1987 Fagburn Awards: Books Of The Year

1. Homintern: How Gay Culture Liberated The Modern World - Gregory Woods

Magnificent, magisterial, massive, a masterpiece.

2. The Descent Of Man - Grayson Perry

3. Keeping On Keeping On - Alan Bennett.

4. Party Animals: My Family And Other Communists - David Aaronovitch

5. Suspicious Minds: Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories - Rob Brotherton *

* This was actually published right at the end of 2015. If you feel chronologically insulted feel free to imagine Who Rules The World? by Noam Chomsky or Shrinking Violets: A Field Guide To Shyness by Joe Moran here.

'Darren': Another Country, Another Planet

POLICE probing a VIP child sex abuse ring faced serious questions last night as a vulnerable man at the centre of allegations said North Korea offered him asylum.

The 39-year-old, who uses the name Darren, says he was assaulted by Tory politicians at a central London flat.

He also says he was forced to take part in a satanic ritual at the French Embassy and claims to have been abused by Peter Righton, a former member of the Paedophile Information Exchange.

But Darren now refuses to co-operate with the Met or Suffolk Constabulary after his case was dropped following an 18-month probe.

It came after he refused to hand over medical records when he was asked about a history of mental health issues...

Darren now says only North Korea believe his story and have invited him to live out his years in Kim Jong-un’s murderous regime...

The Sun.

Panorama's The VIP Paedophile Ring: What's The Truth? is on BBC1 tonight.

PS 'Darren' has now fallen out with Exaro News, the main pusher of his absurd fantasies.

@ExaroNews just to say your behaviour lately towards me and others has been controlling and manipulative, wrong + morally reprehensible

— Darren Thornham (@DarrenCSAS) September 26, 2015

BBC News.


PPS Another man, 'David', tells Panorama he made up the charges against Leon Brittan as 'a joke suggestion at first', and was egged on by campaigners,

Update: David Aaronovitch in The Times on the appalling behaviour of self-appointed witchfinder general (and now frighteningly Labour deputy leader), Tom Watson, and his current silence.

MP: Small Boys

'Penchant' for tall boys or those of middling height not-mentioned.

PS A new panic that bewitched a generation. Same old Salem...

Chuka Umunna: He's Never Married

If you thought that a Tory majority government ostensibly being led by a moderniser might dull the instincts of social conservatives then think again. Conservative Woman founder and co-editor Laura Perrins has dedicated an entire post to her assertion that Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna not being married, errrr, “sets off alarm bells”.

Those wondering why Perrins never paused to consider whether this is any of her business should familiarise themselves with her oeuvre for the Telegraph and Catholic Herald, among others:

“You back gay marriage? Polygamy is fine then”
“Dave is comfortable with marriage, especially gay marriage”
“I deplore gay or straight surrogacy”
“Mothers are needed to save the family, not the economy”

From today’s piece:

“If Mr Umunna has been dragging his heals [sic] over his decision to get hitched it means one of three things. It could mean he is lazy and is not bothered with getting married; it could mean he is unromantic and ‘does not see the point of getting married’ (as is the way in the hip liberal North London set); or, he is a narcissist and he thinks no woman is really good enough for him. None of these traits is attractive."

This is bad enough when taken at face value. But could it actually be something far more sinister: namely a dog-whistle attack?

Some of the comments below the piece might suggest so...

Political Scrapbook.

Whatever, Chuka appears to be quite the ladies' man, but clearly still ripe for othering.

PS See also David Aaronovitch in The Times Thursday, Memo To Labour: We're all metrosexual now.

Even before Chuka Umunna had made his Swindon video and declared his candidacy for the Labour leadership, he had been declared geographically ineligible for the job. John Mann, the tweeting member for Bassetlaw (where Nottinghamshire cuddles up to South Yorkshire) said last Friday that Mr Umunna could not win in the north. The following day my fellow columnist Janice Turner, having asked whether Labour was still a party for the working class, described Mr Umunna as “a preening metrosexual who’d never cut it in the north”.

Enoch Powell's Satanic Sex Ring: 'Although There Is No Evidence...'

The Church of England has told Scotland Yard that William Whitelaw, the former home secretary, and Enoch Powell were accused of being members of a political satanic abuse ring.

The allegations of the politicians’ involvement in child abuse emerged during counselling by a vicar of a youth in the 1980s. Leo Abse, a long-serving Labour MP, was also named.

Although there was no evidence to support the claims, the church authorities felt compelled to send the information to Scotland Yard’s investigation into alleged establishment involvement in child abuse.

Dominic Walker, who retired as Bishop of Monmouth in 2013, said he heard the allegations during the counselling sessions while serving as a vicar in Brighton.

Last year he passed on the information to the Bishop of Durham, the Right Rev Paul Butler, who is responsible for “safeguarding” in the Church of England. The bishop ordered that church authorities send the information to Scotland Yard. It is understood that there was no corroborating material from the church.

A Church of England spokesman said last night: “When allegations are made against individuals, it is quite proper to pass those allegations to the police and statutory authorities, without any investigation on our part and regardless of our own views.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We do not identify individuals that are subject of investigation.”

The Times.

The most ridiculous one yet?

PS The Myth Of Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Update: Let's Expose The Satanic Abuse Con Artists: Enoch Powell is the latest - conveniently dead - politician to be accused of awful crimes. This nonsense has to stop David Aaronovitch, The Times.

Paedomania: Spectating

Rod Liddle and Matthew Parris in The Spectator on a very British witch hunt.

This is all going to get so ridiculous...

'People can make accusations, can infer guilt by association, can assert grandly. They can draw cartoons of murky establishments and of eyes under lifted stones. They may be right, they may be wrong. But only the evidence can tell you which it is. And in the past fortnight we have entered a zone heavy on claim and light on substance.' David Aaronovitch, The Times.

Sad but true - this bout of paedomania seems to be bringing out a lot of people's inner David Icke.

PS And Stephen Fry speaks out against Operation Yewtree at a Labour party do, in apparent defence of his chum Paul Gambaccini.

Uganda: Dear David Aarnovitch Et Al, Please Read This!

The question of cutting Donor AID has arisen. Our position on this is very clear. We do not support General Aid Cuts to Uganda. We do not want the people of Uganda to suffer because of the unfortunate Political choices of our government. However, we support Strategic Aid Cuts to specific sectors, such as the Dutch Government’s decision to withdraw funding from the Justice Sector. We encourage urgent review of Aid to organizations and government institutions that have failed to demonstrate respect for Human Rights and those that have been actively supporting this bill. We DO NOT support cuts in support to NGO’s and other civil society institutions that offer life saving health services or other important social services to the People of Uganda.

Updated guidelines on how National, International and Regional partners can support Ugandan LGBTI Persons and their allies

Thanks as ever to Scott Long. x

David Aaronovitch: If I Were Gay

A sub-header exposes the rather small flaw in David Aaronovitch's argument in his article in The Times.

Astonishing.

But then David thinks beastly 'backwards' foreign types can be 'civilised' by US and UK bombs.

This unthinkpiece is a reply to the editor of Think Africa Press, David Schneider's call for Western countries not to cut aid, and consider the consequences of all their actions for LGBT Ugandans.

A view supported by Frank Mugisha the director of Sexual Minorities Uganda. 

Still I bet they enjoy having an arrogant straight white Orientalist westerner like Mr Aaronovitch telling them what he thinks is best for them.

PS Loving that If I were gay... 30-day trial only £1 juxtapostion.