The Guardian reported yesterday that:
A lifeboat station on the south coast of England near the spot where far-right activists tried to stop asylum seekers landing has been forced to temporarily close, it has emerged.
The station in Portsmouth shut after it and other sites run by the RNLI were targeted by people objecting to the lifeboat charity going to the aid of people trying to get to the UK on small boats.
Jacqui Irons, the head of the south-east region of the RNL, said: “Portsmouth lifeboat station has been temporarily off-service since 7 September. We have a duty of care to our people. We therefore took the decision to pause activity at the station to review crew safety and wellbeing, and to support those involved in the incident on 6 September.”
I am deeply angered and saddened by this.
I should start with a declaration of interest. I have been a Governor of the RNLI for decades, which is not nearly as grand a title as it sounds. It just means I have made a financial commitment to it, so I am one of the organisation's voting members. Most of its members are not.
So, why make that commitment? First of all, both my grandfathers were in the professional Navy, and that, I think, through my father, left a lasting interest in all issues to do with the sea.
Then, as a consequence, I think I was taken to a lot of lifeboat stations as a child. That has left me with a long-term respect for what so many people have done for 200 years now by taking risks to save others who, to use the traditional form of words, are in peril at sea.
I do not think that anyone joins the RNLI as a crew member or station volunteer for a moment of glory. I strongly suspect that if they did, they would not last for long, because that is not how crews work.
The reality is that right around the country people volunteer their time, often with the active cooperation and consent of their employers, to crew lifeboats and provide the onshore support that is necessary for them to launch, for the reason that they care about the well-being of other people, whoever they might be, and wish to help them if they are at risk. That is a simply stated objective, but it takes courage, skill, and most of all commitment to deliver, because without regular practice, training, and support, the task would not be possible.
If my part is to chip in a bit of money, I hope it helps. I hope others might do the same. It is the least I can do when others do so much more.
In addition, as I learned to do from my father, I also visit stations whenever I can and offer my thanks. The most recent new station for me, at which I did that, was North Berwick in East Lothian, near Edinburgh, when I visited there in March. I added its station polo shirt to my collection during the visit, and I've been wearing it proudly ever since. I am pleased to show my association with the RNLI, which represents some modest but real commitment on my behalf.
I am now shocked, appalled, and upset that racist thugs in this country are targeting RNLI lifeboat stations, other installations, but most especially crew members and other volunteers because they put themselves at risk to save the lives of those refugees who are forced, as a result of hopelessly inappropriate UK government policy, to take to small boats to cross the English Channel to exercise their right, established in international law, with the support of this country, to claim asylum in their country of choice.
Saying that, I stress, the RNLI goes out to anyone at risk. It does not fill in a profiling questionnaire before the boat is launched. It rarely asks a question about the weather or the challenges that the crew will face. It simply does what is necessary to offer assistance when required, and save a life when necessary.
In doing so, it embodies the maxim that I still think is one of the best to adopt for a life well lived, which is love your neighbour as yourself. Indifference as to who the neighbour might be is a critical part of this instruction, as those on the laughably described Christian far right should note from the parable of the Good Samaritan, which I presume they have never read.
What we also learned this week was that the people of the village of Piddington in Oxfordshire, to whom the media has given a great deal of attention for their xenophobia, as described by a brave member of their own community in media interviews, hosted a visit from the leader of those who organised recent protests in Dover and Portsmouth, where men in black with balaclava helmets marched through streets and then, in the second case, threatened RNLI crews and those they had rescued from the sea.
Is this how far we have descended? Do the people of that village really think that their actions are appropriate? Do they really believe that their interests are aligned with vigilantes who threaten through the use of violence, who undermine the rule of law and who challenge the work of those who will care for others, whoever they might be?
To what depth of depravity, and I use the word advisedly, have we descended as a result? Have we really reached the point where, as happened in so many communities in fascist-ruled Nazi Europe, people willingly betray their neighbours because of their ethnicity, beliefs, or other characteristics, knowing how hideous their fate might be?
