The Times - UK (2022-01-03)

the times | Monday January 3 2022 17

News

Counterterrorism agencies are calling
in pagan police officers to help tackle
the growing number of far-right ex-
tremists who co-opt the religion’s
iconography.
The Police Pagan Association (PPA),
a UK support organisation for pagans
within the force, has lent its expertise to
assist law enforcement, security ser-
vices and the Home Office in tackling
the growing threat of far-right terror-
ism. The collaboration, which includes
training and intelligence sharing, has
resulted in a number of successful
prosecutions of groups and individuals.
The PPA provided training to the de-
partments involved in the proscription
of a white supremacist paramilitary or-
ganisation last July. The Base, which is
the latest far-right group to be banned
as a terrorist organisation, uses three
Eihwaz runes — an ancient sacred
symbol — as its official insignia. The
group had celebrated and promoted the
use of violence in an attempt to estab-
lish a fascist, white ethno-state by
means of a “race war” and members
were known to have engaged in weap-
ons and explosives training.
The PPA was formed in 2009 and has
a membership of roughly 200 officers
from around the country. Paganism,
which according to the last census has

more than 50,000 practitioners in

Britain, is the fastest-growing religion

by some estimates.

Sergeant Andy Pardy, founding

chairman of the PPA, said that the co-

opting of pagan symbols, many of

which are thousands of years old, by the

far right stemmed from proto-Nazi

groups in Germany. In the 1920s they

appropriated the symbols of early

northern Europeans peoples that they

believed were a master race.

Jake Angeli, the QAnon “shaman”

who was among those who stormed the

Capitol in Washington in January, is

tattooed with a number of pagan sym-

bols including Thor’s hammer, worn by

many adherents of the religion.

Pardy said that the PPA’s work with

counterterrorism agencies was de-

signed to enable them to differentiate

between law-abiding pagans and

extremist groups who misrepresent

pagan symbols.

“Right-wing extremist groups pro-

mote the ideology, symbolism and

skewed interpretation of the historic

Pagan police join fight against far right

Tom Ball writings to support their agendas, often
attracting those seeking genuine pa-
ganism who recognise the familiar
signs and symbols, as well as those look-
ing for a platform to espouse their
hatred and intolerance,” he said.
“Part of my job is to assist agencies in
assisting the former and prosecuting
the latter by helping them
contextualise them by providing
information on clothing brands, bands,
venues, books and events that, when
found alongside these symbols, may
then be indicative of right-wing
affiliation.”
Far-right terrorist activity has been
growing in Britain in recent years. In a
speech last summer, Ken McCallum,
director-general of MI5, said that ex-
treme right-wing terrorism was “sadly
here to stay”.
Roughly a third of the attack plots
disrupted by MI5 in the past fours years
were linked to it, he added.
Pardy said that identifying far-right
groups was slow work because “when-
ever you shut down a forum, another
pops up. If you disrupt an organisation
they rebrand and regroup.”
“My intention is to make it an
uncomfortable territory for them so
that pagans are not afraid to express
their faith or wear the symbols of the
faith for fear of persecution or
misdirected reprisals.”

Behind the story

A

mong

modern

neo-Nazis

the use of

pagan

symbology is

ubiquitous (Tom Ball

writes). The Base, the

most recently

proscribed far-right

terrorist organisation,

employs the eihwaz

rune. Blood and

Honour, a skinhead

group, uses the

triskele, a neolithic

symbol found across

Europe.

Scottish Dawn,

proscribed in 2017,

uses the elhaz, a

pagan symbol often

worn for protection.

Predominantly

these symbols are

drawn from heathen

paganism, modelled

on pre-Christian

Nordic religions.

The appropriation

can be traced to the

ethno-nationalist

volkisch movement in

Germany in the late

19th century. This was

rooted in mysticism

and promoted an

ideal of Germanic

racial ascendency.

Along with this came

interest in pagan

traditions, which were

seen as “native”.

Guido von List, an

occultist and early

volkisch theoriser,

linked ideas of pan-

Germanic nationalism

with neopaganism.

His alphabet of runes

was adopted by

nationalist groups.

