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5 min readShire Folk: The Parallel Story of Britain That’s Going Global
It’s a little before 9 a.m. when reporter Georgia Banjo reaches Greenville, Texas, a town about 50 miles east of Dallas. She’s there to meet Brent Money, a state representative in his late forties who loves Downton Abbey and has traced his family tree back to 1480 in England. But Money doesn’t just see Britain as a land of nostalgia and rolling hills. He sees a cautionary tale. “We’re seeing violence instigated by… mostly young Islamic men throughout Europe,” he says. “It’s a dangerous place to be.” When asked which British figures he looks to for inspiration, Money mentions he’s spoken at an event with Tommy Robinson—a name that, depending on where you live, draws either a blank or a very strong reaction.
This is the puzzle at the heart of Shire Folk, the first episode in a three-part series from The Economist. How did a fringe football hooligan from Luton become a hero to powerful people in Washington and Silicon Valley, including the world’s richest man? And how did a story about Britain—one of immigration destroying the green and pleasant land—go global?
The Crucible of Luton
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:33) **Introduction: The puzzle of Tommy Robinson’s global reach** - Rosie Brew introduces a three-part series on how a British far-right figure is reshaping perceptions of Britain abroad, particularly in America.
- 2 (01:45) **A Texas lawmaker’s view of Britain** - Reporter George Banjo travels to Greenville, Texas, to meet Representative Brent Money, who sees Britain as a cautionary tale of demographic decline.
- 3 (07:30) **Two Britains, one man** - The episode introduces the core conflict: the mainstream British view of Robinson as a toxic loser versus a growing global view of him as a hero and prophet.
- 4 (11:36) **The crucible: Luton, 2009** - The story begins in Luton in March 2009, where a protest by Muslim activists against a homecoming parade for soldiers sparked the creation of the English Defence League (EDL).
- 5 (16:15) **Luton’s two realities** - The episode contrasts Tommy Robinson’s narrative of Luton with the town’s official story of successful multiculturalism, setting up the battle over who gets to tell its history.
- 6 (18:57) **The other side of the story: Councillor Aslam Khan** - A local councillor describes Luton’s history of immigration and integration, from post-war workers to a thriving multicultural community.
- 7 (21:39) **The parallel narrative: “I lost my town to Islam”** - Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys and a friend of Robinson’s, offers the counter-narrative of Luton as a place “marred by Islam” and a “hostile takeover.”
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Show Notes
For 15 years, the British media dismissed Tommy Robinson as a far-right extremist. We kept him off our televisions, and out of our newspapers.
Today his rallies attract tens of thousands of followers and he has the ear of the world’s richest man.
Shire Folk is the story of how some of the most powerful people in America came to see Britain—and Islam—through the eyes of a fringe football hooligan.
Topics covered:
- Radical Islam
- Gangs
- English Defence League
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