Whatever happened to the National Front? Is this just history repeating?

@sunshinelollipopsrainbowseverywhere wow, how did he make the decision to leave these groups? Does he still have any of these views? It would be interesting to see if you feel he is 'deradicalised' - or maybe that's not the right term for it. Maybe then there would be some hope that it would work for some of the thugs rioting currently

They rear thier heads every few years .. From Mosley & his black shirts, to Enoch Powell, The NF, The BNP, The EDL ,.. whatever they are calling themselves now.

They will go away again .. Tommy Robinson isn’t going to carried onto number 10, on the shoulders of working class people anytime soon

Name-changed for this. My brother was involved in the NF and BNP as a teenager in the 90s. He got in with a group of older males, I think they must have 'recruited' him and some of his friends. I remember them coming to the house, they all had skinheads and greeted each other with Heil Hitler, HH or 88. Racial slurs were used constantly. My brother was arrested at one point while out with this group. I'm not sure what they did. It was all very This is England. That film upset me a lot.

So I'm not sure. My feeling is it's about the same, only they have a platform and relative anonymity now. Back then it was more like secret meetings and talking in code.

I feel very sad for the young people being recruited into this. My brother was angry and struggling with our home life so was an easy target. He's not involved in any of this stuff anymore.

There was an interesting caller on Any Answers this week, around 2/3 of the way in. A young man who'd got involved with stuff like this over lockdown but had since turned things around.

Seen it all before again and again, set an anti nazi league up where I live.

took 3 coach loads to the 90s version of rock against racism

from a small town.

the rise of the far right always occurs when we have an evening down turn, and absence of a decent left alternative

hopefully labour will at least see us to better. Times and back in to the woodwork they will go.

Blair Peach was in the SWP at the time he was killed btw

Didn't Mick Lynch give a speech about this the other day? He was referencing Tony Benn about always being vigilant. This stuff never goes away just rebrands itself. Not quite answering your point but it popped into my head. My 27 year old was asking the same thing. It's frightening but not new either. People used to just talk and meet in pubs and you could avoid them. Social media means they blurt out their thoughts in public.

I remember Blair Peach. Wasn't he killed during a protest?

I think whilst we had reasonable general living conditions, so dissent didn't really have the conditions to flourish.

Politicians have ignored the underlying problems that really mean these problems are flourishing. From Tony Blair bringing in unrestricted immigration (numbers skyrocketed) to massaging the unemployment figures by increasing the school leaving age to tory austerity and cost of living meaning poorer living standards. Oh and David Camerons specific brand of blame the scapegoat politics. All these mean that those rioting have less reason not to riot.

Make no mistake the spaces in prison for the rioters will be coming from releasing prisioners early, up to 60% early in some cases. Punishment isn't much or a disincentive either if you are likely to only serve 50% of an already meagre sentence.

And yes law makers have failed to regulate social media or the algorithms that are inadvertently designed to make people more extreme.

Apparently rules were put in place so that NF members were barred from certain professions

I don't remember that - can you elaborate.

I think they just rebranded themselves the English Defence League or some such. Same old gang of racists thugs though.