Riots in Southport

Callistemon213

It started with a comment a politician had said about the riots; what she said was quite right as was the language she used.
Threads meander.

What politicians and people in the public eye say and their language is of importance, particularly at tense times.

People will make their own minds up I guess, but in the context of this thread it was gratuitous in my opinion.

Callistemon213

It started with a comment a politician had said about the riots; what she said was quite right as was the language she used.
Threads meander.

What politicians and people in the public eye say and their language is of importance, particularly at tense times.

Exactly, threads meander and we all respond to what a poster above us says, simple as that.
I sure object to being called ‘elderly’ 😂 and it isn’t snobbish to want our politicians to moderate their language in public.

I am elderly but not a snob. I'm sure Angela Raynor will have been advised to moderate her language but using the word "thuggery" was correct and can't be likened with what she said years ago. Thuggery is acts of violence against people and property.

Rioters sentenced:

Two rioters have each been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for violent disorder on Merseyside
Prosecutors say John O’Malley, 43, was "at the heart of the violence", while William Nelson Morgan, 69, joined a 100-strong mob that attacked police.

Yesterday, Derek Drummond, 58, was jailed for three years.

Numbers still charged awaiting court

Keir Starmer is holding a third Cobra meeting this afternoon. "its important we don't let up"

All on I player news feed includes video of Starmer speaking of way forward

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy8497l7dx8t

Also from newsfeed:

"Police and politicians have cautiously welcomed the calmer scenes last night.

But preparations are in place for more potential disorder this weekend.

Cadeby

Callistemon213

Chocolatelovinggran

Hmm - riots in Southport are related to something a politician said some time ago?
Not relevant, to put it politely.
And some people comment on how much airtime is given to Mr Farage, who just might have something to say on this matter but has been, oddly, very quiet.

Do you think he's horrified by what was unleashed?
Or quietly rubbing his hands?

I think he'll be shrugging and saying " Who me?"

I think that it’s probably dawning on him that with his new found position as an MP comes the sort of responsibility that he’s never had before. Not only that but he now has to be seen to represent his constituents in Clacton and spend a lot of time there. He is now under public scrutiny in a way that he has never been before. I’m just hoping that the government put an end to politicians having regular slots on tv channels other than being interviewed by non politicians. I wonder if he’ll ever agree to be interviewed on The Rest is Politics Leading?

I’m just hoping that the government put an end to politicians having regular slots on tv channels other than being interviewed by non politicians

I very much agree with this. I think it's an abuse of his position as an MP. I hope the to be set up Ethics and Integrity Independent commission rules out this practice.

Interview, some articles, yes.

I really don't think so far he has given his constituents anything like a fair deal when has he time for regular surgeries, listening to locals, helping the people of the very deprived Jaywick who voted him in. First he goes off to the USA to see his "friend" Trump (but never actually saw him, when parliament was still in session).

"Nigel Farage has been exposed – disgrace is all that’s left for him"

Ian Dunt writing in the "i"

"Far-right filth has become mainstream thanks to Farage"
"Every day, Nigel Farage commits a new cynical manoeuvre designed to inflame tensions. Now we can see him clearly: a sad, reprehensible little man, whose aim seems to be to spread haterd and fear, finally exposed for what he is"

inews.co.uk/opinion/nigel-farage-exposed-disgrace-all-left-him-3213759

Quick glimpse, then you hit a paywall, frustrating.

Give me a minute and I'll post it. I'd just put it on another thread.

Nigel Farage has been exposed – disgrace is all that’s left for him
This sad, reprehensible, empty little man is finally exposed for what he is

Nigel Farage’s poison gets into the root of national life precisely by staying just on the right side of respectability.

‘Nigel Farage’s poison gets into the root of national life precisely by staying just on the right side of respectability

Even by his standards, it’s been a tawdry spectacle. Even by his standards, he’s behaved despicably. Every day, Nigel Farage commits a new outrage – a new contortion of logic, a new cynical manoeuvre designed to enflame tensions while offering plausible deniability. And now we can take a good look at him and see him clearly: a sad, reprehensible, empty little man, whose aim seems to be to spread hatred and fear, finally exposed for what he is.

Farage’s response to the riots started with a now-classic form of innuendo and tacit encouragement, posing inflammatory questions which highlighted false claims about the Southport attack. Was the suspect being monitored by security services, he asked? Why did the police say it was a non-terror incident? “I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us,” he said. “Something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country.”

Notice the way he ensures deniability. This is key to every single one of his interventions. And it is for this reason that he is such a dangerous personality. Tommy Robinson is taboo, a social pariah. But Farage’s poison gets into the root of national life precisely by staying just on the right side of respectability. In this way, he can remorselessly expand the limit of acceptable speech towards the extreme right.

After the violence which followed, Farage emerged with a statement. He said he was “totally appalled by the levels of violence”, of course. It’s what comes afterwards that’s truly revealing. “Ever since the soft-policing of the Black Lives Matter protests,” he said, “the impression of two-tier policing has become widespread.”

This was a crucial moment. The idea of two-tier policing has bubbled away among far-right groups online, from people like Robinson. But it was unheard of in the mainstream until Farage talked about it. Once he did, it broke the barrier. Journalists from respectable outlets started asking about it. By the end of the day, it had been asked of the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Met Police chief. This is Farage’s role. He is the transmission agent. He takes the filth of the online far right and converts it into mainstream talking points.

