Hannes Wessels,
After reading a report in the The Times this morning I did something I never thought I would have to do; I immediately decided to send a stern warning to my two daughters in England reminding them they find themselves in an authoritarian country, where freedom of expression is severely curtailed, and law enforcement appears to be deployed to punish anyone who dissents from the prevailing political wisdom in a fashion that bears chilling similarity to a police-state.
I feel they are especially vulnerable because both of them grew up in southern Africa around people, both black and white, who like to laugh; very often at themselves, but with people who prefer not to take themselves, or life generally, too seriously. They are both prone to the sort of youthful exuberance that now appears to be off limits in the land of their birth.
So it was, I read with shock that in the UK, the police are arresting more than 12,000 people each year, for ‘words that cause offence’; an average of 30 arrests per day.
Some examples:
- A man sentenced to eight weeks in jail for posting three memes on Facebook that were considered ‘grossly offensive’. The most objectionable of the memes depicted a group of knife-wielding immigrants with the caption ‘Coming to a town near you’.
- A teenager imprisoned for three months for posting offensive jokes on Facebook. He had apparently been drunk at the time, and the material had been copied from the website ‘Sickipedia’.
- Former footballer Paul Gascoigne was found guilty in a criminal court of racially aggravated abuse, after a joke he made during a stop on his An Evening with Gazza tour at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. At one point during the show, he had turned to Errol Rowe, a black security guard, and said, “Can you smile please, because I can’t see you”. For this, Gascoigne was fined £1,000 and forced to pay a further £1,000 in compensation to Rowe.
- Last year, Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, was sentenced to 31 months in prison after an offensive tweet about burning hotels housing asylum seekers in the wake of the Southport slaying of three little girls. Furious at the time, she removed the post four hours later, but this meant little to the court. She has been eligible for release on temporary licence since last November but her appeal to be allowed to spend time with her traumatised 12-year-old daughter, and her sick husband suffering from bone-marrow cancer has been refused.
- At the insistence of then Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer, a man was convicted after a joke tweet about blowing up an airport after it had closed due to a snowfall.
- A preacher convicted of harassment for the crime of ‘misgendering’ after referring to a trans-identified male as a ‘gentleman’.
- An army veteran was arrested and handcuffed for ‘causing anxiety’ by posting an image of four ‘Progress Pride’ flags arranged into a swastika.
- A former Royal Marine, Jamie Michael posted a video online which criticised illegal migration and called for peaceful protest. He was arrested and charged and later found not guilty in court.
Having read this I had a panic attack and thought heaven forbid, but my girls could quite easily say or post something deemed ‘offensive’ on the spur of the moment or in a frivolous moment among close friends, and find themselves in the sort of trouble that could ruin their lives. And then, once ‘fingered’ by a system like this, the fact that they are both very kind, decent, caring, compassionate girls would matter little (both girls have worked unpaid in African orphanages); they would be branded and banished to the margins of society.
Reading this report, it is very difficult to disagree with Elon Musk comparing modern Britain to the Soviet Union, and US Vice-President J D Vance’s claim that in Britain and Europe, “freedom of speech is in retreat”, and “fundamental values” are no longer shared with the Americans. “You do not have shared values,” he said, “if you’re so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up”.
In the midst of my deep dismay I reflected on life in Africa where poor governance and various forms of chaos generally prevail, but looked at the blue sky, the Zambezi River, savoured the quietude, and reminded myself, I have much to be grateful for.
Compared to the over-regulation, the myriad laws, the vindictiveness of the mainstream media, and the zeal of the all-powerful ‘thought-police’ in Britain, maybe mild mayhem and some misrule provides for a more agreeable way of life. Ironically, maybe we here, almost by mistake, are ‘freer’ than our British and European ‘cousins’. And what I love about Africans in general, and black Africans in particular, is their wonderful sense of humour, and their ability not to take themselves too seriously; we still know how to laugh here on the ‘Dark Continent’ and don’t have to worry about being locked up for doing it. And the icing on the cake; really good beer is less than a Pound a pint.
I’m writing to the girls to tell them to think about coming back home.
