There’s a new ‘n-word’ been brewing for quite some while now. A word guaranteed to produce sharp intakes of breath, possibly palpitations (if you’re chatting with any Victorian women, and let’s face it, we all do that), even a sharp slap, in some situations.

The word is… nazi!!! And I get that, to a degree. Throwing it around as a poor metaphor for any slightly right winginess is patently wrong. Accusing someone of being a nazi just because they support Nigel Farage is sometimes wrong. Ken Livingstone banding it around to a Jewish journalist was patently awful. So the normalisation of the word is wrong and undesirable. It actually downplays the horrors of the Nazis.

And in steps our esteemed Attorney General, Lord Hermer. Into the debate about whether or perhaps, by how much, we should step out of the European rules on Human Rights. Specifically as it applies to refugees and asylum seekers. So far, so fair.

Lord Hermer is a dickhead of the first order. He is that most vile of things (in my house): a ‘Jew-hating Jew’. He’d describe it as being ‘anti-Zionist’, probably, but if you’re basically denying the right of the State of Israel to exist in the current middle-east climate/crisis, and give time to the ‘river-to-the-sea’ genocidalists, then you’re an antisemite, Jewish or otherwise. So he’s no friend of mine.

In the immigrant debate, what Hermer said was, that to remove us from the European Court of Human Rights, in order to allow the state (that’s us) to go above the law and deport or prevent certain types of immigration, is what part of Nazi philosophy included. The Nazis realised that they, the governing party, had to have power OVER the courts in all matters, so that’s what they did. Who was gonna argue with them?

And this was a philosophical debate. It was not a partisan slanging match, it was a discussion of our policy following Brexit and all that ‘control of the borders’ bollocks, which obviously, is still 20,000 miles from happening.

So although everyone gasped at the N-word, I really don’t know why. The nazis were a political party. Not a very nice one, but they weren’t stupid and they certainly were big on political changes. And Hermer’s use of the word was in a perfectly acceptable context. He wasn’t accusing anyone of ‘being a Nazi’. He was just pointing out how the government taking control of laws over the judiciary was part of Nazi tactics.

So no, Hermer shouldn’t be sacked because of this massive reactionary knee-jerk to using the n-word. He should be sacked because he’s horrible and no-one likes him. (Again, that would be in my house).

Happy Saturday

A xxxx