Why are majority of the riots in northern towns?

[PhoebeMcPeePee]

DH & I were watching the riots on the news this morning like most people absolutely horrified.

He's from one of the northern towns affected although we live in the south and started discussing why these riots now (and historically) tend to be more focused on northern towns but didn't really come up with any one thing. Any thoughts on this?

No one’s denying there aren’t nice places in the north but there’s an awful lot of socioeconomic deprivation up here, even hate to say it, in the Yorkshire Dales or Harrogate.. We know that houses are expensive in Chapel Allerton and you can get a decent artisan bread loaf there, but equally there are quite a few shitholes that have been ignored for bloody years. This faux ‘we aren’t all whippet trainers up here who bathe in front of the fire’ schtick is so lazy and detracts from the real point.

I'm from one of the northern cities affected born and bred, still live there now, DF worked in a factory so brought up very much working class.

Many yrs ago while in the city with the dc one saturday, we witnessed a 'peaceful' protest by the EDL . It was awful, the hate that was being spouted, the banners claiming immigrants were raping 'our women' etc. It felt like it was on a knife edge that could have turned nasty at any point.
I was honestly shocked that there were people around our area really felt like that.

I'm not going to give excuses for behaviour as there is none but I do believe the far right know exactly how to target and get those people riled enough in believing that immigration is the root cause to their own problems and their own lives would be better if if were stopped.

But the riots are also just an excuse for criminal behaviour, to have a go at the police, to steal and commit crime!
Also for those thinking it's about young men etc the ages I've seen gor arrests , bar that 11yr old have mainly been in their 40s and 50s!

Because these are the places that have been forgotten about. These are the places that have lost their industries that gave everyone employment and a reasonable standard of living. These are the places that have been more impacted by immigration. These are the places where children, particularly boys, have lost hope of ever achieving anything in life. Leave your leafy southern suburbs and come and visit us. A walk round Hartlepool, some areas of Leeds, Morley, Southport, Rotherham, Burnley will show you an abandoned industrial landscape that saps hope even those of us who love our home towns.

I think there's something more here. Its not just Russia.

We've gone through a period of Centre Left - throughout Europe. And there's just general disillusionment with that because of standards dropping so people are looking elsewhere.

The UK is slightly out of step with the trends. When the Centre Left has been in power we had Centre Right, then got fed up of that and went further right. And we've now swung back left.

No where else in Europe has swung back left. But the only reason we swung left was due to a collaspe in the centre right. The hard right (not far right) is still there and hasn't shrunk. It just didn't prop up the centre right this election. Equally there wasn't an increase in support for the left in the UK.

The swings over the past 10 or so in UK politics have been more to do with trust issues in governance in the UK rather than changing attitudes. This has been coupled with increasing poverty, which has merely made politics more volitile.

I would be hesitant in blaming Putin. Even stuff like women's rights has been about a trust issue / not listening issue and identity politics being associated with over intellectualisation being detatched from practicalities of real daily life.

The Nazis came to power promising bread and work. The most basic of things. We'd be wise to reflect on that in the context of increasing levels of inequality. The far right thrives in times of hardship and when the centre has failed to provide. Thats got nothing to do with Russian interference in 2024.

No, it really isn’t, why would I post that; that’s bizarre and what was bull shit. Someone above just posted about the Butchers so I think it is pretty accurate.

No mental health services are spread too thin because there are more people mentally ill, and the middle classes are using services for relatively minor mental health issues.

Well try going to heartlands hospital in Birmingham and you might get a different perspective

Sorry, off topic, but how dare you refer to tradesmen as 'undereducated twats'! What a stupid ignorant comment.

You do know that being a tradesman requires more than just physical labour don't you? I have tradesmen in my family and they are very successful in their field. My dad has been a joiner and builder all his life and has overseen extensive projects on large properties. He is highly skilled and sought after. As is my other relative.
He is not an 'undereducated twat' as you have labelled people like him and in fact I can confidently say he earns more per year than any of the senior professionals in the organisation that I work for. So you can keep your snobby opinions to yourself.

Btw, who does a better sausage roll than Greggs? Co-op freshly baked ones are great, but Greggs win the crown.