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A fine piece, Hannes — equal parts obituary and farce. It’s quite something to watch Britain transform from bulldog to lapdog, genuflecting before the altar of feelings, hashtags, and bureaucratic overreach.
The government seems more interested in protecting people from offence than from, say, knife crime or collapsing infrastructure. But fear not — should you get mugged in a dark alley, at least the attacker will have used your correct pronouns.
Wokery has become the new aristocracy. Where once the upper class wielded monocles and cricket bats, now it’s blue hair, a sociology degree, and the power to cancel anyone who remembers how to laugh. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is too busy attending sensitivity training to notice the economy circling the drain.
The cultural decline is almost poetic. Shakespeare gave us Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” — now we’ve got government-sponsored drag readings debating whether toddlers should be. And heaven help the bloke who thinks biology is real — he’s likely to be frogmarched off by Scotland Yard’s Misgendering Division.
Anyway, thanks for the read. Grim stuff — but at least it’s still funny, for now.
I am glad to hear that the British economy is “circling the drain.” With the Rand at something like R25 to the £1, SA is clearly a prosperous and well-run economy. So much so that by next year, it will be the anchor currency of the world. Good luck with that!
I have been here for over 30 years and have never been required to attend a “sensitivity” session…. whatever the hell that is… and I have never heard of or known anybody that has!
One thing that is noticeable is the number of young South Africans fleeing SA for the UK. You meet them everywhere: in shops, offices, restaurants, sports clubs… anywhere and everywhere. They are all having the time of their lives and have money to burn.
Sad, is it not, that they are missing out on the benefits of life in SA. … world capital of rape, murder, burglary, corruption and unemployment.
The only thing missing is the milk and honey.
I must hurry back.
Eish!
Just reading through some of the drivel our mate Chandler writes. My friend you are like a tidal wave trying to ram your opinion down everyone’s throat. Personally I would rather go and live in the Congo than move to that cesspool of an island filled with traitors and radical muslims. There are also many young whites coming back to live in Zimbabwe as they are gat vol of places like the one you so passionately describe. In anticipation of your next tidal wave of absolute drivel.
Like you, I am also tired.
Tired of the embittered tidal wave of drivel, selective non-news and general myopia flowing out of formerly white-ruled Africa.
Tired of the bleatings of “when-we’s” (remember them?) holding the telescope to their blind eye and declaring nothing is wrong.
btw, You are welcome to the Congo.
You have got a problem dude. And there you are declaring all is hunky dory on that rat-infested island you think is so great. Just leave those of us who chose to stay in Africa alone. I am 4th generation African, my ancestors are buried here and my whole life has been tied up in the bush. For some of us, moving out of Africa is unthinkable for reasons people like you will never understand. In the meantime have a nice life living amongst some of the most treacherous, decadent and evil politicians in the history of the world, plus the millions of imported muslims and others from Africa who are breeding like flies and hate the very ground you walk on. And at least most of us who live here in Africa have a fairly realistic idea what gender we slot into.
Good to hear from you (again) Alistair. As always, your charm goes before you. Your skill with words, your insight, your intellect …. all a product of your upbringing. … sheltered as it was.
I should tell you a few personal facts, as it might help you and all the others in here that seem to think they have the monopoly, the inside track on all things SA and UK, and that I am some wet, starry-eyed liberal Brit preaching to you all.
This “dude” (thanks for that elevation) grew up in South Africa. As an English boy, I was sent to an Afrikaans boarding school in the far depths of the Karroo when I was not quite 5 years old. Because I was “the rooinek”. I was knocked about, with no mercy shown….. they blamed me for the Boer War! As the years passed, mutual respect set in, and I spent another 14 years in the company of the boere. I holidayed with them on their family farms, learnt the life, enjoyed it and was accepted. When I could vote, I voted for the National Party.
South Africa is in my bones….more so than in most white South Africans, like you?
I served in the SADF for 14 years.
1SSB, Tempe; Voortrekkerhoogte and a few other “venues.” you would not have heard of or wanted to experience.
My African roots go back 8 generations …. not the piddling 4 you brag about. I can trace my maternal ancestry back to 1653, a year after Van Riebeeck arrived… if you know your history, that was in 1652.
