A Linehan in the sand

Guest Article by Andy Mac

Few folk in the British Isles could reminisce about the comedy gems of the 1990s without mentioning ‘Father Ted’. Running for four years until the untimely and very sad death of its principal star, it covered the hilarious antics of three priests and their tea lady in a remote parochial house on the west coast of Ireland. Such uproarious satire and slapstick came from the pen of Graham Linehan who, in a much-changed and vastly inferior world to the one we knew just 30 years ago, was recently arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport as he deplaned from a flight from the United States. In scenes one might expect from a Jason Bourne movie, five armed officers from the Met apprehended Linehan in the terminal building and detained him for questioning (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/graham-linehan-heathrow-arrest-trans-posts-b2822852.html). His crime? Well, we’re not talking grand larceny here or a suspicion of serial murder. All Linehan had done was convey his understandable disgust at the prospect of ‘trans women’ (or ‘mentally unstable freak shows who should be offered psychiatric help courtesy of the relevant health authority’, as I prefer to call them) being afforded space in female-only areas. It’s worth reminding readers here that Linehan isn’t even a British citizen. He’s an Irish citizen who now lives in the United States. Furthermore his criticisms, which were conveyed via Twitter, weren’t made in the UK but at his home in Arizona!

Did the Irish political class step forward to defend Linehan’s honour? Not a bit of it. Whilst the Republic revels in its role as one of Europe’s standard-bearers for Israel-hatred (https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ireland-withdraw-eurovision-if-israel-participates), it couldn’t muster so much as one word of support for a man who has done more for Irish comedy than anyone since Dave Allen. Tragically Ireland, like much of the Western world, has been institutionally captured by Left-wing groupthink. It’s been getting progressively (excuse the pun) worse across the West for the last 30 years or so. In their world, the Left must ALWAYS be right and the Right must always be wrong. These ideological chasms don’t come to a head by a mere agreement to disagree anymore. No, the Left wants the Right silenced. It doesn’t want debate, it wants defenestration. It doesn’t want disagreement, it wants total domination. It never wants to lose, it must constantly win. And, if someone on the Right looks like they might win the argument, ideological acolytes of the Left are prepared to consider almost any measure – up to and including death (as we horrendously discovered on Wednesday in Utah) – in order to silence their opponents. With very few inexcusable exceptions, like the cruel murder of MP Jo Cox nine years ago, the vast majority of both political and communal violence is perpetrated by activists on the Left. The vast majority of demands to have contrary opinions and opinion-holders cancelled comes from the Left. Meanwhile, they savour their own sense of self-righteousness in that protective womb of political, institutional and civic approval.

Everything the Left love is considered ‘respectable’ according to them. For the Irish Left for example, it’s the lionisation of a musical (I use that term in its glibbest possible sense) trio who, in addition to waving the flags of two Islamic terrorist organisations, also called for the deaths of British MPs. For the British Left, it’s the weekly gatherings and marches that serve little purpose other than to remind the rest of us just how they love all things Gaza – not least the propaganda arm of its rulers. I’m sure most of the participants would happily receive irrumation from Hamas terrorists given half the chance! In every country I can think of, the Left show deference to so many evil causes, yet would be the first ones out of the traps to accuse everyone else of ‘Nazism’, ‘hatred’ or ‘fascism’. These are the people who go on to sit in NGOs, determined to ensure most of the public political discourse is framed according to their wishes. They sit in classrooms, enunciating curricula laced with the intention of teaching young people to hate their country and denigrate its history. They inculcate confusion into young minds about what gender they are, whilst pretending to care about children’s development. In the end, should you be sure enough in your convictions to overcome those ever-growing scholastic, political and social hurdles, they’ll then make sure you have your basic liberty curtailed (Graham Linehan) or even terminated (Charlie Kirk).

Be under no illusion, the instructions to arrest Graham Linehan (from whoever or wherever they came from) and the motivation to slaughter Charlie Kirk spring from the same mind set. Yes, they may be a universe apart in terms of cruelty and ramifications, but they come from the same train of thought nevertheless: “Make our opponents cower in the face of our might. Make them nervous, paranoid, fearful of airing views once considered commonplace. Show them who’s boss. Get that Nazi scum off our streets, etc.” We consider the Left our opponents; they consider us their enemies (https://socialistworker.co.uk/swp-meetings/know-your-enemy-who-are-reform-uk-19/). In the normal run of things, enemies have to be crushed or destroyed. That’s the difference between us.

Sorry, I can’t live in a country like that. To be honest, I WON’T live in a country like that. It’s why I’ll be in London tomorrow for what’s billed to be the biggest rally in support of free speech the UK has ever seen. I only hope it lives up to expectations – both in terms of numbers and of quality speakers. I will not stay silent in a Britain where many on the Left give tacit approval to violence. I don’t mean just the hard-Left either, but also the respectable Centre-left types of middle class suburbia, who preen themselves in the mirror contemplating their supposed ‘respectability’ as they simultaneously turn a blind eye to that which doesn’t crystallise with their own perspectives (https://www.itv.com/watch/news/wilful-blindness-and-neglect-of-duty-grooming-gangs-whistleblower-calls-for-accountability/wz3rpf1). I’ll be walking both for the memory of Charlie Kirk and for the honour of Graham Linehan. Because a line now has to be drawn in the sand. Too many on the political Right have been far too quiet for far too long