Many of the symbols

of Nazism, including

the lightning bolt SS

logo, are drawn from

this.

Pagan symbols

continue to be used

widely by neo-Nazi

groups, to the horror

of most followers of

paganism.

The valknut An

ancient Germanic

symbol that depicts

bravery and strength

Three pagan symbols

that Jake Angeli has

tattooed on him

Yggdrasil Norse

symbol relevant to all

heathen pagans and

represents the plains

of existence

Mjolnir Thor’s

hammer from Norse

mythology, worn by

many heathen pagans

as a necklace or tattoo

1

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100 objects on

show to mark

BBC’s century

Captain Sir Tom Moore’s walker and

Mr Darcy’s shirt from Pride and Preju-

dice will be among a hoard of objects

exhibited to mark the BBC’s 100th

birthday.

BBC History has announced three

online exhibitions that will tell the story

of the corporation through famous

objects, people and broadcasters.

The 100 Objects collection will

include the bust of Queen Victoria from

EastEnders and the walker used by Sir

Tom, whose fundraising efforts were

highlighted by BBC Three Counties

Radio. He raised £32 million for the

NHS walking 100 laps of his garden

before his 100th birthday in April 2020.

A classic BBC radio microphone, the

mirror globe used as an early TV ident

and Roy Plomley’s proposal letter for

Desert Island Discs will also feature.

Archive photos of BBC personalities

will make up the 100 Faces collection,

which features correspondents in the

field, actors on set and monarchs

speaking to the nation.

The 100 Voices oral history collec-

tion tells the stories of people who

worked at the BBC, covering news and

elections and entertaining the nation.

The three collections will feature on

the BBC 100 website alongside an inter-

active year-by-year timeline covering

key moments in the corporation’s

history, including the Queen’s corona-

tion in 1953.

Robert Seatter, the BBC’s head of his-

tory, said the exhibitions “give a unique

insight into the history of the corpora-

tion and provide something to intrigue

audiences of all ages.”

The shirt worn by

Colin Firth as Mr

Darcy is among

the chosen objects

S

he already had a

knockout property

portfolio and now

Adele is reported to

be buying the house

that Rocky built (Jack

Malvern writes).

The singer, who has said

that property in London is

too expensive, is buying

Sylvester Stallone’s house in

Beverly Hills, California,

according to the website

TMZ. Adele — who

released 30 , her first album

for six years, in 2021 — has

committed to buying

Stallone’s estate in the

gated community of

Beverly Park, according to

the website. Its source said

she is paying $58 million

(£43 million), “an outright

steal” compared with the

$110 million asking price

when the property first

went on the market in

February. The buyer gets a

mansion with six bedrooms,

nine bathrooms, a gym,

infinity pool, guest house

and 3.6 acres of ground.

Adele, 33, said in October

that she had decided to

move to Los Angeles

because property was

relatively cheap. “The kind

of house I have in LA I

could never afford in

London. Ever,” she told

British Vogue.

It is unclear what the new

purchase means for the

three houses she owns in

Hidden Valley Road, just

over a mile away. Adele

bought the most recent

of these in July, spending

$10 million on a four-

bedroom, four-

bathroom house next

to a four-bedroom, six-

bathroom property

she bought for $9.

million in 2016. She

also owns a six-

bedroom house on the

other side of the street,

where her former

husband Simon Konecki

lives so that they can

Rambo series, bought the

house in the 1990s. He has

moved to Palm Beach,

Florida.

Adele began life 5,

miles away in Tottenham,

London. At 14 she was

accepted at the Brit School

for performing arts in

Croydon. She released her

debut album in 2008. It sold

6.5 million copies. Last

month, three weeks

after release, 30

passed one million

sales in America,

the first album to

do so in more

than a year. It is

No 2 in the UK

charts, behind

Ed Sheeran’s

album Equals.

Adele takes a

swing at $58m

house that

Rocky built

Adele is said to be buying

Sylvester Stallone’s estate,

with 3.6 acres of land near

houses she already owns

share access to their son,

Angelo, nine. She and

Konecki finalised their

divorce in March.

Stallone, 75, whose films

include the Rocky and