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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

244 replies

triumphantantelope · 01/01/2026 14:44

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.

OP posts:
HappyFace2025 · 01/01/2026 17:17

TinySaltLick · 01/01/2026 15:07

I disagree with your premise that it was political propaganda - the purpose of events organised by the London authority is to celebrate the city and promote London internationally. Whilst we have maniac flag raisers, Trump and musk making unsubstantiated smears, and social media promoting right wing, Russian backed frothing - there is an obligation to show on the global stage London is a safe, diverse, thriving and open place to visit

But London isn't the safe place it used to be. I've also lived here all my life (and I'm pretty ancient now lol) and while places have to change with the times, it is no longer the city I know and love. As for last night's display politics has absolutely no place in it.

PandoraSocks · 01/01/2026 17:18

corlan · 01/01/2026 17:05

I don't recall that at all - I'm sure that vision of Boris would have haunted me on many a lonely night.
I just had a quick scoot through the 2013 BBC coverage and couldn't see it though. Maybe it was outside the main display?
It was the feeling that Khan was preaching at me during a firework display that I helped pay for and that should not be political, that got my goat.

Lee Harpin, a political journalist for Jewish News, posted the images on his Twitter feed on Jan 1st last year when the annual outrage about Khan and the London fireworks was taking place. So, I don't think they are fake, if that is what you're insinuating?

BIossomtoes · 01/01/2026 17:18

HappyFace2025 · 01/01/2026 17:17

But London isn't the safe place it used to be. I've also lived here all my life (and I'm pretty ancient now lol) and while places have to change with the times, it is no longer the city I know and love. As for last night's display politics has absolutely no place in it.

It still feels pretty safe to me.

cardibach · 01/01/2026 17:18

EasternStandard · 01/01/2026 17:16

I did see it which is why I posted I laughed.

Sorry, I’m not sure I understand. Are you agreeing that it’s always been Mayor’s Fireworks (or for a long time anyway) and that people attacking Khan over it are a bit daft?

cardibach · 01/01/2026 17:19

HappyFace2025 · 01/01/2026 17:17

But London isn't the safe place it used to be. I've also lived here all my life (and I'm pretty ancient now lol) and while places have to change with the times, it is no longer the city I know and love. As for last night's display politics has absolutely no place in it.

Crime rates in London have fallen. In what way is it not as safe as it used to be?

corlan · 01/01/2026 17:20

PandoraSocks · 01/01/2026 17:18

Lee Harpin, a political journalist for Jewish News, posted the images on his Twitter feed on Jan 1st last year when the annual outrage about Khan and the London fireworks was taking place. So, I don't think they are fake, if that is what you're insinuating?

I'm saying they're not on this BBC broadcast of the 2013 firework display.

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dinglethedragon · 01/01/2026 17:21

you do realise @triumphantantelope that if you had actually been there you would not have seen any of that? Projections have to land on something in order for the light to reflect back and be visible - there was no structure or membrane stretched across the eye that would do that.

What was show on TV was technically impossible in the real world. The feed being shown on TV was 10 seconds BEHIND the real world. They were putting the feed through and adding CGI .

I was watching CNN for the fireworks in other places before London. Their presenters hadn't;t read the memo - they did the countdown in real time - but the screen being shown was Big Ben and the countdown 10 seconds behind.

I then switched to BBC and being a computer scientist could clearly see this was CGI in the middle of the London eye.

I actually wanted to watch what really happened in London at the time, not an improved version. I spent a few happy youthful years getting crushed in trafalgar square, I love London at NY.

I did not want an advert for Wicked in the middle, nor be preached at. The flags were meant to be 'inclusive" - well they removed the star of David from the Israeli flag. That's a pretty huge political statement.

Given all the BBC had done WRT "Fake news", doctoring Trump's speech and bias - I think this was a totally stupid thing to do. The fireworks alone were gorgeous - that was all that was needed.

ReformUnderwear · 01/01/2026 17:21

Get over yourself OP.

user23442721 · 01/01/2026 17:24

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Nice to see that much-discussed self-diagnosed tolerance of the right poking its head up here.

