“And I think you’re a despicable piece of shit…” There really is something about Elon Musk’s X that brings out the best in all of us. And this was the best Rupert Lowe could offer, once his skin was pricked amid the social media debate sparked by his Today programme interview with Nick Robinson last week, widely described as “a car crash,” unless you were part of the Musk-Lowe gang, in which case it was “common sense”.
I brought it upon myself of course, because X is the one place that can still bring out the old me, who lapses from my new “disagree agreeably” approach, sees a fight with a political enemy, and runs towards it, verbal fisticuffs flying.
Invited by @BritishUnapologetically to “describe Rupert Lowe in one word or sentence,” I added “Muskpuppet” to the debate, probably inspired by that part of the interview where Robinson, accurately summarising all we need to know about Lowe, stated to the Restore Britain founder: “You’re a man with money and a grudge and a social media account who airs his prejudices on X and gets a hearing because you’ve got the backing of Elon Musk.”
My Muskpuppet point was rather made for me by the fact that his “despicable piece of shit” retort, though posted merely as a reply, racked up tens of thousands of likes in no time at all. Virtually anything Lowe posts – and he posts an awful lot – is given the full far and wide treatment by the white supremacist trillionaire from South Africa.
But it was another white man, very much not of the supremacist variety given his longstanding commitment to a multi-faith, multicultural Britain, who was the cause of the most serious of the multiple interview car crashes for Lowe, namely King Charles.
Robinson clearly knew that Lowe’s claim that “white Britons would be in a minority by 2063” was based on a report by Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin-Badloss, which counted as non-white Britons anyone who had a parent born outside the UK; like Charles, whose father, Philip, was born in Greece. Indeed, by this qualification, none of Boris Johnson’s many children, who are all definitely white Britons, would count, as he was born in the US, and nor would Nigel Farage’s, given their German mother.
So, in order not to admit to the full idiocy of the Badloss report on which his ludicrous claim was based, the self-styled Uberpatriot Lowe could not actually bring himself to say that our head of state, and head of the Church of England whose Christianity he fears is being eroded by immigrants, was a white Briton. Instead, he was reduced to spluttering: “Well, many people have different interpretations of that, Nick. I mean, we can split hairs.” Or we can spout crap.
In a previous disagreeable disagreement on X, over I remember not what, Lowe called me a traitor, a charge his pal Musk is fond of throwing at anyone not inside his far right matrix, or up his megalomaniac backside. But surely, refusing to recognise Charles as a white Briton comes a lot closer to treason than anything I have ever said or done.
Lowe, needless to say, is a fan of the death penalty. There was a time, though, when the airing of these views about the King would have had him off to the Tower, and off with his head.
He should be grateful to live in a country in which he can make absurd, stupid statements, and receive no greater punishment than a bit of blowback on social media, even if his ruddy skin is too thin to take even that.
When I was in Reykjavík recently, I learned with some pride that the UK produces more books per capita than any country in the world (apart from Iceland, which explains why I learned it there). We really do seem to have books on every subject imaginable, a thought reinforced as I was idly flicking through the latest newsletter of the Tavistock Local History Society.
Of course every place has so much history; this small Devon market town is no different, and there were some splendid articles in Newsletter No 104. But, sticking with insults, I was particularly taken with a notice on an upcoming event in the town, at which an author, Exeter academic and historian Todd Gray, was to speak about his latest book, Strumpets and Ninnycocks.
It was billed as an analysis of Elizabethan insults in Devon, and as someone who admits to a fondness for swearing, and an admiration for those who swear well, with Malcolm Tucker surely the undisputed champion, I decided to order a copy.
The most common insult thrown at men all those years ago was “rogue” or “knave”. For women, it was “whore”. Both sexes found themselves abused as “drunkards, beggars and witches”.
So far so understandable, even to Homo Sapiens 2026. But then we had (all nouns) “jade, drab, wittol, cuckold, hackney, varlet, sucker, cockscomb, woodcock, lubber, jackanapes, ninnyhammer and whoremonger”. There were swearwords unique to Devon, including “nippy and ninnycock”, both references to male genitalia, then as now a source of insult inspiration.
Over a period of 30 years, Dr Gray combed through public records, including of court cases from 1500 to 1650, to see how Devonians insulted each other in the era of Raleigh and Drake. I salute his dedication.
I was only reading the Tavistock Local History Society newsletter because it was sent to me, and it was only sent to me because it contained a feature on my time as a trainee reporter on the Tavistock Times. Given this was almost 50 years ago, I suppose “history” is exactly what it is. It was a great grounding in news reporting, and also the place where I met my partner, Fiona, so fond memories indeed.
Suggested Reading
The right wing case for climate crisis denial is going up in flames
Ahead of recalling those times for the TLHS, I went through our old cuttings books, especially keen to locate my favourite headline, “Knicker nicker nicked”, over a story of a man caught stealing women’s underwear from a clothes line. Alas, I couldn’t find it.
“I am heartbroken,” I told the newsletter. “Who has nicked my ‘knicker nicker nicked’ headline?” I wailed, thus hoping I might provide a story to the young reporters on the Tavistock Times today, unborn when Fiona and I started out there? “Campbell heartbreak over lost Tavy Times headline.”
Finally, back on the subject of right wing politicians and wafer-thin skin, what on earth possessed Reform’s Richard Tice to claim, because of a few legitimate questions about possibly illegitimate shenanigans concerning party finances, that he was getting the same treatment as “murderers, rapists and paedophiles”. Talk about protesting too much.
I am indebted to Verywell Health for helping me understand better what might be going on here. “In psychology,” says their website, “projecting means a defence mechanism where a person unconsciously takes their own hidden, unwanted, or uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and impulses and attributes them to someone else instead. It protects the ego from guilt or shame by making it seem like the trait belongs to another person.”
Is this the same phenomenon that drives him to parrot his clever-clever slogan “net stupid zero”, at a time when the world is on fire? Might it be that in that heart of hearts captured by the lovely Isabel Oakeshott, he knows the climate crisis is real, but the political bed he has chosen to lie in means he can’t say so?
For net stupid zero, read Richard stupid Tice.
