James Leakyboots Batty

Probably. Like Farage, Ten-Names has been very successful at monetising racist bile and a bogus man-of-the-people image.

As for what the public currently thinks: It’s no surprise the “social fabric” is in the state it’s in, given what this new YouGov polling shows about public attitudes and awareness of immigration. Almost half of Brits (47 percent) believe immigration to the U.K. is primarily illegal rather than legal, when the reality is that irregular or illegal migration accounted for just 4 percent of overall immigration in the year to March. Forty-five percent support ending all immigration and forcing recent migrants to leave. Then again: The scale might be overestimated — but the reality remains that Brits (and now even some officials at the OBR, of all places) think legal and illegal migration is too high. And no politician is going to be bold enough to tell voters they’re wrong in “small boats week.”

Large parts of our media and politicians bear responsibility for the misconceptions voters have about migration. Via Politico

Agreed 100%. It seems the real objective is to ape Farage with his dog-whistle xenophobia and divisiveness.

When he was a boy, Hugh Masekela wrote to Louis Armstrong asking for an old trumpet. Armstrong sent him one. There is a lovely photo of him unwrapping it in "And the Roots of Rhythm Remain" by Joe Boyd.

Good one.

A Walk Across the Sun Corban Addison leads readers on a chilling, eye-opening…

This was the first book I read on modern Human trafficking that touched me profoundly.

A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison | Goodreads share.google/3XLyvbfHBBYD...

Good for you, I love my local independent, and I want it to prosper.

Great, it's out now. Not sure who is carrying it in the Americas (besides Amazon, which I avoid) but I think Indigo, Barnes/Noble, etc.

Agreed, it's great to be able to discuss things like well mannered adults.
If that fails, and the other person is stroppy, I find it helpful to fashion a bludgeon from statistical mumbo-jumbo (remembered from university in the 1960s). "Heteroscedasticity" and "Student's T" send the rude packing.

Uncanny, that's partly how it's dressed up in my novel.

Absolutely, as has slavery. But they persist largely unreported in the media.

Human trafficking often is tied in with indentured labour and modern day slavery. It's one of the themes of my new novel.

The only negative: lend a book to a friend and likely you'll never get it back. But this is balanced by what happens when you borrow a book.

I lived 15 years in NYC, loved every minute. First time I went in the deli (being a well mannered Brit) I said, "Good morning, how are you?" Guy behind the counter said, "You wanna have a conversation or you wanna order?"
I learned fast.

I think James Joyce used "a boiled owl."

Townes van Zandt
Joni Mitchell
Abdullah Ibrahim

I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts.

The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative.

Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.

Rupert Matthews .. has defected .. to Reform UK.
Mr Matthews is known for writing books on paranormal subjects, including .. cryptozoology (a pseudoscience focused on legendary animals, such as Bigfoot).
(The Independent)
Matthews will deliver on Farage's promise of a unicorn for every party member.

book cover, Criminal Bycatch by James Batty, picture of the sea, a fishing boat, a net, and a hook.

George Orwell wrote: "Every joke is a tiny revolution. If you had to define humour in a single phrase, you might define it as dignity sitting on a tin-tack."

Please don't give Farage ideas.

"Jewish jungle music" was how I believe the Nazis described it. So I must be a Jewish jungle dweller.

Absolutely. "Politicians use statistics in the same way that a drunk uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination." (Andrew Lang) Jenrick does for sure.

I think the same is true for novel writing. If your characters are alive in your mind, and entertaining, just turn them loose. That's what I did.

Modern-Day Slavery in the United Arab Emirates Author: Aalia Garrett September 5, 2023The United Arab Emirates (UAE), renowned for its opulent skyscrapers and extravagant lifestyle, hides a dark reality beneath its glossy facade, where there exist...

Anyone who chooses to live in the UAE forfeits the moral authority to talk about anyone else's rights. The UAE economy is based on slavery, which ensures wealthy expats can live in luxury.

www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/modern-...

Interesting, just checked and the Irish (more Celts) also call them turnips.

I had a good one in Mexico City. It was ordered in, and I asked if it was a giant empanada. "No, pasty minero." Of course the Mexican silver mines attracted a lot of Cornish.
And one year the pasty championship (held in Cornwall) was won by an Illinois bakery (where they mined lead and zinc).

And in the US (at least some of it) they're rutabagas.

Elvis Costello wrote Tramp the Dirt Down when Thatcher died. OK, not a policy, but a good outcome.

That's what they call it upcountry, my 'ansum, in Cornwall we call it turnip.

Please don't call him a turnip. Turnip is an ingredient of a Cornish pasty, it deserves respect.