Lucy Frazer vs Lineker
Dear Ms Lucy Frazer,
In the House of Commons on March 9 2023, you spoke as minister for Culture, Media and Sport in respect of Gary Lineker’s tweet (1).
Please explain why “as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s” (2)?
What makes any reference or comparison to the events of Nazi Germany in the 1930s disappointing and inappropriate?
Is it your opinion that what the Nazis did to the Jews with their final solution of concentration camps and gas ovens was so much worse than the home secretary’s proposed “The Illegal Immigration Bill” that descendants of those who suffered the Nazi atrocities will feel their suffering is being trivialised by comparison? Do you feel that?
In the 1970’s I attended a school in London. Although not a bad school, it wrestled with the effects of poorly handled immigration and the racial hatred that created. A working-class sport in that neck of the woods was Paki Bashing. I was lucky, I wasn’t dark-skinned. I was just Jewish. As a non-practising Jew, there was nothing visible to mark me out in that place and time where being ‘different’ would make you a target. I never participated in Paki bashing. I just kept quiet.
As I got older and learned more about the ‘final solution’ I found myself having nightmares about Nazis again coming knocking door to door. Would I answer them with “No Jews here”? It was not as if I believed in God, let alone was a practising Jew. These nightmares were to revisit me. In a discussion with my brother, I realised my dreams were questioning whether I was a coward. Would I denounce what was right for an easier ride as perhaps I had implicitly done by hiding my heritage back in the schoolyard?
You, Suella Braverman and the entire Conservative party and what it has now become confirm I am no coward, at least not anymore. Perhaps, I should at least thank you for that insight!
Who, in your capacity as MP, are you defending against the inappropriateness of Lineker’s message? Germans? Jews? Me?
I assure you those with the most reason to be sensitive about comparisons to 1930's Germany are far more offended and frightened by the pronouncements and policies of the likes of Braverman and Priti Patel and now your own enthusiastic complicity in this government’s thin-end-of-the-wedge, slide towards fascism (3).
So, please explain why “as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s”?
In the House of Commons on March 9 2023, you spoke as minister for Culture, Media and Sport in respect of Gary Lineker’s tweet (1).
Please explain why “as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s” (2)?
What makes any reference or comparison to the events of Nazi Germany in the 1930s disappointing and inappropriate?
Is it your opinion that what the Nazis did to the Jews with their final solution of concentration camps and gas ovens was so much worse than the home secretary’s proposed “The Illegal Immigration Bill” that descendants of those who suffered the Nazi atrocities will feel their suffering is being trivialised by comparison? Do you feel that?
In the 1970’s I attended a school in London. Although not a bad school, it wrestled with the effects of poorly handled immigration and the racial hatred that created. A working-class sport in that neck of the woods was Paki Bashing. I was lucky, I wasn’t dark-skinned. I was just Jewish. As a non-practising Jew, there was nothing visible to mark me out in that place and time where being ‘different’ would make you a target. I never participated in Paki bashing. I just kept quiet.
As I got older and learned more about the ‘final solution’ I found myself having nightmares about Nazis again coming knocking door to door. Would I answer them with “No Jews here”? It was not as if I believed in God, let alone was a practising Jew. These nightmares were to revisit me. In a discussion with my brother, I realised my dreams were questioning whether I was a coward. Would I denounce what was right for an easier ride as perhaps I had implicitly done by hiding my heritage back in the schoolyard?
You, Suella Braverman and the entire Conservative party and what it has now become confirm I am no coward, at least not anymore. Perhaps, I should at least thank you for that insight!
Who, in your capacity as MP, are you defending against the inappropriateness of Lineker’s message? Germans? Jews? Me?
I assure you those with the most reason to be sensitive about comparisons to 1930's Germany are far more offended and frightened by the pronouncements and policies of the likes of Braverman and Priti Patel and now your own enthusiastic complicity in this government’s thin-end-of-the-wedge, slide towards fascism (3).
So, please explain why “as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s”?
Sincerely yours
Michael Ellis
Notes:
Michael Ellis
Notes:
- "There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the '30s." – Linekers tweet
- “Mr. Speaker, as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s. It’s important for the BBC to maintain impartiality if it is to retain the trust of the public who pay the licence fee. The BBC is operationally independent and I’m pleased the BBC will be speaking to Gary Lineker to remind him of his responsibilities in relation to social media.
– Culture Secretary, Lucy Frazer, responds to a question on the BBC Oral questions: Culture, Media and Sport (including Topical Questions) on March 9 2023.
Video: https://tinyurl.com/2ds9nb77 - Quotes from Suella Braverman in respect of fascist rhetoric.
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