to be utterly sick of protests, marches, rallies, and riots

[NameChangeMay2026]

What happened today in Belfast was dreadful. Of course it was.

When Sarah Everard died, there were marches. But a day before she died, an Indian woman Sarah's age was knifed to death in the street in Leicestershire. It was an "honour" killing, I think.

Where was HER lantern on the doorstep of Downing Street? Where was HER march?

My point is, dreadful things happen every day and I am so sick and tired of news items sparking so much public rowdiness. It used to be that the media could report on current events without starting a riot. I know that we have always had riots, but they were the occasional one. And because they were not common, they helped effect change. They were a desperate measure reserved for when nothing else had helped.

Now, together with marches, rallies, and protests, society is constantly disrupted, and I am so, so sick of it. I live in a major city and I can't go anywhere without checking what march, rally, protest, or riot is happening, especially at the weekends. And they are so common that they don't help effect change anymore.

The riots are terrible. Thousands and thousands of pounds' worth of lost property in fires, injured bystanders, police calld away from other duties to attend them. And there are "professional" rabble-rousers who travel to marches, protests, and riots. It's not because they're passionate about a cause. They're just passionate about causing trouble.

I travel for work to major American cities and it's even worse over there. Another day, another riot/protest/march/rally.

They have become a feature of today's society, and I wish they would just stop.

Edit: I actually stay in more because of them. I don't go out of my hotel as much when staying in America, and I don't go to the city centre where I live as much. It's so bad when regular people are put off from walking around city centres because of all these annoying dickheads.

I think it is worse in America, and I'm tired of feeling scared to go out when there, in case I run into an uncontrolled crowd - where the police have guns, and the protestors might, depending on the state.

The burning buildings in Belfast are a disgrace. It's not the owners' fault that this happened.

Have you seen the skills shortage list for visas? It hasn't been reduced at all. Butchers/admin assistants for example, are still on there. These aren't highly skilled roles. It's a bit defeatist to say nothing can be done about stopping the boats. It can be, but it requires a radical approach. One that will be unpalatable to some, but in the long run would be beneficial to restoring social cohesion and reducing violence on our streets. Or we carry on as we are, with endless protests, neighbourhoods being torn apart, and communities distrustful of each other.

The boats are not unstoppable. No benefits, no housing and no asylum for people arriving by boat and they would stop. At the moment Labour is providing a huge pull factor.

Well, the biggest driver for small boats is probably the weather, but the current government has sped up processing meaning more people are being turned down and (I believe) removed. Remember the prior two (three?) governments deliberately slowed down processing in the belief it would deter and reduce acceptances in year.

There’s also a will to work more closely with Europe, which is really the only way I think we’ll see significant change. Eg the plan to move failed applicants to a third country. Rather than the prior government’s obviously unlawful plan to remove people during their application.

I agree with you up to a point. What was happening in NI last night however was not protest it was RIOT. Total lawlessness stoked up by far right social media. This was not righteous anger, this was an excuse for demonstrations of overt racism and thuggery.

When white males commit murder, where are the riots and the furious rage? Yeah that's right nowhere to be seen, or where it is seen, as in the case of Sarah Everard, it is usually mostly women, behaving peacefully.

So personally I would not be equating Just Stop Oil protests with the Belfast or Southport Riots. The former is generally well intentioned and borne out of serious concern for the future of the planet, the second an excuse to give some "othered" section of society a good kicking and set stuff on fire.

For anyone who has watched Tip Toe, I think it is genuinely terrifying because it is so believable that any day soon we will actually see people hung from lamposts by lynch mobs.

This is why I hate people like Farage and Tommy Robinson.

They pick on those who are easy targets and make those who easily led blame immigrants and people on benefits for their problems, instead of the real issues.

Tommy Robinson bangs on about how much he loves this country but doesn’t even live in this country.

Farage wants to cut benefits and privatise the NHS (affecting the most vulnerable in society) yet people are still supporting this tool and it’s often the ones who are going to be at a massive disadvantage if these things are put in place.

He wanted people to leave the EU, knowing that it would increase immigration and decrease emigration, knowing the NHS would struggle, knowing it would make the cost of living increase and knowing that it would impact society’s most disadvantaged.
And yet these people are still supporting him!

I’m all for discussing immigration and how we can find a balance between helping people and hurting ourselves.
But I do not think idiots like Farage and TR who prey on those with lower IQs should be allowed to spread their lies and manipulate people.

Lucy is an absolute asshole but in no way should she have served time in custody. No-one should for posting stuff on SM.

She was made an example of when she shouldn't have been.

As has been highlighted in recent cases, custody should be a last resort when there is no other appropriate option and there were numerous other options in her case.

I've seen women convicted of drug-dealing, being in possession of weapons, assault etc where they're given a community order as the fact they are Mothers is taken into consideration.

Lucy was used as a political scoring point and she shouldn't have been.

Keir fucked up in that regard because now she's seen as some kind of right-wing political prisoner martyr when she's just really thick and traumatised.

