Sam Melia: The Gaslighting of Britain

Possibly you are already familiar with the case of Sam Melia – if so, please indulge my rant a moment. If not, you really need to hear this one. Melia was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court earlier this month, for the crime of producing offensive stickers. Yes, I’m not joking, but the authorities almost certainly are. 

The stickers ranged from the mundane, ‘Reject white guilt’; the controversial, ’It’s OK to be white’ (hate speech according to the Old Bill); and the more racy, ‘Small hats, big problems’ – although, nothing that wouldn’t be out of place in a Labour Party Facebook group. 

Unlike most commentators, I refuse to play the ‘Oh my God, aren’t his views awful, but free speech blah, blah…’ routine – let me say it another way: Melia’s views are none of anyone’s business; his actions, on the other hand, are. But this case it seems, has precious little to do with actions, and everything to do with thoughts. 

Although the prosecution confirmed Melia’s views were ‘not illegal in themselves’, the Crown Prosecution Service talked of little other than ‘ideology’, arguing that the stickers police found in his wallet were evidence of ‘views of a nationalist nature’, while the Oswald Mosley book and poster of Adolf Hitler were ‘key signs of Melia’s ideology’. Indeed they might be. Then again, Melia may just be a keen student of history.

More to the point, I daresay his views coalesce with the vast majority of the native population. Consider the stickers ‘Natives losing jobs; migrants pouring in’ and ‘We will be a minority in our homeland by 2066’. A survey conducted only last month revealed that nine out of ten voters want immigration levels reduced. What does the CPS propose to do about these ideological transgressions by the public – chuck us all in chokey? Probably the best bet, seeing as the hotels and housing stock will be exhausted long before then. 

The disingenuous and hackneyed requirement to dissociate oneself with the views of Melia in order to grudgingly defend his right to hold them, is very much a one-way street in Britain. May I remind the jury that the proscribed organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir has only just been banned in Britain. For years, the group’s ‘wrong-think’ was presumably acceptable, or at the very least dismissed without the need for such caveats? 

Let us reflect on what the group believes in. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a transnational fundamentalist group, which openly seeks the establishment of a global caliphate. Banned in many Muslim countries, the Home Office has previously described the group as ‘antisemitic, anti-western and homophobic’, although noting that it had the grace to do so on ‘non-violent’ grounds. I wonder if Hizb ut-Tahrir were creative enough to produce any stickers: ‘Jihadis know how to handle a harem’ or ‘Suicide bombers get the party started’?

Does anyone recall what Britain did with celebrity cleric Anjem Choudary, whose ideology drove him to the conclusion that the flag of Islam should fly over Downing Street and that Buckingham Palace be converted to a mosque? We rewarded him with Jihadis seekers’ allowance in perpetuity, security at £2Million a year, and an open invitation to Newsnight. 

The really interesting part of this case is revealed when you hear from those in attendance at the sentencing, Melia’s wife and friends:  

The judge’s insistence on a custodial sentence apparently arose from the need ‘to act as a deterrent’, within ‘a particularly sensitive social climate’. In other words, Joe Public beware: ‘Stop noticing what the authorities are doing, what we aren’t doing and what we’re allowing to happen, and we might just allow you to keep your liberty!’ 

The real kick in the teeth came when the judge allegedly claimed: ‘When you get involved, you undermine the government’s attempts to deal with immigration’. Try to read that one without laughing. Yes, now we finally know who to thank for the past 14 years’ worth of mass immigration – Sam Melia and his ilk (presumably Hello Kitty and Peppa Pig retailers can expect a knock on the door anytime now?)

Behaviour like this is nothing short of gaslighting. Infinitely worse than Melia’s stickers is out and about en masse in London every weekend come rain or shine, and the police look on without interest. While Jews may be spared the ignominy of Melia, this weekend will once again see calls for Jihad, genocide and intifada across the Capital – how many of those in attendance do you think are going to serve out two years at his Majesty’s pleasure to ‘act as a deterrent’? 

Two-tier policing is now operating openly across Britain – precisely what Melia was objecting to. The irony is, if the authorities even vaguely did their job, Melia most likely would have devoted his energies to more traditional pastimes. Well might the left gloat that Melia has been offered up as a sacrificial lamb. But if you think sentencing him in any way alleviates the seething tension within Britain, you’re a major part of the problem. 

Frank Haviland is the Editor of The New Conservative, and the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West.

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