A Napa Winery Is Turning Smoke-Tainted Grapes into Brandy

Annual wildfires have turned smoke taint into a recurring problem. Hoopes Winery hopes it has found a creative solution.

By Mike Pomranz 

October 05, 2020

www.foodandwine.com

 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when life gives you smoke-damaged grapes, make brandy.

Once again, sadly, wildfires have ravaged California in 2020. For winemakers, this year’s massive blazes proved particularly troublesome because they started earlier in the season than previous years, exposing many grapes to the possibility of smoke taint—where the fruit, and then the wine that follows, takes on unwanted smoky characteristics. If smoke taint is severe, vineyards often have to chalk up parts of their harvest as a loss, but a forthcoming spirit from Napa Valley’s Hoopes Vineyard may offer an alternative solution: purposefully smoke-tainted brandy.

MIKHAYLOVSKIY / ADOBE STOCK

In 2017, Hoopes Vineyard was one of many wineries affected by that year’s Wine Country Fires. Hoopes explains that vines were incinerated and remaining grapes were covered in soot. This fruit couldn’t be used for wine, and with insurance unwilling to help, the vineyard looked poised to take a financial hit. But where smoky notes may not work for traditional wines, what about an aged spirit like brandy?

To find out, winery proprietor Lindsay Hoopes teamed up with Master Distiller Marianne Barnes to distill smoke-tainted wine into a brandy with an incredible backstory. “I think of wines and spirits as an experience, and the more that experience encapsulates our time and our environment, the more likely we are to connect with the world around us,” Hoopes told me via email. “We had a choice—to find a solution and make something beautiful out of a tragedy, or to lose everything. We chose to rise from the ashes, literally, and explore the rebirth of grapes into spirits. Nature is a master of innovation, and we took her cue. Responding to crisis with resilience, we found opportunity.”

The brandy itself is still in the aging process—which must be at least two years—but the results will be available directly from the winery and in its tasting room at the end of 2021 with preorders coming soon. Hoopes believes it will be worth the wait—and could potentially be a product we see again—especially since wildfires continue to be an annual problem. “I had a feeling something interesting could be made from smoke and grapes; they are two flavor profiles I love,” she said. “As with every industry, we have to find ways to evolve. We are reliant on Mother Nature, so as the climate changes, we have to innovate with sustainable practices and offer a new product that embraces these changes.”

Speaking of the future, Hoopes is already looking for ways to expand this project. The winery has begun a kind of word-of-mouth crowdfunding campaign, encouraging interested wine lovers to reach out to Hoopes directly via email or phone to donate money. Beyond brandy, supporters will have the chance to weigh in on packaging and a final name for the spirit—or bigger opportunities like a blending session with Marianne and Lindsay, a private dinner, or even an overnight stay at the Napa Estate. Contact info can be found on the Hoopes Vineyard website.

 

US lawmakers call for shake-up of Big Tech 'monopolies'

OCTOBER 7, 2020

A congressional report called for sweeping changes to antitrust laws and enforcement in response to the growing power of Big Tech firms, but Republican lawmakers declined to endorse the findings

A House of Representatives panel in a report Tuesday accused four Big Tech firms of acting as "monopolies," calling for sweeping changes to antitrust laws and enforcement that could potentially lead to breakups of the giant firms.

But the report by the House Judiciary Committee failed to win the endorsement of Republican members, highlighting a partisan divide despite widespread criticism of the tech giants.

The 449-page document concluded that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google "engage in a form of their own private quasi regulation that is unaccountable to anyone but themselves."

"Companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons," the report said.

The report follows an investigation of more than 15 months and hearings this year with the top executives of the four firms, in parallel to antitrust probes being led by federal and state enforcers.

Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler and antitrust subcommittee chairman David Cicilline said in a joint statement that the tech firms "each possess significant market power over large swaths of our economy" and have "exploited their power of the marketplace in anticompetitive ways."

The report suggests moves which could lead to breakups of the big firms, calling for "structural separations" to prohibit companies from competing on platforms they operate.

Also recommended was a requirement that platforms allow "interoperability" with competitors and regulations aimed at preventing acquisitions that hurt competition.

Amazon pushed back in a blog post, arguing that "the presumption that success can only be the result of anti-competitive behavior is simply wrong."

