Roland Smith
@rolandmcs.bsky.social
Tracking the decay of the Right and patrolling the culture war's boundaries. Former Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute. Now firmly centrist. Telegraph watcher.
https://open.substack.com/pub/rolandmcs
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https://open.substack.com/pub/rolandmcs
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Roland Smith
@rolandmcs.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Long thread on how Brexitism started and evolved over 75 years, drawing from Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon's 'Continental Drift'.
Global Britain, Free Trade, Cakeism, Federalism, anti-federalism, EEA, Winston Churchill, Empire, 52-48 referendums, Enoch Powell, 1975, Thatcher.... It's all here. /1
Global Britain, Free Trade, Cakeism, Federalism, anti-federalism, EEA, Winston Churchill, Empire, 52-48 referendums, Enoch Powell, 1975, Thatcher.... It's all here. /1
Reposted by Roland Smith
I'm not sure if others have noticed this, but interesting that one of the Prescott criticisms of the BBC is based on those of the 'History Reclaimed' group, which is also associated with the 'Restore Trust' group's attacks on & so far unsuccessful attempts to take control of the National Trust. 1/3
November 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I'm not sure if others have noticed this, but interesting that one of the Prescott criticisms of the BBC is based on those of the 'History Reclaimed' group, which is also associated with the 'Restore Trust' group's attacks on & so far unsuccessful attempts to take control of the National Trust. 1/3
Lord Briggs outlining why a repeal of the HRA (and withdrawal from ECHR) would not get rid of 'human rights' entrenched in common law.
Which is good, but also means populists will just up their attacks on the judiciary when they discover human rights law is still with us post-repeal/ECHR-exit.
Which is good, but also means populists will just up their attacks on the judiciary when they discover human rights law is still with us post-repeal/ECHR-exit.
"Because the Human Rights Act has enriched the scope of human rights protections available at common law over the past 25 years, we should not be unduly fearful about the common law’s ability to cope if the UK were to repeal the HRA or abandon the ECHR": @UKSupremeCourt Justice Lord Briggs.
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Lord Briggs outlining why a repeal of the HRA (and withdrawal from ECHR) would not get rid of 'human rights' entrenched in common law.
Which is good, but also means populists will just up their attacks on the judiciary when they discover human rights law is still with us post-repeal/ECHR-exit.
Which is good, but also means populists will just up their attacks on the judiciary when they discover human rights law is still with us post-repeal/ECHR-exit.
It turns out London is great and Americans in particular love it.
All in the Telegraph, whose writers hate London.
[MSN syndicated version]
www.msn.com/en-gb/travel...
All in the Telegraph, whose writers hate London.
[MSN syndicated version]
www.msn.com/en-gb/travel...
November 11, 2025 at 1:57 PM
It turns out London is great and Americans in particular love it.
All in the Telegraph, whose writers hate London.
[MSN syndicated version]
www.msn.com/en-gb/travel...
All in the Telegraph, whose writers hate London.
[MSN syndicated version]
www.msn.com/en-gb/travel...
Reposted by Roland Smith
If we're talking about bias, why do BBC politics programmes, from Politics Live to the Laura Kuennsberg Show, still always begin with a look at the newspaper front pages, which are overwhelmingly biased in one direction. Helps frame the entire news agenda and debate in their favour
November 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
If we're talking about bias, why do BBC politics programmes, from Politics Live to the Laura Kuennsberg Show, still always begin with a look at the newspaper front pages, which are overwhelmingly biased in one direction. Helps frame the entire news agenda and debate in their favour
Reposted by Roland Smith
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
No, it doesn't necessarily mean that. Their worldview is defined by all the same assumptions and so they all arrive at the same conclusions (and jump on the same bandwagons when they get going).
You can be assured that tendentious memo by Michael Prescott, and the co-ordinated combination of the Telegraph, Mail, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the White House means that the BBC hit job has been long in the planning, and has some insider help
November 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
No, it doesn't necessarily mean that. Their worldview is defined by all the same assumptions and so they all arrive at the same conclusions (and jump on the same bandwagons when they get going).
Reposted by Roland Smith
Of course, because this is precisely why they were put up and what they’re for.
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
NHS staff who care for patients in their own homes fear some areas have become “no-go zones” for them because of the presence of St George’s flags, health leaders have said.
Black and Asian staff have been left feeling “deliberately intimidated” as a result of the flags that were put up in many parts of England during the summer, according to the chief executive of one NHS trust in England, who asked to remain anonymous. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Of course, because this is precisely why they were put up and what they’re for.
Reposted by Roland Smith
UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years
UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years
ONS says jobs market worsening before budget, as HMRC reports falling number of workers on firms’ payrolls
*
Business live – latest updates
Unemployment in the UK has risen by more than expected to the highest level in four years, official figures show, amid a worsening slowdown in the jobs market before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.
With under three weeks to go before the chancellor’s tax and spending statement, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the headline unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4.8% in the previous quarter. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:19 AM
UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years
"They are so convinced their politics isn’t really politics, but just some default setting shared with much of the country..."
True of so many commentators on the Right.
True of so many commentators on the Right.
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
"They are so convinced their politics isn’t really politics, but just some default setting shared with much of the country..."
True of so many commentators on the Right.
True of so many commentators on the Right.