It would appear possible that we have. But do we hear the government describing the situation in this way? Unfortunately, not.
And why is it that the BBC put so much time and effort into promoting the idea of this village declaring itself independent from the UK to promote the cause of racism when it is apparently utterly indifferent to the genuine political independence cause supported by millions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Most of the rest of the media is, of course, more than happy to follow suit.
And what does this say? Are they now suggesting it is fair game to attack the RNLI and its crew members? Are they saying we should be indifferent to saving lives at sea if it so happens that those at risk are fleeing in fear as refugees and seek asylum in this country, as it turns out that most of those in the small boats in the English Channel really are?
But most of all, what does this say about the corruption of values in this country? After 45 years of neoliberalism, where, as a consequence, most people have apparently lost the idea that the neighbour is anyone we might meet, wherever they come from, whoever they might be, whatever their colour, whatever their race, whatever their ethnicity, whatever their gender, whatever their sexual orientation or whether we like them or not, it is now apparently possible to deny that, and that fact alone is truly frightening. In contrast, believe that anyone who wants to consider themselves an ethical member of a community that inevitably spreads around the whole world has a duty to love their neighbour as themselves, especially when they are in peril.
I am aware that the RNLI has advised people that they should not wear RNLI-labelled clothing at present if they feel at risk.
I will wear an RNLI polo shirt today.
I will do so with pride.
I will do so because I believe in this organisation to which I contribute, however modestly, and the work that it does.
I will do so as an act of defiance.
I will do so because I will stand up for what is right, just as the RNLI has, with its courage and commitment.
And I want to stress that those last two characteristics are now essential. If we are to love our neighbour as ourselves - and I think we should, whatever our beliefs, and even if we have none of a religious nature - courage and commitment are what we now need to face the challenges that the corrosive politics of neoliberalism and the far right have created in this country.
Usually, I would now be facing a day of writing, content creation, and more. I am not sure about that now. Maybe I need a long walk to reflect on this. Perhaps I should call in on a lifeboat station as well. Solidarity matters.
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Bravo and well said. I was furious as well on reading about the RNLI being targeted and it prompted me to make a donation. I will make another donation today after the news that the Portsmouth station is temporarily closed. It’s the least I can do.
Thank you.
I will be wearing my RNLI cap even more than usual and a donation to the RNLI is on its way.
🙂
I wept, literally wept when I read about this.
Earlier this year I sailed past Mousehole, Cornwall, where the crew of the Solomon Brown came from.
If anyone doubts the bravery and dedication of RNLI volunteers they should watch the documentary about the loss of this lifeboat 45 years ago.
Much has changed since then but commitment to serve remains constant.
Shame on the bullies.
Agreed, entirely. I have been there to pay respects.
The government is responsible for not permitting “safe” route to the UK so forcing those seeking under international law to seek refuge here by sea crossing the majority of whom do get ‘leave to remain’. Farage, Robinson, Lowe et al all have responsibility for the antihumane behaviour at Dover and Portsmouth.
I have done basic sea survival training and been present at two rescues, once when somebody went overboard from the 1965 Ben My Cree on the way to Ardrossan – he survived and once when PS Waverley picked two dinghy sailors who were in the water of Weston Super Mare. They only survived as the Captain had just come out of his cabin at the right time and seen them. We picked up the people and the lifeboat came out very quickly to help and take the dinghy away.
When I ended up as a Stoker (OK Motorman) I was ‘B’ which meant that in an emergency my post was the engine room until either dismissed or it was impossible to remain and several of the people I had worked with had remained at their posts in exactly that situation maintaining lights and power until a ship could be evacuated.
It is hard to imagine anything much worse that ending up in the water, possibly alone, in the dark. The fact that Farage et all seem to think its what should happen is horrific. How can anyone support them?.
It baffles me, John.
And thank you.