"Amazon accounts for less than 1% of the $25 trillion global retail market and less than 4% of retail in the US. Unlike industries that are winner-take-all, retail has ample space for many winners," the e-commerce giant said.

Big Tech backlash

The report's findings reflect a growing backlash against the firms, which have extended their market dominance even during the coronavirus pandemic.

But while Democrats have assailed the growing power of tech platforms, Republicans have decried what they consider bias by the Silicon Valley firms against conservatives.

Highlighting the partisan divide on tech regulation, Republican panel members declined to endorse the committee's findings this week.

"Big Tech is out to get conservatives," Representative Jim Jordan said as the report was issued.

"Unfortunately the Democrats' partisan report ignores this fundamental problem and instead advances radical proposals that would refashion antitrust law in the vision of the far left."

Matt Schruers of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group which includes some of the large tech firms, said the lawmakers had failed to understand the digital economy.

"If the goal is simply to knock down successful US businesses, then perhaps this plan would score a hit," he said.

"But if the goal is to benefit consumers, which has until now been the standard for antitrust policy, it is hard to see how this would do anything but invite regulators to micromanage business models."

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Individual suicide risk can be dramatically altered by social 'sameness,' study finds

OCTOBER 6, 2020, by Indiana University

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-individual-suicide-social-sameness.html

Bernice Pescosolido Credit: Indiana University

Similarities among individuals living in the same communities can dramatically change their risk of dying by suicide, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the relationship between suicide and social "sameness"—living in communities with other individuals who share common social characteristics, such as employment and marital status, ethnicity or place of birth.

Researchers found that social similarity reduced well-known individual risks of suicide for those younger than 45, unemployed, widowed, white, Black or not born in the United States.

But sameness was not always protective. Social similarity increased suicide risk for individuals who were born in the United States, had never married, or were Alaska Native, Native American, Hispanic or Asian, according to the study.

"This study breaks a longstanding barrier to understanding the link between individual suicide risk and community-based risk," said Bernice Pescosolido, co-author of the study and a Distinguished Professor of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. "This offers new insights into how complex the relationship between suicide and cultural and social connections is. Science has been challenged to get beyond the split between looking at individuals and looking at communities in the U.S. Sameness allows us to think about the role of connectedness in new ways."

Researchers merged data from a number of sources, including the National Violence Data Reporting System and the American Community Survey, to examine whether "sameness" between individuals and where they live affected their risk of suicide in the U.S. between 2005 and 2011.

Suicide in America has been on the rise, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pressing the need for new approaches to reduce risk. While individual suicide risks have been previously documented in individuals, the finding that those risks change depending on social geography has previously been difficult to establish in the U.S., Pescosolido said.

"These findings challenge the idea of a 'one size fits all' approach to programs trying to reduce suicide—even for targeted groups like teens, where the increase has been great," she said. "We need to consider where they are."

Traditional treatment and prevention efforts have focused around the idea that strong social ties protect people from suicide, and those who lose or do not have those connections are thought to be more at risk of suicide.

But according to Pescosolido and her colleagues, social similarity is not always a strong lever to reduce suicide risk. For example, their findings suggest that in isolated communities or those communities where socio-economic devastation has been great, similarity can actually increase the risks of suicide.

"With the burdens that people are experiencing due to the pandemic, this study reinforces calls for fresh approaches to understanding suicide risk," Pescosolido, said. "Knowing how social context alters individual suicide risk provides a path toward personalized and tailored strategies for anti-suicide programs, policies and treatment."

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Historical Paintings of Muslim Slavers with their white female sex slaves

 

Islam’s Sexual Enslavement of White Women

And it's featured in pictures.

Tue Oct 6, 2020 

Raymond Ibrahim

 

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Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Last year, a political party in Germany provoked controversy when it used the following painting in its election campaign to illustrate one of the reasons it was against immigration.

Painted in France in 1866 and titled “Slave Market,” the painting was described as “show[ing] a black, apparently Muslim slave trader displaying a naked young woman with much lighter skin to a group of men for examination,” probably in North Africa.

The Alternative for Germany party (AfD) put up several posters of this painting with the slogan, “So that Europe won’t become Eurabia.”  Many on both sides of the Atlantic were “triggered” by this usage; even the American museum where the original painting is housed sent AfD a letter “insisting that they cease and desist in using this painting” (even though it is in the public domain).

