It’s a truth not universally acknowledged, that when anti-discrimination laws morph from proscribing harms to appeasing those who take offence at words, the ranks of the offendarati swell in the resulting republic of hurt sentiments. Thus it came to pass that the elderly Lady Susan Hussey’s curiosity tripped over the fast-expanding list of sensibilities that must not be touched for fear of spontaneous combustion. No amount of ritualistic self-flagellation will undo the damage. A woman of Caribbean ancestry born and living in the U.K., adopts an African name, wears African apparel and jewellery, has an MA in African studies, boasts of African ancestry, but is offended when asked where in Africa she’s from? On any objective reading, the Royals’ treatment of Lady Hussey seems nastier than her transgression. Of the three principals in the sorry affair, a habitual race-baiter who has made a professional career out of victimhood has behaved the most despicably. The Royals have betrayed the loyalty of an aide and godmother to Prince William. Lady Hussey has shown dignity despite having the most cause to feel hurt, bewildered and traumatised after decades of service to Queen and country. If there was justice in this increasingly weird world, Lady Hussey – subjected to a “ritual humiliation masquerading as social justice” (Sebastian Milbank) – would receive a public royal apology and Ngozi Fulani would be cut from society after such publicity seeking antics.
In March 2021, after the infamous Ophrah Winfrey interview, Fulani tweeted her admiration for Meghan Markle: “According to clear definition, it seems Meghan is a survivor of domestic violence from her in-laws.” Yet now she flatly denies this, whether intentionally lying or from memory lapse. Given this view of the Royal Family, why did she not decline the invitation? In an interview with Sky News U.K. she described how learning about Africa from “middle-class white people” was “traumatic”. She holds that “violence isn’t always physical, it can be verbal”. Her charity collaborates with Black Liberation Movement U.K., the local counterpart to Black Lives Matter.
On the night of November 29th, Queen Camilla hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the UN’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Fulani, resplendent in African dress, headgear and necklace, was asked by Lady Hussey, after reading her name badge, where she was from. She wouldn’t have needed to ask the question multiple times if Fulani had simply answered this common ice-breaking opening gambit at cocktail parties to start with, instead of dancing all around it. Lady Hussey repeatedly asked where Fulani and “your people” were “really from”. Fulani labelled this experience as “abuse” and “overt racism” and tweeted the transcript of the conversation in the early hours of the morning.
Fulani does protest too much. Her complaint has served to suck all oxygen out of the cause behind the palace reception. The 61 year-old ‘Ngozi Fulani’ was previously Marlene Headley. She describes herself as “of African heritage, Caribbean descent and British nationality”. Her charity Sistah Space caters to black African and Caribbean domestic abuse victims. Would it be permissible to set up a charity for white victims of domestic abuse? In any case, as Charles Moore comments, “I am not a Scot, but if I walked into a party wearing a kilt and sporran, and a name badge saying ‘Hamish McTavish’, I could not reasonably take offence if someone asked me from which part of the Highlands I hailed.” It was within Fulani’s choice to have adroitly turned the exchange into a friendly conversation, even to have politely but privately and firmly pointed out to Lady Hussey later the hidden traps in this line of questioning, using words that are clumsy and infelicitous in the newly invented Kingdom of Woke, but not obviously racist. But no, there wouldn’t be mass publicity, media demands for interviews to expand on her victimhood status and further invitations to gala events.
With the most cursory of investigations, Buckingham and Kensington Palaces publicly chastised her for the “unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments” because “racism has no place in our society”. She was thrown under the bus with not a word of public tribute for 62 years of selfless service to the Royals. Seriously? Have I been asked where I am from? Often. Was this offensive? Sometimes, but mostly it reflects genuine curiosity or friendly interest in learning more about me. Usually I respond by asking if they wish to know where I am from originally (India, which then leads to the follow-up question, ‘Which part’?), or which was the last country from where I moved to Australia, or which city I live in now in Australia? The most patronising comment was after a lecture in the U.S. when a man prefaced his question by saying he’d first like to compliment me on my English. “Yes, I came here one day early especially to learn the language,” I said. I hope I wouldn’t be as instantly judgemental and publicly cruel today.
In playing by Fulani’s rules of confected grievance and victimhood, the two palaces have given more oxygen to the fuel of racism hurled liberally at British society when it clearly ain’t so. The backlash shows they misread the public mood and may have further weakened the institution they represent. “Loyalty is undermined when monarchy defers to its enemies and neglects its friends,” writes Moore. The sensitivity owed to racial and cultural differences does not require an abandonment of the duty of due diligence on any charge of misconduct, nor duty of care to those who serve the Royal Family.
