Anarchy in the UK!

"Just 31% of Britons say that Keir Starmer handles the riots well, while almost half (49%) think he is mishandling them"

The awful, unforgivable rioting that has gripped England and Northern Ireland for over a week now shows no sign of abating. Significantly, Scotland is not involved.

Moreover, there are signs that Prime Minister Kier Starmer has inflamed sentiment by labelling anyone on the streets as 'far-right'. At the same time, he ignores genuine concerns over unchecked mass migration and social deprivation. 

None of this should be a surprise because the Labour elites have long despised the working class. Who can forget Peter Mandelson, the darling of the Labour Party, asserting, "Your preoccupation with the working class is wrong. They've got nowhere else to go.". Likewise, Gordon Brown's gaffe in dismissing a Labour supporter as a "bigoted woman" because she raised the issue of uncontrolled migration. 

In 2016, during the EU referendum, working-class people smelled a rat when Labour vilified them as misled thickos and xenophobes for supporting Brexit. Labour intellectuals rejected working people's concerns in patronising and hectoring tones.

Party figure Emily Thornberry sneered at a working-class household for flying the English flag. Thornberry is well known for her hypocrisy, having sent her kids to an elite private school despite her party opposing such schools. 

George Orwell's position decades ago was that socialists don't support the working class; instead, they hate the rich. Of course, none of this is an excuse for the violence we've seen, the racial attacks and the looting, but it is an insight into why Starmer speaks as he does. 

The media has largely followed the official narrative and is not questioning it. When one reporter dared to question the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police about alleged 'two-tear' policing, the commissioner snatched the microphone and threw it to the ground. The question hit home. 

In truth, all public order policing, indeed all policing, is a tiered process. No two situations are the same, and officers must react based on what they see, their experience and their training. 

But I suppose when the native population goes to jail for posts on Facebook, or, in the case of Sam Melia, goes to jail for anti-immigration stickers while a foreign man gets community service for repeatedly raping a twelve-year-old girl, it is difficult to refute the suggestion of preference given to a particular group. And therein lies the issue.

Here in Hong Kong, we are familiar with the false narratives promulgated by media outlets as they follow an agenda. During the 2019 social unrest, the Western press portrayed events as solely 'pro-democracy' and largely peaceful while side-stepping the xenophobic mobs who attacked Mainlanders and their businesses.

Likewise, their video clips focused on police actions and failed to show the build-up of petrol bombs and violence that led to the volleys of tear gas. The firebombing of police homes and assaults on off-duty officers was notably absent from the coverage. 

So, it is too easy to poke fun at the hypocrisy and double standards of British politicians now that they are struggling to contain serious unrest. But that would be churlish as I feel for the police officers deployed with inadequate training, poor tactics, and a lack of options to disperse violent crowds.

The impact of the unrest on the police, who are facing fatigue and logistical challenges, is a matter of concern and should evoke empathy. At least Hong Kong has a well-structured and practiced public order response, with layers of contingencies and depth. Still, dealing with riots was never easy, and the optics are always terrible.

In Northern Ireland, we've already seen rubber bullets fired at protesters, and I suspect it is only a matter of time before tear gas is used in England if the riots persist. The Northern Ireland Police Service displayed better resolve and coordinated tactics.  Given their vast experience, this is not surprising.

A YouGov poll suggests that one in three Britons support peaceful protests against migration, with an overwhelming 85% opposing the unrest. Just 31% of Britons say that Keir Starmer handles the riots well, while almost half (49%) think he is mishandling them.

The poll also reveals a significant lack of confidence in the police's ability to protect people and property from further unrest, a concerning trend that adds to society's unease. 

For decades now, the very same politicians who are lining up to denounce much of the rest of the country as 'far right' have been pushing soft-on-crime policies while subjecting the British people to porous borders and mass migration from third-world countries.

The post-industrial cities in the north have received most of the asylum seekers. These cities have substantial unemployment, stagnant social mobility, and poverty. Liverpool has the highest number of asylum seekers, while the north/south divide in sharing the burden is substantial. 

​The North East houses a larger proportion of asylum seekers than any other region of the UK, with a rate ten times higher than the South East and South West.

So, is it any wonder that the British social fabric is now fraying? Is it any wonder that mass immigration and the elite obsession with diversity are now producing a low-trust society with spiralling crime, social alienation, and growing division?