To blame Nigel Farage personally for this mess.

[twopercent]

Some people are fundamentally unpleasant. We know that. Some people. a tiny minority, hold views that are unacceptable to general society. We had a system whereby they knew they were better off keeping their poison silent in their heads. Farage has given them a cloak of respectability, and a way of connecting with other likeminded psychos. And he has organised them. Now look where we are.

It is going to be interesting to see how many people convicted for these riots are the same people convicted in 2011. Some people will just jump on any excuse to join in and stir up disorder.

These people would be better off finding a sporting outlet for their energy and aggression, and learning to discipline it. But Farage has kicked it all up, purely because he needed personal supporters for personal power, and saw this demographic as an untapped source of numbers.

People are not "illegal".

He's a nasty little man with an inferiority complex who comes from a good background, but who's incapable of creating anything positive and is never happier than when he's in the limelight spouting half truths and shit.

Unfortunately there's a lot of them about.

Surely Farages influence on these riots is equivalent to Trump's influence on Jan 6th?

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

Dont be silly

As others have said it is an incredibly complex topic - it is no coincidence that most of the disturbances have happened in de-industrialised, deprived Northern Towns. Deprivation, poverty, poor education, a toxic media, Brexit, the likes of Braverman, Farage, Johnson who have constantly blamed the shit state of the country (NHS, low wages, lack of housing etc etc..) on immigrants, the EU, the 'woke' (whatever in the hell that is) and who have made racist remarks and have normalised anti-immigrant and islamophobic sentiment.

We have seen this in the 30's in Germany, Italy, Spain (and don't forget we had our own British Union of Fascists), we see it now in many parts of the world - a rising tide of hatred, misogyny and racism.

Now a member of my family, who is a non-white NHS Doctor, is scared to go out, scared to go to work and scared to be at work - I doubt he and his partner will stay in the UK long term after this.

It is truly heartbreaking and deeply concerning. Yes Farage is a tiny part of what is happening but I think to blame him is to give the Frog Faced Fascist too much importance.

Stay safe everyone.

Exactly exactly all of this.
And the people who voted for them and therefore gave them a platform for their rhetoric of division.

Who did we blame in the 1980s then when the far right was at its peak and gangs were on the rise, peak BNP/Combat 18 time? I sincerely doubt many of the todays old rioters spend any time listening to Katie Hopkins/Lawrence Fox's podcasts or reading about politics. Its a latent racism that never goes away, coupled with the need for rebellion.

Silly?

These are "illegals" apparently.

No they’re not

Home Office figures cited by the Financial Times in August last year showed that the annual asylum cost reached £3.96 billion in the year up to 2023—double that of the previous year and six times higher than 2018.

You're working to pay your taxes for this! Not for your country. Not for the NHS. Not for your kids education. Not for the police. Not for your parents pension (and your future pension).

A House of Commons Library report showed that the UK Government gave a combined £232 million to the French authorities for border control in their own country, between 2014 to the end of the 2022-23 financial year. Under the joint leaders’ declaration agreed in March that year, we have committed to give more than double that—£476 million over the next two financial years. I think we should demand a refund from France. The economic costs are endless. It is simply impossible to quantify the true impact of this issue on the public purse. It is clear to me, and a vast majority of the British public, that this is a totally unacceptable state of affairs.

Wow. Part of the govt tax take goes to serving the asylum budget. Who knew?

@Menstum So what would you do then ? Buy a flotilla of gunboats?

Dont be so ridiculous

If you can't say anything intelligent, why do you bother saying anything?

This. No right minded person would be out involved in these protest/counter protest/riots and especially with children with them.

Of course adults are responsible for their own actions.

Other people can legally be held responsible for inciting people to behave in a certain way.

I haven't seen Farage out protesting anywhere. He's been saying what needs to be done to prevent these dreadful riots.

This 💯

I'm not right minded then? I went to a counter protest as I was heartbroken to see black and Asian friends living in fear. They needed to know we were on their side. All the counter protesters were well behaved and peaceful. I'm sorry you find it so weird but sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe in. I'm not letting my friends and colleagues be terrorised without standing up to it.

Having worked for The Treasury these figures are a drop in the ocean. I can't get worked up for it. We need to pay whatever it costs to process asylum seekers. It's the humane thing to do.

Yes. Absolutely blame all of them as well as Farage.

He's been skulking and fighting with Yaxley Lennon whose supporters say NF has betrayed him. Upthread, way back, I wrote that NF hadn't realised how badly he compromised himself in interview yesterday by citing Andrew Tate as a credible source of information. I said he'd deny it. He hasn't denied it but apparently has been misled by Mr Tate😁 and can't be expected to check everything before he spreads lies disinformation. Well done Clacton, you've picked a winner.