I go. I try. And I will keep trying, even though it feels like a losing battle. Because I remember the whole point of the far-right astroturfing of social media is to make it feel like a losing battle, to make us give up. Anyway, a few snippets on small boat crossings and immigration.
Great points, of course ignored by the hard right as they use it to mobilise their base
Thanks for trying It’s hard in short 🦋 post to make the point that the actual number of small boat people who are actually unwelcome economic migrants is small & statistically irrelevant compared to total immigration figures
Well made fact based points. Well done
Top man - keep fighting the good fight Alex!
Nice one mate!
Well done Alex, it's really appreciated (byne anyway!) that you do keep trying, and challenging 👏.
Keep at it. BTW it's good to see you talk rather than just hearing you on both podcasts. Massive love.
Rational, thoughtful, and calm. You come across so well. Great voice too.
You are doing very important work, please keep going and trying. Thank you!
Keep up the fight Alex, clear headed analysis is what we are sorely lacking.
If you too are concerned about the amount of airtime certain parties receive on the BBC, you can do something about it here... Complaints | Contact the BBC share.google/ymbnT41ueeFm...
Done that! The BBC are as crooked as the post office. And as we see with the post office nothing became of the enquiry. Nobody was held accountable. Although the enquiry was brilliant TV!!
Thank you for trying. I fear this will get a lot worse before it gets better but it will get better.
You are doing a great job. Keep going!
❤️
Alex, stand for Parliament.
Well said
Good man yerself Alex, keep fighting the good fight…
I wonder if there are enough physically and mentally able 75 year olds to make this viable
The trouble with X is that it is actually full of bots/trolls. The astonishing thing is the percentage is well over 50%. They are setting the agenda and the real people feel emboldened by the trolls attack on principles, goodwill and kindness.
Please, can you tell me how to get this on YouTube? I wanted to send it to my Brexit forMer neighbour because he can’t see it via Bluesky. Thank you
I'll put it on the Quiet Riot channel tomorrow.
Thank you x
Thank God that somebody is capable of providing accurate facts in a calm voice. Unfortunately, I fear that the people who need to hear you Alex will discount your opinion simply because you are an immigrant. This is quite a depressing, shaming day to be British.
Excellent and considered comments and the issues you raise are real. I taught in a state secondary school on the south coast and the casual racism and anti immigrant rhetoric was growing. Worryingly, the seeds of a 13 year olds views lie at home where they can but absorb the family narrative.
Thank you !
Keep fighting the good fight, @sturdyalex.bsky.social
Well done for saying it but unfortunately you seem to be sticking to the facts which are so outdated and overrated these days.
Brilliant, you hit the target with every word 🫡
The term ‘replacement’ is inflammatory. Nobody is being replaced in the UK. That requires genocide. See Gaza.
Well said.
Alex ... it is always a pleasure to listen to you. You speak in such a clear, calm and measured fashion.
You and Zoe both. Thank you for trying.
Well said Alex
Thank you Alex. We need to keep fighting, but somehow we need to find a way to recapture the emotional narrative because facts don’t cut it with the population that Farage has groomed so effectively. Remember the ones who said they didn’t care if Brexit made them poorer? It’s that all over again.
I did try to do that. I never rest on the facts.
Thank you. I appreciate those of you who are active in countering the nonsense narratives that are being propounded to drive the U.K. in the same direction as the US.
I think this is because a lot of people who were getting by ok are now really struggling because of high energy and relentlessly increasing food prices. The idea that this is because of immigrants consuming resources is superficially plausible to some. Countering that idea would be useful I think.
Just seen this, excellent words from you, these are the sort of points that should be on the news more. I am sorry you and others suffered from the vile racism that has been stirred up
Alex 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 first time in an age I've heard a sensible person talk about immigration without the hate and lies 🙂🙂🙂🙂
And only English people are Brits, apparently. Last time I checked, Scotland was still a part of the British Isles....
I will never, NEVER give up, I hope no one else will either. 2+2=4
Very well said
Its utterly shameful that our only hope is Corbyn a 76 year old socialist, think Zarah needs to put her big pants on and save us.
What an upside down place this is when most MSM pretend that the arsonist who broke Britain is somehow also the fire brigade. There were no small boats before Brexit. Tories closed safe routes for asylum seekers. Other countries take in more refugees than UK. Britain needs immigrants to work here...
And it is not 'illegal' to claim asylum. Refugees need help and support. We are all immigrants, or descendants of immigrants. What a good place this world could be if only extremely rich, greedy right wing people and their propaganda media outlets were not permitted to spread divisive views.
They only exist because we have a large proportion of dumbed-down semi-illiterate people, exceptionalism plays a large role, only hungry bellies and pain will cure that in the short term
And I support your efforts. Good man.
Thank-you for doing this. It is so needed. One thing, though: a massive baby boom now (highly unlikely) solves nothing for the next 20 years!
