Nigel Far-right?

Whatever one’s view of Nigel Farage, he is certainly not stupid. The Brexit Party leader is one of the shrewdest political operators in Britain.

So when he uses words such as “globalists” and phrases like “New World Order”, there can be no doubt that he knows full well that they have come to be used as codewords for Jews and a supposed Jewish conspiracy.

Certainly, context is everything. And in some contexts they can plainly be used in ways that are not antisemitic. But there could be no clearer or more damning context for Mr Farage’s use of them than during his  repeated appearances on the Infowars programmes hosted by far-right US conspiracist Alex Jones.

Indeed, the simple fact that Mr Farage has chosen to appear at least half-a-dozen times on Infowars is itself shameful — there can be no justification for any mainstream politician lending credibility to Mr Jones.

Mr Farage is not merely flirting with antisemitic tropes but, in his interviews with Mr Jones, utilising them.  

Self-harm crisis

The sharp rise in incidence of self-harm among younger people is one of the more disturbing developments in modern society.

Mental health charity Jami is one of the most forward thinking in our community and its exhibition next week depicting a group of 18-to-20-year-olds who self-harmed through their time at secondary school is typically thought-provoking and very necessary.