Cheers

BIossomtoes · 01/01/2026 17:25

It appears this debate is far from new. This was 2018:

The theme of the show was London's "relationship with Europe"; it opened with the phrase "London is open" spoken in multiple languages, and featured a sequence in which the London Eye was lit in the colours of the flag of Europe. The theme was also reflected in some of the featured songs, such as "Don't Leave Me Alone", "Stay", and "We Are Your Friends". The show was criticised by supporters of Brexit for containing political gestures

Enrichetta · 01/01/2026 17:26

What’s with all the obfuscation @StarlightRobot - why don’t you just come out and say that you don’t like Muslims…

Pearl69 · 01/01/2026 17:27

sillylittlerabbit · 01/01/2026 15:23

I love that Sadiq has coined the expression ‘London is open’ and made it clear that its diversity is celebrated. I think the fireworks just reinforce the message, so if that makes it politicised…hell yeah!

London and Sadiq have been battered recently on SM and many many false hoods spread by those who seek to divide, create hate and undermine us. Very well done I thought.

RedToothBrush · 01/01/2026 17:27

cardibach · 01/01/2026 17:00

What national identity was destroyed please? And what’s the new one? I feel I should be told.
Not come across this idea?

Liberalism is a balancing act which requires accurate acknowledgement of problems and measures taken to resolve them.

In order to be liberal and tolerant you have to be open to hearing difficult messages and opinions even if you don't like them.

People don't express grievances if they are happy. If people have grievances they look for people to blame. If the authorities fail to acknowledge the problem and offer explanations and solutions more nefarious groups will step in because a political void has been created.

Intolerance thrives in a climate of unresolved and unacknowledged problems - because it creates a political void.

It is not a coincidence that revolutions only happen at times of high employment, poverty or other crisis (eg famine or in the aftermath of a disaster).

Intolerance is the product of political failures elsewhere.

It is the product of ignoring issues or dismissing them as being invalidate because they are voiced in 'the wrong manner'.

Saying someone is racist and ignoring everything they say is close minded and ignorant in its own right. You may disagree with where someone places blame or their reasoning, but someone making a point in this way often does have a problem or grievance that needs solving in some way. The solution isn't to ban them, but to do the difficult work of finding and addressing the underlying problem and in doing so creating an alternative narrative.

Eg 'send them all back' is a response to an underlying problem of a lack of affordable housing and poor quality of life. These people want a higher quality of life more than they wish to hate people. They are a stressed population who feel vulnerable and threatened and are lashing out because no one else is offering an alternative solution.

Often intolerant promoting politicians recognising this, offer 'magic bullet' solutions. When achieving power they either fold and are a disaster or turn into monsters trying to solve a problem with the wrong solution. Note the term 'the final solution'. It didn't solve the underlying problem of lack of work and employment. Ultimately the act of losing the war and killing off a massive proportion of your male population in a war does though as it means you have less pressure on land and labour is in higher demand leading to higher wages though and that plus massive investments from the US stopped grievances festering for yet another generation in Germany.

Intolerance always comes from the principle of competition for resources and economic stress. There are no exceptions throughout history.

The intolerance paradox whilst very true, over simplifies this and forgets you have to listen for the early signs of grievance and deal with problems rather than trying to silence and allow political voids that can be exploited to appear.

This is the problem with the 256character generations. They understand part of this, but not the fundamental difficult bit underneath of preventing grievance build up through good civic management.

HappyFace2025 · 01/01/2026 17:29

cardibach · 01/01/2026 17:19

Crime rates in London have fallen. In what way is it not as safe as it used to be?

Crime rates have fallen because in so many cases now police dismiss a crime e.g burglary as no longer being worth their time to investigate.
A lot more people now don't even bother reporting say their car being broken into, because they know the police won't attend, let alone investigate.
Police stations have been/are closing e.g Wandsworth where I live is large council stretching from Putney in the west to Clapham/Streatham in the east. There hasn't been a functioning police station in Putney for years and the one in central Wandsworth is in line to close. This is happening all over London.

StarlightRobot · 01/01/2026 17:30

@Enrichetta

That’s not the case at all. I was trying to word my post carefully so as not to cause offence, but not easy to do. My post was about shoehorning messaging into the sermon which felt aimed at dismissing concerns and protests this year regarding migration, religious extremism and terrorism.