It was a many-generations-back grandmother who arrived in Kaap Stad as a slave, captured by slave traders on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. Sold to Van Riebeeck himself, worked in his first “castle”, and freed after 8 years. Married well and ended up owning Groot Constantia, lots of Hout Bay and a big piece of the Heerengracht and various other properties. All as recorded in the National Archives, Cape Town.
Father, on the other hand, was an Englishman, born in Wales. He was an MI6 agent, recruited from the Royal Navy when he was 16 and worked as such in Russia. He was a sort of James Bond character—except that he did not drink!
There are loads of great stories in there to tell. How much time do we have?
He settled in SA and married my mother. He died in PE when I was 13.
The point of telling you this is that you do not assume this “dude” is the fool that you disparage with such conviction.
I married an English girl, ran a business and a gymnasium in Durban, and had two daughters. 32 years ago, we upped sticks and settled in England so my wife could be closer to her ageing parents. I see both sides of the story with total clarity, not through embittered dark glasses, thinking of past glories.
I know there is a lot wrong here in the UK, but we are working to fix that, and it will become turbo-charged after 1st May when Reform UK is comfortably expected to knock Labour and the Conservatives very hard. Actually, it started yesterday when ReformUK took a seat from Labour, where they previously had a huge majority, and felt very secure.
Reform won the seat with 56% of the vote. Labour trailed behind with 24%, and the Conservatives got 20%.
Things are changing, so check back on 2nd May after the County Council Elections.
The way things are polling now, Reform, currently holding 5 seats in parliament, is predicted by ALL the polls to win at least 200 seats—a third of the House of Commons.
The traitors are filling their pants with fright.
I almost forgot. On my maternal side, they owned and farmed the whole of Cape Point. My mother and her siblings swam in the Atlantic Ocean in the morning and the Indian Ocean in the afternoon. In about 1936, it was sold to the Cape Provincial Council to become a nature reserve, which it remains to this day.
Have you visited there? The old homestead is now Smith’s Tearoom.
That was another “rooted in SA” claim ogf mine which you should consider before sneering.
I hope I am not boring you and all the other dreamers here who think they know all there is to know.
First Hannes, it is laudable you worry about your daughters. I am sure they know how to tread the minefields of Britains ridiculously fragile laws on comments. The real issue is that Britain is becoming unliveable in financially – even for the middle classes who played by the rules, financially. Banks are becoming more and more despotic. I saw a live link where an individual wanted to withdraw GB 2000 from his account and was asked: “what for?”. He said he wanted to buy a motorcycle for his son and was asked: ” show us the motorcycle”. The Financial Ombudsman is hopeless. Their view is Banks can conduct their business anyway that suits them. By the by, don’t bank with Santander – that’s my advice… glad I don’t live in the UK, they have reversed straight into 1984. Karma may not be instant but that country is due a big dump!
He didn’t say “Freer speech”. He said freer in the wider sense….of course that is in his imagination. Suck it and see.
Surely you meant laughable, not laudable?
I generally agree with you about the banks. They are ultra-cautious as they are required by law to protect the interests of customers, and it can be annoying but if they think a transaction (especially large amounts of cash) is unusual given the history of the account, they will ask for verification., for instance an invoice. People withdrawing large amounts are frequently questioned because there is a high degree of drug money laundering and
con-artist activity in which older people (and a surprising number of younger people) are duped into withdrawing large sums. MANY, many people have been “saved” from the clutches of crooks because the bank asked questions…. the amount runs into £ millions every year.
I have to laugh at the British – we had been told to accept majority rule way back in the 1970’s yet there has hardly been a British political party that won an election with a majority vote as a percentage of population since WW2, so what was good for us (Rhodesian’s) didn’t apply to them. In London there is a rape every single hour, with many more not being reported. We had a Donal Lamont in Rhodesia who was deported for his pro freedom fighter support, and oh boy did the British media give the Rhodesian Govt a lambasting. What is good for us then has now somehow changed. The British have failed since WW2 on many a front and are descending into a hell hole. Farage is no Donald Trump, there is no one in politics to stop the global woke rot anywhere to be seen. But the stupid British sowed the seeds of their own destruction a long time ago, so I am quite happy to see the mother country fail, may it just fail spectacularly while I am still alive. Somewhere in this is a great long history lesson.