Objectively speaking, the “Slave Market” painting in question portrays a reality that has played out countless times over the centuries: African, Asiatic, and Middle Eastern Muslims have long targeted European women—so much so as to have enslaved millions of them over the centuries (see Sword and Scimitar for copious documentation).

As it happens, there is something else—another medium besides writing—that documents this reality: countless more paintings than the one in question concerning the abduction, trafficking, and sexual enslavement of European women; altogether they further underscore the ubiquity and notoriety of this phenomenon.  Indeed, this was such a well-known theme that many nineteenth and early twentieth century artists and painters specialized in it, often based on their own eye-witness accounts. (As one art gallery puts it, “Many … of the most important painters did travel [to the Muslim world] themselves, and what they painted was based on the sketches they had made while they were there…)

Below are just 20 such paintings (there are many more).  Aside from noting the artist’s name, year of painting, and, where possible, title—information which is often difficult to ascertain—I’ve limited my remarks to important asides and clarifications, mostly in the first few paintings, leaving the rest to speak for themselves. They follow.

“The Bulgarian Martyresses,” by Konstantin Makovsky, 1877.  It depicts events from a year earlier, when Ottoman irregular soldiers (the so-called bashi-bazouks or “crazy heads”) raped and massacred the Christian women of Bulgaria and their children.  American journalist MacGahan, who reported from Bulgaria, wrote the following of this incident: “When a Mohammedan has killed a certain number of infidels he is sure of Paradise, no matter what his sins may be.…[T]he ordinary Mussulman takes the precept in broader acceptation, and counts women and children as well….  the Bashi-Bazouks, in order to swell the count, ripped open pregnant women, and killed the unborn infants.”

“The Abduction of a Herzegovinian Woman,” by Jaroslav Čermák, 1861.  From the museum’s official description: “Disturbing and extremely evocative, it depicts a white, nude [and pregnant?] Christian woman being abducted from her village by the Ottoman mercenaries who have killed her husband and baby.”

“The Abduction,” by Eduard Ansen-Hofmann (1820-1904).

“The Slave Market,” by Otto Pilny, 1910.

“Abducted,” by Eduard Ansen-Hofmann (1820–1904).

“Namona,” by Henri Tanoux, 1883.

“The Bitter Draught of Slavery,” by Ernest Norman, 1885.

“A New Arrival,” by Giulio Rosati (1858–1917).

“The New Slave Girl,” by Eduard Ansen-Hofmann (1820-1904).

“Examining Slaves,” by Ettore Cercone, 1890.

“Slave Dealer,” by Otto Pilny, 1919.

“Slave Market,” by Eduard Ansen-Hofmann, 1900.

“Slave Trade Negotiations,” by Fabio Fabbi (1861-1946).

“White Slavery in the East—Going to the Slave Market,” by Harper’s Weekly, April 1875.

“New Arrival,” by Eduard Ansen-Hofmann (1820-1904).

“The Serbian Concubine,” by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, 1876.

“Slave Market,” by Émile Jean-Horace Vernet, 1836.

“Slave Market,” by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1871.

“Harem Captive,” by Eisenhut Ferencz, 1903.

“Scene from the Harem,” by Fernand Cormon, 1877.

 

Italy: Muslim Migrant Murders Priest, Pope Calls Perp a ‘Headache’

That pain you’re feeling, Your Holiness, is from reality breaking through your fantasies.

Mon Oct 5, 2020 

Robert Spencer

 

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The irrepressible Pope Francis is at it again: in his Angelus address last Sunday, he announced: “Today the Church celebrates the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. I greet the refugees and migrants present in the Square around the monument entitled ‘Angels, unawares,’ which I blessed last year.” He spoke with sympathy about “the internally displaced, who are forced to flee, as also happened to Jesus and his family. ‘Like Jesus, forced to flee,’ likewise the displaced, migrants. Our remembrance and our prayer to them, in a particular way, and to those who assist them,”

Yet this came just days after Mahmoudi Ridha, a Muslim migrant from Tunisia, murdered a Catholic priest in Italy, Fr. Roberto Malgesini. After killing Malgesini, Ridha crowed: “The priest died like a dog, that was right.” According to Church Militant, in the wake of the murder, “police have categorically rejected the Italian bishops’ claim” that Ridha “had mental problems.”