P00hsticks · 01/01/2026 17:32

I only caught the last few minutes of it and all I saw was stills from Wicked - what on earth was that all about and why was it at all relevant ?

bemoresloth · 01/01/2026 17:32

dinglethedragon · 01/01/2026 17:21

you do realise @triumphantantelope that if you had actually been there you would not have seen any of that? Projections have to land on something in order for the light to reflect back and be visible - there was no structure or membrane stretched across the eye that would do that.

What was show on TV was technically impossible in the real world. The feed being shown on TV was 10 seconds BEHIND the real world. They were putting the feed through and adding CGI .

I was watching CNN for the fireworks in other places before London. Their presenters hadn't;t read the memo - they did the countdown in real time - but the screen being shown was Big Ben and the countdown 10 seconds behind.

I then switched to BBC and being a computer scientist could clearly see this was CGI in the middle of the London eye.

I actually wanted to watch what really happened in London at the time, not an improved version. I spent a few happy youthful years getting crushed in trafalgar square, I love London at NY.

I did not want an advert for Wicked in the middle, nor be preached at. The flags were meant to be 'inclusive" - well they removed the star of David from the Israeli flag. That's a pretty huge political statement.

Given all the BBC had done WRT "Fake news", doctoring Trump's speech and bias - I think this was a totally stupid thing to do. The fireworks alone were gorgeous - that was all that was needed.

The not showing of the star of David was a technical issue. And it didn't just affect Israel's flag. Other blue and white flags including those of Guatemala, Argentina and Honduras also suffered similar visibility issues during the animation.

FlyingApple · 01/01/2026 17:33

Just a reminder that this kind of post will attract bots.

PandoraSocks · 01/01/2026 17:34

corlan · 01/01/2026 17:20

I'm saying they're not on this BBC broadcast of the 2013 firework display.

If you have a look at Harpin's tweets, the pictures look as if they are from someone's camera roll rather than off the TV. So someone who was at the whole event. The photos may be Harpin's own as he doesn't credit them to anyone else. In fact I should have probably credited them to him when I posted! Apologies to Mr Harpin.

ContentedAlpaca · 01/01/2026 17:35

I can't remember what it was about last year's but I recall being irritated by what I perceived as virtue signalling. I thought there was less of that this year but now realise I didn't hear a lot of the voiceover or music because we watched on a different channel.
Anyway, I enjoyed it and if there was a FU to anyone, it went over my head.

If it was a FU to Farage, what matters will be how people vote, not what is included in a firework display.

LeafyMcLeafFace · 01/01/2026 17:35

SBGM247 · 01/01/2026 15:23

You're so out of touch with the rest of the country.

I’m in ‘the rest of the country’ and thought they were brilliant, they represented me more than anything which has been shared on social and mainstream media promoting division and fear.

The same goes for most of the people I know in ‘the rest of the country’, so speak for yourself because you certainly don’t speak for me or most of the people that I know. In fact it’s embarrassing that you are trying to make it sound like people outside London share your attitude.

TY78910 · 01/01/2026 17:36

P00hsticks · 01/01/2026 17:32

I only caught the last few minutes of it and all I saw was stills from Wicked - what on earth was that all about and why was it at all relevant ?

My interpretation was that Wicked the musical in the West End is the longest standing production (of Wicked) which has now been made in to a huge movie production. So to London, it’s something to be proud of.

Dollybantree · 01/01/2026 17:38

triumphantantelope · 01/01/2026 15:15

This. It took back the England flag from the “Raise The Colours” fuckwits.

When you say “raise the colours” fuckwits - do you include in that people who display a flag in their garden/window?

Who exactly are you talking about?

PandoraSocks · 01/01/2026 17:40

PandoraSocks · 01/01/2026 16:48

.

I should have added the photos are from Lee Harpin, who posted them on Twitter.

bemoresloth · 01/01/2026 17:41

Dollybantree · 01/01/2026 17:38

When you say “raise the colours” fuckwits - do you include in that people who display a flag in their garden/window?

Who exactly are you talking about?

Raise the colours is the far right campaign group putting flags on lampposts and in public spaces

Nothing to do with private gardens or windows