On 1st May, the writing will be on the wall as UK politics moves firmly to the right. The County Council elections and a parliamentary bye-election in a strong Labour constituency are held on that day. EVERY poll has ReformUK winning the length and breadth of the UK, trouncing Labour in its heartlands and obliterating the Conservatives. The winds of change are blowing in these islands.
British deserve everything they get for a) electing a Labour govt, and b) not having the balls to oppose the current regime. That said, I concur 100% with Musk and JD Vance. The pendulum has swung too far to the left. It’s time for it to swing back.
I take it you mean “not having the balls to oppose the regime, like you “have the balls” to oppose the cancerous regime in South Africa? You wish!
Strangely enough, the opposition to the UK government is very effective. Currently ReformUK destroys both Labour and Conservative, defeating them in local elections from north to south and east to west. On 1st May, the major test of local political power is up for grabs….the County Council elections at which Reform is expected to make huge gains. A Parliamentary Bye-election is scheduled for the same day, and all the polls are saying ReformUK will take it. The current Labour government is split like a rotten avocado and is dreading the coming months. Those polls (all the polls) predict RefiormUK to take over 180 seats at the next general election, delivering a hung parliament which will give us a ReformUK/Conservative coalition government, with ReformUK as the senior partner. Remember, all that ALL pollsters predict that…..and also remember that at the moment ReformUK only has four MP’s. When you say “have the balls” do you mean opposition to the regime should be by non-democratic means…. is that how you are doing it is SA? I see no mention of that in the papers, so maybe you are gearing up to lead the way?
Heartening to see Reform growing in popularity but the next election is over four years away and even if there was a change of government today, I fear the damage done to the country in the last 30 years is irreparable. Very sad seeing a once great country destroy itself.
The next election will be much sooner than four years away. Once Labour feels the pain, it will disintegrate, and Starmer will resign.
I’d forgotten that you have Free Speech in South Africa! Send us a picture of you on Table Mountain shouting the K word to all!
Well said. The armchair pundits are never found in the trenches.
He didn’t say there was “free speech” in South Africa, he said there was “freer speech”, which is 100% correct! Britain has always sold itself as a bastion of truth, justice, intellect and common sense, yet it has allowed itself to degrade into an authoritarian nanny state, and the laughing stock of western culture!
Beer isn’t less than a Pound in SA. Only a 340ml bottle in the bottle store!! But ii’s still a pretty useless currency at R25/£1.
But I agree with your sentiments. It was very sad to see too, that it appeared that 98% of the public strolling in Hyde Park on Xmas eve were foreigners!!!
Let’s hope Farage takes over here in 4 years time. Couldn’t come quick enough.
I agree with you.
It is annoying when the ill-informed read a random newspaper article and accept it as the gospel truth.
More so when they go on to suggest that their daughters will be safer in South Africa, the rape capital of the world…. but never mind that, the beer is cheap!
The priorities of some people beggar belief.
Pray explain the allegation that I am ‘ill informed’? What did I get wrong about the UK? Is The Times what you would call a ‘random newspaper?
The once mighty Times stopped roaring over 10 years ago. It is now a tabloid peddling rumour and gossip.
I’m still waiting for you to tell me what I am ‘ill-informed’ about or what The Times got wrong?
As I said, the Times is no longer regarded as honest and unbiased. Anyone taking heart from articles in the Times is being fed propaganda and wishful thinking. That is why taking their guff seriously is “getting it wrong.” They are as bad as the BBC, another left-wing propaganda organisation.
Stop dodging the question; what was I ‘ill-informed’ about?
Not dodging anything, I pointed out that your source of information is highly suspect….. if you rely on it you are ill-informed.
As is often said, do not believe everything you read in the paper.
So which of the facts I relied on in the article to make my point was wrong?
The woke left will soon be taken over by rightminded rational thinkers. Starting with Hungary. The sheep mentality is the tragedy of the weak. Strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times and hard times create strong men.
