In any group or nation, regardless of colour or religion or ethnicity, they will be some who are innately and openly prejudiced against 'others'. Ive lived and travelled widely and seen it first hand. It is most certainly not unique to white people. Check out the caste system in India for starters.
However, in the UK at least, that has been a small and shrinking group. It was much worse in the 60s and 70s. There is then a larger group (Im speculating a bit here), who are more quietly prejudiced but who had learnt over times that these prejudices were unjustified and unacceptable in society. What the Right have done, and the nakedly racist Brexit campaign played a big part, is to legitimise those prejudices so those people now feel able to hold and express opinions that were previously only held by the most prejudiced. That applies across all groups, from the privileged and educated to those much less so.
To that extent we have gone backwards though, that is partly offset by younger, better educated and more widely travelled generations who instinctively reject those racist views. What has really changed is the emergence of a political class who are prepared to quite cynically use racist messages to divert attention from economic and social problems that have mostly been created by that same political class. Problems that they have no real intention of addressing as their interests are wholly selfish.
I need to keep this fairly short as I have things to do.
I use the phrase 'prejudice in action', which I think describes the behaviour rather than throwing an insult.
Secondly and slightly off theme, Farage who has spent his entire life as an exemplar of 'prejudice in action' has today been all over the news claiming that the people are at breaking point and violence is imminent.
This after a few thousand people have attended a few demos. Generally outnumbered by their opponents.
Whilst tens of millions of other people had other, normal, things to do.
It is ironic that Farage is claiming that doom is just around the corner, has spent his life trying to get society to that point and is now exploiting the loud but ultimately limp result of his efforts to promote his case further.
Fartage missed the metaphorical boat this year (pun, entirely intended) in so much as the riots he fomented last summer, happened earlier during the summer holidays. Parliament is nearly back in session, children soon back at school and therefore parents (and the country at large) back to the normal humdrum of the working week and weekends at home.
He'll soon be jetting off to his far-right pals in America, trying to drum up some more cash for his beleaguered and already failing political party. The local councils his entourage have managed to temporarily capture, will soon succumb to the real hard graft of proper local governance. They will fail spectacularly. It will annoy their obedient followers as the reality of failing public services begins to bite through the Autumn and Winter.
And the millions of us with a brain and purpose will continue to live our lives and fight back against the ludicrous notion that "forriners" are our enemy and the source of all our woes.
Perhaps the most telling feature of the latest demonstrations, how in spite of Farage braying about violence and societal breakdown, is how peaceful they have been compared to last year.
The handing down of rapid and punitive justice will, I think, have encouraged the dispossessed and angry to have considered whether Summer is the time for sausages, burgers and chicken on the BBQ rather than asylum seekers.
And their numbers are pathetic. The UK has a population of near as damn it 70 million. If we generously stay the last few days have seen 10k on the streets that is a mere, a derisory 0.0143% of the UK population could be arsed to turn up.
That is not to say that there is no danger ahead. There is undoubtedly and the spineless eunuchs in the Labour government are not helping the situation.
We have to make the case for immigration and humanitarian assistance on the cultural and personal level as that will challenge the Faragistas far more effectively than dry economics.
Again, another article which hits the nail firmly on the head. Over the weekend, I have been subjected to racist slurs because I dared to say that I am not English. Apparently, the Welsh, Irish and Scots have no right to be in England. I fought back hard and have, as the administrator of our small village Facebook page successfully blocked two people. So, racism is no longer an issue of skin colour, but it's now more about your parents. Shocking to see this, a very worrying state of affairs.
Remind them that Welsh is much closer to the "indigenous" language of the British Isles than English & ask them why they're not speaking it?
Tell them that you agree that immigrants should go home, specially those nasty Saxons, and those even more nasty Vikings. Who, it must be said, all arrived in small boats.
Point out that the oldest skeleton found in the UK to date was found in Cheddar Caves & has been shown to be a man with brown skin, so perhaps it's them that should leave?
I've tried all those on line, with varied results... They don't seem to have much sense of humour, sadly. Which I would have said was a defining characteristic of British culture.