For the baffled…………
I claim no superior intelligence when I say this but I think that we have to accept the duality of human nature as observed by people like Thomas Hobbes and even myself. In London in the 1990’s I experienced ethnic minority resentment against white Kosovans being ware-housed in West London. Many of those Kosovans kicked out of their own country at short noticed arrived with nothing and my housing office had to kit them out with cookers and furniture. The question from the existing BME population was ‘Why don’t we get that help too’? And this was in one of the poorer areas of affluent West London.
What to say? People with experience of the horror of war talk of the ‘thin veneer of civilization’ that exists in human beings. Our brains are composed of quadrants that are ancient biologically and are still there despite more recent evolutionary parts. There is a simian and even base aspect to us in my opinion.
If we accept that, then the question is ‘How to rule that reality’? We should rule in my view to err on the side of promoting the better side of humanity. Instead, some of us find it convenient to rule by trying to manipulate that darker side and play with forces that once unleashed are very difficult to control. We have been ruled like this since 2010 in my view as the state that once wanted to defeat fascism now turns on the weak because it reckons it cannot afford them and that they are the problem. It turns them into a problem by deliberately denying others what they have a right to expect.
And with that, thousands of years of positive human development is abolished.
Last night, I watched a recording of Ch4 “England, Till I die” (Wednesday evening) about “Crowborough Says No” and a very disturbed guy called Liam.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so so much concentrated vicious foul hate – and in a comfortable SE English town. Lots of criminality, involving cowardly offences against people, but no charges or convictions.
It was a programme that focussed on the hatred and violence at one end of a process that started with incompetence and callous disregard from central government – yet the programme makers didn’t pursue that angle at all.
We are at a crossroads. Whatever else government does or doesn’t do in respnse to refugee arrivals (and I give them 0/10 so far), our Home Secretary has to decide immediately, that black balaclavas, political uniforms, intimidation, assault, threats of violence, seditious calls for mass gatherings for the purpose of intimidation, arson, racially aggravated harassment, blocking highways, interfering with lifeboat operations, and fraudulent use of cash collected under false pretences, are serious criminal offences and will not be tolerated, and then demonstrate it in the courts.
Our political “leaders” have tolerated, encouraged and exploited vile hateful political rhetoric for over a decade, and mishandled immigration issues in so many ways, to further their own political and financial futures.
Will they, and the mass of the British public wake up in time to see what they have unleashed?
This is either the opportunity to say a resounding NO, to fascism, or fall headlong over the precipice.
So much to agree with.
I must brace myself and watch that programme.
An excellent post. I shall follow your example today. Down here in Kent we have a number of lifeboat stations including one at Dover that is regularly targeted by the racist thugs for simply saving lives at sea. I suppose it is not surprising given the vast numbers of voters that backed Reform in the county council elections. And do we hear a genuine word of condemnation of these thugs by the elected Reform county councillors? Not one bit. I find that depressing. I did like the points made by Private Eye in its latest Page 94 podcast that, during WW2, the RNLI often saved German navy sailors from drowning. No one criticised them for this as it was widely recognised that this was part and parcel of their saving lives at sea remit. It is now time for all decent members of our communities to stand up in defiance of these thugs – they may make a lot of noise and gain much (tacit) support from within the mainstream media but I do not believe that they represent more than just a very small minority of the public. I urge everyone to visit their local lifeboat stations and show your support and approval. I should add that, if the station has a shop, do buy their wonderful range of biscuits – I believe they are made by a small company in Yorkshire.
I have a new RNLI fleece this morning.
I second your suggestion.
The migrant issue had gone quiet over much of the summer – despite BBC doing ‘special undercover investigations’ into vape shops run by migrants, and ‘hunting’ for a ‘Mr Big’ people smuggler – to try to keep migrant issue at the forefront of peoples minds.<p>
Farage, Badenoch and co just love ‘migrants’ – they need to keep the issue up front. They have nothing else. It was inevitable that once ‘migrant hotels’ were closed they would be ranting about ‘migrants coming to your street’. Hence the Piddington thing – but again why does the BBC collude? At least they did interview the brave woman on Newsnight.<p>
Where is the outrage at vigilante black shirts on our streets? BBC calls them ‘protesters'<p>
And although they reported the intimidation of RNLI crews and closure of the Portsmouth station – there still was a marked lack of outrage that the blackshirt nazis would attack one of what is often said to be Britain’s most beloved institutions<p>
The backshirts are not ‘protesters’, they law-breaking vigilantes that police saw fit to let close the port of Dover for half a day with no arrests. Have they arrested those threatening RNLI crews? – I don’t think so.<p>
Meanwhile we have hundreds of people arrested and lives disrupted – having their devices confiscated for holding up placards opposing genocide.<p>
Is this ‘our’ country?