Yeah, I usually add "and we're ten years too late for that". But time was ticking.
And it's fascinating to see responses over on Xewer along these lines. Not only are my views as a foreigner unwelcome, but even Mary's are invalidated by virtue of her half-Scottishness. Once this in-group/out-group thing gets going, it does not stop.
Oh, Alex, I am so sorry you’ve been made to feel like this. I’m Irish & have lived in England for 40+yrs. Casual xenophobia, I have experienced but not downright hatred. This has seeped into everyday life & it makes me uncomfortable to say the least. I fear for the future for our young people.
Syed in the Times heading down the same rat hole
Fight the good fight - you will prevail as all they have to offer is empty rhetoric
Had some idiots driving through town yesterday shouting “immigrants out” at passers by & “Reform”. Reform say there’s a 200,000 NHS staffing shortfall They say they’ll get waiting lists to zero in 2 years They say they’ll get rid of immigrants. Spot the problem? (Plus immigrants bring so much)
This was what was on the side of their truck. Nothing says “professional” like shouting right wing bullshit at passers by
They will get rid of wating lists in 2 years. That's how long it will take them to scrap the NHS and give everything over to an American health provider.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: these people hate everyone who isn’t English. They paint and put up English flags because they care fuck all for the union. It’s Engerland for the Englerlish. I lived in an area rife with NF and BM supporters, the English nationalism runs deep
*white English
*straight white English racists
Most of us can’t be “actual Brits” then as most of us don’t watch GBNews. Funny how the rancid minority thing they represent the majority of us. Maybe it’s because even the BBC thinks a few hundred protesters outside hotels is worthy as headline news every day.
Oddly, Farage has a bio on imdb, which says he's an actor. It's somewhat longer than people who are *actually* actors, with numerous quotes of his utterances.
Won't matter if you've lived much of your life here, worked hard or paid taxes. I fully expect reform to target those of us not born on the scepetered isle... 😬
Reform will try and copy Trump.
In every way, which is why I belive he will not stop at immigrants. We can kiss good bye to equal marriage and disability rights too
A year ago, I would have labelled you a conspiracy nut. But after seeing what is happening in the US and seeing how Farage is gaining support by offering simple solutions to all our problems, sadly I have to reconsider.
We can’t let the Reform narrative win. We can’t let the minority who would have a divisive nasty UK ICE system set up to just attack anyone who doesn’t look white. The nasty are in a minority. But I’m sure they salivate at the chance to BE nasty and join a uk gestapo under Farage.
Gosh, we are really messed up as a society everywhere, huh? Crazy.
Maybe somebody could tell the Labour Party that? Because currently all the govt seem able to do is flounder in Farage's shadow, aping his rhetoric
I’m just so shocked at how many people are stepping out of the shadows these days to stand with bigotry and general revoltingness. I agree that they ARE in the minority, but there are many more than I ever expected. They seem to feel that they are more socially acceptable now (which they’re not!)
We need more voices like yours, telling the truth in the face of monstrous lies. And more of this kind of journalism. bsky.app/profile/scot...
The problem is, there's no problem. The boats have become their emblem. Enabled by Brexit lies,Tories & Farage. They did nothing to process immigration. Pointing & blaming. Labour are processing & sorting out the backlog of asylum. Neglected by the Tories. This is racism driven by an agenda. 🛑
As soon as we sort of got a watered down Brexit the EU decided to punish us with even more refugees . A country cannot sustain itself if more than 40% are living off the state! And Putin knows that!
Sunak gave billions of our money (not his )to stop the illegals crossing!? So France doubled down on sending them. Labour were always on the side of the illegal boat crossings. Always helping Calais’s migrant population.
Deeply worried by this normalising of racism. I have many friends with non-white immigrant partners and some of them are talking about leaving the UK.
I was going to apologise - but actually I am so angry at the way the right has undone years of work to combat racism and discrimination. It’s immoral, wicked, evil. There aren’t enough words.
I never believed we would get to this situation in my lifetime... Yet here we are... I could weep all day over it and that makes me stronger to push back.
As Scot who has lived in England for 20 years, the othering and assumption that Brits=English is not new. All that's changed is only the most boorish used to vocalise it, whereas now almost anyone can express some degree of it, and no one who might disagree wants to argue about it.
Xewer!!! I love it!!!
Never forget that as a foreigner in this country, you will never be quite as good as someone born here, your opinions will never count for anything (no matter what they are about), and you will always be not quite a whole human.
Suspect the thought of people's 4th gen children getting more abuse than they ever did will mean the response would be less timid this time.
I'm not sure. Sadly, the natural immigrant response is to keep one's head down and be the "good sort" of immigrant. And racists have always taken advantage of that.
Perhaps for recent generation immigrants. Folk whose grandparents arrived in the 40s, 50s and 60s will be less inclined to take it. A ln increasingly racist environment will come a shock rather than an expectation.
