THIS IS THE LEFT IV

Robbie Coltrane was a talented actor.  After spending the 1980s almost exclusively in comic roles, he went straight in the 1990s to critical acclaim as the lead in gritty crime series Cracker.  Sadly, in death he has been overwhelmingly remembered as the much-loved character of Hagrid in the Harry Potter film adaptations.  He was much better than that.

It was his connection with Harry Potter author JK Rowling that led to a cascade of bile from the left since his passing.  The vile messages posted on Twitter share a common theme, but they also denote a lack of insight and a sense of irony.  For Robbie Coltrane was himself a socialist, a man of the left and a Labour supporter through and through.  He made no secret of it, but the fact is lost on the spiteful minions of the millennial and post-millennial communists who wage online war against anyone who contradicts their twisted narrative.

Robbie Coltrane pictured at a Labour event in 1987 alongside future chancellor
Alistair Darling (far left), future Labour MPs Mark Lazarowicz and Nigel Griffiths
and the late Donald Dewar (partially obscured centre right)

Coltrane was educated at one of the most prestigious private schools in Scotland, but rejected his conservative upbringing and later became an outspoken critic of selective schools.  As well as Labour, he was also involved with Greenpeace and the CND.  Furthermore, when the 2014 Scottish referendum came around he voiced support for independence, but only if it were an 'independent Labour Scotland'.

There is clearly little upon which we agree when it comes to Robbie Coltrane's political stances, but note that since his death we have not posted anything remotely negative about him.  Contrast that with the spiteful drivel posted from his own side, many of whom still furious that he chose to stand by the feminist Rowling - unlike the ungrateful little trio of shits she made famous.  In 2020 Coltrane was quoted thus: "I don’t know why, but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended.  They wouldn’t have won the war, would they?"

Hear, hear.

Amid the catalogue of screen-captured hate below, note the Labour rose on 'ClapDaddy327' and the account named 'Women for Wes', a leftist account that mocks Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting.

Regardless of his political views, Robbie Coltrane was clearly a better human being than any of the human garbage that posted the above tweets.

THIS IS THE LEFT III

As if we didn't know already, Twitter is a sewer of the left.  For several hours yesterday the tech giant featured the words 'Tory Scum' on its trending list, despite the phrase featuring in just a couple of thousand tweets.  Many of those tweets were quoting Angela Rayner, who understandably came in for a lot of criticism yesterday after having used the term at the recent Labour party conference.

However, while the majority of tweets expressed anger over the murder of David Amess, there were some sickening messages.  A strong stomach is required to read through the following, bearing in mind that the MP's body was not cold when these hateful messages were conceived...

Some of these tweets have since been removed.  Mark J Doran, who tweeted about mental health services, has since locked down his account following a backlash.  His profile bio includes the hashtag #Corbyn and he runs a blog about music.  'Andy', who tweeted the image of a violin, is a Remainer who refers to Britain as 'the sick man of Europe'.  He also applauded Angela Rayner's scum remarks.  'Rob' has a Labour rose on his profile.

Sick messages were also widespread beyond the 'Tory scum' thread.

Some of these messages were left in response to tributes by politicians from across the political divide.  However, not all the nasty comments were left by anonymous faceless accounts.  Arfon Jones, a member of Plaid Cymru and a former police and crime commissioner no less, had this to say...

Jones later deleted his tweet and issued an apology, saying that he had only intended to express his 'concern about the toxic nature of our political discourse'.  Unfortunately for Jones, some users quickly pointed to another recent tweet of his, one in which he applauded Angela Rayner's scum remarks.

This brings us neatly back round to Angela Rayner, whose own tribute to the murdered MP was brutally torn apart.  Her tweet amassed more than three thousand comments, the vast majority of which were negative.  To put that into perspective, her party leader's tribute attracted barely a thousand comments and most of those were from people calling for Rayner's head.

Rayner is facing increasing pressure to apologise for her scum comments.  Just a reminder of what she actually said: "I’m sick of shouting from the sidelines and I bet youse lot are too.  We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, mysoginistic, absolute pile of banana republ, Etonion, piece of scum - and I held back a little - that I have ever seen in my life".

Many leftists continue to defend Rayner and say that her words have no bearing on violent acts.  While we can now be fairly certain that Mr Amess's killer was an Islamist and not a leftist, she can probably breathe a sigh of relief, but let's not forget that two Conservative MPs were confronted outside their own conference by assailants using the words 'Tory scum'.  Surely no coincidence?

