To think the London NYE fireworks were an excellent FU to Farage and Tommy Ten Names?

[triumphantantelope]

The NYE fireworks always get me a bit emotional but this year I think it was up there with the 2020 covid ones. The message was beautiful and ran through the whole thing. The way they got the EU stars in, the dig at the mini roundabout painters and flag hangers.
I’ve lived in London my whole adult life and I felt the display reflected it perfectly.

This. People seem to forget that when the situations are reversed it won’t be their preferred messaging and political & ideological stances being promoted.

It’s a celebration of London. London is multicultural. It’s about representation of London and its residents. Not a particular political party.

The whole notion of 'inclusion' is political and therefore, ironically, not inclusive of people who disagree with that political position. It doesn't just mean tolerance (and indeed, if it did, we'd just use the word tolerance).

"Presented by the Mayor of London" is nothing new, it happened when Johnson was mayor too. Every year this comes up!

The fireworks were great last night.

Come the next election I don't think many people are going to be influenced by a fireworks display.

Glad you enjoyed the display OP

Agreed . Far too kid virtue signalling for my liking (and I don’t support reform or Farage).

So you’re telling @SBGM247 that where they live isnt inclusive? How do you know this? And what has made you come to this conclusion @TY78910 ?

and to pump smoke and particulate matter (including plastics) into the air.

I don't remember a speech from Boris Johnson being included as part of the presentation in the past.
I've just googled and most of the money for the fireworks comes from the Greater London Authority arts and culture budget - so largely funded by council tax payers in London.

I haven't lived in London for many years. But I spent a few weeks there flat sitting last year. Simply being alive in London is a wonderful antidote to those two worthless creeps.

How else can you interpret their response to the initial poster?

We’re all largely responding to OP’s reading of it. I only saw a clip of last night and I have to say the messaging felt pretty blatant to me: a voiceover telling us what values we celebrate while the flags of the world went up on the London Eye.

Picking specific virtues and majoring on them is not an apolitical act, even when everyone agrees that thing is a virtue. When it’s contested, even less so.

Being open, pro-EU, multicultural, are contested political values (which incidentally I largely share).
What I deeply dislike though is the politicisation of neutral civic spaces, or, worse, the idea that only other people’s politics are politics at all, while our own are just self-evident virtues.

If Trump (or Farage) did a publicly-funded NYE fireworks that majored on the glories of motherhood, with plenty of approving references to good, fecund women at home with their strapping husbands protecting them and their beaming babies thriving, I think we’d see the problem. And not because anyone here is anti-mother nurturing or anti-husband protecting. But because it’s an encroachment of politics into a place it doesn’t belong.

You already had this . Boris acting the maggot on his stupid zip wire. If you're too thick to join the dots you get what you deserve.

Considering the fact that @SBGM247’s comment was “you’re so out of touch with the rest of the country” and then quoted 1984 to someone else, them I’m guessing not?

Oops sorry. The fireworks did go ahead but weren't open to the public. Apologies OP I got mixed up!

Maybe you’re right. But I despise the message that has been sent from some groups here and others abroad (Trump et al) that London is broken, a failed city and is dangerous. That is utter bullshit and needs to be countered loud and clear.

Or maybe you are

Who is “you”? And is there really any need to be quite so aggressive? 🤷🏼‍♀️

You are right, they were not fireworks. It was a pre-recorded drone show played at midnight and it was beautiful.

Come now.

I hate the union Jack's and Tommy Robinson such as the next sane person but it was political and had ana agenda instead.of being some nice fireworks.

Fairly predictable BS from Sadiq tbh.

I hate that he has to announce and brand the fucking fireworks "the mayoooor of london" least we sodding forget.

it aas so miserable and stingey....
He is charging £45 per ticket and has closed the parks.... the poor buggers who paid couldnt even hear any music and everyone at home had to endure those shitty audio visual overlays.

It was a load of crap....

I LOVED IT!

A magnificent FUCK YOU to the flag shaggers was a perfect start to the year for me, and I'm FAR from alone!

Let’s just simplify this a tad. There’s no need to go to Trump, anti mothers, even Farage.

I am a foreigner, but also a Londoner of 20 years.
I’ve experienced my fair share of racist ‘jokes’, national headlines that tell me I’m taking someone’s job, scrounging off the Brits.

It’s events like these that bring me, my colleagues, my friends and thousands others together and remind us that London welcomes and values us. And that includes native Londoners.

Local ‘town’ is London. Is this like telling foreigners if they don’t like something to go home?

So it wasn’t about all of us living in peace and harmony regardless of race or religion?

The ticket price will no way cover the cost of the fireworks, staffing, policing, security, etc.