David Vance SubstackRead More
There is a scene from the film version of the comedy classic ‘Rising Damp’, in which Philip (Don Warrington) thinks he has mislaid his wallet. John (Chris Strauli), his roommate, suggests that the new tenant, Seymour (Denholm Elliott) is a con man who has, in fact, stolen the wallet. Keen to satisfy his suspicion, John persuades Rigsby and Philip to enter Seymour’s room whilst he is out of the house. To their surprise, Seymour returns early to find the three of them going through his personal possessions. Understandably keen to divert attention away from his own nefarious activities, Seymour slyly plants the wallet on John whilst pretending to frisk him. The suspicion of both Rigsby and Philip then turns to John as Seymour reveals him as the ‘thief’. Of course, the true culprit is Seymour himself, though we have to wait till a little later on in the film for Rigsby and Philip to realise Seymour’s true character.
I increasingly feel as if living in the UK today is like inhabiting a universe where the above scene is played out every time the British state wants to bury news that makes its socio-political agenda appear in a bad light. The state is Seymour, trying to hide his true character. The wallet plays the role of an important event that has the capacity to shock or disrupt society. Finally, the British public are cast as Rigsby, Philip and John, unable to comprehend that they have been lied to or deceived. They are bewildered by events, knowing something just doesn’t quite add up, but unable to put the pieces together because they are outsmarted by Seymour – a true professional in the art of deception. However the state, like Seymour, is ultimately fallible – and just as Seymour’s own weaknesses finally expose him for the fraud he is, the advent of mass social media means those of us who have the time to unpick through the deviousness of the Establishment and its media lackeys can eventually expose their narratives for the toxins they are!
Ann Widdecombe wasn’t just any 78-year-old former political figure. She was somebody who has been prominent in British life for forty years. A TV celebrity and political pundit, as well as a prominent figure in Reform UK, she held traditional Christian, Centre-right views that, until the counter-enlightenment started by Tony Blair, were considered perfectly reasonable and acceptable in British society. She called out the heinous crimes of mass migration, two-tier policing, the adulteration of meaning around biological sex, and the elevation of every ‘progressive’ scheme and thought process. Yet, when it was announced she had been killed by an intruder in her remote Devon home, any suggestion of a radical or terrorist motive was quashed by the local police constabulary. Even when it was revealed her alleged attacker had spent 5 hours on the road, driving all the way from his home in Rotherham to the edge of Dartmoor – a distance of some 300 miles – the police still withheld the truth from us. It was only after a number of days had elapsed that the true horror of what had occurred was revealed. Ann Widdecombe had been bludgeoned to death. Yes, folks! Bludgeoned! We now live in a society where even to hold views anything close to traditional conservatism, can render you a target for the militant Left and its armies of street warriors, mental defectives and impulse control-bereft freaks.
Although it was revealed tonight (July 20th) that the man has been charged with Ms Widdecombe’s murder, the tragedy has been noteworthy for the blanket of silence from both the Establishment and the mainstream media since that awful day. But should we be shocked? These are the same Establishment and media figures that have spent the best part of 20 years (and especially the time since the Brexit vote) spitting venom at anyone that opposes them ideologically. Like some deranged puff adder, the venom emanating from their quarters has been as unrelenting as it has been vile. They’ve now had to row back on, or delete, many of the comments they made about Ann Widdecombe over the years, but we know their true feelings. When it comes to political ideology and conviction the vast bulk of the government, the civil service, charities, celebrities and local councillors are significantly closer in outlook to Ann Widdecombe’s alleged assassin than they are to Ann Widdecombe herself. Obviously they differ vastly on how the likes of Ann Widdecombe should be silenced, cancelled or delegitimised. What they don’t differ on is their fundamental hatred for her and the millions of us who think like her. If that fact doesn’t worry you, it bloody well should!
Maybe that explains the silence in the days since her assassination. For the British state and its media helpers have confected a situation where it has become mainstream, nay acceptable, to scream ‘racist’ at those who want a sane and discerning immigration system; to scream ‘Islamophobe’ at folk who see the incalculable amount of cultural incompatibilities between that faith and Western society; to scream ‘transphobe’ at all who know you can only be either male or female; or to scream ‘homophobe’ if you’d rather not have every item of street furniture plastered in Pride flags for three or four months of the year. They are the ones who have whipped up this frenzy, only to then recoil in shock when their apostles of a more questionably sane – though unquestionably evil – nature carry out their desire to silence opponents in the most primeval way possible. Gee whizz, they’ll even go so far as to concoct a cock and bull story about a ‘far-Right’ (yes, that bogeyman again) plot to attack an Islamic gathering in Suffolk at the same convenient time as burying news on the Widdecombe investigation (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/13/police-arrests-suspected-far-right-threat-islamic-event-suffolk). Not that they’re trying to divert your attention or anything. The fact that all suspects have been found to have no case to answer on this ‘plot’ (https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2026-07-20/terror-suspects-released-in-investigations-of-alleged-islamic-event-threat) should surprise nobody. Nice diversion strategy there, fellas. Actually, I need to reappraise my opening opinion: When it comes to medacity, Seymour had nothing on the state we live in!!