Thank you for being a voice of calm when I am sure this is all creating a lot of fear & anger within you. x We trans people were thrown out of the in-crowd a long time ago and the lack of any pushback basically green lighted all that is happening now.😞
She seems shocked when you actually quoted facts and not outrage
I love listening to you, how you look more deeply into the narrative, you give me hope. But I am weary and tired. I dread this zombie like sleepwalk into a Reform abys.
Fuck 'em up, Alex. xx
Well said, Alex.
Keep up the great work. It's much appreciated. Now that the far-right is able, or at least attempt, to gaslight the nation via both broadcast and print media, critical voices are evermore important.
I don't believe in giving up!
❤️
Thank you ❤️ X
Yes …. It’s all coming back … been in a happy 59 years marriage .. husband is Indian. We saw the NF … Enoch Powell… it is back .
Absolutely nailed it, Alex. The migrant-haters have three options. 1. Higher birth rate 2. Immigration 3. Retire aged 75 (if ever) They can't control 1, so that's off the table (the Nazi and Vichy fuckwits tried it, no go). So, that leaves 2 or 3. Pick one.
The worst thing is that no politician is willing to be honest with the public. That's the choice we have; immigration or work till you drop. Not Tory, not Labour, not Lib Dem, not Green, not SNP, not Plaid, and certainly not Reform.
Thank you for doing this.
Good work Alex-you need to be on when Anna Botting is doing the press preview;it appears she is becoming somewhat radicalised of late!
Keep fighting the good fight, you are not alone
well done flower. admire your bravery
One Million Rising
Bravo Alex
Yesterday I braved the hellsite to post "Racism is not a British Value. #DeportRacistsNow . No pile on yet......
Thank-you. Please keep trying. This is the way.
Good work. Keep going. 👊🏾
I'll be honest, I have been getting quite nihilistic recently, but the work you do gives me hope that things can get better and that the fight can be taken to the Right.
Well said mate, very articulate and well spoken. If only more of the so called 'guests' are as professional as you ☝️👏👏
There is a third way that no-one talks about.
Soylent Green or Handmaid's Tale?
I believe the latter is gaining quite a bit of traction, but no. Demographic change needs to be faced head on, it's a thing and we've had 40 years to think about it and have failed to do so. The nature of working and living needs to be rethought. What work is worthwhile and how best to share?
If you were to do that properly, a lot of important and moderately important people wouldn't like it and would try to sabotage it. As observed in the cafes of the Veneto, Italy, every old man has to have his hat and badge of office.
Indeed, but the choice we have made and continue to make is to consume the lifeblood of forrins for the false gods of growth and gdp. All whilst treating them as lesser. It stinks and is totally unsustainable.
I agree.
I suspect people are missing the point of all the noise around the ECHR. Asylum is just a wedge. Article 8 the real target.
There are any number of articles that would "save government money" if they were withdrawn. The right to an education underpins spending on education for children with SEN and physical disabilities. This is a very expensive provision and incurs larger transport costs than state schools do.
The newspapers have already got the bit between their teeth on this. Ofc, if you do not give children with learning disabilities life skills, then they cannot survive if their parents die. Pretty sure Ed Davey is also well aware of this.
I'm looking at it from a different pov. This is not about gov saving money. That's for later. It's about people being able to make as much money as they can. One step from indentured labour. In the case of foreign workers, this underpins all policy. Family gets in the way.
That would take significant time to bring about. Adults with profound and multiple leaning disabilities are often already living in homes. It wouldn't take much to change the nature of the facilities. It would also not take much to cut state owned schools out of the public sector.
My view is that this is why FoM was killed. Implicit in it was mutuality, the right to be human. What is wanted is producers and consumers (HE). We'll have your youth and your money then you can bugger off back. You don't belong. You're not real. The eugenics is the other side of the coin.
Article 8, less about cost (IMO) and more about the right to privacy… if you can do away with that then also sorts of interesting and dismal things… more surveillance, forced outing of trans folk etc. Hideous :( I agree loss of any article would be bad BTW
They will come for disabled people first.
I suspect that zero rights is the agenda
Well done x
Thanks for this Alex. Loving the hair!
Don’t stop, Alex.
Agree. This is Roman Britain in early medieval people. Not enough local babies to keep Romano British population sustainable. The Angles, Jute & Saxons provided the shortfall. Seem to have run out of steam.
Well said! Agree 100%
Has this small boats story got wider coverage than just Euronews? i might have missed it.
Thank you Bulgaria
Always so calm and reasoned. Thank you.
My father was in the army in WW2, it affected his views on human rights, international law and justice and the European project and that of course influenced me. As new generations come along the distance from history's lessons widens - the door to xenophobia, nationalism and racism easier to open.
Would love to share this clip on Facebook. Is there a link? Trying to do my bit in local FB groups in Wales to counter ghastly ReformUK talking points. It is scary how supported Reform is here in the Welsh valleys. Let's just hope they won't become the biggest party in the Senedd elections next year
I'll pop it on YouTube later. x
That's great. Thanks. Can't promise that you won't get nasty comments on your YouTube channel. Some of these Reform supporters are scary.