This is not my country.
I wish to whole-heartedly associate myself with this post. You are a good friend to the RNLI and a fine example to us.
Reading about what has been going on, for some reason AC/DC’s song ‘Evil Walks’ keeps popping into my head and I balance it with the Housemartin’s ‘Think for Minute’.
Something really ugly and dangerous has taken hold of this country which will only lead to death if there is not significant change. Death is amongst us now, waiting and it was the Tory politics of divide and conquer that opened the door. I for one will not forget that, or forgive them.
“ Something really ugly and dangerous has taken hold of this country”
So true
Anyone who targets the RNLI and stops volunteers from their life saving work should be regarded as committing crimes against humanity.
Well said on the RNLI, but I take issue with you on one sentence where you say the BBC is “utterly indifferent” to the independence causes in Scotland. Wales and Northern Ireland. Here in Scotland they are implacably hostile to that cause. Not a week goes by when they don’t dredge up a bad news story designed to show that we are rubbish at running our own affairs. Even a good news story like the ScotGov’s Child Poverty Scheme is spun to sound a failure whereas it has reduced the problem well below the levels in the rest of the UK.
Agreed
I agree totally with what you say.Good to hear James O’Brian talking about the matter.Lifeboat men are the bravest of the brave.Used to love the collecting boxes where you put a coin in and the Lifeboat came out.All decent people need to unite in support for the RNLI and against the nasty, small minded fools who are behaving like thugs.I hope the far right and Reform never get into the government [Or that matter the far left]Please help to keep this issue in the media.
I have just joined the RNLI as a governor member having read about this on your site and sent off for two RNLI hats and a badge.
There are lots of caring people in this world and we must unite
Thanks for speaking out about the thugs and fools who behave like muck.
Mark
“First they came first the lifeboat crew” was not on bingo card
“Lifeboat men” and women!
Very definitely.
Thank you for your support- much appreciated. I’m about to go on duty at that shop. The support from the local community and visitors has been wonderful and really important at such a difficult time.
Have a great day. I am literally wearing the T shirt now. And I have just visited the Hunstanton shop, having offered thanks of course.
It’s a sorry state of affairs when protesting a genocide gets you convicted for supporting terrorism (Palestine Action), but threatening violence against life boat volunteers is tolerated.
Agreed
I have always had an issue with the RNLI. It always appalled me that such an institution is a charity and not part of our emergency services, funded by government, and that the volunteers are unpaid.
Thinking about it now, however, I realise that, if they were a government body, their remit to save lives at sea, regardless of whosever life is at risk, could be jeopardised by politicians controlling them.
Yesterday I set up a direct debit for them for the, sadly, small amount I can afford every month.
Thank you
At the end of the Battle of Matapan when the Royal Navy had to leave Admiral Cunningham broadcast the location uncoded so the Italians could launch a rescue mission
It’s possible of course that the distress call the RNLI responded to on September 6th was not genuine.
Politely, don’t be stupid.
Although if you can really believe that you are not just stupid but a very dangerous fool.
I couldn’t agree with you more Richard. I started making donations to the RNLI when I had a yacht on the Clyde in the late 1960s, a sort of advance token of appreciation in case I ever needed rescued. I never did thankfully but since then I have continued my donations.
I regard the Institution as an example of all that is best about humanity.
Thank you, Richard.
I live a few miles from Piddington and know the area well, since January 1971. My parents since 1968. It has featured on a few Escapes To The Country.
