UK XI: Please Sir... May I Have Some More?

[dataDave]

I don't agree with that. You can't go to a protest which turns violent, or during a wave of violent protests about the same cause, and say it's not violent just because you're not violent.

This is a dangerous perspective, I think. You can't really pin the actions and ideas of the few on the entire group. Imagine if Israel did that with the general population of the Gaza Strip. The protests yesterday were far and wide. There were lots of knobheads out, that's obvious, but the majority were not acting in that way. I think it's unfair to label the entire crowd as being far-right.

You also can't send the police to a largely peaceful section of protest and have them start making random heavy-handed arrests without the crowds starting to turn, before later reporting that the crowd are violent thug hooligan Nazis/fascists. There are videos all over Twitter of (not just white) people standing around not doing much before being charged by groups of equiped police in extended line formation.

They did the exact same thing with the Liverpool supporters after Hillsborough, and before that with the miners during the strikes. Everything was blamed on the trouble-makers while the police were only out trying to be the good guys the whole time.

[Dogg Thang]

Given what triggered people to get out there, there is no other way of interpreting it other than racism and far right anger. They didn’t just happen to be out there with “legitimate concerns” and happen to get too close to fascist thugs. We saw this in Dublin recently and you’d have to willfully blind to not call it out for what it is.

[Asura]

I see Farage has waded in today, with a statement - saying he condemns the violence... Then going on to state he firmly believes we have "two-tier policing" in this country (and clearly implying he believes minorities are policed less than non-minorities by saying this was clear from the BLM protests).

Honestly there are riots going on up and down the country and he just can't resist trying to score political points. The man is a sociopath.

[Neon Ignition]

A major part of the direction we've headed in to me feels like it comes down to Career Racism

In the early 2000's the media was awash with Benefits Streets stories, the vilification of child popping chav families clawing huge houses and mounds of public money whilst doing no work and that press supported hysteria eventually led to the throttling of the benefits system and a huge shift toward hard poverty for many vulnerable groups and families. But, it also quelled the stories to a large extent. Farage does feel like the match on the immigration furore. The stream of initial comments very much followed that same line, a touch of too many coming through to the country but the focus was very much on them getting loads of benefits.

The Tories austerity played into that comparison, making British nationals feel like that had no choice but to work around the clock to survive and so particularly to those who in the years before had been forced into losing their benefits a jealousy would develop even if it was a false one. A major flaw is then Cameron, the weakness of character to give in to that noisy minority in an attempt to save his own political skin because it's the Tory nature to run with a scapegoat rather than challenge it. The Brexit vote was only ever a move to quell that crowd, something they'd do and easily win so it forced the issue to go away. It's amazing that Cameron has even served in the past year for Sunak and shows just how lost in the noise it is that the Conservatives were aggressively Remain in the vote.

That willingness to sell your morals for political gain comes back to Johnson. His slow decision to front the Brexit side of the debate was definitely not motivitated by immigration concerns or 'taking back control', it was a calculation of how it would benefit his career. The Brexit result then just cemented the immigration issue for many people even if it wasn't the sole reason the result landed the way it did, it's why I don't doubt for a second a rerun of the vote would land a different result.

Then you have the May years, the complete inability to do anything whilst Farage's profile is also boosted by the result. That frozen state being because they knew it was ****show waiting to happen. Johnson's 'landslide' was always doomed, it wasn't all down to his popularity etc it was because Labour was in a disaster state and 'Get Brexit Done' was by that point just something many wanted, they didn't necessarily support it but they were sick and tired of hearing about it and only one party was making a clear message on it.

But that landslide allowed a torrent of racist, bigotted, moronic, corrupt prats through the doors piggybacking the Brexit frustration vote. The red wall was always doomed and the Tories being led by someone so utterly inept at leadership meant that they let those MP's use the party rather than the other way around.

It's why the likes of Braverman, Badenoch, Sunak etc are all so monumentally stupid. They're bargain bucket level quality MP's who are completely incapable of reading the room or understanding how the Tories got from A to B. This is a centre-right nation and it's incredibly easy for the Tories to maintain perpetual leadership of it were it not for their own stupidity and greed. But that's how we get where we are, because so many within the party are willing to wave the immigration enemy flag for their own career benefits we end up having years and years and years of the same frustrations being stoked and stirred. A boiling pot as the Tories intentionally don't address the issue, because if they did then they wouldn't have their whipping boy for the electorate... until the problem gets out of their control completely.

Truth of the matter is, immigration isn't that big of an issue. Stopping the boats is an issue but it's more of a humanitarian one that anything else. The 'problems' tied to immigration are real issues but if you want more homes, better infrastructure, better healthcare services etc etc then you're going to have more immigration not less and the reality is that the people who support these anti-immigration pushes don't really care about these things, it's just ammo to mask their real reasoning.

The same as how they weren't doing this whilst the Tories were in power, the makers of the issue. The second Labour are in, they're suddenly up in arms like petulant children angry because their side lost. The number of these riots as well, taking place mere days after the Southport stabbings, completely unrelated to the crime that instigated them but they don't care because it's any excuse to hide behind. Same as the lame attempts now to attribute their actions to the Manchester Airport incident, similarly a poor match.

It's rank racism, nothing else. Even if it were peaceful, it'd still be that.

[fishbowlhead]

I see Farage has waded in today, with a statement - saying he condemns the violence... Then going on to state he firmly believes we have "two-tier policing" in this country (and clearly implying he believes minorities are policed less than non-minorities by saying this was clear from the BLM protests).

Honestly there are riots going on up and down the country and he just can't resist trying to score political points. The man is a sociopath.

