Britain First and Niemoeller's prayer

Martin Niemoeller was a clergyman who was imprisoned by the German government in the period 1937 to 1945.  Nowadays his fame rests almost entirely on a quote which is often referred to as Niemoeller's prayer.  It exists in various forms, and I merely offer one version without suggesting it is the most accurate:

First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak out for me.

As I write, the leader and deputy leader of the political party Britain First have accepted draconian conditions imposed on them by a totalitarian police force.  They have done this because to fight the police force in the courts would have left them exposed to the likelihood of a vast legal bill.

Much as I dislike Paul Golding, the leader of Britain First, I will admit that I respect his decision on this occasion.

I sometimes wonder how long it will be before someone in authority tries to shut down my blog.  Maybe it will never happen.  I also wonder how long it will be before one of Britain's national newspapers is the target of a publicly funded lawsuit.  Or maybe one of Britain's major church denominations will find themselves facing publicly funded lawyers in the courtroom.

Related previous posts include:
Britain First and the fiction of a free country

Who cares about the honours system?

A comment writer in a national newspaper has written about the impending elevation of lawyer Shami Chakrabarti to the House of Lords.

First of all, I fail to see how anyone can take the honours system seriously.  I realised many years ago that it was basically one big nonsense, but even so I still feel like a lone voice in the wilderness saying so.

Most honours are utterly pointless and worthless.  Peerages are different in that they confer membership of the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament complete with a daily attendace allowance.

I accept that someone who has run the village post office for thirty years might feel proud to be awarded the MBE, but this is a very humble honour in comparison with a peerage, and peerages tend to go to political donors and cronies.

David Cameron's final act as Prime Minister was to draw up his resignation honours list, which included sixteen new peerages, most of which have gone to people seen to be politically close to David Cameron.  Nevertheless one of the new peerages has been awarded to recent Labour convert Shami Chakrabarti.

This appointment has been particularly contentious, given that Chakrabarti produced a report on anti-semitism in the Labour Party which has been widely represented - or perhaps misrepresented - as a whitewash.

I have not read her report, and neither do I plan to.  It may be a whitewash, but I somehow doubt it.  Either way, I refuse to regard the elevation of Chakrabarti to the House of Lords as any more of an affront than any of the other peerages handed out in the resignation honours list.

Related previous posts include:
Are you anti-semitic?
Jeremy Corbyn is close to the truth