The ongoing stupidity of Home Secretary Priti Patel

[brogdale]

Rather a pity that freedom of movement was extended to her parents.

It wasn't.
The provisions of the British Nationality Acts (1948 & 1965) meant that Patel's parent had British nationality.

 

[Proper Tidy]

*await pictures of corpses*

 

[baldrick]

It wasn't.
The provisions of the British Nationality Acts (1948 & 1965) meant that Patel's parent had British nationality.

Thank you. It's an assumption that a lot of people make

 

[butchersapron]

Rather a pity that freedom of movement was extended to her parents.

No room at the inn eh christian?

 

[tim]

Christ

He should have been turned back at the Egyptian border.

 

[mx wcfc]

The thing about using racist tropes is that it doesn't have to be intentional. In many ways it doesn't really matter. Because it's a racist trope.

In my work world everyone knows exactly what "north London" means and it ain't Jeremy Corbyn. It's a racist trope.

 

[Chilli.s]

I never knew "north London" was a racist trope until now... live and learn eh.

 

[Teaboy]

I never knew "north London" was a racist trope until now... live and learn eh.

Indeed. Me neither.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Me neither and I suspect the addition of the word 'elites' is where the dog whistle is being blown whether she intended to or not. People have/will think she means Jewish.

Simply refering to the the well heeled, middle class, liberal community of North London isn't racist in the slightest though. They are long established, fairly well off, some involved in politics and certainly not all Jewish.

 

[brogdale]

I never knew "north London" was a racist trope until now... live and learn eh.

North London Metropolitan elite is quite obviously drawn from the same well as North London Cosmopolitan elite; a well known anti-semitic trope.
It's a spatially specific form of rootless cosmopolitans.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Rather a pity that freedom of movement was extended to her parents.

I see you've discarded the 'thinly-veiled' part of your thinly-veiled racism.

 

[albionism]

I have never seen such a smug looking psychopath as Priti Patel giving her speech at the Tory conference.

 

[Chilli.s]

North London Metropolitan elite is quite obviously drawn from the same well as North London Cosmopolitan elite; a well known anti-semitic trope.
It's a spatially specific form of rootless cosmopolitans.

Ah, that's it, well explained. It does need the cosmopolitan bit for full offensiveness. T'is a bit high brow for me.

 

[Rivendelboy]

Even taking into account her abject stupidity, the inclusion of this implicitly anti-semitic phrase in her key-note Conference speech, has got to be a huge error of judgement that will undermine their weaponisation.

View attachment 185665

can you explain the origin of this as a racist phrase? Is it assuming that North London is a jewish community? I know nothing about the area and have never come across this claim before.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

can you explain the origin of this as a racist phrase? Is it assuming that North London is a jewish community? I know nothing about the area and have never come across this claim before.

Here's something the New Statesman prepared for you back in 2017. Covers the bases, I think.

Anti-Semitism is a right-wing problem

Today, one code is “north London metropolitan elite”. Danny Cohen, until 2015 the BBC’s director of television, was furiously attacked by newspapers for firing Jeremy Clarkson, and the Times called Cohen a “fixture of the north London metropolitan elite”. The comedian David Baddiel tweeted: “Surprised Times subclause doesn’t add, ‘and y’know: a rootless cosmopolitan of east European stock’.” Dave Cohen, the author of Horrible Histories, tweeted: “Times calls Danny Cohen ‘part of north London metropolitan elite’. We hear what you’re saying, guys.”

The tradition is that of Dornford Yates and Bulldog Drummond, memorably satirised by Alan Bennett in Forty Years On: “. . . that bunch of rootless intellectuals, alien Jews and international pederasts who call themselves the Labour Party”. Clarkson is a perfect opponent for a member of the north London metropolitan elite – a privately educated, British Bulldog Drummond figure for our age.

 

[Treacle Toes]

can you explain the origin of this as a racist phrase? Is it assuming that North London is a jewish community? I know nothing about the area and have never come across this claim before.

No it is assuming that when you describe elements of the population in North London as 'North London Elites' you are specifically referring to the Jewish people that live there.

 

[8ball]

I never knew "north London" was a racist trope until now... live and learn eh.

Indeed. Me neither.

Anti-semitism alive and well on urban.

 

[marty21]

can you explain the origin of this as a racist phrase? Is it assuming that North London is a jewish community? I know nothing about the area and have never come across this claim before.

There are 2 significant Jewish communities in North London , Stamford Hill & Golders Green.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

No it is assuming that when you describe elements of the population in North London as 'North London Elites' you are specifically referring to the Jewish people that live there.

It's not quite that, is it? It is lumping the likes of Corbyn in with 'Jewish intellectuals' in the manner of the Bennett quote above - an unholy alliance of rootless intellectuals with questionable loyalty that includes but is not limited to Jewish intellectuals. It's both anti-semitic and not entirely focused in on Jews alone.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Anti-semitism alive and well on urban.

?

Saying they didn't know is antisemitism?

 

[Teaboy]

?

Saying they didn't know is antisemitism?

It was a shit joke. That poster isn't very good at the whole humour lark but they carry on regardless and well, God loves a trier.

 

[albionism]

 

[Treacle Toes]

It's not quite that, is it? It is lumping the likes of Corbyn in with 'Jewish intellectuals' in the manner of the Bennett quote above - an unholy alliance of rootless intellectuals with questionable loyalty that includes but is not limited to Jewish intellectuals. It's both anti-semitic and not entirely focused in on Jews alone.

Ah I see...I have just notice the quote above...and yes, in that quote it isn't just aimed at Jewish people no.

It is crystal clear about that.

that bunch of rootless intellectuals, alien Jews and international pederasts who call themselves the Labour Party

I was speaking more generally about the description 'North London Elites'.

 

[Artaxerxes]

It's an updated Bolshevik slur I guess, both anti-semetic and aimed at the left in general.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It's an updated Bolshevik slur I guess, both anti-semetic and aimed at the left in general.

Yes, and the important point about the inclusion of Jews is that its purpose is to define a group with questionable loyalty/patriotism. That makes it definitively anti-semitic even if its scope goes wider because inclusion of the Jewish element is essential to its overall purpose and intended effect.

 

[8ball]

?

Saying they didn't know is antisemitism?

Not knowing means they could possibly say it at any time.

 

[Teaboy]

Not knowing means they could possibly say it at any time.

Only if you're the sort of twat to use that sort of phrase anyway.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Only if you're the sort of twat to use that sort of phrase anyway.

Exactly. If you've blundered into a racist trope by accident, that's probably a sign that your thinking has gone wrong somewhere along the line.

 

[8ball]

Exactly. If you've blundered into a racist trope by accident, that's probably a sign that your thinking has gone wrong somewhere along the line.

Or you have moved from one place to another, where tropes can vary.
But you'll be a little safer from that now.

Phew.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Or you have moved from one place to another, where tropes can vary.
But you'll be a little safer from that now.

Phew.

'North London metropolitan liberal elite' was Patel's exact phrase. I can't think of a non-twattish way that someone could utter such a phrase.