Alright guys, I'm doing it - I'm gonna walk through Bury Park. This is an area that Jayda Fransen, Paul Golding & Tommy Robinson claim is a 'No Go Zone', completely overrun.
I walk down the side-street leading to the main strip, past two young men in traditional... Muslim dress. One turns to the other conspiratorially:
"Yusef, you deserve to be treated better than than that by her."
I pass the local mosque. The air is unearthly still and quiet. What malfeasance is being born here?
I try to take a picture but it as if the sinister darkness swallows it whole. Or, maybe just the night time.
At last, I am in the belly of the beast. But where is everyone? There are just spicy pizza hawkers playing their trade.
No sinister crowds of bearded men eyeing my warily, no flocks of women in abeya milling about submissively.
It's too quiet.
I am withdrawing money for next week's bus ticket. I will see if I am charged the 'jizya' that infidels are placed under in areas of Sharia law.
I am not charged the 'jizya'. How odd. Surely this area would be ripe for such a sinister foothold.
These two young ladies have not covered their hair! What is this madness? Should I warn them that this is an area under Sharia law? They put themselves at risk of a stoning at *any* moment!
I have been swindled by a shopkeep into buying sweets and hot peppers for my wife as she is fond of both. There was no haggling. None at all. Just courtesy. Horrible, intoxicating courtesy.
Now hang on just one fucking minute. These mannequins' shoulders are bared. How dreadfully immodest!
Guys, I think I've been lied to.
Shit. I bought some Naan. I can't help myself.
What the hell is this? Churches? In the heart of Bury Park? The community completely claimed by Jihadists? I am perplexed! I am agog!
We'll this is disappointing. No sideways glances, no hissed curses, no roaming gangs of young men telling people what to do.
FFS, I haven't even heard any other languages than English!
I've literally run out of Bury Park to walk. I've tried desperately to find anything intimidating or threatening.
It's just a local community hub, with Britons of all colours sharing what makes their background special.
To be honest, I felt more threatened walking to the bus stop in Dunstable.
...whenever these chucklefucks talk about a #NoGoZone, they're shitting on communities that just want to do their thing, sell some delicious naan and prosper in a free and democratic country.
Bury Park, like much of Luton is a testament to what the world has given Britain. It stands alongside Carnival as a reason to come to this town. It's colour in the grey, flowers in some rather gloomy postwar cracks.
We're all here for such a brief moment in time - way too short to go talking shit about other because we look, eat and pray a little different.
Look after one another, god (or not) bless & smile. FIN.
PS. Thanks to Mr @DanKaszeta for the inspiration. Give the man a follow - he ventured into #NoGoZone Tower Hamlets yesterday!
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What’s that? You want more horrific history? Too long to wait for the last series of ‘Game of Thrones’. Cool, I got you fam! This time we’re going to Sicily - a land known for food, wine, cultural treasures & acts of staggeringly brutal violence - in the year 1282… THREAD 1/
Sicily has always been a prize - it’s been fought over more times than anyone cares to think about & the island is littered with scars. In the late 13th century, the island had passed from the German Hohenstaufen dynasty to the French Angevin. This was not a popular change. /2
Occupying armies aren’t usually polite house guests. They have a tendency to rape, loot and pillage, even once the smoke has cleared. The Sicilians despised their new overlords, & the Angevin treated the Sicilians as backwards. Things were tense and violence a constant threat. /3
Ladies, I feel like you and I could both do with a pick-me-up, so let me tell you about one of the stone cold, icy-veined, razor-sharp women to ever walk the earth. Allow me to introduce you to Olga of Kiev... THREAD 1/
Olga of Kiev was a princess of the Kievan Rus, descended from Norse settlers who arrived in what we know today as Russia in the 9th century. She was born sometime in the closing years of the 9th century, and reached adulthood in the very early 10th century. /2
As a (very) young woman, she was married to Igor of Kiev, son of the first ruler of the Kievan Rus. Igor was a hell of a warrior, and spent decades raiding and besieging anybody who looked at him funny. /2
Commodus (161 - 192) had a rabid popular base, cleared out the coffers, charged the Roman state for his gladiatorial fights, lied constantly about his feats & executed folks so he could take their money and property.
He was strangled while in the bath by his wrestling buddy.
The Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow II (570 - 628) flaunted his wealth outrageously, refused to own his mistakes, flayed generals who 'failed' him & was known for other acts of arbitrary cruelty.
He was overthrown, starved - told to eat his riches actually - then shot with arrows.
John I of England (1166 - 1216) was actually a fairly capable ruler, but we do not forget the fact that he was a petty, spiteful man who delighted in starting feuds & prioritised luxuries over his people.
There's a rumour that a monk at Swineshead Abbey poisoned his drink.
Today Donald Trump tweeted this, regarding protesters campaigning against Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
This signals that the President of the United States buys into antisemitic conspiracy theories. Here's why. THREAD 1/
Right up front, George Soros is a very, very rich man. He's worth, at present, around 8.3 billion USD. He's made that money as a banker, starting in London in the 60s, before moving to America & becoming an investor in the US. /2
Much of the 'higher-level' ire for George Soros comes from his establishment of the @OpenSociety Foundations, that yearly pumps millions and millions of dollars into progressive causes. /3 opensocietyfoundations.org
Now, I want to tell you the tale of a bloke who spent his life trying to pierce the veil between the living and the dead. A bloke who many considered mad, and who was spoken in hushed tones by local villagers. A bloke born at a place called - get this - Frankenstein... /THREAD
Johann Conrad Dippel - though he often just went by Conrad - was born in 1673 in what is today the German state of Hesse. The place of his birth? Burg (or Castle) Frankenstein. A minor noble, he could afford a decent education, and trained as a theologian. /2
Dippel was a Pietist. This was a Lutheran movement that stressed personal faith above all else, & a metaphysical bent that mean that they came off as fervent, a little bit dangerous. Dippel was zealous in his beliefs, publishing pamphlets against other denominations. /3
Alright, enough bad news! I feel like we're not getting sufficiently spooky enough, with Halloween fast approaching. Here then, is a glimpse at an eldritch tome of demonic abominations, so horrible that it comes with a warning to the reader... THREAD! /1
This cursed grimoire, this blaspheming text claims to originate from the distant past - 1057, to be precise. It is written in a mixture of Latin and German, suggesting that it originated from the dark, forsaken forests of the Holy Roman Empire. /2
To warn the ready of the horrors within, this book, this 'Compendium of Demonology and Magic' advises the reader, 'noli me tangere', or 'touch me not'. I advise all those with a nervous disposition to forgo reading the thread at this stage. Only terrors ensue. /3