-attack police press conference is one of the grimmest necessary rituals of British public life. A few dozen journalists, gathered around a cluster of microphones inside a regional police station, or outside a crime scene, waiting for a chief constable or superintendent to provide the details about murder and obscenity.
In recent months, that ritual has become grimmer. Police have felt the need to release details which previously they would not have done, principally around the ethnic and nationality status of suspects.
We saw this play out after the incident in May when a motorist drove into the crowd at Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory parade, where Merseyside Police, in a highly unorthodox move, confirmed within hours that the driver at the wheel was white. Likewise, on Sunday morning, in the wake of the appalling Huntingdon train knife attacks, British Transport Police Superintendent Alan Loveless made a point to emphasise that the suspects were British nationals and British born. Initially, two people were arrested but on Monday, one man was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder.
This development in modern policing is a sad reflection of the times determined by one fact: that X, which remains one of Britain’s most influential online news aggregators, has become a far-right information network.
Under Elon Musk’s ownership, the content which is most frequently promoted is that of the radical or online far right. Many of the most influential accounts of this online world (with tweets seen by millions), including previously respectable media and academic figures, are promoting ideas which would have made Enoch Powell blush.
Most importantly, they are at their most rabid in the wake of crimes which could conceivably be terrorism. Instead of waiting for police to confirm or otherwise that a violent incident is terrorism, the online right misinformation machine clicks into gear before barely a detail is known.
Instantly, views imbued with violent or racist rhetoric are shared with millions, assuming that those responsible must be an ethnic minority, asylum seeker and/or Muslim. Calls for compulsory deportation of all minorities quickly follow, or suggestions that white “indigenous” people are being sacrificed on the altar of cultural liberalism with a blade or down the barrel of a gun.
Worse still, many of the the most prominent players, those with their own TV shows, or those regularly invited onto BBC programmes, seem to almost salivate at the news, because when and if it were confirmed an asylum seeker or foreign national were involved, it would vindicate their world view that ethnically heterogeneous societies are destined for collapse or civil strife.
On Sunday, before any of the facts were known about the suspected Huntington train attacker, the former academic turned activist Matthew Goodwin posted, that a “friend from abroad” had text him asking: “What has happened to your country”. His answer: “Three words, mass uncontrolled immigration, that’s what happened.”
When it was pointed out to Goodwin that the suspects were British, he replied that “a piece of paper” doesn’t make you British. A chilling message for many of our non-white fellow citizens, as the suspects are, suggesting that they cannot truly be British.
Such sentiments would have once led to pariah status – but Goodwin will still doubtless be invited onto respectable media platforms and given an easy ride (he rejected my invitation to appear on my LBC interview to account for his views).
Not so long ago, such apocalyptic hysteria would have been confined to the wild extremities of British politics. But now we see it frequently. The Conservative peer Toby Young posted a link to an article by two academics which claimed that civil violence or even civil war might be on the way in Britain.
Musk himself regularly predicts civil war on British streets, and there isn’t a hope that Young could possibly lose the Conservative whip for appearing to countenance the idea. Indeed, when I asked Tory Chair Kevin Hollinrake about it on my LBC show, I was surprised when he appeared to give the idea credibility as well, saying civil disorder might not be imminent but could come if the “right decisions” about immigration weren’t taken.
This all speaks to the deep radicalisation of the politics of the right in the last two years, evidenced by growing discussions around previously fringe far-right ideas about the clash of civilisations and even the great replacement theory.
Tommy Robinson, once beyond the pale, is increasingly a central figure in the online right’s political debate. This infects previously mainstream conservative forces, radicalising them with out their realising. Much of the radicalisation centres on the idea that Islam is incompatible with Western civilisation and that a violent clash is brewing and/or that ethnic minorities have a particular problem with violence.
The result is both a feeling of vindication when a potential violent attack takes place, and a disbelief when the motive is not political. Hence the police having to reveal more than they would once have done. We don’t know what the motivation of this appalling man yet was. But we can know the motivation of those who seek to twist all bloodshed whilst refusing to wait for the facts, for their own purposes.
One of the only positive things about these people saying what they say, is that we can at least see them for the people they doubtless always were.
Lewis Goodall is a journalist, broadcaster and host of the podcast The News Agents
Your next read
square PAUL WOODTrump won’t run in 2028 – this is what he’s really up to
square IAN BIRRELLMy daughter died a year ago. Mexico’s Day of the Dead helped soothe my grief
square STEFANO HATFIELDThe forgotten victims of this housing crisis: the pensioners forced to downsize
square DANNY SHAWThe Home Office is broken – to fix it, we must first destroy it
Hence then, the article about a suspect s ethnicity has become a priority and it s chilling was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( A suspect’s ethnicity has become a priority – and it’s chilling )
Also on site :