As you are a journalist, one accepts you are prone to sensationalism because that, like sex, sells. For that reason is say you are ill-informed when you take a few reports and dress them up to create the impression that the problem is all-encompassing. “Lock up your daughters, the end is nigh” sort of thing.
But never mind. Your solace is that beer is cheap in SA. (Of course, if you are talking about real beer, it is not, but I guess the journalist could not make the distinction.)
Yup, It’s a basket case. Heading over to see our daughter in a few weeks. So will be interesting to get a perspective from the diaspora over-there.
If you’ve not come across him, strongly recommend listen to a few podcasts doing the rounds with a Prof of Modern War, David Detz. His study is Civil Wars. He is certain a civil war is coming to the England/UK in the next 5 years. He points to the current ulez ‘blade runners’, those destroying the camera’s surrounding London as beginings of organised civil unrest.
podcasts: fire at Will. or Maiden Mother Matriarch.
And while I’m on here. Punters maybe interested in this guys writings:
https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/virginia-rhodesia-and-the-world-that-07b?r=1dkco7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
If the UK is a “basket case”, what do you class South Africa as?
Mickey Mouse currency, communist aligned, murder and mayhem with rape asthe national sport.
But never mind all that. So long as the beer is cheap?
God help us!
Correct me if I’ve read Hannes article incorrectly. But he does not make it a comparison to SA. South Africa is not mentioned. Any relativism could well be inferred to the Mud Island of past. Certainly I made no inference to SA. I don’t even live there (I’m in Sydney OZ).
I think the fathers of the Pakistani Rape gangs against working class girls in Rotherham, Leeds would concur with the claim of basket case. More like rage at the lack justice. He is right, about justice or lack thereof. And the two tier justice system is now law.
I look forward to see what change happens May1 with council elections. I can predict a big fat zero.
But the country pubs are still great. Just dont say the wrong thing… To loudly.
Thanks Clive; correct I was suggesting that in the midst of often chaotic misrule there might be a silver lining for us in southern Africa. I never suggested any African paradise and I know about the risks but sometimes I think we do have a little more latitude than the countries of the over-regulated and over-policed West. I see Starmer remains steadfast in his refusal to re-open the investigation into the Rotherham and related outrages and if you are white and English, don’t apply to join the Yorkshire Constabulary.
You do not say where you lived before moving to Australia. I suspect SA, so you had good reason to leave. Well done.
The grooming gangs will be dealt with; many of the perpetrators have already been given very long sentences.
The local councils in the affected areas are Labour-controlled but have large Muslim populations, so they are scared they will lose the election on
1st May if they take action against the Muslim gangs. As things stand, they will lose to ReformUK, who have pledged to prosecute every person involved….. the perpetrators and the current elected politicians (Labour) that have tried to keep a lid on the scandal.
The reason Starmer is not acting is because he has senior Labour ministers with paper-thin majorities in constituencies with large Muslim populations who will vote against Labour if the Muslim gangs are prosecuted.
It is disgusting, but he is playing the opportunistic political game. That will end on 1st May with the County Council elections. ReformUK will sweep away Labour in those areas and have pledged to prosecute every rape perpetrator AND the officials (Labour councillors) that have kept a lid on the scandal in order to protect their seats.
Ohhh…Hannes…..Rhodesia and our travails seem so long ago….the adversity we faced..the acceptance of our black brothers both in society and military…no racial division or fomenting….what a society that treacherous mother country was and increasingly is…..
You make some good points. There are many crazy things going on in the UK right now. But the crazies do not have it all their own way. The University of Essex ostracised and victimised a lecturer who argued against the lauding of the “trans” mob. She was hounded out of her job. As a result, the University was fined about £500,000 for “attempting to curtail freedom of speech.” As a result, all the other universities are, as we speak, frantically rewriting their codes of practice in an attempt to clean them of leftie nonsense. There are many, largely unreported, cases where opportunistic lefties have claimed discrimination in one form or another… race, gender, religion… and have lost and had to pay huge costs. I think you should reconsider the advice you want to give to your daughters…..do you think they will be safe in the rape capiral of the world, or is cheap beer more important to you?