It really defies belief that the media are amplifying hatespeech and then they don't understand why children use racist language. Dunt and Lynskey's latest Origin Story was good on this (and depressing).
Well done. I wish you'd been on on Fri or Sat night when Sky in common with the BBC and Sky was trying to confect a wave of growing protests from the rather paltry turnout often outnumbered on the other side. Even last night Liz Bates did a piece including the phrase "after another summer of riots"
You are so calm and coherent and rational but gentle. You always make me feel better when you talk about difficult stuff!! Thank you and I hope the cost to you isn’t too high.
Totally agree, Lotto! We are lucky to have Alex.
Spot on Ladies! We need more Alex!
#BeMoreAlex
Thank you Alex… much needed perspective… and @uklabour.bsky.social are sooo busy trying to outdo Farage, they’re forgetting ethnic minorities are a HUGE part of their coalition.
That’s exactly how I feel today. Just posted something similar on Twitter. It just grinds you down. But hey ho chins up
Good work on such a calm and rational approach.
It's not just the far-right's astroturfing, it's the mainstream media buying into a right-wing framing. I still believe we can't fix what ails this country until we fix the media. And much of the problem with the media is that the bits that aren't overtly right-wing have overindexed on...
outrage and conflict, without understanding that their decisions/actions have any consequences. They are, like Trump, insulated from consequences. They platform Farage, parrot far-right talking points and use far-right framing, but it's not they who suffer the abuse or hounding or discrimination...
Worse, they have convinced themselves that they are 'holding truth to power' when they are, in fact, normalising far-right opinions through repetition, and are utterly failing to ask the questions and demand the answers that could possibly stand a chance of holding any truth to power at all.
Dunno what we do about it, but having a broader discussion about the problems with our media might help I guess. Maybe.
I hate myself for saying it, but I guess it’s because most people working in the mainstream media feel like they won’t be affected by a Farage government (except some tastier sound bites). Not understanding how fascism works
Powerful, important, adult discussion. If only more of our news & current affairs sounded like this.
As a teacher, I can attest to the Mirror’s headline about school racism. Last year was by far the worse I have seen in my 25 years as a teacher.
So sad. I remember my son at 4 trying to describe a friend to me and not mentioning that they were black- the only black child in his class- because he simply hadn’t noticed. That’s how it should be at that age.
Summed up so well. I’ve never heard a better explanation
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Nice work!
Well said Alex. We need more of people like you to champion facts and realities, try to wrest popular discourse away from the tiny less that 0.5% fraction of the population that are immigrants crossing by boats and put up in hotels. Can’t let hate win.
There are fewer and fewer incentives for any newsroom to be anything but an outrage mill
Evidence would suggest that even being born on here but being, well, you know, a bit brown, isn't sufficient to stop you being uncitizened.
I was born in the mid 60's, raised in the 70's and started my adult life in the 80's - I don't remember society being this divisive (contrary to the fact that racial intolerance and homophobia were rife) but I thought we were getting more towards an inclusive society
Groups like the BNP & racist idiots were easier to identify then Farrige has made his life's work of turning us back 60 years, to the days of 'No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish" - I don't recognise many people I thought I knew. This is *my* Island of Strangers We're better than this, people of the UK
Bravo Alex. Bravo.
And again you're right on the maths. I'd put it more crudely: we better start importing labour or start shaging more.
Hear hear. I've just heard Nick Ferrari tell a caller that Nigel Farage is not racist and terminate the call. He is having a phone in about racist 4 yo and refusing to accept the cause.
Nick Ferrari, chum of Kelvin McKenzie, the one that had the idea of Topless Darts & Dwarf Weather reports on L!VE TV - that Nick Ferrari? You can tell he & James O'B don't get on by the lack of banter at their handover. And the nameless way he refers to 'others' on the station giving time to RefUk
I was drinking with friends at the Edinburgh Festival, politics raised its head & to my surprise they proved Farage’s narrative cuts through. I corrected several discussion points on immigration whilst giving a forthright opinion on the Farage party. Still friends but this is a constant battle.
I'm in a similar position here in Essex. It's bloody exhausting!!
This is a tale of two Alex’s. The high profile media Alex & the Engineer Alex, both trying to proactively convince others that softly spoken hard right bullshit is still right hard right bullshit. Only difference is scale. Don’t underestimate what Reform are doing, talk your friends down nicely.
I thought this is Scotland an enlightened nation, all my friends are like minded, progressive and intelligent. No way can the Reform crap cut through here. Eye opener, I was completely wrong.
I know the feeling. When pushed, a friend said, "you'll never win an argument with me on this" and he was right. Too far down the GBNews rabbit hole.
Bluesky needs a little 💔 button for when ❤️ isn’t appropriate.