There is also a huge double standard at play with some of the arguments being perpetuated in Rayner's defence.  The following tweet sums it up perfectly.

No irony, no empathy, no shame.  This is the left.

THIS IS THE LEFT II

Imagine taking a tweet in memory of a murdered child and mocking the child's appearance.  Well, that's just what this leftist Twitter user did on Friday...

The tweet has since gone viral and the tweeter has tried to evade the backlash by deleting the tweet, changing her Twitter name and locking down her account.  Unfortunately for Laura - who is (ironically) a self-proclaimed anti-fascist - the internet does not forget.

Laura is from Northern Ireland and appears to have followed in the Sinn Fein/IRA tradition of Marxist politics, including an affinity for Palestine.  She is an aspiring actress and also claims to be a writer and journalist.

This is the left.

Laura's Facebook profile

THIS IS THE LEFT

If the current predicament facing our Prime Minister shows us one thing, it is our capacity for empathy.  Voices from across the political spectrum have expressed compassion.  While hard left politicians may have been slow to react on Sunday night - if at all - last night was different.  When news broke that the PM's condition had worsened there were messages of support from Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Mark Drakeford and even Momentum.  However, while such sentiment is welcome in these universally troubling times, you won't have to look far to find some disturbing and utterly vile comments in response to such messages.

We know from recent weeks that whenever coronavirus strikes down a member of the government, it is celebrated by a small but vocal minority on social media.  This blind hatred first emerged when health minister Nadine Dorries was diagnosed and has continued at every stage of Boris Johnson's coronavirus decline.  The fact that this wicked virus does not discriminate is apparently lost on these imbeciles.  Since the hate campaign against Dorries, there have been numerous deaths among Labour councillors around the country as a result of Covid-19.  Labour MP Tony Lloyd is currently in hospital suffering from coronavirus.  No-one here is calling for his death or glorifying the death of any left-wing politician.

Yet here is a small selection of the vile messages that have been posted on social media since Boris contracted coronavirus.

The hate from the left appears to be unrivalled, but sadly it is not limited to the fringes of the Labour Party.  One of those spewing their bile on social media last night was a Labour councillor and town mayor.  Beneath a Facebook asking people to say a 'little prayer' for the PM, Cllr Sheila Oakes posted the following comment.

Unlike so many of the faceless Labour activists on social media who can swiftly lock down or delete their accounts, Cllr Oakes had to personally own this.  She apologised earlier today, but in a BBC interview seemed oblivious to the nature of her remark and how it might be perceived: "I didn't think what I said would upset so many people.  It came across as not a nice thing to say.  I'm concerned about nurses and doctors who don't have protective equipment.  I said something when I was angry without thinking about the Prime Minister or his family".

Her half-hearted apology was too little, too late and her career in local politics now lies in tatters.  The party has withdrawn the whip from her and she has been publicly condemned by Labour's group leader on Amber Valley Borough Council.  If it wasn't for coronavirus Cllr Oakes would be up for re-election next month, but she can now cling on to her Amber Valley seat for another year, albeit as an independent.  Her future status as Mayor of Heanor is unclear.  To compound her disgrace, Cllr Oakes also has a long legal career and is currently employed by VHS Fletchers Solicitors in Ilkeston.

Cllr Sheila Oakes

Labour's Richard Burgon also came in for criticism over his response - or lack of it - to Boris Johnson's hospitalisation.  While most of his colleagues were sending their best wishes last night, the outgoing Shadow Justice Secretary proudly tweeted a list of his favourite policies from his time on the front bench.  Of course none of those policies will ever be realised, but it was his lack of empathy and inappropriate timing that led to criticism.  "Now is not the time" was how several Twitter users responded.  Burgon later hastily issued a message of support, by which time its meaning was empty.

One of the many responses to Richard Burgon on Monday night

Also completely devoid of support for the Prime Minister were Burgon's hard left colleagues Diane Abbott and Ian Lavery.  Abbott was active on Twitter last night, retweeting Burgon's self-indulgent list among others, but she did not once refer to the Prime Minister's ordeal.  Instead, Diane has been tweeting about how coronavirus adversely affects African-Americans in US neighbourhoods.  Yes, seriously.

When this is all over, and hopefully we have our Prime Minister back in good health, the left ought to take a long hard look in the mirror.