Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

News

The Restore Britain March seems to have gone pretty well today from what I can glean online.

1000 replies

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 16/05/2026 19:40

It could be a faulty algorithm, but the trouble the PM seemed to think would happen doesn’t seem to have materialised. I’ve seen clips from the march where a diverse mix of people have marched, not just football hooligan types.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
20
DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 10:47

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:43

I would not go to a TR march, but I read here in MN from posters who attended the other march boasting how they shouted Nazi Scum at some of the TR ones
because it felt good.

This is so wrong.

Goading on both sides is wrong.

Did you also read that they said that they weren't sure it was nice and what they themselves got called last time?

BatchCookBabe · 17/05/2026 10:48

Grammarnut · 16/05/2026 23:42

I saw a great many flags, to whit union flags, saltires, an Irish tricolour, the dragon of Wales, some English flags and the Iranian lion flag. Quite a mixed bag of people who are not very happy with what is happening. Hard to call them all right wing and racists - were the Iranians racist? (Well, they might be, I haven't met those on the march, but in general?) Quite a jump to assume all these people are right wing racists rather than people worried that the UK is not condemning the murderers of Tehran, is allowing unpapered young men into the country, that the government calls those asking for an inquiry into the grooming gangs racists (and no sign this inquiry is happening yet), and has ignored those upset that their towns and neighbourhoods have changed out of recognition and no-one voted to allow this and called them racists as well.

We have had too much immigration in the last 15 years so that people have not been able to assimilate into the host culture (which is the only way that immigration works), our infrastructure (already hollowed out by neo-liberal private is best policies) is creaking to the point of breaking, while wages stagnate and those at the bottom see the jobs they can do having wages undercut to the advantage of employers but not to the benefit of the rest of us.
No wonder people march under their flags. I like the union flag - it's mine - and I am entirely tired of being told that to like it or like my country and its history (neither better nor worse than any other history) makes me a racist (and me with two dual-heritage DC, too).
Starmer's managerial technocracy relies on process and 'managing' things, but this is not how you run a country you love to the advantage and advancement of its people.

Thank you so much for this. You have worded this so well, and pretty much speak for me (and I believe millions of other people.)

Yes, I acknowledge that there were some thugs and yobbos at that march yesterday (the Restore Britain one) as a few posters worked like beavers searching the internet for several photos of a very tiny minority of people acting badly, to try and prove a point. But that doesn't change the fact that the VAST MAJORITY of people there were behaving well. So the pics proved very little...

And no-one seems to be so keen to post any photos of any people misbehaving on the other march. (The Pro-Palestine one.) Funny that... 🤔 Obviously, every single one of them behaved like Angels.

Of course there are a few yobs and thugs on the Britain First kind of rallies, and most people are disgusted by their behaviour, but when there are left wing rallies, there is an equal amount of thuggery and yobs. Pure hatred for their own people in some cases, and mocking and deriding the working class, and people who DARE to not think like them, and want to have pride in their own country, and its flag. I see it on here, and I see it in other corners of the internet.

People don't care what the left say about them, as they know they're not racist and thick as some people like to believe. It's just all getting a bit boring now, and I really think some people need to open their minds a bit, and get out of their little middle class social justice warrior bubble.

Last post from me on this thread, because I truly CBA. I'm just tired of it now.

Peace ☮

.

Kelticgold · 17/05/2026 10:48

QuintadosMalvados · 17/05/2026 08:38

It's really weird but I find that the slightest bit of aggression from men at events like these is met with much opprobrium by some women, however, undocumented men with very different cultural values (not race, culture) towards women- much of which are extremely negative - are met with open arms by the very same women who expressed opprobrium to the men who attended the events they complained about.

What is the psychology behind this?

Love and kindness saving them or changing their minds or some such nonsense no doubt.
A nation of Wendys trying to save Peter Pan.

Not singling out you out for this. I don't know you at all, it is, however, something I've noticed with some British women.

So you are suggesting that the men participating in yesterday’s march are as bad as those undocumented men they protest about.
And then you make it sound like the issue here is the reaction from some British women?

