This is Northumberland Calling 11.7.25

The concerns, consultations and cricket edition

Hello America (particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland calling.

Sometimes, certain pressure groups operate just outside your line of sight. This week I learned about CfMM or the Centre for Media Monitoring which is dedicated to chilling and silencing any criticism of the Muslim faith as they define within Western journalism. They regularly complain about the coverage of issues which pertain to Muslims. They were previously part of the Muslim Council of Britain, an extremist group with which the British government does not engage but certain MPs do. Despite only managing to secure 1 incident of Ipso upholding their complaint in 60k complaints, CfMM has a tremendous amount of behind the scenes influence with members regularly speaking at top universities etc The report from the Policy Exchange makes for interesting and instructive reading about the group they called a Bad Faith Actor. https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/bad-faith-actor/

It is important because the British government have finally had to cough to its consultation on the definition of ‘Islamophobia’ consultation group. For reasons best known to Angela Raynor and a few others, they attempted to keep the consultation to a few specially chosen groups and did not consult the victims of grooming gangs, the Free Speech Union or indeed many other groups. Lord Toby Young and others like Nick Timothy MP worked hard and the consultation is now open unto the 20^th July and an actual link has been provided to allow the general public to easily comment. Personally I don’t think you can call anti-Muslim prejudice ‘racism’ when the over-arching religion encompasses 2 billion people from around the globe, and I do think people should be free to criticise any philosophical belief or religion without being blind to the problems targeted faith hate-crimes but that is me. I have filled in the consultation and would urge others in the UK (if they feel so inclined to do so, particularly when one considers the influence of the above Bad Faith Actor) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/09/rayner-backs-down-in-islamophobia-free-speech-row/ or https://archive.ph/O1WCB

The trial of the men who accused the police of brutality because they were Muslim last year during a fracas at Manchester Airport is currently ongoing. The full CCTV footage has been released, including the headbutting in the coffeeshop of a fellow passenger from Dubai whom their mother had taken a dislike to has been released. It will be interesting to see if the jury believe their defence (whatever it is) as the video footage is fairly damning. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/female-pc-punched-manchester-airport-brawl-g8dw2lt82 or https://archive.ph/haAQP

Now that Palestinian Action have been banned, Gareth Peirce, the 85 year old lawyer who specialises in pariahs (she defended members of the IRA at the height of the Troubles) has taken up their cause and will represent them. A sure sign in many ways that what Palestinian Action was definitely terrorism. She seems drawn to such cases. Most recently she was involved in Shamima Begum case. The Telegraph have done a profile of the very radical lawyer. Peirce claims her motivations lie in that principle of fair protection for all (something which is admirable and which John Adams ensured underpinned American jurisprudence). However, her cases do tend to be drawn from a certain section of society, most likely with an omni-cause worldview https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/11/gareth-peirce-human-rights-lawyer-palestine-action-ban/ or https://archive.ph/KGF1q

Norman Tebbit, the former Conservative MP and cabinet minister died aged 94 this week. He was more Thatcher than Thatcher. In the original Spitting Image, he was often portrayed wearing a motorcycle jacket. He was also blown up by the Brighton Hotel bomb and survived with horrific internal injuries. His wife who hated the political life never walked again as a result of her injuries. He remained devoted to her and it was really a case of for better or worse with him. Simon Heffer wrote a lovely tribute about the strength of their marriage. He apparently used to name pheasants either Adams or McGuiness before he shot them and claimed the naming exercise ensured he didn’t miss. I suspect he and Gareth Peirce had very different world views on the matter. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/07/08/lord-tebbit-norman-margaret-thatcher-conservative-brighton/ or https://archive.ph/lGgLO

Tebbit once famously said that which cricket side you supported in a test match showed how integrated an immigrant was. England regularly plays its former colonies at cricket including Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan. Every winter an English side goes on tour to somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. This playing of sport at a national level or indeed a country and county level is very different from the US. I sometimes wonder if the rivalries between England and Scotland are kept alive partly because of the sport. It is one of my concerns about some of proposals for the 250^th celebrations as there are to be athletic contests between states. In many ways, the US professional sports system of teams based within towns and which sometimes upsticks to pastures new promotes a more federal view than teams which are basically professional and based around a county or country identity.

The England v India Test match is currently happening at Lords. The series is poised with one match win apiece. Lord’s is the spiritual home of cricket. Waiting list for membership is long. England are currently batting. The main gist of the game is that the bowler is trying to hit the wicket (three sticks in the ground with another stick on top) with a very hard ball and the batter is trying to defend the wicket while making as many runs as possible between the wicket after the ball is batted away. If the ball goes out of the boundary without touching the ground, it is automatically 6 runs, if it touches the ground but still goes out it is an automatic 4. There is a lot of strategy to the game, including making sure the wicket area is properly understood as the dryness of pitch affects how the ball bounces when it is bowled. There are breaks for lunch and tea. Generally a lot of alcohol is consumed in the stands. Laithwaite’s, a wine merchant does a good trade as you are no longer allowed to bring drink in. Some stands are rowdy than others. Mick Jagger as per usual was in the members’ enclosure yesterday watching. The BBC does a ball by ball coverage. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/videos/ckg3lvm4131o

When I first moved over here, I discovered Test Match Special, the BBC radio commentary and found it an excellent way to learn more about the country which became my home. I was lucky enough to see Joe Root who was currently on 99 not out at close of play yesterday on his debut at Lords many years ago.

Milli Hill’s Ultra Processed Women is out. It is an excellent book on the effect Ultra Processed Food has on the female body as the male body remains the default for research and much of the other books on the subject don’t investigate the differences. However Amazon UK did not order enough copies and it is now saying that it will take between 1 -3 months. Waterstones has copies available within 2 hours. Milli is a prominent GC feminist and I have no idea if this played a part in Amazon’s reluctance to stock the book.

Here:

A comma butterfly, one of the few I’ve seen on the meadow

The meadow bit which used to be the back lawn has now come into its glory. After I read Rebirding by Benedict MacDonald, I decided to try as the children were grown and no longer required the lawn for playing sports like football or cricket. The cricket matches had to be curtailed when my husband hit a 6 which went through an upstairs window at one side of the house, flew through two open doors and narrowly missed going out the other side. Impressive, but…the children were aware of the two tier justice system in place… It has not been a case of simply allowing the weeds to grow and we have put in a lot of wildflower plugs after our youngest cotton to the giving of seeds as a Christmas present. The clouds of butterflies this year show we are doing something. Sometimes you just have to channel your inner Pangloss and look after your own garden. I am noticing this more and more as I get older.

Paddy is avoiding the heat and gets a haircut tomorrow.

My writing goes slowly (see above about urgent cricket watching)

I have no plans to put a paywall on, so please subscribe. If you want to reward me, consider buying one of my books. Amazon kindle currently have a selection of my books on special. If you have kindle unlimited Sent As the Viking’s Bride is currently free to read.