the Holocaust is where the Nazi regime *ended*, it is not where it began. It began with undermining the rule of law; othering on the basis of who people are; the normalisation of hate; rights limitations etc. And we are already much closer to some of those patterns than many people think. 2/2
Direct comparisons with the 1930s are ahistorical and unhelpful: 2025 simply is not 1930s Germany. BUT what we can look at are patterns. And on the basis of those patterns we absolutely can see common trajectories here. I would also urge everyone again to remember that death camps and … 1/2
… of politicians who have been murdered over recent years and attacks on others. We cannot simply dismiss things like this, as I had already said in relation to Badenoch the other day, as the last horrendous hurrah of a dying party.The harm can still be very real even if it is. /end
But I say this also expressly due to my own past experiences with far right agitators and based on work I currently do where safeguarding is a huge question—I am literally having conversations about things that incl potential threats. None of this is a joke in any way, particularly in light too …
I say all this based on past evidence we already have of the impact of such an approach. Here’s just one example—even Govt ministers warned of the possibility of violence. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
This isn’t just a point about Jenrick either: the framing adopted by the Express—that this is a war—is also deeply irresponsible and will also serve to inflame further.
Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.
I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.
Journalists would also do well to ask about Badenoch’s comments on lawyers and what they might well do given precedents like this: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...
This, btw, is what ICE operating in US communities looks like.
This is what Kemi Badenoch wants for the UK.
Every single journalist and media outlet in the UK should play this clip to Badenoch and ask her why she wants this for the UK on our streets.
bsky.app/profile/lord...
… And these are just a very, very, very small number of examples. /end
And for those who still do not understand what is happening in the US, please pay more attention. None of it is benign in any way and some of the greatest cheerleaders of it all are published regularly in The Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.
Source 1: www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rc...
Nothing good will ever be found at the end of the road this leads to.
It is a complete dereliction of duty of our media in the UK, and far too many politicians, that we could *ever* get anywhere close to this point of normalising what absolutely are extremist policies.
So last hurrah or not, this is what the leader of the Conservative Party is inspired by and proposes for the UK.
Together with the proposal to leave the ECHR, it is what the completely deranged normalisation of far right anti-immigration approaches has now led to in the UK.
It’s easy to say that this is the last desperate hurrah of a dying party, but can we be clear: Trump’s ICE agents are literally kidnapping people, detaining them without due process in concentration camps (yes, this is the right term) and 1000s have disappeared. These are fascist practices.
The UK has a border with border staff—we have immigration control. And from an economic perspective, as all data show, the UK needs more immigrants, not fewer. In any case: stripping away provisions in place to protect *everyone’s* human rights—that includes *your own* rights—will not help.
We are talking with reference to immigration and on that the CDU absolutely do do this. And plenty of CDU people are very happy to stand alongside the AfD, think of recent meetings in Hungary. I’m sorry, but while many in the CDU do do as you say, overall the role of the CDU could not be clearer.
I truly wish all immigrants could stop work for a week. I don’t think it would take much longer than that to change everything.
/endPS
To constantly sh*t on those who make the choice to contribute to the UK rather than somewhere else — now pushed on to such an extent that we need to prove special worth beyond that choice and contribution …. Anger is to weak a word to describe it all.
But my key point is this:
Migrating to the UK was my *choice*; it was the choice to commit my skills and knowledge to the UK, not another place. Pay my tax here. Etc.
Germany, on the other hand, is the place where I happened to have been born. Purely by chance.
Because it’s migration that has shaped my life more than anything and it’s actually just normal—migration is the most fundamental characteristic of being human: none of us would be where we are without it, whether we personally moved or not.
PS: I should perhaps add: yes, I’m also British now. But for many it’s obviously the wrong kind of British (and I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised if questioning citizenship rights becomes part of further escalations in due course).
More important to me is this, however: I’m a migrant first.
... is pretty horrendous.
Because we have all the knowledge.
But it is simply being ignored.
It really does not have to be like this.
And yet here we are.
/end
Finally, on a personal level, I have no words to overstate how frustrating / enraging it is that we are at this juncture. I first made precisely these arguments about the UK's general trajectory and how it would be enabled by anti-immigration extremism over a decade ago. To simply watch it unfold...
- Roll back authoritarian anti-protest legislation.
- At least start work on a written constitution for the UK.
- Recognise that Brexit cannot be made to work.
Will Labour do any of this? No.
And that is why Farage will be PM.
Time to change that trajectory is running out.
- Introduce Proportional Representation for General Elections. It is not a perfect system either; yes, it too would result in plenty of Reform seats; it can be very messy (see the Netherlands, for example). But it nevertheless provides a crucial protection layer and it is so much more democratic.
- Stop the normalisation of far right anti-immigration policies. This will need support from experts to tell a story of immigration that breaks down why it is positive for communities. This must be progressive to the point of recognising too that some issues can exist; use investment to address.