ForWittyTealOP · 17/05/2026 10:48

sickofsixseven · 17/05/2026 10:44

Youre right about one thing, this is brexit all over again. The majority voted for it but if you were only online you would think the complete opposite. The dogs on the street could see which way the wind was blowing, I dont even live in the UK anymore but going by my DHs family, I knew it would win. Sneering, looking down on people, casting them as uneducated right wing fascists doesn't work. You'd do better to actually address the issues that have led to people feeling this way, which they still do in massive numbers.

You'd think people might have realised this by now but obviously not. Yes, telling people that they are uneducated, ignorant and stupid and that you know better will defintely work, keep doing that 👍

And "sneering" has made its appearance!

People going on racist marches organised by racists, with racist speakers are likely to be.......?

Nobody has said anything about anyone being uneducated or stupid btw so maybe you should reword your post? What some of us object to is hateful rhetoric in our public spaces - while upholding the right of people to attend such spectacles if that's their way of thinking.

WondersofJobby · 17/05/2026 10:49

EmeraldRoulette · 16/05/2026 21:01

@Lonelycrab what do you mean "as bad as last time"?

Last time the police said there were approximately 100,000 in attendance

23 arrests
One of whom was a counterprotester

Apparently, pro Palestine protests average about 400 arrests at the moment

Notting Hill carnival was about 500 last time and that passed off peacefully, in official terms.

I know posters are getting Reform and Restore in a muddle and the protest has nothing to do with them anyway!

Some pro Palestine arrests are just because people hold a poster with the name of a banned group. They aren't actually doing anything wrong.

WondersofJobby · 17/05/2026 10:49

EmeraldRoulette · 16/05/2026 21:01

@Lonelycrab what do you mean "as bad as last time"?

Last time the police said there were approximately 100,000 in attendance

23 arrests
One of whom was a counterprotester

Apparently, pro Palestine protests average about 400 arrests at the moment

Notting Hill carnival was about 500 last time and that passed off peacefully, in official terms.

I know posters are getting Reform and Restore in a muddle and the protest has nothing to do with them anyway!

Some pro Palestine arrests are just because people hold a poster with the name of a banned group. They aren't actually doing anything wrong.

ForWittyTealOP · 17/05/2026 10:50

BatchCookBabe · 17/05/2026 10:48

Thank you so much for this. You have worded this so well, and pretty much speak for me (and I believe millions of other people.)

Yes, I acknowledge that there were some thugs and yobbos at that march yesterday (the Restore Britain one) as a few posters worked like beavers searching the internet for several photos of a very tiny minority of people acting badly, to try and prove a point. But that doesn't change the fact that the VAST MAJORITY of people there were behaving well. So the pics proved very little...

And no-one seems to be so keen to post any photos of any people misbehaving on the other march. (The Pro-Palestine one.) Funny that... 🤔 Obviously, every single one of them behaved like Angels.

Of course there are a few yobs and thugs on the Britain First kind of rallies, and most people are disgusted by their behaviour, but when there are left wing rallies, there is an equal amount of thuggery and yobs. Pure hatred for their own people in some cases, and mocking and deriding the working class, and people who DARE to not think like them, and want to have pride in their own country, and its flag. I see it on here, and I see it in other corners of the internet.

People don't care what the left say about them, as they know they're not racist and thick as some people like to believe. It's just all getting a bit boring now, and I really think some people need to open their minds a bit, and get out of their little middle class social justice warrior bubble.

Last post from me on this thread, because I truly CBA. I'm just tired of it now.

Peace ☮

.

Edited

Peace but only if you're white and you love Tommy!

Notachristmaself · 17/05/2026 10:51

My sister and I are Indian descent, born and bred in London but now live outside. We put this weekend down for a catch up months ago obviously but realising the marches were on. We were about to cancel but we didn't have another weekend. We accidentally walked through a huge throng of men with flags and Unison Jack's etc. None of them batted an eyelid. However we left London early because we were worried about drunken marchers getting on trains. I was a bit on edge on my train there, which I've never felt before going into London. There was a lady in a wheelchair at the station with Union Jacks etc who was barged in front of by a group of men giving her dirty looks and not letting her get past to the disabled exit. So I think my point is, with all these marches they may not be troublesome at the marches but they cause tension to people around them and because of them ( not defending those guys but they probably wouldn't have behaved that way to an old lady in a wheelchair with va union flag on her wheelchair any other day) That goes for both marches.

