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.

So not about raising concerns about so cslled "illegal immigration" (which has roughly halved under labour)

Do you have a source for that?

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/

Such a pity that London can't have a firework display without it being used to force-feed people a left wing political agenda.

It should just be fireworks with no cringe-making voice-over to convey the official party line. It's BS and people have had enough of it.

So you are confirming you think being nice to each other, being inclusive and being a part of international politics is a left wing agenda?
Weird.

Obviously people haven’t. There are plenty of people who enjoyed it immensely. All the people I saw watching it seemed to be having a very good time.

I don’t think it has halved for illegal immigration.

Thanks. Could you highlight where your link says that illegal immigration has roughly halved under Labour?

This link says that “irregular arrivals” are actually up in the year ending March 2025, compared to the previous year. Admittedly that had three months of Tory rule, but it was the best source I could find.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2025/how-many-people-come-to-the-uk-irregularly

We don’t really have a figure for illegal immigration because those people don’t let the authorities know they are still here/have arrived.
Did you mean asylum seekers?

If the pp means irregular arrivals end of year was in the headlines today, it’s up on last year, definitely not halved.

@Lamington posted that so-called illegal immigration had roughly halved under Labour.

I asked if he/she had a source for that.

Perhaps when that happens, it will become clear exactly what was meant.

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/unauthorised-migration-in-the-uk/

In part, estimates vary because they include different groups. Some include asylum seekers or children born in the UK to unauthorised migrant parents, while others do not. However, all figures are highly uncertain and have large margins of error – meaning that all estimates provided below should be treated with caution.

In other words, nobody knows because all figures are estimates and different estimates count differently.

@Dollybantree

You know Khan is totally corrupt right?

Can you provide a reliable source for that allegation? Thanks!

Why would we need a flag? Oh I think I get what you mean now (having not seen the fireworks display) - did it have the baby blue and pink flag?
This would be rather tricky in fireworks lol but its the most apt. Or alternatively dont make women feel excluded by including men in womens spaces.

Why does there have to be a message rammed down throats? It's just fucking fireworks

Oooops the image I tried to post didnt upload - black background, white text that says "Woman, noun. Adult Human Female"

Or as @Yesitisnotthatitbe dont politicise a fireworks event. There is no need.

@cardibach no I havent watched it tbh (I presume its on BBC? I havent got a tv licence) but other people on this thread mentioned "inclusivity" so I was wondering whether the fireworks were "lets all love each other regardless of ethnicity/race/colour/creed" or also included a trans inclusivity message - it seems not which is pleasing to my ears.

Who is ramming anything? It’s just fireworks.

Let's face it, fireworks are pretty boring after a while. There's only so much swirling Catherine wheels they can justify - so we enjoyed the Wicked bits for example as my daughter and I had just returned from seeing the film. We all watched the display on tv then went to bed. Didn't think it was that deep xx

I didn’t see it but how can you claim it was both a FU to Farage AND non-political? Either you think it sent a political message to Reform or you think it didn’t.

Because it focussed on inclusivity and togetherness whereas Tommy Ten Names and Reform stand for the opposite. I doubt that was intentional, just a happy coincidence

After watching China celebrate the new year I can see how far behind we are when it comes to technology. The drone show they had made London look like a back yard display.

Reform don't like Tommy anyway.

I just went to watch it and it's impressive what technology can do, but for me it's sterile.
I went to a drone show this year and it was really impressive, the once. I don't think I would go out of my way to see another. It was part of a performance and there were other, human based elements that I enjoyed more. Actually there was an interesting contrast between the performance which was a historical retelling and all its humanity and warmth and the technology in the sky.

I may be in a minority for thinking that drones can get old more quickly than fireworks ever have though.

I feel the same way about drone displays. We watched the skyline here which due to positioning gets a whole vista of fireworks, the sound and sight is really something.

They had fireworks as well! Obviously fireworks will never get old considering China invented them over 2000 years ago and they just keep getting better every year.