Thank you, Jacky. My father fought in the Second World War for the British Empire, and then was sent to Malaya to serve there in the late 1940s and 1950s. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, and with a “furrin” name, as well as a Welsh father, of course I am not English. However, I am proud to be a mongrel, and with the Welsh heritage too. Thank goodness for a sense of humour - sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me going. The Welsh are more British than the English, for sure, and most are definitely not Angles, Saxons, Jutes or Normans!
If these are men "about whom we know next to nothing" how does he know whether they have backward views or not? And as for the rest of them... well I REALLY don't want to share a neighbourhood with the likes of the specimens you've called out here.
It's good that you started to tackle what he said. The problem with calling him xenophobic is that it might make you feel good but doesn't change minds. I would think that many ordinary people share Jenrick's concerns and the policy of calling people xenophobic means they only hear one side, and it ain't yours. From where I sit, it looks like you're losing the argument with many people. You should ask yourself what behaviours you can change to win back some people. (Of course, if you're only speaking to like-minded people then it is perfectly fine to label the 'other' whatever way will get upvotes).
Sadly the awful Darren Grimes is my local councillor stirring hatred, turning the community against each other and giving people all the excuses they need to say whatever they like xx
Racism to any degree is abhorrent and should be called out on all occasions it raises it's ugly self. I cannot understand how Reform has not yet been renamed to the National Front - as that's exactly who they mimic. Troubling times Bear. Be safe everyone.
Things seem bleaker to me now than they have, and I have lived most of my 60 years under the shadow of racism, both overt and polite.
I am so glad that you are prepared to come out and support those of us who have this dark stain of hurt and hatred thrown at us. I’ll continue trying to do my bit for those more vulnerable than me, knowing that at least one person is prepared to stand with me.
When this all over I expect an apology from those who were so quick to let themselves be taken by this hatred. I won’t hold my breath.
In any group or nation, regardless of colour or religion or ethnicity, they will be some who are innately and openly prejudiced against 'others'. Ive lived and travelled widely and seen it first hand. It is most certainly not unique to white people. Check out the caste system in India for starters.
However, in the UK at least, that has been a small and shrinking group. It was much worse in the 60s and 70s. There is then a larger group (Im speculating a bit here), who are more quietly prejudiced but who had learnt over times that these prejudices were unjustified and unacceptable in society. What the Right have done, and the nakedly racist Brexit campaign played a big part, is to legitimise those prejudices so those people now feel able to hold and express opinions that were previously only held by the most prejudiced. That applies across all groups, from the privileged and educated to those much less so.
To that extent we have gone backwards though, that is partly offset by younger, better educated and more widely travelled generations who instinctively reject those racist views. What has really changed is the emergence of a political class who are prepared to quite cynically use racist messages to divert attention from economic and social problems that have mostly been created by that same political class. Problems that they have no real intention of addressing as their interests are wholly selfish.
Morning Bear.
I need to keep this fairly short as I have things to do.
I use the phrase 'prejudice in action', which I think describes the behaviour rather than throwing an insult.
Secondly and slightly off theme, Farage who has spent his entire life as an exemplar of 'prejudice in action' has today been all over the news claiming that the people are at breaking point and violence is imminent.
This after a few thousand people have attended a few demos. Generally outnumbered by their opponents.
Whilst tens of millions of other people had other, normal, things to do.
It is ironic that Farage is claiming that doom is just around the corner, has spent his life trying to get society to that point and is now exploiting the loud but ultimately limp result of his efforts to promote his case further.
He’s a one trick pony. Fear is his MO.
Fartage missed the metaphorical boat this year (pun, entirely intended) in so much as the riots he fomented last summer, happened earlier during the summer holidays. Parliament is nearly back in session, children soon back at school and therefore parents (and the country at large) back to the normal humdrum of the working week and weekends at home.
He'll soon be jetting off to his far-right pals in America, trying to drum up some more cash for his beleaguered and already failing political party. The local councils his entourage have managed to temporarily capture, will soon succumb to the real hard graft of proper local governance. They will fail spectacularly. It will annoy their obedient followers as the reality of failing public services begins to bite through the Autumn and Winter.
And the millions of us with a brain and purpose will continue to live our lives and fight back against the ludicrous notion that "forriners" are our enemy and the source of all our woes.
Hi Steve.
