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  • Writer's pictureAlex van Terheyden

I was cancelled by the left - Don't let this happen to you....


Some might say my journey forked, I took a turn that led me over a cliff edge. I've hesitated about telling this story for a very long time. Only my close friends and family know what has happened to me. If I had just stayed away from the Conservative Party and Politics my life now would be very different. A small rag based in Hackney London staffed by a leftwing hack made the decision to smear my name. Some might call that smear "Doxxing" or to be "Doxxed". The editorial decision made by a Hackney Rag has cost me dearly. My career was taken from me, my job prospects were taken from me, relationships were destroyed and my life went from being very comfortable to a struggle. I am Alex van Terheyden and this sadly is my story. I hope this can be a lesson, so this doesn't happen to you - and If this doesn't put you off Politics, then I don't know what will.

My story is not entirely unique. However, I have taken the time to put that story into video form via my YouTube Channel "The Wondering Englishman". Should you choose to watch that video you will discover how my life was turned upside down. I'll show you how a member of the left and then later the mob would set about cancelling me and in turn catastrophically impacting my life detrimentally for what seems like forever.

It all started 2 years ago. In the Early Spring of 2018. I was working at a hedge fund trading bonds. This took up most of my time due to the long hours. However, I had for my entire life always had an interest in politics. This stemmed - way back to my school days, university days and working life. In 2006 I was living in South Hackney in the ward of Hoxton - which is Now Hoxton West. I was a member of the Conservative party. I agreed to stand in the very unwinnable seat along with 2 other conservatives in the ward of Hoxton. As predicted I came last along with the other Conservatives. This was Hackney after all. People don’t vote Conservative in Hackney. However, I believed in democracy at the time, meaning people should have the chance to vote for an alternative to Labour.

In 2010, I could see in the borough of Tower Hamlets, that the Labour party, was fraudulently buying the vote through postal vote fraud. I predicted in the Hustings that the Labour Mayoral candidate was corrupt. As this was a borough I had once lived in I wanted to voice my discontent to what was going on in Tower Hamlets and also stand for Free Speech so I migrated to the Pirate Party. Of course this being Tower Hamlets and Bethnal Green - Labour easily won that election. However, I did make my voice known that I believed electing a Tower Hamlets Mayor was the wrong decision for the electorate and it would lead to corruption. Low and behold years later I was proved right as the Mayor was found guilty of mass corruption. After this election, I grew despondent with politics. I realised at least in London people are tribal and will rarely care to see the corruption that is in the world around them. I concentrated on my career. I focused on making money in the financial markets. I did this for many years. However, despite standing for the Pirate party in 2010 I remained a follower and a member of the Conservative party. The Fork in the Road that led to my fall from grace.

In early 2018 I was asked if I would be a conservative candidate in the Hoxton West Ward as the Conservatives were failing to find enough people to put on the ballot paper. I declined at first as I thought I would be too busy working. I was then told that I need only be a paper candidate. A paper candidate is someone who is on the ballot paper there to make up the numbers. I agreed and said as long as I don’t have to campaign. Knowing too well that the Conservatives always come last in Hoxton. Hipsters, Progressives & long-time Hoxton residents aren’t drawn to Conservative Politics. My name was officially on the ballot paper. The election would be on the 5th of May 2018. This would prove to be one of the worst decisions I would ever make. In the run-up to the 5th May election, I would get a call from the lady running the Conservatives election campaign in Hackney. I was told that the Muslim Conservative Mayoral Candidate for Hackney wasn’t able to make the Hustings and she knew I was a fairly good public speaker and debater and asked if I would be good enough to stand in. I hesitated I really didn’t have the time for this - I was under a lot of pressure at work to perform and work USA Hours. However, as I had met Conservatives Muslim Mayoral candidate and thought he was a good man - I agreed to take part.


It was this action that I’m convinced put me on the radar of a so-called Journalist who has consistently been very closely aligned with the Labour party. The so-called Journalists name was Adam Barnet. Adam Barnett decided to do some digging into my internet history. He discovered a few things about me.

This Left-wing activist decided to reach out to me via Twitter using the Hackney papers Twitter account. I have decided not to link the Rag or refer to its name in this post as I don't think their paper deserves the clicks or the improved SEO that this blog post will give their awful paper.

(Please refer to video for the exact content of that Tweet)


I got their Direct Message (DM) while I was sat at my desk in my workplace. I took it for the smear that it was. At this moment in time, I didn’t know who the reporter was who was writing this story. I simply knew someone at the Hackney Rag was out for blood. And they were going to print something with my comment or not. This is a common theme in British Journalism - attack and smear those who don’t think the same as them. Is this Journalism or Activism? I thought for a moment should I just ignore this. I wanted to ignore this but I didn’t know what would be printed. Judging by the content of the DM in my Twitter Inbox the article wasn’t going to be pretty. I decided I had to defend myself from this blatant smear. At least provide context as this parasitic rag certainly had a history of attacking Conservatives.


I have always been an advocate for open discussion and open debate. The exact reason I have frequently visited Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. To put it simply, I enjoy hearing different perspectives and learning from other viewpoints. Throughout my history, I have always loved a good debate. The views I held when I was 17 were very different from the views I held when I was 27 and they changed again when in my 30s. All because I’ve challenged my own viewpoints and those of others in a civil and open debate.

On March 18th 2018 I was at Speakers Corner - I and many who believed in Free Speech were there that day. They came from all walks of life and every religious faith. However, to a far-left activist who wrote for a local rag every man and his dog that day would be smeared with the suggestion that they attended a far-right rally. When instead I and many decent people were simply at Speakers Corner on a cold Sunday in March.


Effectively Adam Barnett not only was smearing me with his accusation that being at Speakers Corner meant I and others were attending a far-right rally. What he was stating was simply not true - he was being incredibly insulting to the thousands of free speech advocates who were there that day.

Thankfully I made a video of that exact day and published it before this DM was sent to me. He knew I had attended not from the video but from the fact that I checked in at speakers corner that day on Facebook and did it publicly. Little did I know those images of a simple check-in would come back to haunt me. If you would like to watch the video that I posted days after attending speakers corner I have posted the link in the description and it has always been made freely available. The video has always been free to view on my YouTube Channel and the link is here


I decided to respond to the left-wing activist to at least defend myself. My response can be seen via my video - which is time-stamped in the description.

I felt like I was damned if I didn’t respond and damned if I did. Many defenders of common sense and free speech such as Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray & Christopher Hitchens have all at one stage stated you should never apologise. They will never accept your apology if you apologise they will simply see blood and go after you like a rabid dog. As far as I was concerned - I had nothing to apologise about I wasn’t Racist, Xenophobic or Bigotted. And yet I would be labelled as all of these in the coming days and weeks all because I dared to question the Political ideology that is Islam.

This video isn’t to argue one way or the other on the rights and wrongs of Islam. If Islam gives people peace in their lives this is great. However, the issue arises for me and other infidels when Islam impacts their lives negatively. However, this video is simply to present what has happened to me for daring to have a view. Unlike the Marxist left, I believe all sides should be given the freedom to practice their faith, have a view on XYZ and all should be able to engage in a dialogue of ideas without the fear of being smeared, attacked or doxxed.