This is the scary thing. We often think people who are 'like us' by virtue of liking the same things, in my case outdoor pursuits, will also think like us. Oh boy the last few years has shown me that's not true. Whats most shocking is the lack of inquisitiveness and critical thinking amongst peers.
I used to race motorcycles, I still see a lot of content from people I raced with. I’ve got a theory that racers are more likely to be Brexiters / right wing than average. Not sure if it’s the independent mindedness, alternative attitudes to risk or just psychology of racers but think I’m right.
I've noticed a similar thing w giant pickup trucks
I recently joined the Long Distance Walkers Association. Lots of lovely people in the group but two I overheard concurring with "we should just round them all up and put them in cages..." Depressing to say the least.
I'm a regular walker and have to be very careful to steer conversations away from politics because they are often casually racist. People assume I'll agree because there's so much 'millions of Brits agree that small boats...' on nearly every front page.
I’m someone who can’t and won’t stop calling it out. For me it’s a matter of humanity.
Same here but it's exhausting!
Yup. If you asked the same people if they are racist, they would respond absolutely not. It’s casual racism that hurts people, the masses tend to revile full racism. They just can’t see what they’re doing.
That’s the problem. Lots of people do not believe that they are being racist by saying that we cannot take any more “foreigners,” and buying into the narrative that they are all young men who are economic migrants. They are the ones who will vote Reform thinking that it is “sensible”.
Oh these two knew what they were saying and it seemed to be anything but casual. I learned from others in the group that they had made other members feel very unwelcome. I'll leave you to guess why.... I've written to LDWA committee for their policy on such things but not had a reply.
Ah, that’s not good.
they might have said "im not racist BUT..." in previous years, however the amount of talking heads saying racism is OK now gets them to reveal their true colours.
This is the reason I've avoided walking groups. They tend to talk, and I just know some of what people say will be very troubling.
Thank you for keep fighting the fight
You're always so reasonable and reassuring... thankyou 🙏 Me?? I fucking despise them and everything they are doing and have done to this country 🤬🤬
Always appreciate you Alex
Thank you, Alex. Much appreciated.
15000 kids sent home from school for discrimination against others. She asks, "Where are they getting it from?" It's very obvious they get it from their parents, who watch and listen to Frogface and repeat it in front of the children.
Such good points elegantly made. Thank you
Farage sold Brexit to the listening masses, NO boats before his Brexit, now he is using immigration statistics to carve out a political place for himself and his 4 (?!!) MP colleagues. Shameful little man.
Keep going Alex. You say it calmly and sound so reasonable , the opposite of what is spewed out on @BBC and @Sky, where the racists are revered.
Thank you, Alex. And thanks for pointing out our low birth rate and ageing population. Even if the birth rate rose, it wouldn't fix our immediate problem. We lack the workforce to fill all sorts of jobs, but particularly jobs in care and the NHS. We NEED immigration. And it enriches our nation.
Thank you Alex. UK sadly in need of sanity and compassion today. 🙏🏼
Thank you Alex. One of the few sane voices. We have to keep putting facts out there over feelings, even if not many in the media are.
I'm very grateful for this; it helps others to keep trying. Also, quite magnificent locks last night I thought.
Agreed. As for the locks, could almost be a character out of that wonderful podcast called Podyssey 😍.
Alex, you’re presumably getting behind the scenes at these news organisations - do the producers and journalists believe all the tripe and they’re flinging, or are they just doing it for ratings?
It's not how it works, I'm afraid. Because the anchors are on before and after the segment, you don't get to chat to them about behind the scenes. There must be some sympathy for my position somewhere, because they book me regularly.
It helps that you’re the telegenic face of progressive liberalism, too…
It all goes back to Brexit. Not just because there were no small boats before Brexit, but because no one in politics (particularly Labour) can admit publicly that Brexit was a fraud and is responsible for all the shit. Once someone in government does, hopefully the truth flood gates will open.
Always the voice of reason.
We have stark choices: have more kids, work more years, pay higher taxes or increase immigration. Whether you like it or not, this is what we will have to do if we don't want "Logan's run" type solutions for our ageing population. The numbers are clear, the rest is denial.
Problems of people believing the system to be eternal...... and that everyone will get a fair share..... We've known it's been unsustainable for decades, but no one wants to make the required unpopular changes because it guarantees they're out after 5 years....
👏👏👏 🙏🙏🙏
Excellent work Mr A: props to you for telling it how it is with calm articulacy to the Sky News audience 🙏🏽
The most inspirational stories of all time are written during the most trying times. Let’s write some inspiring stories together patriot.
Alex for PM!
We need you on there all the time Alex. So well put ❤️
Really this brings it all home to me, your experience, the experience of my neighbours who now get racist abuse on an almost daily basis in our small market town. Racism is now permitted and arrives in the form of constant micro aggressions and upsetting interactions. It has to stop.
It won’t stop until we get rid of the NAZIS . Putin Trump Farage And Xi
Thank you for continuing . You encapsulated all the issues perfectly here.
