Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[briantrumpet]

That Farage is desperately trying to distance himself from Gill suggests that he knows the Russian link is a problem. It would be good if the main media outlets would put as much effort into this as they did with Angela Rayner or Starmer buying a field so his mum could keep some donkeys. They could start by asking Gill if Farage is telling porkies. But they seem weirdly incurious.

 

[briantrumpet]

At least Byline Times is still digging

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/10/11/...ian-sympathies-does-not-stand-up-to-scrutiny/

 

[briantrumpet]

 

[Ian H]

[Private Eye]

 

[briantrumpet]

Someone in the Scottish press is also asking about Farage's links with Gill.

https://archive.ph/L5HPt

You may recall that during the Southport racist rioting, Farage was accused of fuelling unrest and putting out disinformation when he speculated that the suspect was being monitored by security services, and asked if “the truth is being withheld from us”. Farage’s defence was that he was only asking a “fair and legitimate question”.

In the same spirit, I suggest that we put any sense of deja vu behind us when it comes to Farage and Reform, and start asking some “fair and legitimate questions” about what precisely are the links with Russia.

Unlike Nathan Gill, a person or a party does not need to be a paid stooge of the Kremlin to be a threat to national security. Simply being in anyway simpatico with Putin should be enough in this day and age to render a movement or an individual so beyond the moral pale as to be unelectable. Though such thinking evidently entails the belief that Britain, as a political entity, retains some sort of moral core.

That’s an entirely different, if contingent, question - which it is both fair and legitimate to ask.

 

[C R]

Someone in the Scottish press is also asking about Farage's links with Gill.

https://archive.ph/L5HPt

I can't disagree with the commenter, but I must protest at the use of simpatico. Simpatico is a false friend of sympathetic. Simpatico means affable, good natured.

 

[briantrumpet]

I can't disagree with the commenter, but I must protest at the use of simpatico. Simpatico is a false friend of sympathetic. Simpatico means affable, good natured.

Yeah, not a word I'd use, because I'd probably get it wrong (and there's a better English word). It's like 'sympathique' in French, which just means 'nice'.

 

[icowden]

View attachment 10450

OK - educate me. Who the heck is Nadia Sass? Or is the joke just about her being sassy?

 

[briantrumpet]

OK - educate me. Who the heck is Nadia Sass? Or is the joke just about her being sassy?

It's in the article previously linked:

Oleh Voloshyn, indicted as Gill’s paymaster and loyal servant to Putin’s close ally, Viktor Medvedchuk, was married to another employee of the pro-Russian media mogul’s TV channels, Nadia Borodi.

Also known as Nadia Sass, Borodi worked as a presenter on Medvedchuk’s Channel 112 and has been described as a “Russian propagandist” by the French investigative news site Desk Russie

 

[CXRAndy]

OK - educate me. Who the heck is Nadia Sass? Or is the joke just about her being sassy?

Vicky can explain it better


View: https://youtu.be/K4vgtBHpA1I?si=9OcKweuAgNgRVZKv

 

[matticus]

Also known as Nadia Sass, Borodi worked as a presenter on Medvedchuk’s Channel 112 and has been described as a “Russian propagandist” by the French investigative news site Desk Russie

It's not her real name?! this is genuinely disappointing, I'd written a whole spy drama around her ... <sigh>

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/10/...ter-lavish-hospitality-from-russian-oligarch/

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has broken parliamentary rules by failing to register lavish hospitality he received from Lubov Chernukhin – wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister.

From 4 to 6 August, Tice and his partner Isabel Oakeshott bagged themselves a trip to the French Riviera, where they were hosted the Lubov Chernukhin and her husband, Vladimir.

Tice and Oakeshott stayed at the Chernukhins’ “turreted villa” with “a stunning view of the Mediterranean” and had supper with them at a Michelin-starred restaurant, according to a report by the right-wing website UnHerd on 20 August.

 

[matticus]

I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you!

 

[Beebo]

Farage doesn’t like asylum seekers calling for his death, but actively promotes people who call for the death of asylum seekers.
They both went to prison, which is correct.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj97lkmd23po

 

[CXRAndy]

I dont think he's calling for the death , he's calling for the illegals to be deported