This must be a sad day for England

IOMGran

GrannyGravy13

IOMGran

GrannyGravy13

IOMGran

QuoteEmeraldforest good to hear from someone on the ground. I can quite believe how feral and scary those thugs were as I grew up near Southend in Essex. I applaud our bravery in attending the counter demo. Of course some of our kindly old grans here will make passive aggressive remarks and downplay the violence because that suits their world view. We all know who they are now.

Are you implying that those thugs are from Essex…

I am saying I met many of those type when I grew up near Southend. I also have met them in Luton and many other places. Are you implying they are not thugs?

I think you are slurring a swathe of the population without any firm evidence.

I live not far from Southend, have you visited recently?

Do you still have contact with people that live there?

I try really hard to not go back there after my dad died. I always found it pretty toxic apart from the Toulouse restaurant and the Cliff gay pub. The rest was just crap.

Wow…

Emeraldforest

They were most certainly NOT all wearing masks or dressed in black! That was just a group of pro Palestinians. There was no trouble at all from any of the counter demonstrators who behaved with great self control when trapped between 2 groups for several hours.
The man who was photographed with a bloodied head was NOT injured by a counter demonstrator but as a result of his own altercation with the police.
I really take issue with anyone who is pointing any blame on the non racist group.

Am sorry that you had a bad experience but it was hard for the police to keep the groups apart.
You were there to make your point but so were the other group and both groups had the right to protest.
You say ‘they mustn’t be allowed to win’ does that mean you would prefer that group to be banned but your group allowed to protest?
I can’t see anyone winning anything tbh and see Saturday’s protest as people doing the only thing they can to make the government sit up and take notice.

DollyRocker

Two of my friends went to protest. There weren't 100,000 people there, it was more like 2 million. The MSM is feeding the sheep more bs and desperately trying to downplay it.

That is actually a ridiculous assertion. Do you think 2 million additional people could descend on London on one day without massive impact on the travel infrastructure, that would have been reported as a major issue?

IOMGran - why did you want to get married in a Church? Especially a Church where you despised and ignored the vicar? Sorry, I know my question is slightly off piste but your comment puzzled me, on a thread where English values and culture are the focus

Although I'm sure Emeraldforest is more than capable of replying for herself, I didn't read her post as in any way suggesting that one group should be allowed to protest and the other should be banned. I read it as one group felt intimidated and threatened despite being completely non violent but that shouldn't stop that group from continuing to make their point. It's funny how we read these things according to our own viewpoint.

It was the words ‘they mustn’t be allowed to win’ 🤔

Galaxy

But if you ( not you personally) label everyone far right or racist then it becomes meaningless. I don't even hear those words anymore and I am not the only one.

So do you mean we should never call a racist a racist. Are you ok with calling those rapists rapists but don't want to call him racist?

If you are in an opposing group and a smaller number, you will always feel intimidated I should think.

Casdon

DollyRocker

Two of my friends went to protest. There weren't 100,000 people there, it was more like 2 million. The MSM is feeding the sheep more bs and desperately trying to downplay it.

That is actually a ridiculous assertion. Do you think 2 million additional people could descend on London on one day without massive impact on the travel infrastructure, that would have been reported as a major issue?

Duh, they wouldn't fit into the space allocated for the march, let alone be able to see or hear anything. Fake news I think.

I was there with my granddaughter. If you look at the footage, a disproportionate number of the "Unite the Kingdom" participants were men - and very aggressive men at that.

They surrounded the space allocated to our Anti-Racist group on all sides so we were told by the police that, for our own safety, we would have to remain until they could ensure a secure "escape route".

Riot police and police on horseback were brought in to form a barrier as the Unite the Kingdom protesters tried to push forward into our space - I don't think it was to wish us a cheery hello. Horses had fire crackers thrown at them and bottles and other objects were thrown at the police by these so-called patriots.

During the hours when we were trapped we listened to speeches and then danced and sang to loud music. We knew we were massively outnumbered but we were determined not to become downhearted. When we were finally able to leave together, we saw the mess left behind by the Unite the Kingdom participants - cans and debris everywhere.

How can this right wing hate organisation, headed up by a convicted violent criminal, claim to representing the UK when Elon Musk is invited to pontificate on the state of our country - he a South African now living in the USA - very reassuring.

Just an observation which in no way follows from any of the comments above...even the BBC are reporting that many of the flags flying were Union Jacks. Surely they of all people must know that the correct name for the flag when flown or waved on land is the Union Flag. It is only called the Union Jack when flown on board a ship.

