By: Christopher Peter

Christopher Peter
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:14:54 +0000

I regard Musk’s tweets in a similar way to Trump’s . They’re essentially from the same playbook. That is, they are less to be always taken entirely literally (I’m quite sure Musk doesn’t remotely expect the King to dissolve parliament and throw out Starmer) and more to be viewed in the context of setting the agenda and driving the media narrative.

And boy, are both men good at that. In fact the more reaction they generate, and the more unhinged outrage from certain quarters, the happier they seem to be. Because they are making the headlines and forcing everyone to talk about the things they want talked about. Both have a lot of money and influence, so “cancellation” is not something they ever need fear, and therefore they can say things not everyone else can.

I don’t agree with Musk about everything and I certainly don’t view him as a “saviour”. The UK needs to save itself, no-one else can do it for us. But I’m glad he is bringing the rape gangs issue to newly heightened prominence, because while of course it has been known about for years, that’s not the point. The real scandal was that despite being widely known, so little was done about it, and even now too many in power and in the media are making excuses and desperately hoping we’ll all stop talking about it.