The point about two-tier policing is obviously racist. It is also nonsensical. Anyone with the slightest knowledge or understanding of policing would scoff at the idea that the police treat black people or Asians more leniently than they treat white people. This is a grotesque inversion of the truth about decades of brutality towards ethnic minorities.

To equate Black Lives Matter protests with far-right riots is an obscenity of logic. These were organised events which took place with the agreement of police, which were overwhelmingly peaceful. The riots we’re seeing today involve concerted attempts to burn asylum seekers alive. They involve racial attacks. Anyone even capable of making that comparison has lost the right to ever again be taken seriously.

In a statement on Facebook, Farage went through all the usual rote disavowals of the violence, and then substantiated the grim small-minded fictions that bring it to life. He spoke of “people not even recognising the centres of some of our towns and cities as even being vaguely English anymore” and demanded that we respond to the rioters by giving them precisely what they want: an end to immigration.

On an LBC interview last night, all of Farage’s desperate evasions were truly exposed. He ranted and he raved, but to any fair-minded observer, it was perfectly clear what he was: a tepid, self-pitying figure, desperately blaming others for his own abject failures.

He was finally asked about his initial statement when the riots started. “You said: ‘Some reports suggest he was known to the security services.’ Which reports?” He replied: “There were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings, Andrew Tate etc, suggesting the man had crossed the English Channel in a boat in October 2023, other suggestions that he was an active Muslim, and much of this led to the riots that we saw.”

So there it was. The questions he raised amplified claims by individuals including Andrew Tate, a conspiracy theorist and misogynist currently awaiting trial for rape and human trafficking. He used reports later shown to be false to start whipping up paranoia and suspicion, the vital tinder that helps the violence catch light.

This was then followed by another inversion of reality. Instead of accepting any culpability for his actions, Farage instead played the victim. “I have had nothing to do with any form of street violence now or at any point in my career and this level of incitement to violence against me, which is utterly baseless, has led to a huge increase in my security uptake.”

So there it was. The most head-spinning of all claims. He was the real victim here. Not the Muslims cowering in their homes, praying the thugs would not break in through the door. Not the children in those hotels, gazing out at a mob trying to set them on fire. It was poor old Farage. That was where his heart truly lay.

Weeks like this are crucial. They define how we proceed. In one pathway – the one Farage wants us to take – things become even more poisonous than they are now. We absorb the language and the ideology of the far right into the mainstream. Our discourse becomes ever more radicalised and extreme. This is a process we have seen take place in the US, under Farage’s hero Donald Trump. It can happen here too.

The other is that we see just how dangerous and irresponsible Farage’s politics are and what their natural endpoint is: a demand for race war, the terrorisation of innocent people. Anyone with eyes to see can now observe Farage’s tactic, the way he operates incessantly to coarsen and radicalise public debate. From this moment on, he should be treated accordingly. You either sanitise the mainstream of these figures, or you allow it to be defined by them.

For crying out loud when are these ridiculously long copy and paste posts going to stop?

As for far right filth there’s been some far left Labour filth showing their true colours today. Calling for throats to be cut. Tut tut…..

They'll stop when people stop asking for them, I suppose.

I agree that the 'cut their throats' comments was awful, although in this context is is whataboutery writ large. The councillor (not an MP) was suspended and arrested when it came to light though. I haven't seen people defending him.

Far left Labour filth??😂

Far left Labour filth??😂

You got it!

tickingbird

For crying out loud when are these ridiculously long copy and paste posts going to stop?

As for far right filth there’s been some far left Labour filth showing their true colours today. Calling for throats to be cut. Tut tut…..

Cheer up dear

What he said was reprehensible and he has rightly lost his job and may lose his liberty.

Yet people still defend Farage, who has a million times more influence, which is why I think the whataboutery doesn't hold up. Had anyone ever heard of 'Dartford Councillor Ricky Jones' before he made the headlines with is stupid comment? We aren't in the playground, which is where 'tit for tat' belongs.

tickingbird, so are you comfortable with Mr Farage describing himself as a victim of "incitement to violence" ?
Are you comfortable with his relationship with Andrew Tate?
Mr Farage is the Member of Parliament for an Essex constituency. Should his focus be on the safety and well being on his constituents? I see no evidence of any self awareness that his concerns for himself and his repeating of anything said by the loathsome Mr Tate might not be helpful in the current situation?
And I repeat- Mr Farage's friend, Mr Tate is utterly loathsome. If that makes me " far left filth" I will wear that label with pride.

Thanks for posting this intelligent article Doodle.

It’s spot on in its critique of Farage - despicable little man!

Thanks for the article Doodledog, a very measured piece. How anyone can take Farage seriously when he cites Andrew Tate as a source is beyond belief.

My friend had heard of Ricky Jones because he's one of her councillors and she voted for him. I'm only a few miles away, didn't know him from Adam. Stupid man has ensured lots more will know him now

tickingbird

^Far left Labour filth??😂^

You got it!

Endearingly close to ‘scum’ tickingbird!

Casdon

tickingbird

Far left Labour filth??😂

You got it!

Endearingly close to ‘scum’ tickingbird!

😄😄😄

Excellent article by Dunt.

That article is one of the best I've read in a long time as regards the insidious way he - or people like him "normalise" the unacceptable.

Casdon 👍🏻

tickingbird

For crying out loud when are these ridiculously long copy and paste posts going to stop?

As for far right filth there’s been some far left Labour filth showing their true colours today. Calling for throats to be cut. Tut tut…..

No-one forces anyone to read them, do they?