I know this has fallen into disuse lately, but I'm a bit of a pedant in this particular case.

Anniebach

Quote theworriedwell Sun 14-Sept-25 14:39:35
She was as poor as the rest of them, I wasn't born. Being stupid has nothing to do with being poor, plenty of poor people saw through him. Would you want gold bath taps when you hadn't got a bath?

What a horrid woman, I certainly don’t believe the “gold taps” story and being poor certainly causes lack of education, the 30’s , !

I didn't mention education, I've known some very intelligent people who weren't fortunate to have a good education. As an example I met a woman whose education stopped at ten due to WWII. I've heard her speaking five languages fluently, I don't know if she could speak more. She was well read, worked hard and her lack of formal education certainly didn't make her stupid.

I have tried to explain my position the worriedwell.

It certainly wasn't 2 million. I believe the Anti Iraq War march was estimated to be one to one and a half million. I was on that march and it went on for miles, all day.

JudyBloom

FriedGreenTomatoes, I totally agree with you. I think some people have been misled. It is not at all far-right to be patriotic and mostly it is the Silent Majority who are out there today.

Yes, I think the same.

DollyRocker

Two of my friends went to protest. There weren't 100,000 people there, it was more like 2 million. The MSM is feeding the sheep more bs and desperately trying to downplay it.

Did your friends do a head count?

AskAlice

Just an observation which in no way follows from any of the comments above...even the BBC are reporting that many of the flags flying were Union Jacks. Surely they of all people must know that the correct name for the flag when flown or waved on land is the Union Flag. It is only called the Union Jack when flown on board a ship.

I know this has fallen into disuse lately, but I'm a bit of a pedant in this particular case.

I think we all know what they mean and to be honest with that level of violence I'd imagine most people aren't going to fret about what a flag is called.

Good for you for actually going and supporting what you believe in in person Eloethan. We’re all talking about it, but as far as I know, nobody else on the thread was actually there.

Eloethan

I was there with my granddaughter. If you look at the footage, a disproportionate number of the "Unite the Kingdom" participants were men - and very aggressive men at that.

They surrounded the space allocated to our Anti-Racist group on all sides so we were told by the police that, for our own safety, we would have to remain until they could ensure a secure "escape route".

Riot police and police on horseback were brought in to form a barrier as the Unite the Kingdom protesters tried to push forward into our space - I don't think it was to wish us a cheery hello. Horses had fire crackers thrown at them and bottles and other objects were thrown at the police by these so-called patriots.

During the hours when we were trapped we listened to speeches and then danced and sang to loud music. We knew we were massively outnumbered but we were determined not to become downhearted. When we were finally able to leave together, we saw the mess left behind by the Unite the Kingdom participants - cans and debris everywhere.

How can this right wing hate organisation, headed up by a convicted violent criminal, claim to representing the UK when Elon Musk is invited to pontificate on the state of our country - he a South African now living in the USA - very reassuring.

Thank you Eloethan.

It’s valuable to hear the voices of people who were actually at the march, as opposed to the ‘armchair warriors’ who get their info from SM, GB News and their own imaginations.

Galaxy

I have tried to explain my position the worriedwell.

But you can't say if you'd ever call someone racially abusing a woman they are raping a racist. It seems such a simple thing to explain.

Me?

I'm celebrating new and old multicultural friends at the gym

S, a Christian Orthodox cleaner and carer who came from a poor background, devastating situation in Eritrea:

B, a tall, strong Nigerian woman who teaches at the uni whose family came over because their very powerful family were persecuted, she's now a uni teacher:

And K, a Sikh from the Punjab who works in our local hospice as counselling care co-ordination.

We all did yoga together and had so much laughter and sharing .. fascinating on religion, daily life, what we had in common and what was different and of course giggles about men and women. More in common for me with he Eritrean woman, who had got out like me from an abusive marriage.

Open your eyes, Karmalady and FGT.

This is our lovely colourful world, and we should make an effort to move towards it, not the oh so empire mindset of

"Us"- approval" 👏

and "Them', disapproval. 😠

Quotes from Max Ehrmann 'Desiderata'

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy

Didn’t realise we were playing Top Trumps on how multi cultural our friendship groups are…

Fair point theworriedwell...

DollyRocker

Two of my friends went to protest. There weren't 100,000 people there, it was more like 2 million. The MSM is feeding the sheep more bs and desperately trying to downplay it.

Of course there were, keep taking the meds.

QuoteGrannyGravy13 you might say wow, but my lived experience as growing up in the Southend area. I am fortunate to be able to choose where I live now.