[Bones McCoy]

Sensible policies for a happier Sandwell.

The Greater Good

[Samanfur]

See also:

[Boiler]

From a mate just now:

Good news locally. In the Parkside ward of Houghton Regis, the Lib Dems defeated Reform in a council by election. Houghton Regis is a bit of a dump and Parkside is the less salubrious part thereof. Typical Reform territory one would think so seeing them defeated was surprisingly good news.

Are people finally waking up to Farage?

[Yug]

I'm surprised there's anybody in Asbo Regis who is registered to vote. It used to make Marsh Farm in Lu'on look upmarket.

[Abernathy]

Apparently, Reform's MPs - all 8 of them - are now being provided with "24 hour security" - funded by the Reform Party, not parliament. This is despite police having stated that there appears to have been no terrorist or political motive for the murder of Ann Widdecombe.

What possible reason could Reform have for taking this apparently un-necessary step, and more particularly, publicising it heavily on the front page of The Daily Mail ???

[davidjay]

Something I've been pondering for a couple of days - would anyone under forty, perhaps ever older, think of her as a politician? And even if they did, there were many more high-profile targets; she'd barely said anything political for years.

[soulboy]

Apparently, Reform's MPs - all 8 of them - are now being provided with "24 hour security" - funded by the Reform Party, not parliament. This is despite police having stated that there appears to have been no terrorist or political motive for the murder of Ann Widdecombe.

What possible reason could Reform have for taking this apparently un-necessary step, and more particularly, publicising it heavily on the front page of The Daily Mail ???

The Mail's story is beyond thin. You wouldn't expect them to give details of the full security operation, but, after the huge front page splash, there are two sentences on the security before moving on to other aspects of the story.

Senior Reform UK politicians are receiving round-the-clock protection after the murder of Ann Widdecombe, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Other party figures are living in fear of a potential copycat attack following the shocking death of the Reform justice spokeswoman on Wednesday.

The news came as detectives late last night arrested a 28-year-old white British national in South Yorkshire on suspicion of murder.

Ms Widdecombe, 78, was battered to death, and although her remote Dartmoor home was ‘highly fortified’ with ‘security cameras everywhere’, her killer may have slipped inside through a door left open because of the warm weather, the MoS can reveal.

It it thought the politician was killed at 12.30pm, half an hour before she was scheduled to appear on Matt Allwright’s Channel 5 programme via Zoom.

Last night it emerged that production staff on the show – who last heard from Ms Widdecombe at 12.19pm – waited seven hours before telling her agents she had failed to appear and stopped answering messages.

[Oboogie]

Something I've been pondering for a couple of days - would anyone under forty, perhaps ever older, think of her as a politician? And even if they did, there were many more high-profile targets; she'd barely said anything political for years.

I'm 62 and a political nerd and even I was surprised to learn she was still politically active, in my mind her heyday was the late 90s with a brief return around the Brexit referendum. My first reaction to the news was it won't be political, she's a has been, what would be the point?

[Killer Whale]

If the Reform Party had any kind of class they'd be offering to pay for round-the-clock security for the police officers and PCSOs still getting death threats after Farage's 'cold, hard rage' pronouncement.

[mattomac]

If you were going out of your way to attack a reform person then considering none of them had around the clock security.

Sadly it’s the likes of Farage who has helped create this environment along with the media aided by social media.

How that’s reset is anyone’s guess? If I’m honest it wouldn’t surprise me if she knew the attacker.

[Abernathy]

Some of the reporting around the Widdecombe case is distinctly odd. Apparently, the suspect that has now been arrested drove 300 miles from Rotheram to Widdecombe’s house in Dartmoor with “a wooden stick” (non-wooden sticks are available) .

Which sort of suggests to me that this was a pre-meditated murder carried out by some sort of obsessive nutjob.

[Dalem Lake]

Something I've been pondering for a couple of days - would anyone under forty, perhaps ever older, think of her as a politician? And even if they did, there were many more high-profile targets; she'd barely said anything political for years.

I didn't see her as one. She did have a brief stint as a Brexit Party MEP but I put her into the same category as Carole Malone: a right-wing rentagob that the likes of TalkTV, GB News, and assorted daytime TV discussion programmes could rely on to be always on hand to come on air and talk bollocks for a bit.

