The UK has been rocked by two national scandals in as many weeks. The first, an incident that happened in December of last year in Southampton, the details of which only came to light following the sentencing of the murderer, a British Sikh man, Vickrum Digwa, who murdered a white British student, Henry Nowak, using a ceremonial Sikh Kirpan knife.
The second, an as-yet non-fatal attack on a white British man by a Sudanese asylum seeker, Hadi Alodid, in Belfast, occurring only this week.
I’m not usually compelled to discuss the ethnicity or nationality of the subjects of my articles here, but the abject idiotic fury that has been generated by both of these incidents has made the clarification necessary.
Pleas for calm, including by Nowak’s recently bereaved family, have been completely ignored by fascist elements in the UK, namely the pro-Putin Reform PLC, and the great toad himself. Even as Henry’s father courageously called for his young son’s murder not to be used to stoke division or anger on the steps of the courthouse, Nigel Farage took to social media to call for “pure, cold rage”.
I’m usually revolted by anything that comes out of that pond scum’s mouth, but his bare-faced opportunism to rile up the very worst sentiments of the British psyche has truly and honestly sickened me.
Following Digwa’s sentencing and Farage’s dog-whistling, riots broke out on the streets of Southampton last week. Video footage captured residential streets being smashed up by gangs of balding thugs, windows broken in, bins flung at police officers, racial slurs chanted openly. Most were not from the city, but travelled in from afar to destroy communities they do not belong to.
Then, following the attack in Belfast, that city saw violence and upheaval on an even more egregious scale, and racism of a more sinister nature. Houses of ethnic minority families were targeted, with addresses being posted online in hit-lists. The same ilk of bully boys and shiny-headed morons went around destroying property, setting fire to houses of non-whites (and also some white households in error), chanting “foreigners go home”. In the same way, many were not from Belfast.
For this type of xenophobic idiot, there is no distinction between citizen, documented immigrant, refugee, or asylum seeker. They do not care that Digwa was a Brit. They just want an excuse to smash up houses and beat up brown people. For them, non-white equals bad.
This is the voter base of Farage, this is the Britian he appeals to. The worst of the worst of our country.
That is not to say that these incidents do not raise urgent questions for the UK to wrestle with. Sikhs committing any crime, let alone murdering, is a rare occurrence in the UK, rarer still with their ceremonial Kirpans. However, now that it has happened, there is a debate to be had about the legality of carrying a bladed article for religious purposes. An awkward and deeply unfortunate debate, but a valid one nonetheless.
I am not a Sikh, and whilst I remember my GCSE Religious Education studies of Sikhism quite vividly, I have not had the pleasure of knowing many Sikhs in my life as yet, and so I am completely unqualified to weigh in on the Kirpan debate. But, my layman’s instinct tells me that a religious exemption to carry a knife is one that deserves scrutiny, and at least some form of regulation or oversight. It’s a debate I’ll watch with interest.
The circumstances of Nowak’s death and Digwa’s arrest also raise a very grave concern. After Digwa stabbed Nowak and police arrived, Digwa accused his victim of racially abusing him, causing police to handcuff Nowak as he lay bleeding. Nowak’s cries for help were not heeded, with officers apparently giving greater credence to Digwa’s accusations of racism than Nowak’s wounds, and the 18 year old died shortly afterwards in the most appalling and disgraceful circumstances.
There is an internal police investigation ongoing, so whether the officers were motivated by fear of racism accusations, or by pure negligence, remains to be seen. However, this will also precipitate an entirely valid debate on anti-racism guidance within UK policing, as confirmed by the National Police Chief’s Council. The Sikh Federation has also called for a judge-led inquiry into the circumstances of the arrest.
Also, the Belfast attacker entered the UK via the Common Travel Area across the British/Irish land border in 2023, and did not face the same scrutiny as those arriving by small boat do. He was granted asylum and leave to remain until 2028 in the same year.
NI Secretary Hilary Benn has clarified that this kind of fast-track asylum across the Irish border is no longer in use, but the fact that the attack was carried out by a refugee who entered via irregular means will increase the furore around the asylum debate and further stoke division and racism in my country.
The pus leaking from the wounds inflicted by these two senseless acts of violence is being lapped up by Farage, inciting his fascist hordes to violence and disorder, to the destruction of local communities. The fact that Farage could not even bring himself to condemn the violence in Southampton as he stood up in the House of Commons to spew his bile shows, in the words of the Prime Minister, exactly the type of “man” he is. A snivelling coward who would rather do literally anything than face a single second of scrutiny.
He thrives on the ignorance of his voter base. I’ll bet any money that the vast, vast majority of the Barry63s who smashed up Southampton and Belfast have no idea about the details of the cases as I have described them above, but that’s exactly what Farage wants.
Reform’s steadily decreasing polling numbers are obviously causing him more and more fear, as evidenced by his increasingly vile rhetoric. As net migration in the UK continues to decrease, and numbers of small boats across the Channel follow similar trends (0 arrivals between 4-10 June according to Home Office website), his usual appetite of political discourse is drying up. He’s becoming increasingly reliant on stoking pure racial hatred instead of concern about illegal and net migration, issues which, at their peaks under the Tories, rightly deserved scrutiny.
This kind of language is not palatable to the majority of Brits, and importantly those leaning Reform, but not fully brainwashed by the billionaires. For the type of racist who travelled to Southampton for a punch-up, there is nothing Farage could do (other than becoming a decent human) that would put them off him. That type of person is beyond the pale. But for the swing voters, they are far less susceptible to calls to anger and racially motivated violence than to calls for concern over migration.
I’m encouraged by the resilience shown by locals in these great cities, as local communities have come together, as they always do in Britian, to rebuild and reconcile. This is what Britian is. This is the majority. Decent, honest, kind-hearted people who will love and support their neighbours, no matter the colour of their skin or how they do or do not pray.
Despite the horror of the past few weeks and the worsening desperation of Reform PLC and its Chief Exec, I’m cautiously optimistic that their decline is getting underway in earnest. The scrutiny of their councillors following local election victories is growing, with greater incompetence being revealed each day. Farage himself faces a Parliamentary investigation for the millions he has received from overseas billionaires, and his connections to Russian elements are also slowly coming to the fore.
Not only this, but pro-EU sentiments in the UK are also increasing, the very basis of Farage’s political movement gradually becoming obsolete.
With any luck, in the coming years before the next general election, we will be on the verge of rejoining the EU, Farage will be facing criminal charges for corruption, and the net and illegal migration issues will become as irrelevant in our discourse as truth is to Farage.
Wishful thinking only. Time will tell.
stay safe
/e