AIBU to think this quote sums up Tommy Robinson and his supporters?

[Gingerbreadtree]

The quote is taken from the British philosopher Bertrand Russell's essay on Fascim in 1940,

"The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other."

To me it sums them up, but it sums up a lot of the far right in general. The same could be said about Farage and many of his supporters too.

Yes the very (new) definition of fascism. Funny that.

I agree with you. Vote for who you wish to vote for, but you should be in full possession of the facts before you do so. You should know who is funding who you're voting for, where there propaganda online is coming from - is it genuine or is it bots, or someone in a misinformation factory in Indonesia, Russia, or Nigeria? How their policies will affect you personally etc.

So who do you think is funding the Green party?

So you are one of those 'so how does it affect you personally' types?

How do you feel about the guy that was trying to shut down MN being arrested just this last week for his anime drawings of child abuse and the revelation he is in online paedophile groups?

You may not waste time thinking about it but until we need laws to be in place, we don't just wait til it affects us personally, do we, before getting laws put in place? Laws are usually in place because at some point; people WERE affected personally. One of those laws allows for single sex spaces and activities. So why do you want those laws to be completely ignored just because a man says words and puts a v neck top on?

LOL hardly, I'm just well educated and have clarity of thought.

But it is helpful to see, in your reply to me and your replies to others, the type of assumptions you jump to when someone disagrees with you. How easily you dismiss based not the content or the arguments but on your assumptions about what type of person would make them.

Is this a shock to you, to get replies that don't fit the script your echo chamber lead you to believe?

I'm no Reform fan, far from it. I don't engage much with MN TR posts because I don't want to add to any impression that TR is on an equivalent footing to established political parties.

I do engage with Green Party posts exactly because they are a mainstream UK party with increasing support so their slide into populism and Authoritarism genuinely scares me.

Yes populist left and right are two cheeks of the same arse, but more subtly, Populism and Authoritarianism are also two checks of the same arse.

They have to be.

Populism offers easy crowd-pleasing solutions to hard problems. The problem if they ever get into power is that their easy solutions don't actually work.

So eventually, no matter how good their intentions at the start, they are faced with admitting they are failing and risk losing their supporters faith to the next guy (or girl, but usually guy) with easy answers, or suppressing the facts and silencing inconvenient voices.

And they always chose the latter.

Their grassroots members. I'm no fan of the Greens - I think they'll be disastrous economically, but I think Reform will be disastrous morally and ethically. I think Reform government will leave a stain on the soul of this country that will damage the UK for decades. I don't wish to see either party anywhere near power.

And they are truly blind to the hypocrisy. Like calls for free speech as long it's the right kind of free speech.

That's fair enough but I think the Green party is more dangerous. I don't buy into their wanting equality/fairness and a cohesive society. They just (think) they have more subtle ways of hiding their prejudice, helped along by Starmer who doesn't call out enough of the danger. His condemnation seems to be on only one side of the right wing. Even in his perilous political state, he is still applying two tier thinking.

What would he know about what is patriotic or not?

I agree with this. And why are the massive Reform donors foreign/foreign based? What is in it for someone who does not live here to fund such a party? There is manipulation and subterfuge going on at a level I think most people don't really comprehend. They are masters of distraction. I am no fan of the Greens at the moment but their funding seems to mainly be more modest amounts from folk who support them. They are absolutely a worry, and they'd tank the economy and our international credibility for sure, but not in the same way as Reform.

@FlirtsWithRhinos I did smile a little at that ChatGPT insinuation. Take it as a back handed compliment. 💐

Absolutely and his arrogance in assuming what is and isn't patriotic! He just can't help himself. The electorate has spoken and he's still shafting a good portion of them. A cynic might say he's riling up the Reform voters so Burnham will dig his own grave.

What's transphobic about wanting women to be acknowledged in law as a biological reality and not something men can become? Which is just fact. Please explain?

This.

Seconded.

How can you say no one cared when no one knew as it was being hushed up, silenced and covered up.
How can any right thinking human not be horrified about the rape gangs.

The PP is merely showing how women and girls are used as pawns in all sides of political arguments. Getting one over in Reform is way more important than female rights.

I knew about it in about 2001. Its been over 20 years. Tell me apart from us and the women who fought to make it public who cared? Its been a torrent of being told to shut up, or people saying that only racists bring it up.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/30/met-police-arrest-two-green-election-candidates-over-alleged-antisemitism

Ali’s Instagram account is set to private but screenshots indicated she had posted an image of an armed man wearing a headband of the banned Islamist group Hamas along with the slogan: “Resistance is freedom”.
Another screenshot indicated that Mairey had shared a post which included the text: “Ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism. It’s revenge.”

Ali won her seat

Other candidates also had to drop out e.g. “
Bernard Mani withdrew as a candidate in Lewisham after he was accused of tearing down balloons put up in solidarity with Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas and sharing conspiracy theories about Jewish people online.“

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections-2026-london-green-party-candidates-antisemitism-b1281141.html

Yet it’s the Labour government that are further curtailing our free speech, removing our right to trial by jury, refusing to even acknowledge the issues that concern many (evidenced by the huge gains of Reform) and even introducing a new means of state control of resources with digital id. They also turn a blind eye to electoral fraud when they think it benefits them (even when it means citizens are disenfranchised).

These things were not in their manifesto and are unwanted by many.

Now, even when his political career is hanging by a thread, Starmer is so concerned with shutting down people that disagree with him that he is banning a democratically elected member of the European Parliament from the U.K.

I’m not sure you are labelling the correct people as fascists.

Exactly. As a dyed in the wool ‘Human Rights’ lawyer, his first priority seems to be to those whom he perceives to be oppressed or poorly treated by us - by the state or its citizens.

His presumption is that we are a threat to the ‘wellbeing’ of his priority group.

This is why he prioritises foreign interests over the fair or reasonable treatment of our military. This is why he prioritises the wants and aims of newcomers to change this country instead of requiring them to assimilate.

I’m trying very hard to convince myself that he doesn’t totally hate the English and that he isn’t actively seeking to harm our interests.

What do you mean by ‘transphobia’? You know the Supreme Court ruled that ‘transwomen’ are men (as we’ve said all along)

Thats not anyone being unkind or criticising a group, it’s just stating a fact.

The same people who know that men cannot be women often also agree that we want proper border controls and have not agreed to mass immigration. We are entitled to some conversations on that. That is not ‘right wing’.

I mean it's not just two reformers is it? Take a cursory glance at any post about anti-Semitism on X and you will see British right wingers saying things like "the Austrian painter was right" or "there is a FINAL solution to this you know?"

But it's cool, you just keep minimising your sides problem with racism & bigotry cause it doesn't fit your narrative 👍

this.

Take a cursory glance at any post about anti-Semitism on X and you will see British right wingers saying things like "the Austrian painter was right" or "there is a FINAL solution to this you know?"

Thats a conveniently generalised claim. How do you know they are not Green members?