith agat Anthony agus na habair e.

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