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You must be having a laugh! Yes Minister and The Thick of It were among the satire programmes flagged by beleaguered counter-terror Prevent scheme for 'encouraging far-right sympathies'
The UK Daily Mail ^ | February 17, 2023 | Sam Merriman, Chris Hastings & David Barrett

Posted on 02/20/2023 7:35:33 AM PST by Twotone

Some of Britain’s most popular sitcoms and greatest works of literature were flagged as potential signs of far-Right extremism by a counter-terror programme.

The flagship Prevent scheme, recently the subject of a scathing audit, singled out comedies Yes Minister and The Thick Of It, the 1955 epic war film The Dam Busters, and even The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare as possible red flags of extremism.

It said the works of fiction were ‘key texts’ for ‘white nationalists/supremacists’.

A report by Prevent’s Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU) described how far-Right extremists promoted ‘reading lists’ on online bulletin boards. And it reproduced an image being shared on far-Right corners of the internet that listed ‘important texts’, under pictures of Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, and Oswald Mosley, who led the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s.

The taxpayer-funded document included references to The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, 1984 by George Orwell and the poems of GK Chesterton. It also referenced films including The Bridge On The River Kwai, The Great Escape and Zulu.

Works by some of the world’s greatest writers were included as examples of warning signs of potential extremism, including Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Tennyson, Kipling and Edmund Burke. It almost seems like a joke

The report even highlighted the BBC’s 1990s political thriller House Of Cards, John le Carre’s seminal spy trilogy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Sharpe, the ITV drama set in the Napoleonic wars.

Inexplicably, it said the BBC’s Great British Railway Journeys, presented by former Conservative minister Michael Portillo, was of interest to the far-Right.

Historian and broadcaster Andrew Roberts said: ‘This is truly extraordinary. This is the reading list of anyone who wants a civilised, liberal, cultured education.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: extremism; farright; ukcounterterrorism
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1 posted on 02/20/2023 7:35:33 AM PST by Twotone
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To: Twotone

2 posted on 02/20/2023 7:36:52 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Twotone

Wonder what they think of The New Statesman, if they have enough of a sense of humor to get the satire?


3 posted on 02/20/2023 7:39:21 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Representatives are supposed to represent their constituents, that is their job. )
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To: dfwgator

I wonder what they think of Benny Hill?


4 posted on 02/20/2023 7:39:21 AM PST by mkmensinger
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To: mkmensinger

Good one!


5 posted on 02/20/2023 7:40:21 AM PST by FreeperCell
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To: mkmensinger

The BBC pretty much kicked him off years ago.


6 posted on 02/20/2023 7:41:08 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Twotone

I recently obtained a copy of Prevent’s programming code. Here it is, in its entirety.

Is the author of the work a straight white person?
If yes, goto line 10.
If no, goto line 20.

10 The work is extremist. Ban it.
20 The work passes. It is not extremist.


7 posted on 02/20/2023 7:41:53 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: dfwgator

Their loss.


8 posted on 02/20/2023 7:42:31 AM PST by mkmensinger
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To: mkmensinger

They’ll eventually go after Monty Python, even though none of them were conservatives.


9 posted on 02/20/2023 7:43:45 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BlackAdderess

The show I mean, with Alan B’Stard


10 posted on 02/20/2023 7:44:35 AM PST by BlackAdderess (Representatives are supposed to represent their constituents, that is their job. )
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To: Twotone

11 posted on 02/20/2023 7:45:33 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Twotone

I am proud to say I have read many of the books and watched the movies and TV shows on the list. Just a reminder this is from a program run under a so called Conservative government


12 posted on 02/20/2023 7:55:45 AM PST by C19fan
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To: Twotone

Has the system ever flagged a single thing for “far-left” input during its existence?


13 posted on 02/20/2023 7:57:23 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (The only way to secure your own future is to create it yourself. 111 is the key.)
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To: Twotone

Great Britain is circling the toilet.

It won’t be long before all that remains is rump England, ruled by woke Marxists, raging at its total impotence.


14 posted on 02/20/2023 8:00:43 AM PST by PGR88 (, )
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To: dfwgator

After that The Goodies.


15 posted on 02/20/2023 8:36:13 AM PST by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure.)
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To: dfwgator

“Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister” are comedies about the Deep State. In fact, that was the first time I ever thought about a “shadow government” of unelected officials running our lives. Watching it now is almost as chilling as it is hilarious.


16 posted on 02/20/2023 8:46:13 AM PST by Retrofitted
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To: Twotone
NOTHING humorously exhibits the utter stupidity and uselessness of the bureaucratic infrastructure of government than the shows Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister
17 posted on 02/20/2023 8:48:50 AM PST by Roccus (Veritas, non verba magistri)
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To: Retrofitted

GMTA


18 posted on 02/20/2023 8:49:23 AM PST by Roccus (Veritas, non verba magistri)
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To: wally_bert

...and Blackadder.


19 posted on 02/20/2023 9:07:30 AM PST by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
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To: mkmensinger

Or “Are You Being Served?”....

Heck, how about “It Ain’t Half Hot Mum”?


20 posted on 02/20/2023 9:12:18 AM PST by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy...and call it progress" )
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