May have had MH issues, but would still sub consciously know what he was doing, and who he was choosing to target. The murderer in Nottingham actually pre planned what he was doing. Lay in wait for someone to attack. It wasn’t something done on impulse. Did he wait for a specific target - race/colour, age, sex? Without him telling the police on what basis he chose his victim, it can’t be confirmed, so could be down to the fact he wanted to attack a white person and not someone of colour.

Just outside Leeds station serving coffee and food like scrambled eggs on sourdough toast and avocado.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186411-d2192738-r389793490-Laynes_Espresso-Leeds_West_Yorkshire_England.html

The South isn't all rainbows and sunshine either .

The immigration issue have been brushed under the carpet for 20 years'.

I think it has been too much

36.8 % of London, are white British which is contining the trend of declining. Depends where in London someone lives and moves around doesn't it, Tower Hamlets is a very different population to W.Hampsted.

The statistics are all available.

Because all the money and funding for everything goes to London, and it's even worse since Brexit and cost of living crisis. The EU was funding an awful lot of stuff in towns and cities, from arts to businesses, that's hit everyone and not been replaced by anything equivalent.

There's a trickle down effect for other places in the south that would otherwise be ignored as Londoners live/have second homes/holiday there, and even some of those struggle.

Lots of places very much ignored, I live in a city and it's like Calais the amount of homeless people live in tents in the city centre, many of whom are off their heads on drugs. Go to many city centres before 9am and you'll see the same.

Yes I agree with all of this completely and of course don’t think it’s all down to Putin alone. I do think hostile countries use social media to their advantage though, and spread misinformation. (As do others) and I think it is interesting.

He was psychotic. He had lost touch with reality. Without knowing the form his psychosis took, no one knows why he attacked the people he did. It was 4am, there were not lots of people about that he could choose to attack. They were probably the first people he saw that he thought he could safely attack i.e. not a stag do of 15 blokes walking home drunk.

I'm from a northern town/area which was once a thriving centre for heavy industry - mining, steelworks, shipyards, etc - and is now on its knees. Yes, the mines closed 40 years ago, but that's resulted in not one but two generations of men being told they've been screwed over by a southern metropolitan government, to the point where a level of bitterness is baked into the local psyche. No other industry has been introduced to mop up the male workforce, and the strong tradition of violent local sport that used to diffuse some of the aggression has also died a death. These angry, disaffected, unemployed men are surrounded by impressive but derelict Victorian civic buildings which tell them on a subliminal level that the town used to be important, used to have money, used to mean something. Now it's falling to pieces: just wall to wall charity shops, vape shops, bookmakers, and a disastrous county lines presence. Something has changed and they want someone to blame.

The rioting is vile and disgusting and should be condemned on every level, but just shouting THICK NORTHERN RACISTS is only going confirm everything Tommy Robinson and his ilk are telling them about how The South Doesn't Get It.

Being on the housing waiting list for years
Unable to get a doctor’s appointment for months
Unable to register with an NHS dentist
Local buildings being turned into HMOs with the inhabitants gathering outside all day
Special school places (already like gold dust) being taken…

Already poor areas are usually where the immigrants are moved to, it’s easy to see where resentment can breed.

We know. But it just is not as run down as some northern poor areas. It really is not.

Yes, I remember the 2011 riots were originally hashtagged 'UK riots' as these have been until someone pointed out that they hadn't spread to wales or scotland. If you google them now they are referred to as "2011 england riots", wonder if the same will happen here?

Hear hear. Saw another comment early in the thread about ‘white van men’ such ignorance about the skill and training it takes to be a master of your craft.

Who do they think builds stuff?! Including no doubt their nice £100k extension (yes I’m stereotyping and generalising in response to the post you quoted bleating the same ignorance)

racist??😂
this may be part of the problem?? You dare say anything that someone else may not agree with and this word is brandished around freely!
read what I said please I don’t condone them at all or damaging property etc I said I partially understand why they are happening!
it has been a long time coming unfortunately!!

@Leniriefenstahl

I completely agree with you. I was only trying to respond to the nonsense about every Northern city being some backwater. That's also inaccurate.

The working class have totally been abandoned by Labour, and people like you sh1t on them from above. No wonder they are kicking off.