Idiot fascists guna idiot fascist, that’s why he’s best pals with trumpleton.

[QualityChimp]

It's depressing what's going on in England at the moment.
The stabbing of the girls was an absolute tragedy, but the response by these thugs is inexcusable.

They attacked a mosque, but it raises tens of thousands in charity for the likes of The Royal British Legion and cooking thousands of meals for people.
Then it's just turned to flat-out vandalism and looting, damaging places like the O2 shop and stealing phones, but also local travel agents (Sunderland) that do loads of charity work and taking on loads of apprentices and setting fire to one of the few remaining libraries in the area (Liverpool).

If they gave jail sentences for the peaceful oil protesters, I hope they're just as strict with this mob.

I'm looking forward to loads of reports of people having awkward meetings with HR today after they were seen rioting at the weekend.

I see GBNews, The Sun and The Daily Mail are keen to point the finger at "the media" for riling the crowds up.
I can't fathom who has been blowing the immigration dog whistle all these years?

->Open Spoiler<-

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/aug/05/cobra-emergency-meeting-keir-starmer-far-right-riots-uk-politics-live-latest

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/conservatives-left-uk-wide-open-to-far-right-violence-says-former-adviser

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/tory-shadow-minister-sorry-riots-justified-police

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/05/uk-stop-the-boats-policy-raising-risk-of-deadly-crushes-on-dinghies-ngos-say

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/04/watchdog-should-investigate-farages-dangerous-comments-says-liverpool-mp

[wakka]

It’s a wonderful thing for the far right politicians, asset managers and hedge fund founders of this world, that people are so easily and passionately convinced that the poorest and most powerless in society are nicking all their stuff instead.

[egparadigm]

I checked in with some of my clients today. One said he hid in his hotel from the rioters. Another, who doesn't live in a hotel, is worried about them coming for her.

A third. who lives in a hotel further away, barely leaves his hotel room as it is because he's cut off (previously was learning English, can't access classes since moving). He's going to stay in even more than usual whilst the riots continue. He also mentioned telling his children when he speaks on the phone (back home) that they cry every time and want to be together. He has to tell them he's not allowed to work and that he's not able to be with them until the (very slow) Home Office decision is made. He's been waiting a year so far. He's also waiting for an operation on his leg, for which apparently he'll be on waiting list for 50 weeks. He says "nothing's going well for me at the moment", understandably. This is the reality of the riots: decent people, trying to do the right thing, being intimidated by thugs.

What a terrible state the Tories have gotten us into. Destroying the country's public services and dividing people to the point of violence. All the right-wingery of the recent govt, making life hostile for asylum seekers, is counter-productive. Most asylum seekers are likely to get asylum (HO stats at 70% success rate) and because they were treated harshly they're less able to work and more likely to claim benefit because of their fear and anxiety.

[fishbowlhead]

Tory/Cons have left the country in the worst financial state since ww2, I mean they must of been actively F*****g everything they possibly could to achieve this because the only other thing bigger than their F up financially was a WORLD WAR!.

But they saved their greatest magic trick till last, because it’s somehow the immigrants fault, yep, not the greedy billionaires sucking the country dry and making a sport out of destroying it, no, it’s the person who doesn’t have a penny fleeing poverty’s fault, somehow.

Amazing stuff Tory/Cons, truly epic stuff.

[Asura]

This is the thing. We have these EDL types burning hotels and attacking people of colour.

Meanwhile the crooks who made a killing off the sorry situation of the water companies are sitting in their nice big houses, safe in the knowledge that their reprehensible exercise was perfectly legal.

[Asura]

EDIT: double post

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/05/far-right-violence-should-be-treated-as-terrorism-says-former-police-chief

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/05/ministers-prepare-extra-500-prison-places-for-accused-far-right-rioters

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/06/water-companies-record-fine-sewage-thames-water-ofwat

[Golgo]

Now that these Nazis are being rounded up and charged in decent numbers, remanded in custody awaiting sentencing, etc., it's amusing as all hell to hear their weaselly attempts to wriggle out. Things not too very far off the following: "I was perambulating for my evening constitutional with my faithful dog Tyson when I noticed a disturbance - a gaggle of ruffians and ne'er-do-wells were hurling epithets, and worse, at our local community mosque! Out of concern for my very many Asian friends I resolved at once to approach an officer of the law and report it in the strongest terms. Well, you can scarce imagine my surprise when I was falsely misconstrued as a rioter and cuffed!"

[wakka]

I checked in with some of my clients today. One said he hid in his hotel from the rioters. Another, who doesn't live in a hotel, is worried about them coming for her.

A third. who lives in a hotel further away, barely leaves his hotel room as it is because he's cut off (previously was learning English, can't access classes since moving). He's going to stay in even more than usual whilst the riots continue. He also mentioned telling his children when he speaks on the phone (back home) that they cry every time and want to be together. He has to tell them he's not allowed to work and that he's not able to be with them until the (very slow) Home Office decision is made. He's been waiting a year so far. He's also waiting for an operation on his leg, for which apparently he'll be on waiting list for 50 weeks. He says "nothing's going well for me at the moment", understandably. This is the reality of the riots: decent people, trying to do the right thing, being intimidated by thugs.

What a terrible state the Tories have gotten us into. Destroying the country's public services and dividing people to the point of violence. All the right-wingery of the recent govt, making life hostile for asylum seekers, is counter-productive. Most asylum seekers are likely to get asylum (HO stats at 70% success rate) and because they were treated harshly they're less able to work and more likely to claim benefit because of their fear and anxiety.

This is terrible to read.

What is it you do mate?