The incident under discussion was about a roughly 150-word exchange between two women in a crowded room. With impressive near-perfect recall despite describing the rest of the evening as a “blur” because of the distress that Lady Hussey’s “interrogation” allegedly caused her, Fulani published a “transcript” a few hours later. Either Fulani is relying on always contestable memory (‘different recollections’ and all that) which cannot be contradicted because of Lady Hussey’s dignified silence, or else the conversation was recorded in breach of etiquette. If the latter, suspicions of a set-up will only harden. Life would be vastly more pleasant without a dedicated corps of people looking everywhere for offence. We should all relearn the importance of lightening up and assuming that goodwill and not ill-will is the default mode of social intercourse.
Ramesh Thakur is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy and a former UN Assistant Secretary-General. This article was first published in Spectator Australia.
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Somebody else who has their eyes wide open and can see right through the intention of installing a Muslim statue and what it really signifies. The giveaway is the timing, plus the ability to look around and be aware of what’s happening to our societies in the West. Why did they not install a war memorial for Muslims 20 or 30 years ago, for instance?
”Timing is everything.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the government will fund a national war memorial to those Muslim soldiers who fought on our side during the two world wars and in subsequent conflicts. We have also been reminded that other religions have similar memorials.
And that is true. But is there anything more that this particular commemoration might represent?
Whether mass immigration was encouraged because it was seen as a solution to falling birth rates, a pension crisis or a darker death-wish for Christian culture, it was founded on a profound ignorance of what Islam believed and how it acted.
At the same time, an entirely false distinction was made between Islam and Islamism, as if Islamism described an entirely separate and unconnected political extremist variant among Muslims. Whereas, in fact, Islam is a well-balanced hybrid of religion and politics, aspiring to create a seamlessly faithful Islamic society in terms of both spirituality and political and ethical expression.
We might explore the demographic acceleration of Islamic presence in our country, but we would end up arguing about variables. The most useful wake-up call for many was provided by French novelist Michel Houellebecq in his novel Submission, in which he explored both the desire of Islam to change the face of French society and its means of doing so.
Is there an inherent desire to Islamify a society in which the numbers of Muslims and their political and cultural influence grows? There are Muslim voices that speak to this, but that might be countered by the argument that they are not sufficiently representative.
Either way, the present tensions in our democracy appear to reflect the growing leverage of Islamic preferences.”
https://catholicherald.co.uk/why-choose-now-for-a-national-muslim-monument-to-the-brave-soldiers-who-died-for-us-during-two-world-wars/
And is it just coincidence that the 2024 Brittania coin struck by the Royal Mint has Britannia, the personification of Britain, being looked down upon by a crescent moon which just happens to be exactly the same orientation as the crescent moon on so many Muslim flags?
https://www.royalmint.com/britannia/commemorative/2024-britannia/
Well-spotted! The crescent moon symbol is also the symbol of Shiva/Satan, “god” of Destruction. Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and other cults are all worshipping the same thing: KaliAllah the Moon Spider Goddess of Death and her Toyboy Shiva/Satan.
The Black Cube of Mecca is built directly upon the foundations of a Hindu temple to KaliAllah, also called Durga, the remains of the apsidal wall of which can still be seen jutting out from one side of it. And the rituals of white-robed people running counter-clockwise around the Black Cube is derived from Hinduism. The name Allah is not Arabic, but one of the many Sanskrit names for Kali.
The last several times I have looked at war memorials they did not have words to exclude soldiers, sailors or airmen of any race or religion. They were gender, race and belief inclusive.
If there is to be a separate memorial to muslim dead from the forces, why not for each other religion, for atheists, for men and women and for urban or rural fighters. Gay and straight.
Clearly this is a divisive proposal which is designed to divide.
Crime rate due specifically to non-Germans in Bavaria ( it’s not just in that state ) is on the rise. These figures will not be accurate given Germany’s new accelerated citizenship process for migrants ( unsure if that’s started yet ), which could see a foreigner arriving in the country five years ago, getting their German papers then any crimes they commit they’d go down on record as ”German”.
”An increasing migrant population has contributed significantly to a spike in crime across the German state of Bavaria, the state’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann claimed on Monday.
Speaking after his ministry’s publication of the state police’s crime stats for last year, the CSU politician assured the public that Bavaria remains a particularly safe area of the country, but bemoaned the fact that crime had increased across the state and attributed much of this increase to foreign nationals.
“We will not accept the increase in crime, even if it is a nationwide trend for which foreigners and immigrants are particularly responsible,” Herrmann said in a press release on Monday.
“We have commissioned the State Criminal Police Office and our police headquarters to analyze crime developments in detail in order to adapt operational concepts and police presence if necessary,” he added.
According to the crime stats, a total of 39.6 percent of the 266,390 suspects in crimes across the state last year were non-Germans despite only comprising 16 percent of the state’s population. This corresponds to an increase of 20.5 percent compared to 2022 when 32,037 immigrants were suspected of criminal offenses.”
https://www.rmx.news/crime/foreigners-to-blame-for-sky-rocketing-crime-stats-says-bavarian-interior-minister/
tells us:
In what fantasy world will we have spare energy to export? Lunacy.
