Fourteen years of austerity and Tory destruction has changed the UK, for the worse. Many people are immiserated and angry. Poverty has grown, as well as homelessness. Many communities have been badly damaged.
I recommend you read Ghost Signs by Stu Hennigan. In his book, written during the Covid lockdown, he writes about how he volunteered to deliver food parcels and medicines to some of the most deprived areas in Leeds, where he lives. It's a depressing read. Streets with houses with broken windows and battered doors, TV sets and rubbish in front gardens, streets littered with empty beer cans. People old and young impoverished and on drugs. It's a hard, but essential read on the state of much of Britain today.
This is what the Tories have done to the UK. For sure, poverty existed before 2010 but, since then, it's become much worse, and people struggle to get access to healthcare as well as decent accommodation.
The Tories have deflected from the austerity crisis by declaring a war on 'migrants' after shutting down legal routes for asylum seekers. Sunak, Braverman and others have repeated the 'stop the boats' racist mantra over and over again, cheered on by the right wing media, and the likes of Nigel Farage and Stephen Yaxley Lennon.
After the horrible killing of three young girls in Southport, the far right jumped in, claiming the killer was a Muslim and an immigrant. He was neither. Lies were spread online and riots organised, in Southport and other towns across Britain. The police and people of colour were attacked, shops looted, and hotels set on fire egged on by the online mob.
Keir Starmer immediately said that the rioters would "face the full force of the law". But will they? Rioting thugs, many of whom have previous convictions, have been to court and been charged, with the longest sentence I've seen handed out standing at three years. Compare that with the five-year sentence handed out to Roger Hallam for planning a peaceful protest with Just Stop Oil.
Don't expect much from Starmer. We'll wait and see, but it seems unlikely that any of the sentences for violent disorder will match those for peaceful environmental protest.
The good news is the riots that were planned for last Wednesday night failed, largely due to the fact that thousands of protesters went out into the streets to defend 'migrants' and PoC. The 'silent majority' of UK citizens triumphed over the far right.
But what of the likes of Farage, Yaxley-Lennon and Laurence Fox who have been spreading hate on social media? What will happen to them? Yaxley-Lennon fled to Cyprus before the riots kicked off. Will he be dragged from his sun lounger back to the UK? Don't hold your breath.
