HnH's own supporters agree with Bloom and oppose burning of books

Evidence of the widening gap between Hope not Hate and their own supporters continues to emerge in the comments following HnH's latest articles.

On Friday, Nick Lowles blog featured an article on former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom's new book, "A guinea a minute" which was ripped off without attribution from the Huffington Post UK. Entitled 'Godfrey Bloom's best quotes from 'A guinea a minute', HuffPo contributor Asa Bennett had managed to whittle the book down to reveal the very best.

Designed as a piece to elicit mockery of Bloom whose trenchant views are already widely known, the responses from Hope not Hate supporters were revealing when it was posted on their Facebook page. Just 5 people 'liked' the article, while 6 commented upon it. Of the 6 comments, 4 were supportive, including a comment by one of the 'likers'. They said:

 

 

There was yet more disappointment for Lowles and his motley crew as the comments thread also developed on the story we covered a couple of days ago on his enthusiasm for overcoming political opponents by simply burning their books in best National Socialist style. While some agreed with HnH's desire for the censorship of opposing political views no matter how absurd or easily disproved, the vast majority of comments showed that HnH's support is hardly foursquare behind them, while many noted the closeness between Lowles position and that of Goebbels, as we noted in our article: that banning books is just one step away from burning them.

 

 

 

It is worth noting that these are not messages from people who appear to be supporters of the far-right or of holocaust denial. Rather these are people who seem to be waking up to the agenda behind Hope not Hate's words and actions. Increasingly comments are appearing beneath their articles which should give any organisation a reason to pause for thought, although that is unlikely to happen with Hope not Hate. A more likely cause of action will be the disabling of the comments threads, or an even heavier handed censorship of what is posted. They already remove anything which appears to be written by persons whom they consider 'far-right'. It is one thing to remove the comments of political opponents, but could Lowles and Hope not Hate be forced to start removing the comments of their own supporters to hide the growing uneasiness within the ranks? It can not be long coming. After all, no dictatorship can survive for long once it permits internal dissent.

HnH defends Croatia regardless of facts - another 'Purple Rain' fail

Carl Morphett (writing as Simon Cressy) has just posted on Hope not Hate's blog about comments made by UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall regarding the accession of Croatia to the EU, and the possible effects on UK immigration.

Carl Morphett/Simon Cressy -
So eager to write propaganda he forgot
to check the facts

Once again, HnH show an astonishing lack of regard for the facts.

While Croatia is a small country it is getting ever smaller due to the net outflow of people - it is ranked 46th in the world for net migration according to the CIA World Factbook, and this rate of emigration has been accelerating for some time. Youth unemployment ranks 16th in the world, higher than Jamaica, Egypt and Iran, while adult unemployment is 35.6% for males and 36.8% for females.

While Croatian citizens may not in theory be able to work in the UK until 2020, Romanians are also technically unable to work in the UK until next year. This has not prevented a considerable inflow of Romanians, including those who obtain works permits as 'self-employed' sellers of the 'Big Issue' magazine, a route which also allows them full access to the benefits system as reported by the Daily Telegraph two years ago. Romania's youth unemployment rate is a modest 23.7%.

Paul Nuttall - elected to raise concerns

Nuttall also highlighted the issue of organised crime groups in Croatia, which is similar to the situation in Romania. It is clear that Romanian organised crime has extended its operations to the UK using Romanian immigrants, and Croatia remains a key entry point into Western Europe for drugs smuggled from South America. The BBC featured a report on Croatia in 2009 - Croatia cursed by crime and corruption - which outlined some of the problems the Balkan nation faces, while a HUMSEC report - funded by the EU - highlights the problems of crimes such as terrorism, trafficking of women and organised crime in the Western Balkans.

The accession of Croatia to the EU may or may not cause problems for the UK. What is certain is that however well Croatia has done since gaining its independence from the Yugoslav federation, it is not a nation without considerable internal problems of its own, and one could not blame its residents for seeking a better life elsewhere. Whether that is likely to be the UK will only be seen over time, but given the problems caused to date in the London alone by organised crime from Romania - whether that be in the form of trafficked women as in this BBC report or over reports that up to 1/3 of Romanians living in the UK have been arrested - it is not unreasonable to raise concerns.

Rather than attacking Nuttall for raising perfectly reasonable concerns, should HnH not be asking why politicians from the other parties are ignoring them?

Political Correctness before Patient Safety, say Hope not Hate

A busy day for Hope not Hate as apart from doing their best to cause maximum violence between EDL and UAF supporters they also took the time to attack UKIPs Nigel Farage for suggesting some foreign doctors weren't up to scratch in an article posted by 'Jack Blanchard' on Nick Lowles personal blog.


Hope not Hate seem remarkably keen to put political correctness ahead of the facts. According to a Daily Telegraph article from December last year, Freedom of Information Act requests have shown that over 60% of the doctors struck off by the GMC in the past five years were trained abroad. Their report also showed:

• 3/4 of doctors struck off in the past year were trained abroad
• Doctors trained overseas are five times more likely to be struck off than those trained in the UK
• 669 doctors were struck off or suspended in the past 5 years. Of those, 420 (63%) were trained abroad

The situation appears to be getting worse. In 2009, 41 out of 67 doctors struck off were trained overseas (61%), while by last year 29 out of 39 struck off were trained overseas (75%).

Hope not Hate undoubtedly think that anything which mentions the word 'foreign' in a negative sense is bad, but the consequence of their absurd, unthinking political correctness could well put the lives of British NHS patients at risk.

We would recommend that before putting their mouths in gear, Hope not Hate engage their brain and do some basic research. Thankfully they are not the government, or they would be explaining why their knee-jerk reaction without bothering to check facts could lead to situations such as those listed at the bottom of this article. We've never heard of anybody dying from Political Correctness, but if Hope not Hate had their way, it could soon feature amongst the leading causes of death in the UK.

Dr Vladan Visnjevac, 59
Bosnia and Hercegovina
Obstetrics registrar at St Peter’s Hospital, in Chertsey, Surrey
Struck off in April 2008 after using three times the proper force on forceps to deliver a baby in 2002. The girl died of a fractured skull and brain injuries.

Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat, 55
Pakistan
Consultant paediatrician at St Ann’s Hospital, in Haringey, north London
Granted 'voluntary erasure’ from the medical register on health grounds in February 2011 after failing to diagnose the broken back of Peter Connelly – the 17-month-old, known as Baby P, who died as a result of abuse. It meant she avoided a misconduct hearing.

Dr Navin Shankar, 62
India
GP at Wigmore Lane Health Centre in Luton, Beds
Relinquished his registration with the GMC in February 2011 after failing to diagnose “persistent” cancer symptoms in a young woman over a six-year period. The woman died aged 26 in August 2007.

Dr Benjamin Obukofe, 44
Nigeria
Doctor at Spire Leicester Hospital, a private hospital in Leicestershire
Suspended by the GMC in September this year after being found guilty by a court of sexually assaulting two colleagues at the hospital. Given a suspended prison sentence and put on the sex offenders register for seven years.

Dr Oluwaseyi Farombi, 43
Nigeria
Mental health doctor across the South East
Struck off in January this year after the GMC discovered he was a criminal with a record of deceit that spanned more than a decade. He has been on the run from police for three and a half years after failing to show up at his trial for fraud in 2009.