A few months ago, the royal editor of the leading tabloid visited the village and wound them up. He helps with the PR campaign, including getting his BBC HQ contacts on side. A retired BBC sports correspondent lives in the village.
The BBC held a meeting to plan its coverage, including what dog whistles to blow and not to broadcast Daniel Thomas’ visit.
This area is beautiful, but does have a dark side. Racist attacks are not unknown. None reported this year, but lots last year.
People are often puzzled by me knowing so much about my ‘hood. They can’t believe anyone like me has been here so long. I moved to the area aged 4 months from Arsenal and Corbyn country.
Thank you
Well said . Kropotkin was a great supporter of the RNLI.
Thank you for that stupid comment.
Don’t call again.
I too visited lifeboat stations as a child, and I’m 100% behind you about the RNLI, who are absolute heroes. But the Piddington issue is a real mare’s nest. There are actually several quite different and extremely good reasons why billeting that number of people there would be disastrous, and they would apply whether the new arrivals were trainee meditation teachers, exhausted refugees from war zones, or well-heeled escapees from Canary Wharf. But the xenophobic, racist rhetoric has so dominated the news coverage that it’s drowned out the genuine issues with the geographical location, and if the thing’s cancelled now everyone will believe the racists have won. The local councillors (some of whom I know) are tearing their hair.
I don’t believe you.
It worked as a camp for the forces.
Of course, it could be a camp again.
Sure, some thought will be requord. But let’s not pretened it is not possible. It is. It has been done before.
Correction: the site was never a barracks. It was a storage depot, including ordnance, and is basically a concrete pad in fields. It’s on a fast country road with no lighting, is prone to flooding, has no sewerage etc. The government consulted the Buckinghamshire records and found no endangered species.
The problem is that Piddington is in Oxfordshire…
The current records DO contain a long list of endangered species, including the only breeding pair of nightingales in Oxfordshire* – it is a rich and rare resource. The proposal is almost bound to fail in this respect.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0031kwr – go to 1:27:54. An interview with a local Green Party activist, Dr. Claire Brenner. A good summary of an objection on non-fascist grounds…
See also for more detail: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1832644207907499
Houses are built in such spaces.
Please stop trying to hide your true motives.
Richard Murphy says: September 18 2026 at 5:11 pm
“I don’t believe you.”
Katy (my wife, by the way) was upset by this response. I recognise that your pugnacious response to trolls is well-deserved. But applied to someone who has contributed positively to this blog for some time, it is not thoughtful or kind. Your blog is part of our lives, and it hurts to be treated in this way.
Similarly, when you said to me “Please stop trying to hide your true motives” I was struck by your arrogant assumption that I was on the side of the fascists. I know that you have little time to spend on moderation and replying, and I am prepared to interpret this as a knee-jerk reaction in haste.
But then you responded to my next post with a throw-away jibe about the Telegraph. No acknowledgement of me as a person – or the evidence and argument I have offered. No sense of understanding what I have said. No apology for insulting me by impugning my motives.
We are both saddened by this episode. We have always seen ourselves as part of this community, and your reaction is hurtful. I hope that you can visualise this blog as a human gathering rather than a combative arena. The humanity (in addition to the intellectual stimulation) is the reason you have gathered around you a thoughtful, well-informed groups of commentators. It has been a stimulating pleasure to be part of it (and indeed recommend it to many) for some time, but I regret that I will shy away from commenting again. For us, it’s a case of twice bitten…
I have disagreed with you as to prioritises.
Since the whole blog is about priorities it is unsurprising that will sometimes happen.
And please cut me some slack. I cannot store a memory of every commentator over time. That is just not possible. I am human. I react to what I read. I am sorry if it offends, but given I cannot back read every comment, so my one about the Telegraph is key. It is common to find people attaching relatively unrelated causes to their concerns which may disguise motives. I am sorry if I have read that wrong in your case, but please do get my position. The alternative is no comments and no reactions.
“Disastrous” is a strong word.