Reposted by Roland Smith
Why can't the BBC just be more impartial towards President Trump, like GB News, says Nigel Farage.
GB News:
GB News:
November 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Why can't the BBC just be more impartial towards President Trump, like GB News, says Nigel Farage.
GB News:
GB News:
Farage should be pushed to disown Ant Middleton for this.
"I wouldn't expect someone like Adil Ray to understand...I'd love to have grabbed Adil Ray by the scruff of the neck & thrown him back to 1944... on the beaches of Normandy... and also for him to look to his left and his right and realise they look nothing like him."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
'Grab Adil Ray By The Scruff Of The Neck' Says Former UK Special Forces Officer Ant Middleton
YouTube video by TalkTV
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Farage should be pushed to disown Ant Middleton for this.
The Populist Right could borrow from an old IRA statement:
"Today we were right, but remember we only have to be right once – you have to be right always."
"Today we were right, but remember we only have to be right once – you have to be right always."
November 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The Populist Right could borrow from an old IRA statement:
"Today we were right, but remember we only have to be right once – you have to be right always."
"Today we were right, but remember we only have to be right once – you have to be right always."
Reposted by Roland Smith
Very interesting piece, including the extract below which has the ring of truth
November 10, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Very interesting piece, including the extract below which has the ring of truth
Reposted by Roland Smith
IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events
IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events
*
Sources expect ban within next six to 12 months
*
IOC president wants to protect the female category
The International Olympic Committee is edging closer towards implementing a ban on transgender women competing in the female category in time for the Los Angeles Olympics.
Multiple sources expect such a ban to come into effect over the next six to 12 months with the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, making clear she wants to drive through her campaign pledge to protect the female category. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:37 PM
IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events
I might have to install the Checkatrade app just so I can delete it.
November 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I might have to install the Checkatrade app just so I can delete it.
Reposted by Roland Smith
One can only imagine the screams of betrayal in Brussels if the UK was backtracking on the common understanding agreed in May. But it is an EU struggling to find any commonality in trade policy largely due to extreme French positions (on every subject). www.ft.com/content/03ef...
Von der Leyen dodged Starmer request for meeting on EU money demands
European Commission president had ‘scheduling’ issues at COP30 summit in Brazil and did not see the UK premier
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
One can only imagine the screams of betrayal in Brussels if the UK was backtracking on the common understanding agreed in May. But it is an EU struggling to find any commonality in trade policy largely due to extreme French positions (on every subject). www.ft.com/content/03ef...
Reposted by Roland Smith
Trump and his cronies have the BBC in their sights. Leaders can’t stay silent while one of our great institutions is attacked.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Trump and his cronies have the BBC in their sights. Leaders can’t stay silent while one of our great institutions is attacked.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
WTAF
Plaques commemorating Black WWII soldiers fighting against Nazi Germany have been removed from a U.S. military cemetery in the Netherlands —Newsweek
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
WTAF
Reposted by Roland Smith
Ant Middleton combines racism with ignorance about the world wars as he continues his racist campaign to lose his Mayor of London deposit (when he advocates a racist bar on the current Mayor from offiice + over two-thirds of the London electorate if their grandparents weren't born here!)
"I wouldn't expect someone like Adil Ray to understand...I'd love to have grabbed Adil Ray by the scruff of the neck & thrown him back to 1944... on the beaches of Normandy... and also for him to look to his left and his right and realise they look nothing like him."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
'Grab Adil Ray By The Scruff Of The Neck' Says Former UK Special Forces Officer Ant Middleton
YouTube video by TalkTV
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Ant Middleton combines racism with ignorance about the world wars as he continues his racist campaign to lose his Mayor of London deposit (when he advocates a racist bar on the current Mayor from offiice + over two-thirds of the London electorate if their grandparents weren't born here!)
"I wouldn't expect someone like Adil Ray to understand...I'd love to have grabbed Adil Ray by the scruff of the neck & thrown him back to 1944... on the beaches of Normandy... and also for him to look to his left and his right and realise they look nothing like him."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
'Grab Adil Ray By The Scruff Of The Neck' Says Former UK Special Forces Officer Ant Middleton
YouTube video by TalkTV
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
"I wouldn't expect someone like Adil Ray to understand...I'd love to have grabbed Adil Ray by the scruff of the neck & thrown him back to 1944... on the beaches of Normandy... and also for him to look to his left and his right and realise they look nothing like him."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkng...
The solar/wood fence bit surely can't be true, can it?
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The solar/wood fence bit surely can't be true, can it?
Reposted by Roland Smith
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
Reposted by Roland Smith
Meanwhile, in Reform's Lancashire CC, the councillor in charge of care homes, owns a private care home, and is closing council care homes. 👀
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Lancashire’s Reform-run council plans to close care homes and day centres
Questions about potential conflict of interest as council’s cabinet member for social care owns private care company
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Meanwhile, in Reform's Lancashire CC, the councillor in charge of care homes, owns a private care home, and is closing council care homes. 👀
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Roland Smith
Didn't Tuesday's election results show that it actually WAS working???
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Didn't Tuesday's election results show that it actually WAS working???
Reposted by Roland Smith
Thread.
What happened in Tuesday's elections? Here's our anatomy of a blue wave: www.economist.com/graphic-deta...
November 9, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Thread.