News From Around The World – October 2022
By Paul Bennett
Former BBC Radio Presenter Jailed For “Online Stalking”
A popular British YouTube presenter and ex BBC employee has been jailed for five and a half years for a ‘campaign of harassment’ against BBC employees and journalists.
Over a nine-year period, the court heard that Alex Belfield posted regular messages on his social media accounts, sent emails, and made YouTube videos about the four complainants including Jeremy Vine. Belfield justified his online actions by stating: “I am a journalist who is instinctively going to upset people by the nature of what I do. Nobody wants to be exposed. Nobody wants to be caught out.”
Don’t lose touch with uncensored news! Join our mailing list today.
Belfield’s charges stated that he “pursued a course of conduct that amounted to harassment of the complainants”, which caused them “serious alarm and distress” and “amounted to stalking.” According to the Yorkshire Evening Post,” Belfield denies eight counts of stalking spanning a period between 2012 and 2021, after his contract with BBC Radio Leeds was not renewed.”
Despite the deceiving mainstream headlines, Mr Belfield was not accused of physical stalking against the complainants, who were mostly made up of current or former BBC staff. Prosecutor John McGuinness said: “The stalking which this case is concerned with is of a different type-and is more akin to internet trolling.”
BBC top earner Jeremy Vine described Belfield’s online behaviour as “like an avalanche of hatred you get hit by”, and “absolutely Olympic-level stalking, even for broadcasting.” In a despicable comparison, Vine labelled Belfield the “Jimmy Savile of Trolling” in court. He said: “This is not a regular troll here. This is the Jimmy Savile of Trolling.” Vile and evil Jimmy Savile was an BBC employee for decades and is one of the UK’s most serial sexual predators ever seen.
Belfield responded to the deplorable association with Savile by saying: “What possible reason could Jeremy Vine have said this in front of you other than to destroy me and get the headline of the century, which he did. He thought of the most evil, awful person in media history and compared him to me. For him to associate me with Jimmy Savile is unthinkable.”
Melodramatic Vine continued, “it felt like I had a fishhook in my face and my flesh was being torn, and the only way to avoid further pain was to remain completely still.” Belfield called Vine’s antics in court as “the cleverest razzle dazzle I’ve ever seen.”
Belfield who defended himself in court said in his closing speech that the BBC was trying to “shut me up” because of “inconvenient truths”. He added: “As a whistle-blower of the BBC, I was there for 15 years and I saw where the bodies are buried, if you like, and I saw where they wasted money.”
Belfield told the court he has a right to freedom of speech and had legitimate reasons for posting the messages. During the court hearing Belfield told the jury: “I’m a Nottingham lad with a potty mouth and I speak as I find it, and I appreciate that’s not to everyone’s taste. People who claim I was stalking them were actively seeking out my content. Human rights allow me to have free speech in this country, until you are given bail conditions where you cannot speak.”
Popular online political and social observer Paul Joseph Watson (PJW) tweeted about the case: “5 years in prison for ‘online harassment’ (tweets mainly) while members of grooming gangs up and down the country avoid jail. Absurd.”
Belfield hosted a YouTube channel called The Voice of Reason with a large, subscribed following over 350,000. Belfield is often described as a ‘marmite’ type presenter and is known for his sneery, crude sarcastic language. His presenting style is not to everyone’s taste as he mentioned at Nottingham Crown Court.
However, the severe custodial sentencing handed out to Alex Belfield for ‘cyber stalking’, or serious online trolling sets a worrying precedent for the future of free speech online and plays nicely into the hands of advocates for the UK Online Safety Bill proposed.
The sentencing appears politically motivated and entirely disproportionate to the alleged crimes he committed. The apparent witch-hunt and piling on from the BBC during the case may act as a deterrent to anyone wishing to go up against large institutions in the future.
Nigeria Bans Foreign Models and Voiceovers in Adverts
Nigeria is unapologetically banning foreign models and voiceovers from advertisements in a move to develop and promote indigenous Nigerian talent.
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) said in a statement on August 22: “All advertisements, advertising, and marketing communications materials are to make use of only Nigerian models and voiceover artists. Ongoing campaigns are permitted to run out their terms, however, subsequent applications for revalidation for continued exposure of such materials will not be granted by the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP). Advertisers, advertisement agencies, media houses advertising community and the general public are hereby enjoined to take note.”