Thank you as always for your incisive input and your tireless efforts, Alex!🙏
Good work, Alex.
It's not losing the battle. The only ones who are losing are the mindless who gave up their agency to Farage et al, they no longer are in control of their thoughts or actions. They say, think and do whatever they are told to via their algorithms. The majority of Brits agree with you.
This might explain why my young, mixed race grandkids were spat at in a play park at the weekend!
Thank you Alex for being a voice of reason. Keep going please, I know it is difficult.
You make the KEY point Alex! Look at Japan… Since 2000, Japan’s many right-wing govts charted an insular, near-zero immigration policy not addressing Japan’s aging population. Subsequently, Japan’s economy has crashed from about half of USA’s in 2000, to just over 10% of US economy in 2025…
Japan’s population is 124 million… yet its economy has crashed so much due to its near-zero immigration, the Japanese economy that powered the world just 30 ago - has plummeted to now just approx same size as the UK economy despite Japan having nearly twice the population of UK.
More simply put… Japan’s economy was almost 3 times size of UK economy in 2000. Just 25 years later, due to the strict near-zero immigration policies of its successive govts, Japan’s economy has crashed to only being same size as UK economy….
Farage’s 2016 anti-immigration Brexit was a major body blow to UK economy - that UK has not yet recovered from. Now in 2025 with Reform’s anti-immigration policies, Farage clearly hopes to finally kill the UK economy completely.
Very TV friendly aesthetics there too. ✅ Any sign of a centre-left GeeBeebies rival where you could get a regular spot, talking sense / compassion?
Quiet Riot TV? 😍
'@bestforbritain.org TV' 🎥📺 ..with the 'The Sturdy Late Show' every night at 9. 100% winning with funding, factual programming and entertainment.
Thank you!
Great to see you a welcome antidote to the wall to wall farage....
The front pages are the dominating conduit for the rabid right and they are on display for everyone to see, every day, everywhere, without context..just screaming hatred into society at large, unchecked.
And being amplified and promoted by the BBC “news”. “Let’s have a look at today’s papers.”
On every channel..!
Yes! They get a double hit! And why? Why does a broadcaster have to parrot what's in the papers, where they have no input editorially...yet they literally use it to set the agenda.
👏
Thank you for pushing back against the racist narrative.
<<...I will keep trying, even though it feels like a losing battle. Because I remember the whole point of the far-right astroturfing of social media is to make it feel like a losing battle, to make us give up.>> THIS THIS THIS
Ensure plurality of political coverage across UK broadcast media at all times - Petitions share.google/KGSd7X9LTJiY...
I'm truly sorry that you're finding the "Great British Public" more hostile nowadays. I have no idea what those twats are proud of (other than a delusional sense of Empire and Our Place In The World).
Keep on keepin' on. You do great work.
"Where are they getting it from?" Do you think she was serious? Thank you for being a voice of reason.
Just look at today’s front pages especially The Mail and Telegraph and also all of yesterday’s broadcast news from radio to television Farage’s fantasy for dealing with immigration was the top story throughout the day and evening inspite of heading a party with only 4 MP’s.
It's bloody outrageous. They know people will discuss it.
Thank you for holding the line x
The part about the numbers having gone down significantly while we in fact NEED the immigrants - it’s the same situation in Germany. But the main topic during the election was curbing immigration, resulting in the strongest gains for the far right party. It’s so tiresome and upsetting.
Excellent. It’s really important to talk about ‘looking foreign’ in our fascist future. I think the same will apply to having a foreign name. (Incidentally, the most bizarre reaction to my forrin name was when I went for a covid booster. Nurse said, “That’s an unusual name. Are you from NORWICH?”)
I live in Norwich. People who are born and bred in Norwich consider anyone who was born outside Norwich as being foreign.
Normal for Norfolk & ignores their ancestoral history. East Anglians have a high % of Western European genes. They traded with Europe. Dutch/Flemish was spoken!
Absolutely, in fact Norwich was well known for welcoming "Strangers", mainly Dutch and Flemish fleeing religious persecution. We have a Stranger's Hall still (although as an outsider I probably shouldn't use the word "we").
Not Norwich, but Norfolk here. Overheard a women who had been listening to my conversation with my husband telling her daughter (?) that we were French. Both of us from London 🤷.
Brilliant.
I sat beside a young guy on the tube once, he asked me where I was from: “Scotland” “Is that up beside Yorkshire?” “Yeah, just a bit further on” Yes I know, the shocking part of this anecdote is people talking on the tube.
That's lovely.
It was the suspicious/slightly scornful tone in her voice when she said it. I felt like the Hartlepool monkey.
She would have been afeared 🙃.
