Resist it while you can

Everyone will have seen the video of milkshake-gate by now.

No use crying over spilt milk - but it went all over Tommy’s favourite jacket and stale milk does have an unpleasantly pervasive stink.

Now, one might speculate that Tommy (Real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) was almost asking for it - he knows it’s the kind of thing that happens to him, as it has happened many times before.  He’s been hit, punched, sworn at and called a fascist and a racist.

He’s often excitable, his body language can be provocative, and if someone is confrontational and aggressive with him, he can be equally confrontational and aggressive back. The fact that he’s not as afraid of a punch-up when push literally comes to shove gives him the edge over your average shrinking violet. I suppose John Prescott had that going for him back in the day.

I think Tommy’s excitability, impetuousness and tendency to make exaggerated claims weaken him and undermine any credibility he might otherwise have. These shortcomings allow people like Brendan O’Neill, who’s usually pretty smart, to say something as annoying as this... 

“It doesn’t matter what you think of Robinson’s views — like the vast majority of people, I oppose them.” 

...without feeling the need to qualify it further, which is what he says in an article that actually sets out to defend Tommy Robinson’s right to go about his lawful business - campaigning as an independent for the upcoming Euro elections - unimpeded.

The fact that the police got in their car and scarpered at the first sign of trouble added insult to injury. 

The comments below the line are mixed. Several commenters take issue with the assumption that “the vast majority of people oppose his views.” Yes, it’s likely that the vast majority of people dislike Tommy Robinson, or consider him too toxic to ‘like’, but do the vast majority really oppose his views? If so, which views? Do “the vast majority of people” support the Islamification of Britain, or support the introduction of Sharia Law? Or any of the other cultural differences that are gaining notoriety?

Probably the people who agree with Brendan O’Neill’s “opposition” to Tommy Robinson’s views inhabit what is often described as the “media bubble”.

We’ve come a long way from the days when Christopher Hitchens tried to warn us. How perceptive he was. Resist it while you can.