Guy on my tube train last night; had the look of a professor of anthropology at SOAS about him; about 50, too long grey hair, grey beard, duffle coat and a non-leather (vegan, obvs) shoulder bag on his lap. Which had a red badge on it. I mean, badges are fine. On your school blazer. But in your 50s having a ‘badge’ is only one notch down from carrying a skateboard. It was a labour party badge, hence the redness (I checked to make sure it wasn’t an Arsenal badge, for which there is NEVER any excuse) and the legend read: FOR THE MANY; not the Jew.

Then I read it again, oh; FOR THE MANY (big letters); not the FEW (small letters). I’d made the classic Freudian error of imposing my subconscious paranoia(?) into the framework of a known anti-semitic organisation. With a mixture of relief (for the reality) and panic (for my mind). There again, I am a bit dyslexic so funny things do happen.

At the other end of the political spectrum sits one Donald Trump, saviour of the free world, most powerful man in the free world, blah, blah, blah. And another shining example of what grown-ups really shouldn’t be doing. Which is sending out knee-jerk tweets to his 45 million followers without looking at what he’s sending.

He saw three tweets by Jada Fransen, loved them and re-tweeted them. Easy peasy, just press ‘send’. And let the shit hit the fan.

Jada Fransen is the deputy leader of ‘Britain First’. That’s an organisation for people who like fighting. Well, for white people who like fighting. Skinheads mainly. White ones. Who were bereft when the British National Party was dissolved because it was an evil, racist, neo-nazi ‘party’ filled with hatred and whiteness and set up Britain First. Its a tiny, fringe party that thinks its fun to walk around Muslim neighbourhoods carrying crucifixes, Union Jack flags and anything that may possibly be inflammatory. They’re a joke. But a really un-funny one.

Trump wouldn’t have known that, probably. But should definitely have taken the trouble to find out. And what’s more, for the world’s biggest accuser of ‘fake news!!!’ stories, one of the tweets, a video, has already been discredited and was not ‘real’.

The White House defended the actions of the First Asshole as ‘a problem that is real and needs to be discussed’. Holy shit.

Happy Thursday

A xxxx