The danger of the next four years is complacency. It is obvious that some pot-banging populist coalition will take power in 2029, no matter how many bogus polls The Nuke posts on X. Even in the worst case scenario for Reform, where tactical voting is used to prevent a full majority, a Tory rump of forty seats will lead to a coalition. Whatever Farage’s issues he will be able to make significant progress in destroying Blairism. The Online Safety Act will be abolished. Freedom of thought and speech will be codified into law. From there, the future is ours for the taking.
The only manoeuvre possible to avert this outcome is now beginning to take shape; state repression against the political right. Starmer and the people around him are using increasingly radicalised language to describe the threat of Reform which go beyond the usual political cut and thrust. Starmer says ‘History will not forgive us if we do not use every ounce of our energy to fight Reform’. He is also already invoking the ‘forces of fascism 80 years ago’.
Starmer and his fanatics have moved from saying that Farage is on the side of paedophiles to comparing him to the Nazis. The derangement would be amusing if the consequences were not so serious.
They have given up ‘addressing concerns’ through faux-robust policy changes (smash the gangs) and are now pitching towards unadulterated ‘anti-fascism’. The arrests of Steve Laws and Pete North are the canaries in the coalmine which signal that this is not just a change in rhetoric but also a change in practice. This is the beginning of a remorseless crackdown on online dissent.
This was all designed years ago by Paul Mason - a close friend and ally of Keir Starmer - who wrote an entire book about how ‘fascism’ can only be defeated (in his words) by the ‘eradicating large amounts of non-existent people and the content generated by them’ - in reference to anonymity online, alongside a wider frenzy of repression.
It’s not just Paul Mason. Remainers are regrouping outside of X on digital ghettoes like BlueSky. The Very Online Left - Stephen Bush, John Oxley - has gone insane. In this tiny echo chamber even the mildest centre-right voices are feverishly abused into silence. Their overall political philosophy aligns with that of Alastair Campbell ranting about ‘sado-populism’; the country is going to the dogs because Musk owns Twitter and it’s about time the State crushed him and silenced his mouthpieces. This is the worldview of the average Labour MP, from the right to the left of the party they are convinced that Farage is a fascist dancing to Putin’s polka.
There will no restraining hand either in the Parliamentary Party or the media as there was at the time of Blair’s manic authoritarianism. Shami Chakrabarti does not care about ‘The Northern Variant’ getting a visit from plod. ‘Anti-fascism’ is why many people on the Left were drawn into politics in the first place. They are all too happy to see Starmer and McSweeney finally take the gloves off.
Understanding this is crucial for appreciating just how grave the threat posed by the new Digital ID system really is, when combined with the wretched Online Safety Act. You will be forced onto this compulsory system and the data it collects will be used by people who think like Paul Mason to crack down on the online right. ‘Dark Starmer’ is coming to fruition. You may well be debanked. These people have failed to win the arguments and are now resorting to state repression to see their political ends achieved. We are at war.
I have written before about the guilt of being an adult at the beginning of the scamdemic, knowing that children were having their lives stolen for them to protect them from a virus which would have no impact on them, being condemned to a lifetime of penury for choices that were made without their consent, by people who could have and should have known better.
I carry this burden despite being an open lockdown sceptic, vaccine refusenik and a gold card carrying member of the Free Speech Union.
I wish I had thrown myself, in March 2020, upon the gears and the levers of the machine. It would have been better to die in a hailstorm of bullets invading a SAGE meeting than to spend the rest of my life avoiding eye contact with anybody born after the turn of the Millennium. How many times can you say sorry? Apologise for their futures which were stolen from them, as you watched passively on.
The only way we can redeem ourselves now is to fight with every part of your being against Starmer’s fascist coup. Struggle against Digital ID with every fibre of your being. The future cannot belong to Paul Mason.