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:52

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 10:47

Did you also read that they said that they weren't sure it was nice and what they themselves got called last time?

As I said, goading on both sides is wrong.

Did you read that? 🙂

2dogsandabudgie · 17/05/2026 10:54

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 10:43

So you are saying that barring people from entering the UK is not controlling the borders?

No, not according to their manifesto. Nice try though. You know very well that Labour don't have control of our borders. When there are no small boat crossings and we no longer have to pay millions to the French every year that is when we will have control.

RedTagAlan · 17/05/2026 10:54

5MinuteArgument · 17/05/2026 10:23

If there's no restrictions on free speech, why did Starmer and Mahmood ban 11 speakers from the rally? Some of those people are great speakers with quite reasonable ideas. Others may have ideas that are inflammatory but that's not true of all of them.

Ahh yes. Right wing foreigners being banned from a UK rally against foreigners.

Ahh right. The rally is not against those foreigners.

JassyRadlett · 17/05/2026 10:55

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 17/05/2026 10:42

I’m not responsible for anyone else’s posts bar my own. And yes this thread suddenly became very fast moving. I noticed that.

Quite. Which was why the part I was questioning was when you were actually speaking for others. Incorrectly as it turns out.

Always a risk to say "no one is saying x, y, z" unless you've actually checked.

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 10:55

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:52

As I said, goading on both sides is wrong.

Did you read that? 🙂

I just wondered why you left that bit out.

If you reference a post from anothter thread, it would be polite to give more context.

juldan · 17/05/2026 10:56

Skyfall1978 · 17/05/2026 10:02

Don’t stress.

It’s the same old posters, with the same old agenda - we all see it.

The difference is, this time they’re on the losing side of the debate - socialism is on the decline, the left wing is in retreat.

@Skyfall1978 It is the right wing extremists who have the same old agenda. Anyone who does not support right wing extremism is labelled a socialist. Which is bullshit.
There are plenty of people with conservative views who oppose right wing extremism. They are not socialists.
Neither Labour or Liberal Democrats are socialist parties.
Obviously the right wing extremists do not understand what the word socialism means and just throw it around as an insult.
With regards to the statement that socialism moderate views are on decline, the facts say otherwise. In the last local elections 70% people didn’t vote for Reform.
People who live in the areas where councils have been controlled by Reform are beginning to realise how bad they are.
In Worcestershire Conservatives, Greens and Lib Dems formed a coalition to remove Reform from power. Anybody who cares about this country understands that right wing extremism is very dangerous.
As to the “British values”, which Robinson and Farage are apparently protecting, have a read about Peter Thiel and Steve Bannon.
Read how their money lifted Vance from being a nobody to a Senator in 2022 and a Vice President in 2024.
The same Vance who came here last year and met with several Conservative politicians who then joined Reform.
Read about millions of dollars which Thiel donated to Farage’s campaign.
None of these agents is British. They do not care about ordinary citizens, they care about exploiting us in order to extend their control.

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:57

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 10:55

I just wondered why you left that bit out.

If you reference a post from anothter thread, it would be polite to give more context.

I did.

Do two wrongs make a right?

TemperanceWest · 17/05/2026 11:00

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:43

I would not go to a TR march, but I read here in MN from posters who attended the other march boasting how they shouted Nazi Scum at some of the TR ones
because it felt good.

This is so wrong.

Goading on both sides is wrong.

They also acknowledged that "not sure that’s nice" and also that at the last march they were called slags, sluts and had piss thrown at them. So scum was mild, really.

If you are going to criticise a post from a different thread, best present the whole picture. Or even better, challenge the poster directly and not behind their back.

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 11:02

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 10:57

I did.

Do two wrongs make a right?

You didn't. You were very selective in the part of the post you used to suit your narrative.

thepariscrimefiles · 17/05/2026 11:03

5MinuteArgument · 17/05/2026 10:23

If there's no restrictions on free speech, why did Starmer and Mahmood ban 11 speakers from the rally? Some of those people are great speakers with quite reasonable ideas. Others may have ideas that are inflammatory but that's not true of all of them.

There are and should be some restrictions on free speech. Incitement to violence is one of them. Most of the rabble-rousers, including Tommy Robinson who has a criminal record as long as your arm, have been allowed to march.

