European Outlook # 98, May 2014

Old Comrades by Stephen Swinfen

I had regular contact with Bernard Franklin for some years. I left the National Front in the autumn of 2008 when he and Tom Holmes were removed as Vice and Chairman of the Party one week before the annual conference after a lifetime of service to the cause. It was a disappointing affair, they could have been replaced respectfully at the AGM the following week, if indeed the membership had asked. They were founding NF members, Tom Holmes had been a member of Colin Jordan's White Defence League in the 1950s and other nationalist organisations throughout his life

I tried my best to keep contact with Tom Holmes, he had no children and he lived at Caister which was a 250 mile round trip. I went quite a few times, his wife Iris eventually got poorly with dementia. Tom cared for her at home for I don't know how long, eventually she would go into a home for two weeks at a time to give him a break. It took its toll and Tom seemed to be going the same way. Each time I visited him I offered to tidy up the garden but he wouldn't let me. When Tom dispensed with his mobile phone  I was dependent on his landline to keep in touch.

I remember a time when one of Tom's carers answering his landline at Caister, said he was in a care home or hospital, anyway not at home. She said he had a nephew, which was untrue. He did have a sister in Gloucester way he said, if I recall correctly. I think they were trying to put me off ringing

I found him in a care home or it could have been a hospital in Lowestoft, he came to reception in only one slipper, I asked where the other one was but he didn't know or care where the other one was was. Once I took him out to lunch to his chosen restaurant near Caister, he made a big fuss about making sure they didn't give him peas. In the end his landline was never answered and I didn't know what happened to him. It played on my mind for a long time, several years, what could I do to track him down. To this day I still don't know what I could have done and it's a big regret that he died without me finding him. So sad how such a great patriotic stalwart's life was ended seemingly in obscurity and I couldn't show respect at his funeral that must have taken place sometime and somewhere.

After the shame of what was done to them in 2008 neither Tom or Bernard renewed their membership of the NF and nor did I in support. The guy behind their removal was one Ian Edward, a London fella who wanted to take over the NF, no idea what happened to him after he did. All I know about the NF nowadays is that Tony Martin is doing his best to keep it going. 

Derek Godfrey was an old timer from Dunstable who was in his early nineties, I remember him from the 70's. He was a long-time friend of Bernard's, he was at Bernard's funeral, the brothers George and Wesley Lay were there, and myself, that was all that came from the nationalist scene.

I used to visit Bernard at his Hemel Hempstead home every few months, he lived alone after his wife passed. He was a devout Christian and that was often larded into his many articles and letters. He edited The Flame, the National Front newspaper that began after Ian Anderson took the previous title The Flag with him when he left the NF. The Flame ran to 33 issues. Bernard also kept online with The Flame website, frustratingly the guy that did it for him died and no password was left for Bernard, so he couldn't update it. 

In the end Bernard's daughter, who lived at Irchester in Northants coincidentally not far from me hadn't heard from him and asked that the neighbour go and check, he was dead in his bath and had been there for a few days. I had been there a few days previously, met his visiting step-son Mark and left not knowing I would not see Bernard again.

I think we should consider old folk more than we do in general. I'm lucky my son is a caring lad and his partner is a nurse.

UK General Election

The UK faces a general election that's a choice between two similar parties. The Tories have been in power for 14 years during which time everything has got worse. Despite their bold plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, incomers of all types; refugees, students, family dependents, essential workers, and overstaying tourists, numbered over a million last year. 

Attention is focussed on the 40,000 asylum seekers who cross the Channel on small boats, but the 1,000,000 who come on scheduled airlines, clutching entry visas, go unnoticed.

We know all the arguments about the need for some immigration, but make no mistake, at this level it will destroy this country. Yes we need foreign doctors and nurses for our health service, but don't forget that immigrants also get sick and need hospital treatment, particularly maternity services.

We've got a national debt of £2.5 trillion, a flatlining economy, a housing crisis that's getting worse, a crumbling health service, a failing educational system, an underperforming police force and a railway network desperately in need of upgrading.

This level of chaos will not be turned around by electing a Labour Party that shares all the failed Tory policies from Asylum to Zionism. 

Over forty years ago Oswald Mosley proposed a Government of National Unity drawn not just from the elected parties but from trade and industry, the universities, the military, and the trade unions. Such a government, elected for a fixed period, with the power to act, might rescue the situation, but simply swapping Tory for Labour will only prolong the agony.

The Reform Party is the latest in a long line of populist parties; National Front, British National Party, UKIP, and Reform, that offer simplistic solutions to complex problems. They tend to peak at about 10% before dissolving in acrimony. They preach a narrow nationalistic policy of self-sufficiency and withdrawal from international representation that would turn our poor country into North Korea. Lee Anderson the rebellious MP for Ashfield has defected from the Tory Party to join Reform.

But there are no easy answers. To sort out our national problems we need a comprehensive plan and a commitment to hard work, fiscal discipline, fair play, and leadership. None of the established parties can be trusted to do any of these things, so ignore the pointless pantomime of a general election. If you must put your illiterate cross on a ballot paper, go for one of the smaller parties that supports proportional representation.

