Brace Belden’s Chuff Em and Cuff Em kicks off with socialist journalist Alex Norton of Morning Star, recalling their shared fight against fascism in Syria while exposing UK political repression—raids, device seizures, and arrests targeting Kurdish-linked activists. Norton slams Boris Johnson’s "pedophile election" campaign as a farce, highlighting his scandals: illegitimate children claims and domestic violence allegations against his partner, yet framing the vote as a Brexit-driven gamble. The episode ties UK repression to electoral chaos, questioning whether democracy survives when leaders thrive on controversy. [Automatically generated summary]
So it is just me, Brace Belden, and of course, joined by producer and manservant.
Just kidding about that.
Young Chomsky.
Today we have a little bit of a, it's not a two-parter because it is one episode, but there are two parts to this episode.
I will be interviewing Alex Norton of the Morningstar newspaper about Britain and its pedophile election, which I call it.
It is actually any election where the Tories are running.
And then Liz and I discuss some Jeffrey Epstein, some weird stuff going on here with his online presence, which you could probably say about any of our listeners as well.
Anyways, I am chuffed to be here.
My petard is hoisted high, and I am shirtless and worthless.
So yes, welcome to Truanon.
Look at me.
I can't do this without Liz.
Welcome to Truanon.
And enjoy the show.
Enjoy the episode.
So, all right, let me center myself.
Let me meditate real quick.
Hello, hello, hello.
Hello, listeners.
With me today, I am joined from across the pond, Alexander Norton, an editor at the Morningstar, the only English language daily socialist paper in the world.
Alex, how you doing?
How's the Missus?
Fellow Fighters, Different Paths00:02:48
What's going on?
The Missus as well.
My days.
I never thought I'd speak to you so soon after our jaunt in the Middle East, Mr. Belden.
Yes.
For your listeners, you probably don't know.
Yes, I am a journalist and the features editor at the Morning Star in the UK, but I know this Rap Scallion.
I know this fellow from a very different place.
We both took up arms to fight against fascism in the Middle East.
I mean, not the whole of the Middle East, specifically, Syria, you know.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Delighted he is.
It's an honor to be on your show.
Absolutely.
It's good to have you here.
Are you still being hounded by the Bobbies over there for your involvement?
I am actually.
Yeah, I think it's a bit of a contrast because in America, of course, arming yourself and going off to fight Muslims Is applauded roundly by the entire political spectrum.
But yeah, no, over here we are facing quite serious political repression.
There's one guy in jail because he got photographed or he recorded himself with a group that I know that me, neither you nor I, Brace, ever met.
Some Kurdish group with a three-letter acronym, but we never met, of course.
Absolutely.
And he's in prison for that.
If the status of the YPG changes in the eyes of the law here and something else, then a few more people go in prison as well.
It's definitely shown that it is possible to go down for what we did.
Even though we're largely considered to be good guys by the media, by the public.
Well, I know it's true.
It's pretty serious.
I got raided.
I got raided.
I got the 6 a.m. front door came through and a bunch of shit went out the house, a bunch of computers and phones and stuff like that.
So who knows what's going on?
Who knows what will go down in the future?
But yeah, fingers crossed, though.
Well, speaking of people who deserve to have their computers and phones taken from them.
I was just thinking that.
But for very different reasons.
There is an election coming up.
And it looks like, for those who can't tell by his accent, Alex is in the UK.
It looks like the Brexit election is about to happen.
And things are looking up, unfortunately, for Bojo.
So the Conservative Party here, what has been like, what's their messaging going forward?
Like, how come they're getting this lead in the polls?
Wow.
So, I mean, you've summed it up so well that this is the Brexit election, and this is the fucking election that Boris Johnson wanted to fight.
And he's one of the best people to fight it.
He's one of the worst people in the Conservative Party to do anything.
This man is a rolling disaster.
He cannot even keep his dirty laundry out of the newspapers.
He's got multiple illegitimate children.
He was accused of domestic violence towards his current partner.