Bicester Barracks (1942 onwards till quite recently), it hosted around 1,100 military and 1,500 civilian staff. Piddington didn’t declare UDI then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_Bicester
This CAN work, if we want it to. I used to live and work near RAF Sopley when the “boat people” came. An enormous amount of energy went into making that work, and lessons were learned. I remember some of the refugees at the time.
Thank you.
@DavidC
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/09/18/the-rnli-people-of-courage-and-commitment-to-their-neighbours-whoever-they-might-be/#comment-1093747
There seems to be a deliberate vagueness about the location of the proposed refugee accommodation, in media reports. For the avoidance of doubt, here is an OS map reference for the location of the former “MOD Bicester” and the barracks that WERE part of the facility.
ST 58855 69499
and on OpenStreetmap
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/51.83175/-1.10893&layers=N
The descriptor “concrete pad” is a “terminological inexactitude”, to put it mildly. HMP Bullingdon, on part of the old barracks site, now houses category B sex offenders (race unspecified but Rolf Harris started his sentence there) and it also includes a Young Offenders Institute (YOI). The prison itself makes a fascinating research topic should any residents of Piddington have time on their hands – plenty for them to worry about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Bullingdon
Thank you.
Much appreciated.
RobertJ says:
September 19 2026 at 3:20 pm
“There seems to be a deliberate vagueness about the location of the proposed refugee accommodation”
Not here. Your map reference correctly shows the entrance of the site in question (site A) – it extends E towards Piddington, and is the closest element of the scattering of old MOD property spread over a wide area between that village and Bicester.
I am not disputing your geography or your history. Are you disputing the evidence that the site is of great conservation importance, or my motives for opposing its development?
The fact that opposition to the development is also coming from some of the most loathsome elements of our population is not in question. Dr Claire Brenner’s research has demonstrated that the plan was underpinned by spurious wildlife data which should be enough to ensure rejection under current statute. On appeal, if the development is rejected on these grounds (as it should be), I have no doubt that the fascists will claim victory. But that does not mean that we are on their side. I hope that this is clear.
Thank you for this post and comments. Modest donation made.
Thank you
Those words are true for all rescuing services.
I have the deepest gratitude for every firefighter, medic, lifeguard,… everywhere.
Whatever their reasons might be for it.
They’re needed even if everything would work perfectly fine economically, they still would put their life in peril to safe others.
In current economical terms this doesn’t make any sense at all!
This is a remarkable feat and shows what humanity is capable of.
The people, who fight against them now, would not want at all to find themselves in such a place where they need rescue.
If they’d be consequent they’d need to deny those people the possibility of saving them.
And those courageous people still would, for the most part, go out of their depths to attempt it anyway!
Those ungrateful, please excuse my French, bastards really show where the opposite of those brave people is.
It should not be lost on these racist thugs that the Good Samaritan was deliberately chosen by Jesus to highlight the overarching duty to help one’s neighbour, come what may, and whoever he or she is.
For Samaritans were considered unclean, by believing Jews of 1st century Palestine. That is clear from Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well, in John 4, verse 9
“The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
This is equally clear in this parable, for when Jesus asks, in Luke, 10, 36-37
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?. The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
The lawyer cannot even bear to say the word “the Samaritan”, but had to come out with a mealy-mouthed periphrasis – just the sort of response these thugs would probably (surely?) come out with, if their life was saved by an asylum-seeker.
Andrew, you and I know that, and the theology, and how cleverly this argument was constructed. Does Stephen Yaxley Lennon and his cohort? I doubt it. But, thank you. It’s right to smell it out.
It’s not just a problem with xenophobic, racist protesters in Piddington, Dover and Portsmouth. The jailing of 19 year old Chan Mathok Atak for steering a group of 165 migrants across the Channel shows us that far-right thuggery is now at the heart of our politics and legal system.