Terrorism

If you are a typical middle-class person who works hard, pays his taxes, reads the Daily Mail and votes for one of the Old Gang parties, you might think that you are safe. But if you are disgusted by the slaughter of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis you better keep your mouth shut. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organisation by the British government and any sympathy for the Palestinians is likely to be seen as support for Hamas which will get you banged up in Belmarsh high security prison with some real terrorists.

The Tory government conflates 'extreme' opinions with terrorism. They have locked up Patriotic Alternative campaigner Sam Melia (pictured) for two years for distributing stickers calling for immigration control, but that is not terrorism; terrorism is using bombs and guns to kill and maim. Tory donor Frank Hester incited murder by calling for MP Diane Abbot to be shot, but he is unlikely to get two years in prison.

The Hamas raid into Israel last October was undoubtedly a terrorist act, but so is the bombardment of hospitals, schools, Mosques and Churches in Gaza by the IDF. The only difference is that you are allowed to support Israel, but you are not allowed to support Palestine.

Rishi Sunak's government has spun such a web of lies that most ordinary citizens are frightened of having an opinion. We are told that central London is a 'No Go' area for Jews when the peace marchers are in town. In fact, there are plenty of individual Jews on these marches as well as organised groups of anti-Zionist Jews.

We are told that "From the River to the Sea" is an anti-Semitic slogan, despite the fact that it's used by Likud the far-right Israeli governing party.

Israel was founded on terrorism. Jewish terrorists dynamited the King David Hotel and drove out the Palestinians with maximum violence. Most of the Israeli leaders were terrorists financed by Zionists around the world who supported a national home for the Jews.

Donald Trump takes a practical line on the Ukraine conflict but when it comes to Israel he wants them to "finish the job".  And, of course, Britain, France and the rest of Europe are solidly behind him.

The key to peace in the Middle East is the United States. So long as the American taxpayer props up the Zionist state, it will continue to occupy the West Bank and Gaza. And as long as the occupation lasts the Palestinians will resist.

We have the ridiculous spectacle of the West providing emergency food aid to the starving Palestinians while, at the same time, they are arming the IDF with the latest weapons.

Eventually, there will be one state from the River to the Sea, a secular democratic state for Jews, Christians and Muslims.  Such a prospect might seem remote, but the demographic of Israel is changing. Migration from Russia has slowed to a trickle as Russia's economy continues to boom. Palestinians inside Israel are already 20% of the population and they boast a much higher birth rate than the Israelis. It's true that the mostly American West Bank settlers have very large families but they can't keep up with the Palestinians.

If Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were combined under a single authority its Arab population would predominate. America and Europe would ensure that the Jews were protected, and the Gulf States would provide the money to rebuild Gaza. This might seem an impossible scenario but peace came to embattled South Africa and Northern Ireland when everyone thought it impossible.

Defence  

Do we need defence? Yes, we need defence to go round the garden - The Marx Brothers.

The public have little interest in defence. They are worried about the cost of living, public services and immigration. Usually it's only retired generals and paranoid journalists that despair at the size of our armed forces, but all of a sudden Rishi Sunak our unelected prime minister together with Dave Cameron our unelected foreign minister are flying around the world boasting of our increased defence spending.

During the Brexit campaign 'unelected' was a taboo word but it seems to have lost its power. 

President Emmanuel Macron of France has gone even further by threatening to send French troops to join the war in the East. He should remember the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grande Armee who lie dead in the fertile soil of Ukraine

The Russian 'threat' is grossly overstated. President Putin has repossessed the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine but he has no further territorial ambitions.

Billions of dollars thrown at the corrupt Zelensky regime by the US and her obedient allies might replace some of his depleted weapons but  half a million slaughtered soldiers cannot be replaced. Zelensky has simply run out of men.

Former Defence Minister Penny Morduant is typical of Britain's warmongers, well-educated but lacking in political understanding. She is a Royal Navy Reserve officer with a nautical sense of humour who once repeated the word 'cpck' several times during a parliamentary debate. 

The Industrial-Military-Complex knows that the game is up for Zelensky but they are determined to keep the war going for as long as possible; until they have drained the last cent out of the American taxpayer.

The Defence Scam works the same way as the Israel Lobby. Congressmen vote for massive handouts to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan in return for lucrative kickbacks. And it's all in the name of 'freedom and democracy'.

Things are not as bad in the UK because we are slightly less corrupt than our American cousins. Nevertheless our greedy politicians rush to vote for increased defence spending, they argue about pennies on health and education but but when it comes to defence they are warmongers to a man.

Of course Britain needs adequate defence forces to protect our islands, but we don't need giant aircraft carriers or Trident missile submarines. We need smaller vessels to patrol home waters backed up by well trained armed forces. What happens in  the Middle East, the China Sea, or Ukraine is none of our business.

Nation Revisited  https://nationrevisited.blogspot.com

European Outlook

All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. The editor reserves the right to shorten or otherwise amend articles submitted for publication. We seek reform by lawful means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:

"We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people."