Thetford is just north of where I am. The US air bases are much closer to me than to Thetford - there are in fact two, RAF Lakenheath (fighter base) and RAF Mildenhall (transport, refuelling and logistics). The Centerparcs is just outside Elveden, several miles away from Thetford itself.
Thetford scores high on pretty much all the indices of deprivation, so it's a fertile breeding ground for the far right. My late husband's cousin lives there and she's a lovely person, but she does read and believe the Daily Mail. Over the last few years I've chipped away at that by pointing out how the right wing press distort facts (and the left wing press too) and she is now better at thinking before she takes a political position, but it's been hard work. And of course not everyone is open to change.
There isn't a lot for anyone in Thetford - the schools are bad, work prospects are bad and in fact all it has going for it is the A11 which gives easy access to Norwich and Cambridge. But that is only for those young people who do well at school.
I am actually really irritated that these riots have happened - it isn't as if the people housed there had a choice about where they were going, and they are literally being hounded for who they are, not for anything they have or haven't done. But this is what people are like. It's only marginally less bad in Mildenhall, where I live.