[Bones McCoy]

Apparently, Reform's MPs - all 8 of them - are now being provided with "24 hour security" - funded by the Reform Party, not parliament. This is despite police having stated that there appears to have been no terrorist or political motive for the murder of Ann Widdecombe.

What possible reason could Reform have for taking this apparently un-necessary step, and more particularly, publicising it heavily on the front page of The Daily Mail ???

Farage got minders on them to stop them re-defecting to the Tories.

[davidjay]

Something I've been pondering for a couple of days - would anyone under forty, perhaps ever older, think of her as a politician? And even if they did, there were many more high-profile targets; she'd barely said anything political for years.

I didn't see her as one. She did have a brief stint as a Brexit Party MEP but I put her into the same category as Carole Malone: a right-wing rentagob that the likes of TalkTV, GB News, and assorted daytime TV discussion programmes could rely on to be always on hand to come on air and talk bollocks for a bit.

And there's the rub. If you were wound up enough to want to kill a Reformer there's a lot who are more high profile and annoying than her. I can't remember the last time she said anything worth reporting; maybe there's her opinions on The Gays but even that was years ago.

[Abernathy]

Quoting this from the Fleecebook, as I think it is rather good, and nails the way I've been thinking about the Widdecombe murder and the reactions to her death very well.


With Lindsey Graham dying so soon after Anne Widdecombe there are a number of people on both sides of the Atlantic who have taken issue with liberals making jokes, or simply having a meh reaction, to the news.
Hypocritical snowflakes.
Many are, of course, self proclaimed Christians and will pray for the filthy communists/liberals/libtards blah, blah, blah.
Which makes a difference from them preying on the weak minded.
But there is always a handy quote to fit every occasion from the bible isn't there?
So, brothers a sisters, with no further ado, bow your heads for Proverbs 11:10
"When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy"
The smile that follows when certain people give out a death rattle isn't a hate response - although they may be justifiably hated - but instead it is a relief response as we acknowledge that their influence on society has ended.
When Thatcher breathed her last there were many indulging in 'shouts of joy' as a perceived malignant force had left the room.
I was one of them. Je ne regrette rien.
That she was an addled mess at the end with no real power wasn't really relevant. She was an authoritarian Goliath, a staunch Conservative who ruled with an iron fist, and time was the David that finally felled her and we, the people, rejoiced.
And similarly, while the circumstances of the death of Ann Widdecombe can't be celebrated at all, her demise can be understood as another person with some awful views, and the position to promote them, perishing, and taking her opinions on how we should all live our lives with her.
We are all complicated creatures and it's entirely possible to hold two positions at once. We can baulk at a violent death and still hold space in our heads to think that we are glad a representative of certain views are gone.
And that's where a lot of people sit with the deaths.
The media, who can't help but throw praise at these individuals via hagiographic obituaries from their peers, also have to take some responsibility for the reaction to their deaths. Every time they raise them up on a pedestal there are people who were directly impacted by what they promoted that will step up to knock them of it.
That's the natural ebb and flow, push and pull of life.
Remember 'When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.'
Amen

[Boiler]

Didn't Marmalade Mugabe say "I'm glad he's dead" of someone only recently?

Mind you, just because that crass individual behaves like that is no reason for others to follow suit.

[Andy McDandy]

I'm simply telling it as it is, speaking from the heart, and if you whining snowflakes can't deal with that, that's your problem.

You on the other hand are displaying gross insensitivity and needlessly smearing a recently deceased person, failing to read the room, and are frankly embarrassing yourself.

[Watchman]

The Right say "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead", even if said dead person spent all their life speaking ill of the living.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The Right say "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead", even if said dead person spent all their life speaking ill of the living.

It was that favourite of Maggie Thatcher, Alan Clark who said, on hearing that a Labour politician had died, 'suits me'.

Nice people. Show them the respect they would show you...

[Oboogie]

Widdecombe's murder has now officially been declared a terrorist incident.

"Counter terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe, after "new information and evidence", officers have said.

A 28-year-old white British man from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was originally arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday but has now been re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mydjl12mwo