🇨🇵🐒🇨🇵😁
😂😂😂
😂😂😂
Having worked there for a few years, can concur. But they are however consistent in that - you can be white and English from a neighbouring county and you’re just as foreign as someone with a different skin tone, from the other side of the globe! 🙂
We weren’t in Norwich tho, or anywhere near East Anglia, that’s why I thought it was a really odd thing to say. 😂
Ha! Even better.
Im from Norwich, my last name is German/Jewish i often get asked if I'm forrin..
As a foreigner who lived in Norwich, I always made sure to wear my Canaries scarf 😅
Im a Liverpool fan, as my dad was.. but actually wearing a Norwich City shirt atm
😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆
Lucky you. I'm forrin and they never ask me.
😆 🤣 😂 😹
The English are pretty good, they automatically give me a gender change. English: Name? Me: Miss De Wulf English: OK, that's fine Mr Wulf
😆 🤣
Yes but we weren’t even in Norwich. I should have mentioned that. 🤪
😆 🤣 😂 😹
My Mum - who was not otherwise racist- firmly believed that people from Norfolk were “very strange”!
We are 😆 🤣 😂 😹
99 years ago my, retired naval officer, great-uncle observed something similar but end the diary entry with " ... Nelson came from here & 'hats off to him'".
😄
Aren't they supposed to have 6 fingers & webbed toes? *looking at @ashashman1.bsky.social
Was born in Kent, that on applies to Great Yarmouth and Thetford in Norfolk
Fear of the unknown...
She’d lived in Norfolk for a couple of years when she was in the WAAF!
Mostly harmless...
I’ve just remembered that I actually lived in Norwich for a year in the 90s. Completely forgotten about it. An area near the cathedral called Tombland 😱
Tombland is about three miles from me.
I’d have thought it was right on your doorstep, SpudBishop.
Good book that.
I used to work in an office on Tombland in the 90s.
Ooo, we might have passed each in the street.
😜🥴😵💫😵🤡🥱
😂😂😂
I lived in Norfolk for a quarter of a century. There were some very strange folk that I met. Examples. One person hadn't been out of the village beyond the nearest town less than 4 miles away for decades. Another in Norwich hadn't left the city for a similar length of time.
I remember cycling through a hamlet and the people had oddly round, ball-shaped heads, topped with curly red hair. When they turned to look at anything, it was as if they swivelled their heads in unison. I cycled away very quickly. They all wore dungarees and wellies.
Don't get me wrong, it was, in many ways, a lovely county to live in, but in others it was extremely parochial.
Look at the names of many of the leading right wingers and they hardly fit the English name narrative and some of the ones that do were born abroad - despicable hypocrites to the very core
Tbf there's a line to be drawn in every discussion. I will stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone in the battle against Reform's racist demonisation of migrants but NORWICH? Come on, now, that's beyond the pale 😁
😅
It was pointed out to me 30 years ago that 'foreign' names, ie, names 'not popular in England', could get you scrubbed off an interview list VERY quickly. (Leeds, in the mid-90s.)
If you got as far as the interview, the rejection would be cos "your face doesn't fit".
I recall a famous research project that sent out the same resumé twice, to thousands of jobs, with the only difference being the last name - "Smith" on one, "Singh" on the other. The results were depressing.
Yep, appalling. The example I was told about had names of Caribbean cultural background in their sights, the implication being obvious.
@BBCNewsPR Farridge making odious hatespeech amplified by BBC News every hour today. Why?
I bet that still happens. My name is only 4 letters long, yet no one seems to be able to spell it. Always have problems picking up a prescription as they have it filed wrongly. I once called an estate agent & asked to go on their mailing list. I received a letter from them addressed to ‘Mrs Filthy’
Like FARAGE for example?
Keep up the good work, Alex.
We won’t give up until we are in the fucking dirt! Never say DIE!!!
Great work
Wages go up when there is less competition. "Have more babies, or bring in immigrants, or work past retirement age?" Who do any of those outcomes serve? Radical idea: Instead of pitting poors against one another, reduce housing costs; up wages; strengthen social programs; tax the rich?
Nothing radical about this and not much I disagree with. But is has nothing to do with smoothing the demographic bump. None of that happens if the working age tax base is shrinking in terms of numbers. Decline happens.
People won't have families if they don't think they can give their children a decent life. Pay them better. Also yes to immigration. Bringing them in as a cheap work force without cultural and educational supports clearly not the answer. Forcing people to work in old age = bad.
Please carry on. We need voices like yours. You are doing good work.
The thesis of more immigration or a baby boom ignores the obvious: we imply GDP and growth are the most important things. We could upend our worship of ‘growth’ and accept that as part of becoming sustainable (in balance with our environment) we have a smaller population AND a smaller GDP.
Sorry, but this is horse-manure. If we abandoned all notions of GDP, we would still need to smooth the curve of X number needing care, while much smaller Y number can provide it. This is why I don't mention GDP and mention "the maths".