After the murder, Pope Francis, as determined as ever to ignore the grim reality of Islamic jihad, declared that Ridha was “a person in need” and “malata di testa,” which is bad Italian for either “sick in the head” or a “headache.”

“I am not sure if Pope Francis is being deliberately ambiguous or speaking poor Italian as he often does,” said an Italian linguist. “Of course, he wouldn’t like his pro-migrant, pro-Muslim narrative to be disrupted if the assassin were found to have jihadi motives.”

Indeed. In light of his long-established positions, it is easy to understand why Pope Francis would call Ridha a “headache.” Ridha’s act could blow the Catholic Church’s deceptive game regarding Islam and mass Muslim migration wide open. The Catholic Church during the misrule of this Pope has become so wedded to the idea that mass migration is a good thing and a Christian duty to accept and enable that even when police reject the claim that a Muslim migrant murderer was mentally ill, the Church insists on it.

Even worse, “Roberto Bernasconi, president of the Como section of pro-migrant Catholic charity Caritas, blamed the ‘tragedy’ on the anti-migrant ‘climate of hatred and intolerance that is fomented in the city.'” That’s right: he is claiming that a Muslim migrant murdered a pro-migrant priest because of anti-migrant sentiment, which is not exactly the most effective way to stamp out such sentiment.

The Italian Catholic bishops and Roberto Bernasconi call to mind a passage from a book that those bishops probably haven’t read in a long while: “And for this reason God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

As I told Church Militant, no one in the media, Church or police has tried to discover whether Islam’s doctrine calling for violence against unbelievers may have been a motive for Fr. Malgesini’s murder because all three are deeply committed to the idea that there is no such doctrine, and that Islam is a religion of peace that has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.

To acknowledge that Mahmoudi Ridha was motivated by Qur’anic passages such as “kill them wherever you find them” (2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5) and “when you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (47:4) is inconceivable to them. They either don’t know that such passages exist, or they are certain that no Muslims today take them seriously or would ever consider acting upon them. The only fallback position for those whose denial and willful ignorance is so implacable is to insist that Ridha is “mentally ill.”

The Vatican is especially invested in that kind of obfuscation. According to Vatican News, “The theme of fraternity is also present in [the Pope’s] constant embrace of migrants, epitomized in his pastoral visit to Lampedusa. His signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi in 2019 marks one more example of Pope Francis’ dedication to promoting brotherly love.”

Brotherly love? Sure. But as for regarding all human beings as brothers, both Sunni and Shi’ite Islam teach that the lives of non-Muslims are not worth as much as the lives of Muslims. Reliance of the Traveller, a classic Sunni manual of Islamic sacred law, explains matter-of-factly that “the indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man. The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid for a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth that of a Muslim.” (o4.9) The Qur’an calls “the unbelievers among the People of the Book,” that is, Jews and Christians who do not accept Islam, “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6).

Sultanhussein Tabandeh, the Shi’ite author of A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, agrees, stating: “Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain.”

But the Pope and the Catholic Church continue to ignore all of this. The coming encyclical, meanwhile, will mislead millions of Catholics into a complacency that could be fatal. No wonder Mahmoudi Ridha gave the Pontiff a headache.

“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/italy-muslim-migrant-murders-priest-pope-calls-robert-spencer/

48 Farm attacks and 5 farm murders in South Africa – September 2020

 

    South Africa: 48 Farm attacks and 5 farm murders in South Africa – September 2020

The Rome Research Institute of South Africa

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/48-farm-attacks-and-5-farm-murders-in-south-africa-september-2020/

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48 Farm attacks and 5 farm murders in South Africa - September 2020

During September 2020 there were 48 farm attacks and 5 farm murders in South Africa, one attack was successfully averted. During the month of August 2020, there were 52 farm attacks and 9 farm murders in in the country, while six farm attacks were successfully averted. The onslaught against the white minority continues.

The police minister, Bheki Cele recently said that ‘farmers must not complain of they get hurt’ and it seems to suggest that the victims of farm attacks are the ones who are to blame if they become the targets of violent crime.

Farm attacks and murders are out of control and cannot be considered ordinary crimes, particularly when the cruelty associated with these incidences is taken into account.