Talking about restrictions on free speech, what do you think about the plan to require supporters travelling to the United States for the World Cup to disclose information about their social media accounts?

Tourists from 42 countries, including the UK, which use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Esta) as part of the visa waiver programme would be obliged to provide information about accounts they have held in the last five years in their applications. Previously it had been optional to provide the information. I presume that because this is a Trump initiative, you would support this?

AnythingButThis · 17/05/2026 11:04

There’s a clip from yesterday of a huge pile of wooden crosses being handed to marchers as they passed by. It’s so manipulative by Yaxley-Lennon and his dreadful henchmen, EDL etc. Cos-playing religious battle scenarios and calling for ‘all British men to get fit because the fight is coming here’.
Theres nothing remotely Christian about any of this incendiary and dangerous nonsense.

JassyRadlett · 17/05/2026 11:04

2dogsandabudgie · 17/05/2026 10:54

No, not according to their manifesto. Nice try though. You know very well that Labour don't have control of our borders. When there are no small boat crossings and we no longer have to pay millions to the French every year that is when we will have control.

I hadn't taken you for an advocate of Rejoin. Unless you've another, cheaper and more practicable, way of achieving this?

One point of fact is that overall immigration is way down under this government.

Some other points of fact:

  • Small boat/Channel arrivals are down 40% for the year to date compared to the same period last year.
  • Net migration decreased by 69% in the year to June 2025, mostly driven by a significant decrease in immigration.
Fandango52 · 17/05/2026 11:06

BatchCookBabe · 17/05/2026 10:48

Thank you so much for this. You have worded this so well, and pretty much speak for me (and I believe millions of other people.)

Yes, I acknowledge that there were some thugs and yobbos at that march yesterday (the Restore Britain one) as a few posters worked like beavers searching the internet for several photos of a very tiny minority of people acting badly, to try and prove a point. But that doesn't change the fact that the VAST MAJORITY of people there were behaving well. So the pics proved very little...

And no-one seems to be so keen to post any photos of any people misbehaving on the other march. (The Pro-Palestine one.) Funny that... 🤔 Obviously, every single one of them behaved like Angels.

Of course there are a few yobs and thugs on the Britain First kind of rallies, and most people are disgusted by their behaviour, but when there are left wing rallies, there is an equal amount of thuggery and yobs. Pure hatred for their own people in some cases, and mocking and deriding the working class, and people who DARE to not think like them, and want to have pride in their own country, and its flag. I see it on here, and I see it in other corners of the internet.

People don't care what the left say about them, as they know they're not racist and thick as some people like to believe. It's just all getting a bit boring now, and I really think some people need to open their minds a bit, and get out of their little middle class social justice warrior bubble.

Last post from me on this thread, because I truly CBA. I'm just tired of it now.

Peace ☮

.

Edited

Just curious about what you mean by ‘middle class social justice warrior bubble’?

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 11:06

DuncinToffee · 17/05/2026 11:02

You didn't. You were very selective in the part of the post you used to suit your narrative.

I see things differently. Thanks for your opinion though.

Littlemisssunshine1982 · 17/05/2026 11:06

Lemonfrost · 16/05/2026 20:50

Yes, it's a mature and constructive contribution, isn't it 🙄

Yes much like the chants of “death death to the idf “ and “from the river to the sea”

Fandango52 · 17/05/2026 11:07

AnythingButThis · 17/05/2026 11:04

There’s a clip from yesterday of a huge pile of wooden crosses being handed to marchers as they passed by. It’s so manipulative by Yaxley-Lennon and his dreadful henchmen, EDL etc. Cos-playing religious battle scenarios and calling for ‘all British men to get fit because the fight is coming here’.
Theres nothing remotely Christian about any of this incendiary and dangerous nonsense.

Those photos looked to me like they were taking inspiration from the Ku Klax Klan.

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 17/05/2026 11:09

TemperanceWest · 17/05/2026 11:00

They also acknowledged that "not sure that’s nice" and also that at the last march they were called slags, sluts and had piss thrown at them. So scum was mild, really.

If you are going to criticise a post from a different thread, best present the whole picture. Or even better, challenge the poster directly and not behind their back.

Edited

I’m not criticising a post.

I have reservations about the behaviour referenced in the post.

Again, do two wrongs make a right?

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.