The point being that rioting and attacking people who look like the criminal is not a rational response to a crime when the criminal has already been arrested.

Despite the shortage list, net migration is massively reduced though.

And whatever solution might come about, I expect communities will take a long time to recover from the scenes in Southampton and especially Belfast, not to mention the places where riots happened in 2024. I was planning to visit Belfast later this year but it’s certainly put me off to see just how deeply sectarian it still is (perhaps I should have known already).

You are so right. A divided country is extremely weak and it feels like the UK has been falling apart since Brexit. I feel quite worried for my kids, especially as they are mixed race.

It’s not a rational response full stop.

But asylum seekers don't receive benefits, the £49 a week they get and a basic roof over their heads is not a huge pull... even if you do believe they come from "uncivilised slums" as many people do seem to...

They need to open legal routes so people can be processed before even reaching the UK shores. That will result in no boats, and no "illegals" as they'll have been screened and qualified before coming to the UK. They'll then be in a place to integrate and find work/make a life for themselves. This time in "no mans land" whilst being processed is inhumane and causes the issues with integration we are seeing.

The problem is, on this site, even using the term honour killing is deemed racist as you well know. How would it go if i started a thread about honour killings on here? You know the answer.
The 'left' attempt to gaslight everyone in to thinking it isn't a problem, nothing to see here.
To discuss forced marriage and honour killings (and the thousands upon thousands of women and young girls, who live in fear of both in this country) apparently means you are far right.
Please, do not attempt to educate me about how the 'left' view violence against women. We are not allowed to discuss violence against women unless it is committed by a white male.
Any attempt to deny this is disingenuous and I will not engage with anyone who is unwilling to discuss it openly.
I have grown to despise people who put their need to feel morally superior over the safety of women and children. They do not want change, they do not care about victims, they care more about shouting 'racist' and 'fascist' at people.

He was murdered on 3 of December 2025. The trial concluded this month. That is not more than a year.
The crime had to be investigated properly and a criminal case prepared. That takes time. Novak's own family (who were highly critical of the police who ignored his pleas for help) praised the murder investigation team who investigated the crime. Before a case comes to court you want to make sure that all the loopholes are closed. Eg. That his claims of self defence can be rebutted without any reasonable doubt. The investigators will have worked very hard to bring the case to trial in such a short timeframe.

Large scale public disorder defences can usually be fast tracked because they are more straightforward and easier than murder. And because usually the participants plead guilty because it's obvious they did the crime and there's no advantage to doing otherwise. For murder etc, even when there is a mountain of evidence criminals are more likely to plead innocent on the day because the.sentenses are so long. So you would want the evidence to be water tight.
Large scale public disorder offences re the killing of a black man (2011l and the killing of a white man (2026) were treated the same. Black and White suspects were fast tracked the same way. So where are the tiers?

The government want this and appear to be facilitating it. It's social engineering. Deliberate. This is why nothing is ever done. The problem is, we're not permitted to discuss the issue, so people remain mystified as to why it's happening. The ones who are protesting and some rioters probably do know, which is why they're so angry. Some rioters are just opportunists or agitators for whatever reason.

We are not allowed to discuss violence against women unless it is committed by a white male.
Any attempt to deny this is disingenuous and I will not discuss with anyone who is unwilling to discuss it openly.

Many threads discussing violence against women of all ethnicities by men of all ethnicities. Strange how you’ve missed them if it’s a topic you care about.

But you only want to discuss with people who will pat your head and tell you you’re right.

People don’t like the term honour killing because it implies there is some honour to it. There isn’t. These are misogynistic murders by men who believe they have the right to control their female relatives. If you don’t know that maybe you don’t care as much about women as you think.

What do people mean when they claim we’re not allowed to discuss “the issue”?

We do discuss it.

We are discussing it, right now. We obviously are “allowed.”

So you're open to discussion as long as the person you're discussing it with agrees with your point of view? Very open minded of you.

Suffice to say the end game is very ugly and even the leftists will be left weeping into their vegan handkerchiefs.

The data may suggest that, but stats can be manipulated. Who is exactly leaving the UK? Who is coming in? From discussions on here and msm, medical graduates for one, who can't find training posts within the nhs as it's easier and cheaper to issue visas to overseas applicants who have that experience as opposed to newly qualified grads. That's troubling to me. Who's coming in? Immigrants to work in vape shops or butchers, when these jobs can be performed without extensive training or expertise, and as such will never be high tax payers.

If I used social media to try whip up some hatred online suggesting that someone sets fire to someone's house and it happens... I would expect to be put in prison.

@BrightShaker

Lucy Connolly pled guilty to inciting violence. She called for a hotel full of migrants to be burned down. She admitted doing that.

Why oh why is it the call of the far right to murder people by burning down their houses?!

You're not discussing it. You're discussing surface level events and issues. This goes a lot further and touches things we are in no uncertain terms, not allowed to discuss. This is why the arguments go round and round in circles and get nowhere and people are confused as to why things are happening.

Mysterious...

They’re all just really big really loud really messy tantrums. Waaaaaahhhhh

Don’t be ridiculous