Perhaps the most telling feature of the latest demonstrations, how in spite of Farage braying about violence and societal breakdown, is how peaceful they have been compared to last year.
The handing down of rapid and punitive justice will, I think, have encouraged the dispossessed and angry to have considered whether Summer is the time for sausages, burgers and chicken on the BBQ rather than asylum seekers.
And their numbers are pathetic. The UK has a population of near as damn it 70 million. If we generously stay the last few days have seen 10k on the streets that is a mere, a derisory 0.0143% of the UK population could be arsed to turn up.
That is not to say that there is no danger ahead. There is undoubtedly and the spineless eunuchs in the Labour government are not helping the situation.
We have to make the case for immigration and humanitarian assistance on the cultural and personal level as that will challenge the Faragistas far more effectively than dry economics.
As a white person I am well aware of who ‘civilised’ us.
• Our religion is from Palestine
• Our alphabet is from Iraq/Lebanon
• Our urban culture is from Syria.
But let’s call it western ‘civilisation’
And who even is 'our'? Celts? Anglo-Saxons? Vikings? Not to mention Roman and French influences and the many cultures the country has absorbed since.
All of those a strength rather than a weakness.
Again, another article which hits the nail firmly on the head. Over the weekend, I have been subjected to racist slurs because I dared to say that I am not English. Apparently, the Welsh, Irish and Scots have no right to be in England. I fought back hard and have, as the administrator of our small village Facebook page successfully blocked two people. So, racism is no longer an issue of skin colour, but it's now more about your parents. Shocking to see this, a very worrying state of affairs.
Remind them that Welsh is much closer to the "indigenous" language of the British Isles than English & ask them why they're not speaking it?
Tell them that you agree that immigrants should go home, specially those nasty Saxons, and those even more nasty Vikings. Who, it must be said, all arrived in small boats.
Point out that the oldest skeleton found in the UK to date was found in Cheddar Caves & has been shown to be a man with brown skin, so perhaps it's them that should leave?
I've tried all those on line, with varied results... They don't seem to have much sense of humour, sadly. Which I would have said was a defining characteristic of British culture.
Thank you, Jacky. My father fought in the Second World War for the British Empire, and then was sent to Malaya to serve there in the late 1940s and 1950s. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, and with a “furrin” name, as well as a Welsh father, of course I am not English. However, I am proud to be a mongrel, and with the Welsh heritage too. Thank goodness for a sense of humour - sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me going. The Welsh are more British than the English, for sure, and most are definitely not Angles, Saxons, Jutes or Normans!
If these are men "about whom we know next to nothing" how does he know whether they have backward views or not? And as for the rest of them... well I REALLY don't want to share a neighbourhood with the likes of the specimens you've called out here.
It's good that you started to tackle what he said. The problem with calling him xenophobic is that it might make you feel good but doesn't change minds. I would think that many ordinary people share Jenrick's concerns and the policy of calling people xenophobic means they only hear one side, and it ain't yours. From where I sit, it looks like you're losing the argument with many people. You should ask yourself what behaviours you can change to win back some people. (Of course, if you're only speaking to like-minded people then it is perfectly fine to label the 'other' whatever way will get upvotes).
Another great article. 👍
Brilliant Bear👏👏👏
Sadly the awful Darren Grimes is my local councillor stirring hatred, turning the community against each other and giving people all the excuses they need to say whatever they like xx
Got it now, thank you.
How can I share this?
Racism to any degree is abhorrent and should be called out on all occasions it raises it's ugly self. I cannot understand how Reform has not yet been renamed to the National Front - as that's exactly who they mimic. Troubling times Bear. Be safe everyone.
Thank you, dear Bear.
Things seem bleaker to me now than they have, and I have lived most of my 60 years under the shadow of racism, both overt and polite.
I am so glad that you are prepared to come out and support those of us who have this dark stain of hurt and hatred thrown at us. I’ll continue trying to do my bit for those more vulnerable than me, knowing that at least one person is prepared to stand with me.
When this all over I expect an apology from those who were so quick to let themselves be taken by this hatred. I won’t hold my breath.
xx
🫂🫂🫂🫂
https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2025-08-27/durham-deputy-council-leader-accused-of-inciting-racism-and-hate
He’s using the same mechanism of response here x