I do see your argument & I make it myself. Getting to a sustainable position will take effort and time. I get it. But the current gov mission is ‘growth’ and it’s limiting thinking while strangling options. Example: other societies don’t outsource caring for family.
that's because they dump that chore entirely on women. returning to a situation where women have no moment for themselves because their entire lives are taken over by caring for both children and elderly ain't it.
True. Unless, as an idea, one lives in a multi-generational household like I used to. Ask why we today live in nuclear families? Is it because it’s ‘better’ or bc it creates a more mobile unit of labour and increased consumption? As a final tease, what does ‘family first’ mean nowadays?
"Unless, as an idea, one lives in a multi-generational household like I used to. " "unless" my ass. i'm in a multigenerational family and what this amounts to is that my mom, her two sisters, and I are taking care of my grandma. paid care work is NECESSARY
like, mom & aunts are fully retired and they can't go on vacation, can't even take a week off to spend time with their grandkids because someone has to be with grandma 24/7. this is ONLY manageable without losing your mind because at least a few months out of the year there's paid care.
the way out of this is society getting its shit together to provide EXTENSIVE public in-home-care services for the elderly where worker's rights are protected, they are paid fairly, and also the patients' rights are protected and they're not treated like warehoused meat.
everything else leads right back to elder abuse, worker abuse, and/or invisibilizing care work by making it women's household work again. and the only way you can do that is if there's enough money to pay for all of that and also enough people to do that work. at absolute minimum, you need that
(and then we can discuss the same issues with care for minors, care for ill people, care for disabled people, etc. etc. etc.) if your degrowth strategy can't be just it can go to hell
Well, they outsource caring mainly to women doing it for nothing. I agree that GDP is the wrong measure. The first thing we must discuss is a debt jubilee, imo. Debt is what drives the need for growth. But whatever the position we drive towards, my point was: we are not having that conversation.
Thanks Alex. We agree. The wrong conversations are dominating. For me ‘sustainable’ isn’t just trees & bees, it’s a whole system thing. It’s bolder than politics dares. As the English husband of an Indian wife with global family diaspora, the growth of anti-migrant sentiment truly saddens me.
Quite a lot of the changes needed wouldn't really have much environmental impact. Biggest shift needed is from jobs that can be done in another way into jobs that require people. Like fewer people making coffee/tea and more care home workers. We don't have a large pool of unemployed to call on.
I do like coffee/tea shops, and I want them to continue, but the numbers have to add up. We can't save much on "stuff", as we buy a lot of that into the country. So it's find cures for the long term sick, more immigration, more people, different jobs, or more hardship.
Are you volunteering your own family to be culled for the good of the environment or is it just immigrants that you think there's too many of?
Neither. Do keep up.
If you don't want to be mistaken for an ecofascist then don't advance an ecofascist narrative of the necessity of population reduction
I’m not. It will happen all by itself if we keep going as we are. To grow we need access to resources. To do that we need to take resource away from someone else (there are no unallocated resources). £/= resource. Every nurse we take from X is one less in X. Why is our need more deserving? 1/3
Accept that other parts of the world are rising & we declining. The only counter is to try and grow or sustain a status quo by brute force. The doing of *that* is fascist. So no, I’m not an ecofascist. I’m pointing out we can’t keep doing what we are & expect different results. 2/3
We can tinker with the ‘people system’ or we can tinker with other systems (inc economic). The former doesn’t lead to better outcomes unless we reset both the systems and expectations in other domains. I recommend ‘donut economics’ & Jason Hickel’s research at Barcelona.
Thank you Alex! I really appreciate you out there fighting the fight (and I would imagine making a difference). I won't watch Sky News but you do make it rather tempting!
You need to appear in front of more cameras, you handsome bastard. That voice + that face... 🥰 And also, weapons grade swearing in multiple languages...
You DO make an impact though, and sustain many others also fighting. Just ensure you have enough support and know that millions of us are willing you on! And the moral high ground is always the best place to be!
Calm and eloquent Alex - just what's needed to win the battle. Keep up the excellent work 👍
Thank you Alex (good to find you here)
Thank you for your voice. I shudder that facts don't ever get heard.
The problem is the spending on immigrants. the general population is not getting money spent on them or their programs - isn’t this a solvable problem
FWIW most welfare spending (55%) goes on pensioners, because there is a lot of pensioners and because of the triple lock www.gov.uk/government/p...
pensioners have usually paid into a system through tax their whole life and an immigrant has not
It depends a lot on whether they are allowed to work. I think asylum seekers aren’t allowed(?) so they have no legal way of contributing. For longer term immigrants, whether they are net contributors depends on lots of variables. See this report migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br...
Yes, that's right - asylum seekers aren't allowed to work. They have to stay in approved accommodation and are only given a tiny allowance to buy essentials while their claim is being processed. If their asylum claim is accepted (80% are) they can then live and work like anyone else.
I'm a little confused. What do you believe is being spent on immigrants (and which immigrants?) that doesn't benefit society as a whole?
Thank you, Alex. What you do, makes a difference. Never give up.
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