Farm attacks and farm murders – the year so far:

September 2020- 48 farm attacks, 5 farm murders.
August 2020- 52 farm attacks, 9 farm murders.
July 2020- 55 farm attacks, 9 farm murders.
June 2020- 56 farm attacks, 7 farm murders.
May 2020- 15 farm attacks, 4 farm murders.
April 2020- 17 farm attacks, 1 farm murder.
March 2020- 35 farm attacks, 6 farm murders.
February 2020- 31 farm attacks, 8 farm murders.
January 2020- 17 farm attacks.

Information supplied by The Rome Research Institute of South Africa

South Arica: Farm murder, man shot five times in his bed, wife returns fire, Rooikraaldam

 

South Arica: Farm murder, man shot five times in his bed, wife returns fire, Rooikraaldam

A farm murder took place on 4 October 2020, just before 00:00, on a farm in Rooikraaldam, between Stoffberg and Groblersdal, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. A man, Raymond Gregory Papabavlou (28), was asleep in the bedroom while his wife was in front of the TV in the lounge. The wife heard a number of gunshots, she immediately returned fire in the direction of the attacker/s.

The attacker/s fled the scene and the woman raised the alarm. All role players responded swiftly and found the man, already deceased, laying on the bed. He had been shot five times. There was nothing taken from the home and the woman was not injured during the attack.

There is no other information available at this stage. Police are investigating. There have been no arrests

Information supplied by Oorgrens veiligheid

South Africa Today – South Africa News

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/limpopo/farm-murder-man-shot-five-times-in-his-bed-wife-returns-fire-rooikraaldam/

Proud Boys leader tells RT group are just 'PRO-WESTERN' - not racist

 

'Not interested in identity politics, not about skin color': Proud Boys leader tells RT group are just 'PRO-WESTERN' - not racist

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/502395-proud-boys-europe-trump-biden/

Chris Sweeney

Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has written for newspapers such as The Times, Daily Express, The Sun and Daily Record, along with several international-selling magazines. Follow him on 

3 Oct, 2020 07:09 / Updated 23 hours ago

An armed member of the 'Proud Boys' attends a '2nd Amendment' rally outside the Michigan Supreme Court Building in Lansing, Michigan, U.S. September 17, 2020. ©  REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

The controversial club has exploded into the mainstream following the British clothing firm banning their signature black and yellow polo shirts and being name-checked in the US presidential debate by Biden and Trump.

The Proud Boys have dominated the news since Donald Trump ordered them to “stand down, and stand by.” The president was asked about them during this week’s live debate with Joe Biden. But the group’s most senior figure in Europe can’t see what all the fuss is about – he thinks they’re actually “pretty boring.”

Using the pseudonym J.T Rockefeller, he’s a small business owner in his mid-30s, and spoke exclusively to RT. 

J.T said: “Our stance has always been, don’t talk to the media – that’s in our code of conduct and only I can authorise it. But we as the leadership felt it was a good opportunity to put our point across now. We’ve had lots of requests from the media but if we’re completely honest, one of my fears is we would be quite boring to journalists. 

“They’re looking for something spicy, for us to say we hate this group of people and sell it as something it isn’t. Actually we’re quite boring, not to our members, but for everyone else.” 

J.T, who lives in Cheshire, northwest England, feels that’s radically unfair. The reason why Trump was asked about the Proud Boys was due to their racist image of whipping up division and hatred. Their Wikipedia page paints that picture and newspapers label them a “hate group.” 

He said: “We are the same organisation across Europe as we are in America. We’re a men’s drinking club and a support group for men. If people want grassroots activism there is UKIP, if people want to fight on the streets they can join the EDL (English Defence League) – we’re not here to fill those voids. We do attract a certain type but we have a very robust vetting process. It keeps out undesirables, if people want to look for fights against Antifa, this isn’t the group for them.” 

The Proud Boys chairman in America, Enrique Tarrio, isn’t white, and pictures show many non-white members. That aside, Gavin McInnes, who formed the group in 2016, has made racist remarks in the past. Also, the Proud Boys Britannia Telegram Channel which the group moderates does contain content which some would deem racist and provocative. 

J.T explained: “Enrique and I speak on a daily basis, he is an Afro-Cuban immigrant to America. We have numerous members of colour over there and also in the UK. We’re not interested in identity politics, it’s not about the colour of people’s skin, it’s about their strength of character. We would be the worst white supremacists in history. White supremacists don’t even like us, they think we’re race traitors.” 

