The far right and Russia

The 'far right' in the UK now seems to include Michael Howard and our "Defence Secretary" Michael Fallon, who appears keen on starting a war with Spain over Gibraltar.

So, are we in the UK, now classed as being overrun by a less civilised, more confrontational 'popular politics', or is it a re-run of "Victorian Values" and gunboat diplomacy.

Banks, Farage and the like might well have been classed as "Fifth Columnists" during previous wars in Europe.

I despair about this country - statements from our political masters in May's regime are just following the uncivilised, rabble rousing rhetoric of rags like the Daily Mail, Sun, etc.

I would say at present, that we have a chocolate teapot's chance in hell of "unifying" the UK in the present climate, and the results and political actions following the Brexit and Article 50 trigger have massively increased instability in Europe.

The UK has been the 'enfant terrible" of Europe for years, and we will clearly remain so, led by May, Boris, Fallon, and the likes of Duncan-Smith sniping from the sidelines.

Jalima - yes I'm out of touch, partly because I don't want to know.

I think that Banks is the most worrying person out there! I followed a link yesterday which explained how he planned and executed winning the Brexit vote and in effect how he intends to manipulate the politics of UK so that he gets to basically run the UK too how he wants! I imagine it was a link that Jen or WW posted. It was so full of info which interesting but was also scary really.
Then this morning I read an article about USA since Jan in the NY Times - that gave little confidence - add to it Brexit and Gibralter and we have such changes.

It was I thought, common knowledge Banks hasn't been backwards at coming forwards......there is also Soros...they all seem to be the new politicos and why not?

I don't like any of them but new money v old money, it is the same thing MONEY........

I don't think the far right is any more of a worry than the far left.

People are talking about 'populism' as if that is a bad thing it is the basis of democracy, what appeals to most people is popular.

Trump does seem to have a way of reaching out to the masses but if you look at what he has done, it is just the same stuff Obama was up to, and saint Hilary, they just did it with more codified language than he does.

It is a the same shitty game, there really are no choices. The Green party and Independents are just not wordly wise enough to get their feet in the door politically.

The problem is, that people vote at elections but most of the time are pretty apathetic, so by the time the election comes along the only choices we have are the rich buggers, the experts all talk nonsense, no one can really predict anything, we create our realities as we go a long.

I find that the more courses I study the more schools of thought the are. Everything is a social construct, the media and the main players give us options but basically it is all about power, money and control.

What a terrifying situation. But Thankyou all for your posts and for clarifying some things I was, frankly, too scared to delve into. I can't keep hiding my head in the sand ...

Yes saw that. There is always the issue of "dark money" the donors cover their tracks very successfully , just as they did funding Brexit and further back the likes of Moseley

There is a Panorama proramme tonight investigating the funding of Marine le Pen's Front National party. It should be worth watching.

Sadly nothing seems to matter more in politics than money. Whenever you see a poltical party or movement spending a lot of money ( Tories, Ukip, SNP and other nationalist parties) you should ask where is the money coming from and why?

Banks seems to have off loaded UKIP as has Farage. It's served its purpose. Onwards and upwards to the real target, which seems to completely split our traditional liberal democratic political parties. The project is underway in America and we can see the fight going on there. Trump classed himself as a Republican, but he clearly is not as so many Republicans are now realising. The voters were targeted to deliver this, just as they have been over Brexit, I just hope that not all the right wing press will play ball, although some undoubtedly will.

God, this is frightening. Your link is a terrifying read. I knew that Banks had bankrolled UKIP/Brexit campaign and he was public in his announcements about targeting traditional Labour seats and getting UKIP in there, but I had thought that the general unpleasantness and buffoonery of the UKIP candidiates ,made that sound like a fantasy. But, it does seem as if his ambitions go beyond that. The UKIP voters have been taken for mugs and used in this monstrous campaign, what a pity the Daily Mail, Express, Sun,Telegraph won't report this. The right wing press in this country is a power to be feared, despite all of our mocking of their rubbish, too many people lap it up and believe it.

Yes and the ordinary voter are the pawns to be manipulated just like Nazi Germany. We have seen it America and Brexit, their plans are coming good.

It comes down to a battle between two warring élites.

Exactly! Only the Guardian/Observer, Channel 4 and some foreign media are covering it.

People have been taken for chumps.

I think that the Electorial Commision have muttered about fraud etc, but Banks was totally dismissive. It would seem that there has been a huge amount of activity between the interested parties. A company calling itself "Cambridge Analytica" majority owned by the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer has been busy collating data on us all and uses it to target the individual voter. Mercer bankrolled Trump. Bannon was also on its payroll. They now have the ability to manipulate public opinion on a level never before seen.

This new technology has disrupted the democratic process to such an extent that theLSE warned that current laws are unable to deal with its excesses and to ensure a fair and free election or referendum. The electorial commission has admitted that it cannot limit the power of money in elections. The situation could become very dangerous and volatile.

Liam Fox is a bit player in it all and it wouldn't surprise me, if he jumps ship at some stage, along with his sidekick Adam Werritty.

It's not just Banks' wealth, but that of Steve Bannon and other American backers, Putin's influence and power and the use of Big Data and other propaganda methods. It's a frightening alliance.

tricia

He is someone with whom we are unfortunately going to become all too familiar with unless he and his cohorts can be stopped. He is intent on destroying our liberal democracy, and unfortunately his plans have worked thus far. He is vastly wealthy and rather than use his vast wealth for philanthropic use, he uses it to pursue his political ambitions.

The only consolation is that Ukip struggled to find enough candidates with anything like the credentials to be MPs and I suspect this new movement will be the same.

Yes, they do. Their main target is Labour constituencies with Remain MPs. It puts Labour in an impossible situation and is part of the reason Corbyn sits on the fence.

Sorry, I can't help being a school mam.

Seriously, this has all been obvious for a couple of years, but the MSM hasn't really written much about it, because the right-wing press in the UK is part of it. Maybe Trump's election has brought it all out in the open. Hopefully, the bubble will burst and the majority of people will see what's been going on.

I read either that article or similar - don't they want to orchestrate the next GE so that they get rid of all the anti Brexit MPs?

If you've never heard of him TriciaF I'm afraid I'll have to send you to the naughty corner for not taking enough notice of my posts for months .

I'd never heard of him.
So interesting, horrifying - just shows what money can do.
And how quickly power might transfer from one kind of élite to another.

Indeed! And why he sneers at academics, although Mary Beard made a good job of taking him down.

I spent a semester studying 1930s Nazi language and psychology. At the time, I thought it was a bit quaint, boffish and not very relevant, but it really concerns me that we're seeing a repeat of so many of the features of those times. I wish I still had my old notes.

Yes that's the article. I have no technological ability so thanks for that "DD"

There is also another really good article with Howard Jacobson who is just about to publish a satirical novel with a Trump character.

It was however interesting to read his opinion about how language is being dumbed down, and how intelligence is going out of fashion, how the shrunken attention span of the social media has made a virtue of bullish ignorance and incoherent simplicity. Any sign of subtlety or sophistication has become tantamount in the minds of many voters to being untrustworthy and even dangerous.

This fits very neatly into Banks and cohorts attitude towards what he sneeringly calls Bad MPs particularly the Oxbridge PPE-ers.