To think that Starmer must regret taking the knee for George Floyd?

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Surely public figures must realise that making empty performative gestures will come back to haunt them at some point?

I’m not sure you’re right on that, Henry’s death is a major event and the image of Rayner and Starmer taking the knee quickly exposes a weakness.

It’s easy to see online and for cut through it’s high.

Her statements don’t even make sense.

”George Floyd had an unsavoury background, it doesn’t mean he should be murdered by the police, but it has to be considered that it happened”

Um okay?

My OH is the same about Starmer.it makes good piss taking material over dinner. I'm getting my 🍿 ready for the local election. I don't care who wins the seat. If its Burnham, starmer is gone. If its Kenyon, it's only a matter of time before Labour are toast. A big wake up call is coming.

What weakness?

Is saying that systematic racism in the police force isn’t acceptable, weakness?

What, by making them walk up Downing street in full view of the whole world? Why couldn't have visited them at their home?

Except of course BLM was about the system being against non white people. And Britain has a system and non white people. That is why the UK had BLM protests.

So anyone taking the knee was doing so to acknowledge that the UK has issues too. Not ridiculous at all.

Apologies, assumed it was pretty obvious but for clarity "you lot" in this context = right whingers.

Absolutely agree!

This is so ridiculous. No individual lives for centuries (and obviously especially not a young man like Henry Nowak, RIP, failed by this system) and in fact 'white privilege' is in fact only rich white privilege. There are plenty of white people - a larger number than those who had any kind of privilege - who were in the workhouses when Britain had an empire. Dying of TB and other horrible diseases, Extremely high child mortality. They were not any better off than poor people in other countries and died, in their thousands, in extremely nasty conditions

Do you even know what white privilege is? As t sounds like you don't have the first clue.
It's nothing to do with "how well off" people are, how many diseases we may have or whether have been in a workhouse or not.
It means I can go and walk down the street knowing I won't get either verbally attacked or physically just because of the colour of my skin.
Without even opening my mouth, and minding my own business.
That's pretty privileged in my eyes.

The same weakness that our PM acknowledges we face the most worrying times yet still won't cut the welfare budget. Defence needs more money but Starmer is too weak and doesn't have enough support to stand up to his back benchers.

Lack of consistency and highly likely to do empty gestures. Lammy for a start has rowed back now, social contagion for a US issue, pretty much what I agreed with in @Ginnyweasleyswandposts

That image now doesn’t work for them.

I think the issue with gestures like taking the knee, is that it’s only meaningful if we believe the gesturer is genuinely moved and trying to find a way to express that. Unfortunately in a culture where virtue signalling has become rife - we can often feel when people are doing these gestures in a politically or socially performative way without meaningfully caring about the cause. We can’t really know the minds of others but we are now so used to being skeptical of those in power and distrusting their motivations.

I don’t think it was wrong at the time to try and find a way to show that he stood with black people around the world who have been systematically, institutionally oppressed. I do think he’s insipid and will do and say what he thinks will make him popular. I think he should regret being or appearing to be that kind of character, more than any gesture.

Presumably they agreed, he didn’t “make” them.

Farage had a “private” meeting with them, supposedly, and he then contravened their wishes.

If he had met them at home, you’d be saying that he’s disrespected them by keeping them hidden, he should be meeting them at Downing Street to show respect etc etc.

He was violent and abusive towards women, he didn't deserve to be murdered but he didn't deserve to be treated like a martyr either.

Presumably they agreed, he didn’t “make” them.

Farage had a “private” meeting with them, supposedly, and he then contravened their wishes.

If he had met them at home, you’d be saying that he’s disrespected them by keeping them hidden, he should be meeting them at Downing Street to show respect etc etc.

You've got a low bar for privilege then.

They tried. They cut the WFA for wealthy pensioners and the right revolted.

They tried. They cut the WFA for wealthy pensioners and the right revolted.

..and the rest of the welfare allocation?

Tbf this says more about people who can’t comment without that last part.

An excellent post. I agree with every word you have written.

Plenty of black people from left, right and centre opposed BLM. From Thomas Sowell to Cornell West. 81% of black Americans polled in 2020 wanted the same or more policing, per Gallup.

Thinking only self-interested whites opposed BLM’s aims and methods is like thinking all white Brits support the EDL. Easy to do if you are across the pond and badly misinformed.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2587680/gallup-poll-81-of-black-people-want-police-to-stay-in-their-neighborhoods/

Well said.

In the USA.
PP are conflating what happened in America, with protests here which mainly involved pushing over statues.
I assume OP meant that KS' taking the knee means that JD Vance felt it appropriate to make ill-informed comments on HN's murder.

He was silent when John Ashby was convicted of the racially aggravated rape and assault of a Sikh woman too.

And we all had to be calm and “not allow the tragic murder of a young woman turn into attacks on men and the police” after Sarah Everard was raped and murdered by a police officer.