Sunderland police station set on fire

[PrettyFlyforaMaiTai]

It appears that the rioters have set Sunderland police station on fire

news.sky.com/story/southport-violence-stabbings-attack-riot-london-hartlepool-misinformation-sky-news-blogs-13186819

Plenty of them were racist for years. And violent. Stop excusing them.

Yes of course. However, I don’t think it’s a coincidence this has occurred so soon after the rise of Reform and the Tory’s lurch to the right. These people have been encouraged and enabled by others looking to take advantage.

But if Starmer had taken anything other than a hard line he would have been called weak and soft on 'law and order'

It's clear he can't 'win' in the eyes of die-hard opponents

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How should Starmer have addressed these rioters then?

Oh, please. Thatcher would have set the dogs on these morons.

Yes I agree.

The poll tax riots severely undermined Thatcher didn’t they?

Well die hard supporters won’t mind but he is in a difficult position if rioting continues

Of course if it continues - but expect that most of the population - not the die-hards are appalled by these riots

No doubt we'll see some polling in the next day or so which will clarify this

No, not really. The Mid Staffs by-election was what did for her (poll tax being the big thing in the by-election).

They did continue after the press conference last night. We’ll see if what is planned today doesn’t happen

Any leader will feel strain with rioting regardless of party. The mention of Thatcher in pp is a useful reminder

You were talking earlier of a summer of rioting - not a few hours later

A couple of 'protests' have failed to materialise already in the face of 'counter-protests'

The weather is breaking

And the parallel with the poll tax riots is tenuous

I didn’t raise Thatcher someone else did tell them.

I said his hardline conference didn’t end the rioting which is true. In fact he managed to inflame the situation

Anyway let’s see how it goes over next 24 hours

Seeing some of their chums crying in court probably put them off

That was me. God I miss that splendid woman.

Arm the police.
Nearly all countries have armed police.

The good thing is Labour will have to actually do something about immigration - they chucked out the Rwanda deal - they think they can negotiate with Europe -well they’d better hurry up.

I’m from the area, originally from one of these ‘poor ex mining towns’ and was not surprised to see the riots last night were full of kids/teenagers. Majority of them from certain towns around the city have no respect for anyone, no intention to work unless it’s low level drug running or driving a scrap van, and frankly spoil for a fight or trouble whenever they can get it. The footage of them licking up to the bloke with the swastika tattoo who apparently was an organiser is sickening but it’s exactly who a lot of these people are.

Thatcher used the police as her personal boot boys.

@AsburyPark the swastika man was being named and shamed on twitter last night and apparently he comes from Stoke-on-Trent! Which is nearly 200 miles away - must have taken hours to get to Sunderland on a Friday evening

You mean, “required the police to maintain law and order”? Totally unlike any other PM then.

🙄

Arm them with what, exactly?
Other counties still get riots and violent protests.

Upping the ante isn't the answer.

I saw! He was arrested this morning in Wetherspoons. Going off the videos there were a few different accents there, could live here of course but I wouldn’t be shocked if rent-a-mob is touring these ‘protests’ to stir things up.

Oh, please. Thatcher would have set the dogs on these morons.

The police are using dogs. Haven't you seen the rioter receiving a bit of canine karma?

They're kicking off in Leeds now and I joined the counter protest. Pleased to say the anti-racists outnumbered the racists by about 4:1.