Thank you for an excellent post and your encouragement to buy and wear RNLI merchandise! I am an RNLI Member, with a more modest but regular contribution, which began when I started sea kayaking 17 years ago. Like Robert Hill above, I felt a contribution in advance would create a link with the people who would come to rescue me. I am in the Tayside Sea Kayak Club and no member has ever had to be rescued – the recent episode of Saving Lives at Sea, which featured the Broughty Ferry Lifeboat rescuing some kayakers was not us but someone from California who had no concept of cold water!
The Club regularly joins with the lifeboat crew to practise rescues on the water and we make an annual donation out of club funds. The people of Dundee and the Ferry hold the RNLI in great respect and appreciate it is one of the busiest Life Boat Stations, which is sadly, partly due to suicide attempts from the Tay Road Bridge.
Your descriptions of merchandise prompts me to go and spend some money. I do need a new paddling hat, having lost my old favourite and I have seen recently an idea which combines giving to the RNLI by buying greetings cards with causing inconvenience to the perpetrators of the dreadful taxi slur – Reform UK. They have freepost address which I hope will soon be in receipt of many thousands of greetings cards, incurring a postal fee for each one It’s a win-win!
In case any of your readers would enjoy sending Fartrage a Christmas card (I see they have one which rather fittingly depicts an RNLI boot) I append the address below.
Reform UK, Freepost RTLT-ZXHY-KSDC, 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H OHW
I am amused.
They have to send £72 million on something.
I am waiting for my RNLI cards to arrive, so that Christmas may come early for Reform.
I was interested to discover that Clacton has two lifeboats. I am planning to photocopy their page from the RNLI website and include it with the cards.
🙂
There are just no words adequate for a response to attacks on the RNLI.
Richard Murphy says: “Please stop trying to hide your true motives.”
Richard, I find this comment difficult to understand. What do you know of my motives? A Green party zoologist friend is doing a very good job of opposing the development on the grounds that it is probably illegal on wildlife legislation grounds – the government due diligence was farcically inept. They had even funded a lot of work to encourage nesting by nightingales!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09/16/great-crested-newts-could-thwart-piddington-migrant-camp/
RobertJ says: “Bicester Barracks (1942 onwards till quite recently), it hosted around 1,100 military and 1,500 civilian staff”.
– The Graven Hill site in Bicester is 5.2 miles along the A4011 from Piddington, with Ambrosden, Blackthorn and the Arncotts inbetween. It is now the site of a flourishing housing development, and has no relevance to this proposal.
The site in question is MOD site A, an ex-storage depot just outside Piddington along the Arncott road. It is an outstanding wildlife area with many rare species. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZP9V3R6EeP0
The first recorded time The Telegraph has taken the side of wildlife conservation.
@DavidC
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/09/18/the-rnli-people-of-courage-and-commitment-to-their-neighbours-whoever-they-might-be/#comment-1093833
This is my final response.
1. I haven’t questioned your motives.
2. I am noting the fact that the arrival of 2 barracks, lots of soldiers (young single men mostly) and extensive MOD development in years past, did not provoke UDI at the time, nor have the media previously focussed on local protests about housing develoments, data centres, flood risks etc in the way they have just recently.
I think it was entirely predictable that fascists would hijack any genuine concerns about Great Crested Newts and bats. I AM very sceptical about that “UDI” vote. At best, it was an astoundingly naive move, at worst, it was engineered by forces that wouldn’t recognise a Great Crested Newt if it dropped into their bathwater.
Finally – on “location”. Yes, it was me that provided the location and the map references – all the journalists kept it very vague. I still haven’t seen a detailed map delineating “Site A” in MSM articles, or your posts, or the main gov.uk web pages.
I also have pointed out for some time now, that authoritarian central government is determined to take even more powers to overrule local councils in planning matters.
My neighbourhood here in S Bristol is v different from Piddington. Here, people DIE as a result of these tensions. I am involved through my small church community directly in 2 supported housing projects locally & we negotiate these tensions between local homeless people and newly arrived refugees. It’s a tightrope because we want to help them both. We have more homeless refugees and more homeless locals on our doorstep than Piddington will ever have. And we value wildlife and green space, because we have so little left, and we fight for it too. Peace.
I am with you, Robert, and agree with this.