If the wrong narrative is being played out and they are being judged on biased information, what do they stand for? 

J.T explained: “We are Pro-Western, the West has some of the most forward thinking, democratic, places in the entire world – it’s a fantastic place to live and we have freedoms other countries don’t. It’s a real, great mix of cultures. 

“Some ideologies don’t mix on the surface. The perfect example is Indians coming to the UK many years ago, now the UK’s favourite dish is chicken tikka masala. But the dish we eat – it’s been adapted to suit Western palates; they wouldn’t serve it up in India. 

“What we’ve seen with the media pushing things and the rise of terrorism, perhaps people have gone too far right. The media stokes diversity, but we don’t care about that stuff, we care about freedom of speech, democracy and not being told how to live our lives.”

While in North America it’s common to see the Proud Boys leading marches, in Europe their profile is more discreet. Their UK meetings are held in secret, as are members’ identities. Some venues refuse to host them, but J.T explained that they are welcome in plenty of locations. 

Members (who are aged between 19 and 55 in the UK) have tattoos, which they are only permitted to get following club votes. J.T has it on his forearm and said: “I personally don’t divulge my membership to everyone but I am a fourth-degree member with the tattoo. My family knows about it, my friends are predominantly people in the club. I have a couple who aren’t but it doesn’t impact them, one is a big left-wing Labour supporter but we have grown-up discussions. 

“It’s the court of public opinion, as soon as you Google us, it’s white violence and nationalists – they have found their bogeyman. I don’t want to risk my career and the livelihood of my children just because of something some fool put on the internet without speaking to us. 

“When we meet, we get drunk and have a party. It’s fun and mates catching up. Part of the code of conduct states that if a member is acting badly, we send them back to the hotel. We have to be composed gentlemen. 

“A lot of the venues enjoy us being there, you think of a private venue with all of us, we each tip £10 to the bar staff which is one of our rules. We don’t disrespect people, we are polite to any employees of establishments, we don’t harass members of the public and we don’t disrespect other members. I know it sounds counterproductive to what we are portrayed to be but it’s about being nice to the public and each other.” 

If their profile is smaller than across the Atlantic, one area all chapters converge is the uniform. Proud Boys wear Fred Perry’s black and yellow polo shirt. The British brand has become so dismayed at the link, they have stopped selling it in North America.

J.T said: “The issue is Fred Perry has a bottom line with sales and we get a bad rep. Our Wikipedia page is completely wrong and you look at a lot of news articles and they quote that page. We’re not going to stop a tradition just because the company doesn’t like it. 

“Fred Perry is not as popular in America, but here I could walk down the street and see three people wearing the black and yellow polo shirt – and have no affiliation with us at all. We will still wear them and for our brothers in America who can’t get them anymore, we’re more than happy to help facilitate that for them.” 

The Proud Boys in the UK have posted pictures of Fred Perry online orders and boxes of the shirts ready to be couriered to the US and Canada. While they appeal to those on the right, J.T explained there is no requirement to support any political causes. He feels that Boris Johnson is handling Covid as well as any prime minister would.

The club for him is about fostering a feeling of community – he said: “Male suicide is something that plagued this county in the past, you have the Women’s Institute (WI) which is a club for women, but there’s nothing like that for men. We’ve created this gap in the market for men to have a place where they belong and talk how they want. 

“It’s a safe space where men can be men – we meet once a month and have big events, we keep it secret and we don’t bother anyone. Then we go back to being good husbands and members of society.” 

As a result of the massive exposure, a mountain of requests to join has flooded in recently. The group estimates they admit five people per hundreds of applications. Everyone undergoes a ‘prospect stage’, where they are on probation and can be asked to leave if the club doubts their suitability. Only by completing that are they deemed full members, also after a club vote. It takes 12 months to become a Proud Boy, due to the vetting process. 

But what does J.T feel is the key to understanding the group? “If you feel like you’re missing something in your life and camaraderie, give us a call,” he explains. “If you’re a racist or an extremist, go somewhere else. We won’t back down from fights but we’re not looking for it and want to avoid it. And what we talk about and get up to is nobody’s business, just like what they do is not ours".