Head of ARCON, Olalekan Fadolapo, said: “Advertising should resonate with people. How do you think it will resonate if we keep using foreign artists?”
Steve Babaeko, president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria told the UK Times: “Ten to 20 years ago if you checked the commercials, I would say they were almost 50/50 in terms of foreign faces and all the voiceovers were British accents.” He added, “People will tell you, there are about 200 million of us. Are you telling me you could not find indigenous models for these commercials?” Babaeko believes the new law in the former British colony will act as a ‘kind of renaissance’ to ignite confidence in local artists and bolster the Nigerian economy.
British-Nigerian author, Lotanna Igwe-Odunze, reacted to the prioritization of Nigerian talent by saying: “The government banned foreign models, not white models. White models are foreign to Nigeria, so of course, they are naturally banned, however, the bans bars anybody who simply isn’t Nigerian. Huge difference.”
One has to wonder what would happen if Nigerian models were banned from other countries? ‘Tolerant liberals’ must be engaging in ‘mental gymnastics’ regarding the ‘Nigeria First’ policy.
The ban is in line with the country’s federal government policy to grow local talent and improve the economic growth of the country. Nigeria’s brazenness and ingenuity to solely focus on creating new jobs for local indigenous talent should be admired and applauded.
The ban will come into effect from October 1 which also happens to be Nigerian Independence Day.
Brave Irish Teacher Jailed Over Pronoun Dispute in Secondary School
A secondar y school teacher has been jailed for refusing to use the pronoun “They” in a controversial High Court case in Ireland. Enoch Burke from Co. Mayo was imprisoned for contempt of court after refusing to adhere to a court order secured from his school over the issue of gender identity.
The disagreement began in May when an email was sent by the principal of Wilson’s Hospital School in Co. West meat h ask i ng all teachers to use the pronoun “They” for a male student transitioning. Based on religious grounds, Mr Burke said he would refuse to call the student their requested pronouns and publicly confronted the then principal of the school over his concerns during the summer. As a result of his objections, Mr Burke was placed on paid administrative leave from teaching at the school pending the outcome of a disciplinary process.
In September, the situation intensified when despite the suspension, Mr Burke attended the school and sat in an empty classroom willing to teach his students. Concerned, the debacle may cause disruption to pupils, the Church of Ireland school in Multyfarnham secured an ex-parte temporary High Court injunction preventing Mr Burke from either teaching at its premises or from teaching any classes at the school while he remained under suspension. According to the Irish Independent: “Despite this order, he continued to come to the school each morning. This led to a further application from the board of management, and Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan ordered on Friday that Mr Burke be arrested and brought before the court.”
Addressing the court and representing himself without legal assistance, Mr Burke said: “I am a teacher, and I don’t want to go to prison. I want to be in my classroom today, that’s where I was this morning when I was arrested.” Mr Burke has been a teacher at the school for the past four years.
The German and History teacher also responded to his suspension from school and contempt of court by saying: “It is extraordinary and reprehensible that someone’s religious beliefs on this matter could ever be taken as grounds for an allegation of misconduct. My religious beliefs are not misconduct. They are not gross misconduct. They never will be. They are dear to me. I will never deny them and never betray them, and I will never bow to an order that would require me to do so. It is just not possible for me to do that.”
During the court hearing on September 5, Justice Michael Quinn was satisfied that Mr Burke breached the injunction and was in contempt of court. He said, “I order he be committed to Mountjoy Prison and remain therein until he purges his contempt or until further order of this court.” Enoch Burke responded passionately to the court outcome by saying: “It is insanity that I will be led from this courtroom to a place of incarceration, but I will not give up my Christian beliefs.”
Once again, the international issue of compelled speech and the imposition of transgender ideology is showing its ugly fascist head again. Renowned Canadian Psychologist Jordan Peterson warned society in 2016 that once you make ‘Gender Identity’ a protected class, you are compelling people to use speech against their own logic, reality, and belief system. Jordan Peterson recently commented on his Facebook page about the Burke case: “I said very clearly in 2016 that the first people jailed for ‘pronoun misuse’ would be dragged through the courts and then hit with contempt charges. “Nobody will be jailed for pronouns” was the reaction. Wrong. More than once now.”
At the time of writing, Mr Burke is still enslaved at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Enoch Burke told the court: “If this court so determines, I will never leave Mountjoy Prison if in leaving the prison I violate my well-informed conscience and religious belief and deny my God.”