Kristoffer Trolle – Licence CC BY 2.0
Tommy. The name conjures up different things, depending on what generation you behove. To some, it is reminiscent of a brave wartime soldier. To others, a raging Nazi who deserves any and all punishment you can throw at him. And I haven’t even started on surname yet.
Tommy Robinson or NHRN as I will refer to him from now on, (I really must keep up with my media programming), is undoubtedly, an enigma. Anyone who is willing to stick his head down the throat of the establishment so many times in a vain attempt to induce a gag reflex, is either very confident or insanely stupid. Having listened to the reasoned, mature and sensible presentation given by NHRN at the Oxford Union, I personally believe the former. After all, I voted for him in the EU elections, and I have skin in the game. Saying that though, I was a Brexit supporter as far back as the late ‘90s when the Referendum Party was an embryonic version of UKIP. Like James Goldsmith, the founder of the Referendum Party, NHRN is a political outlier, a prophet not accepted in his own country. Unlike Sir James, he hails from a different background. Or maybe not.
Having lived my long life as a social butterfly, I have graced the tables of peers and paupers. And I will bet my life on one thing – NHRH will never be accepted by the establishment unless he is compromised. For to be accepted into the court of the king, you have to offer something. Be it clown, magician, entertainer or sage, you dare not serve the main course before the starter. Or dessert for that matter. Get the order wrong, and you are heading towards personal disgrace, if not a rapid detachment of your head from from your torso. Hence, the use of jesters and puppets in bygone times to effectively tell truth to power. NHRN’s failing is that he has served the main course before the starter, and when queried on this decision, offered dessert. Or to put it another way, he has not played the game. By telling the truth, and pulling the curtain back on what is really happening, he has deprived the establishment of their ability to give assent to his performance. They cannot agree with what he says, nor can they disagree. Like Pilate, they are confronted with an existential choice. Right versus wrong. And like Pilate, they have gone down the populist route as per the way the establishment see it – send him to the wolves. Or, the ultimate cop out.
Then of course, there is the class thing. That, the truth be told, is the real nub of the matter. NHRN, even dressed in bow tie and tails, is a busted flush even before the aperitif. Upon opening his mouth, well there you go. The whole class thing only works if you are monitored rigorously, and if you pass the breeding, etiquette and money hurdles, you have a chance provided your social circle and looks don’t betray you. Which poses a question.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is a rather upper class name. Which again, tends to suggest that NHRN is quite confident about certain matters. I find it ironic that NHRN has chosen Tommy as his “alter ego”, again conjuring images of old time Britain. It is almost as if a media personality has been created from scratch. A cut-out. Which is interesting, as the media, the minute you mention NHRN, immediately go into robotic mode, spurting the same vomitus of racist, far right – you know the rest. It is almost as if they have been primed.
So you have a walking, cultural embodiment of an establishment existential crisis. Either NHRN is the real deal, or he is an establishment stooge. There is a third option of course, that he is the fraud, charlatan and Satan incarnate the media make him out to be. The latter, of course, I’ll dismiss with the contempt it deserves.
NHRN has spoken at length about a problem we have in the the UK. The Russians were having a similar discourse about a similar problem in the 1860’s or thereabout. 80 years later, this ended in the holocaust. This time round, Russia seems to have the upper hand. As China. Political tectonic plates are moving, both in Europe and the USA. We have a new political environment, moving globally from the “have nots” to the “haves”. The Internet, mobile communications, and new media have busted the old order wide open. Any sensible reconciliation of the current situation will see an acceleration of what happened in the 1860’s. 40 years? 20? Who can tell. Come, but it will, but the backlash against extreme Islamic dogma will come. As it did, against both Jew and Gentile.
So what to make of NHRN? His current sentence for contempt, like the law, is an ass. I have not had time to read the full judgement, but it will clearly IMO, be made on a technicality. What is more troubling, is that the accusation ever made it to court in the first place. Prosecute NHRN on these charges, then numerous journalists should be in the dock as well. This is clearly a political prosecution.
There are troubling reports of journalists being attacked by NHRN supporters. This is not the way to go. They may be part of the problem, but acting in such a way not only plays into the hands of those with power, but reinforces the thug narrative. I would not be surprised if there were agent provocateurs present.
As to the future, it is essential we maintain pressure on the establishment to ensure NHRN serves his sentence in peace with humane and tolerable conditions. A category D open prison would be a good place for that. After all, according to the .gov website, prison staff assess prisoners when they’re first sentenced and also throughout their time in prison, to identify whether or not they’re still in the right prison category.
© Rookwood 2019
The Goodnight Vienna Audio file