Very occasionally we’re exporting to continental Europe – I think when the wind is blowing a lot. But net for the year we import roughly 10% from EU. We do export to Ireland, but that’s not what they are talking about.
Good point – but I was talking about what the situation will be in 2030/35 when so many more people will be plugging in their BEVs and running heat pumps. At that point I’d expect us to be importing energy from French nuke stations just to keep the lights on and warm.
When the wind is blowing for the UK it’s likely blowing throughout northern Europe. When the UK has a glut of wind power – so will they (mostly).
Of course, ‘we’ may miss our BEV and heat pump targets – in which case why can’t we also miss ‘our’ carbon-free grid target?
Indeed. If the 2030/2035 evil comes to pass I doubt the Europeans will have enough juice either. Either the targets will slip or we will have power cuts/power rationing which will either be enforced with quotas or huge price increases or both.
FFS. Want to understand where all the woke identity politics started? There’s a clue.
Irelands inept government strikes again!
Legally required posters at every garage displaying distances per 100km for petrol/diesel and ev performance!
There are so many variables to this it makes it absolute nonsense
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/filling-stations-to-be-required-to-display-ev-price-comparison-poster-1603312.html
erm. Usually 100km per 100km. Unless you’re going so fast that Einstein would be interested.
Yes, I do get your point – very silly posters. Mind you, they can hardly deny they ever told these lies if they publish them that widely.
The UK price of an entry level petrol Vauxhall Corsa is £22,255; the electric one is £32,445. So, the electric one is £10,190 (€11,924) more. Difference in price between petrol and electric per 100km is €10.04 – €3.18 = €6.86 per 100km. To save the €11,924 difference in purchase cost at €6.86 per 100km you will have to travel 173,823km or over 100,000 miles.
Happy motoring.
Sorry my mistake, price per 100km !
That’s if your ev can actually go that far according to all the manufacturers lies on range!
“King’s Cross station faces backlash after ‘Islamic’ message appears”
The “message of repentance” coming from a “hadith” is a total fraud. Repentance for sin is a Christian concept, and has no place in Islam or Judaism or any other religion, as far as I am aware.
Hadiths have no validity at all in Islam, being just imams down through the centuries making up stuff and sticking them into a list. They like copying things from other religions, and in the King’s Cross one they are just trying to imitate Christianity.
I don’t know whether it has validity in Islam, but it certainly does in Judaism.
See for example 2 Chronicles 7:14.
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Also here:
https://www.brandeis.edu/jewish-experience/holidays-religious-traditions/2021/september/atonement-yom-kippur-mirsky.html
No, actual repentance for sin is replaced in Judaism by “atonement”, which is not repentance, but only a ritual to protect yourself from being blamed for your sins in the next year. The Yom Kippur “Day of Atonement” means performing a ritual in which you transfer all your sins for the past year into a helpless chicken, swing it over your head, slit its throat, watch it choking to death slowly in agony, then give it to “The Poor” to eat your sins. You also take the Kol Nidre Vow, which allows you to lie and cheat and break any oaths sworn during the next year.
Then you go on sinning as much as you want.
“Labour will bring back ‘boiler tax’, pledges Ed Miliband” – The Shadow Energy Secretary backs plans, previously abandoned by the Tories, to impose fines on homeowners for failing to install useless, unworkable heat pumps”
WRONG. The plans were not “abandoned” by the Tories. They were delayed by one year, until after the election.
In other words, Tory and Labour policy on the boiler tax is now identical – they would both impose it after the election. But they are both pretending there is a difference between them on this issue.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boiler-tax-shelved-until-after-election-following-tory-backlash/ar-BB1jUqTZ
Wow. Well done for exposing that vital piece of information.
“Tugendhat lined up as ‘unity candidate’ as Tory plotters discuss Sunak replacement”
I think he’s a good choice, as he has often bravely spoken out about things that matter, defying the Globalists.
No, it turns out that he’s not legally eligible for the post of Monarch’s Prime Minster, as yet another of the extraordinary number of Catholics and Closet Catholics in the government, far outnumbering Protestants. Only Mordaunt and Gove are eligible, it seems.
Boris Johnson was a fellow left-footer.
Well, Boris did convert to the Protestant Church of England at university, when he found out that as a Catholic he would not be able to legally hold the post of Prime Minister. Teresa May was a Closet Catholic, like her father, and therefore secretly holding the post illegally, as pointed out by none other than Michael Gove when she was PM.
Jewish Disraeli also converted to Anglicanism in order to become Prime Minister, and Tony Blair had to wait until leaving office before announcing his conversion to Catholicism. Truss and Sunak both were given the post illegally.
What has he spoken out about?
I don’t remember a peep out of him during “covid”.
“Tories narrowly back Sunak to lead party into next election”
Great, Sunak’s staying, time to leave
!
(All tories with a precarious seat, like Anderson!)