My son works in the centre of Bristol and has said basically the same thing about what happened there yesterday. A large group of "counter-protesters" (many wearing balaclavas and face masks) to a protest that didn't seem to exist, or at least was of no consequence if it did. A friend of his says that anyway the people he knows with the much feared opinions on immigration etc are completely incapable of organising themselves to target lawyers' offices etc...
I've noted how easy it was to scare even switched on people on social media about these protests. Covid sceptics telling one another to "stay safe" etc...
Yes I agree the ‘riots’ are playing into the hands of our increasingly authoritarian state. But what is the alternative. People have used their vote over and over to express their desire for slower controlled immigration and the governments from Cameron on have not only not delivered but apparently been helpless to improve the situation at all. Not being able to have a grown up conversation about these issues also doesn’t help. The media of all kinds like to polarise the debate and divide.
IMHO, this has happened from Blair onwards and, far from being helpless, I can't help thinking that because they have/do subscribe to a globalist agenda, it's intentional.
As a mixed-race woman who sometimes works with immigrants, I could not agree more. Voicing an opinion that there are too many migrants coming in, putting pressure on housing and other public services does not necessarily mean that you don't like the migrants or that you want to get rid of the ones who are here. It's a hugely important topic that demands respectful discussion and understanding, but any discussion that is not aligned with the Establishment view is shut down or reframed in simplistic caricatures. It's a recipe for a powder keg, and I can only imagine that this is what those in power want.
This did all seem rather too transparent. I'm a long-term UK resident, American by birth. I stopped watching TV a long time ago.
I looked at some of the newspaper websites last night and, oh, my, 100 'far-right; demos were going to happen last night. I get up in the morning. None of the 'far-right' demos have amounted to anything AFAIK.
In their place, there were lots of 'heroic' 'counter demonstrations' but that's okay? That's interesting.
So the police warned that there were going to be massive 'far-right' demos, but the demonstrators were put off by a little rain. At the same time, the police didn't warn the public about 'counter protests' including people with their faces covered. Because those people aren't 'thugs'? I don't know. But I'm a peaceful person and I'm not going to any demos now.
Conclusion: The police targeted the wrong group causing public order issues on the streets. The police were 'unaware' of large number of people who were creating public order issues. That is zero for two attempts, although if may be the government's fault, and not the police. Sigh.
This reminds me a little of what seems to have been going on in Germany at the start of this year. Namely allegedly mass _popular_ protests against the “far-right” (“gegen Rechts” in German), which on closer inspections had all the hallmarks of being state-sanctioned if not even organised. Heck, one German “protest march” even had Chancellor Scholz himself in attendance. Imagine Sir Keir in the front row at the Old Market show … You are quite right, when all the world’s a stage and every little finger lifted becomes a performative action for the benefit of social media then a certain suspicion about the grassroots origin - of both sides - comes to mind.
My son works in the centre of Bristol and has said basically the same thing about what happened there yesterday. A large group of "counter-protesters" (many wearing balaclavas and face masks) to a protest that didn't seem to exist, or at least was of no consequence if it did. A friend of his says that anyway the people he knows with the much feared opinions on immigration etc are completely incapable of organising themselves to target lawyers' offices etc...
I've noted how easy it was to scare even switched on people on social media about these protests. Covid sceptics telling one another to "stay safe" etc...
Yes I agree the ‘riots’ are playing into the hands of our increasingly authoritarian state. But what is the alternative. People have used their vote over and over to express their desire for slower controlled immigration and the governments from Cameron on have not only not delivered but apparently been helpless to improve the situation at all. Not being able to have a grown up conversation about these issues also doesn’t help. The media of all kinds like to polarise the debate and divide.
IMHO, this has happened from Blair onwards and, far from being helpless, I can't help thinking that because they have/do subscribe to a globalist agenda, it's intentional.
As a mixed-race woman who sometimes works with immigrants, I could not agree more. Voicing an opinion that there are too many migrants coming in, putting pressure on housing and other public services does not necessarily mean that you don't like the migrants or that you want to get rid of the ones who are here. It's a hugely important topic that demands respectful discussion and understanding, but any discussion that is not aligned with the Establishment view is shut down or reframed in simplistic caricatures. It's a recipe for a powder keg, and I can only imagine that this is what those in power want.
This did all seem rather too transparent. I'm a long-term UK resident, American by birth. I stopped watching TV a long time ago.
I looked at some of the newspaper websites last night and, oh, my, 100 'far-right; demos were going to happen last night. I get up in the morning. None of the 'far-right' demos have amounted to anything AFAIK.
In their place, there were lots of 'heroic' 'counter demonstrations' but that's okay? That's interesting.
So the police warned that there were going to be massive 'far-right' demos, but the demonstrators were put off by a little rain. At the same time, the police didn't warn the public about 'counter protests' including people with their faces covered. Because those people aren't 'thugs'? I don't know. But I'm a peaceful person and I'm not going to any demos now.
Conclusion: The police targeted the wrong group causing public order issues on the streets. The police were 'unaware' of large number of people who were creating public order issues. That is zero for two attempts, although if may be the government's fault, and not the police. Sigh.
This reminds me a little of what seems to have been going on in Germany at the start of this year. Namely allegedly mass _popular_ protests against the “far-right” (“gegen Rechts” in German), which on closer inspections had all the hallmarks of being state-sanctioned if not even organised. Heck, one German “protest march” even had Chancellor Scholz himself in attendance. Imagine Sir Keir in the front row at the Old Market show … You are quite right, when all the world’s a stage and every little finger lifted becomes a performative action for the benefit of social media then a certain suspicion about the grassroots origin - of both sides - comes to mind.
And the last thing she said was "NO NO please NO, I'm on your side."