Comment
TONY PARSONS
Civil war avoided but what are Labour doing about the illegal boats crossing the Channel?
On Wednesday night the nation came together and then breathed a sigh of relief
ELON MUSK has been proved dead wrong – civil war in the UK is far from “inevitable”.
The nation was steeling itself for more than 100 far-right rallies on Wednesday night. And they did not happen.
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The police presence was ramped up. Shamed rioters were being banged up.
The Prime Minister’s background as Director of Public Prosecutions during the 2011 riots makes him the best person alive to crack down hard on civil disorder.
But mostly the explosion of far-right riots did not happen because the people turned up.
It was a non-violent version of the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when East Enders prevented Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists from goose-stepping through their neighbourhood.
On Wednesday night, vast crowds came out on the streets of our towns and cities in their thousands — counter demonstrations that made a mockery of Musk’s theory that this tolerant, multi-racial country is teetering on the edge of civil war.
The far right will raise their hate-filled heads again.
But after this week, we know now that they will never win. This is not a racist country.
Too many of us have grown up in modern Britain.
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Too many of us have spent our lives with friends and neighbours of every faith, colour and creed.
Too many of us are in mixed marriages, have mixed-race children and find nothing remarkable about a diverse United Kingdom.
After the appalling murder of those three small girls in Southport, the nation looked as though it was falling apart.
On Wednesday night the nation came together. And then breathed a sigh of relief.
But let’s not kid ourselves that everything is now sweetness and light.
Labour councillor Ricky Jones has been arrested after being caught on camera saying, “We need to cut all their throats!”
In a Jewish neighbourhood in North London, anti-far right protests included the distribution of leaflets calling for “Zionists” to be evicted from the area — which the director of think tank British Future called “an allusion to ethnic cleansing”.
But then the nutters of the far left will always attempt to hijack protests against the nutters of the far right.
And there is no question the ordinary British man and woman were sickened at the sights we have seen in recent days.
The thuggery, the looting, the racism, the hate, the violence.
There are no excuses for attacking mosques, for setting fire to hotels containing asylum seekers, for bricking Filipino women who are going to their work as nurses in an NHS hospital.
You do not “get your country back” by starting a war on foreigners.
But the anger behind these ugly scenes did not come out of nowhere.
There are — I repeat — no excuses for the wanton yobbery we have seen since the terrible murders in Southport.
It was mindless violence that was inflamed by lies promoted by morally bankrupt social media platforms and exploited by extremists.
But we need to start facing some hard truths. Labour, like the Tories before them, seem totally clueless about how to gain anything resembling control of our borders.
It should not be forbidden to state that current levels of immigration — legal and illegal — are unsustainable.
And it is correct to state this country needs immigrants. We don’t train enough young people to do the jobs we need.
If you or a loved one has been anywhere near a hospital lately, then you will be aware that the NHS would not function without the likes of those Filipino nurses who had rocks thrown at them by anti-immigrant thickos.
But successive governments have been unable to concede that every immigrant needs housing, healthcare and education for their children.
Sense of embitterment
And that fact does not change because a bunch of violent pea brains run amok outside an asylum centre.
It is admirable to stand up to racists. This is a tolerant, diverse, and progressive country.
It is good to assert fundamental British values of tolerance.
But shouting “Refugees are welcome here!” as though our public resources have no limit will not build one new house. And waving Palestinian flags will not stop the small boats.
For me, the image that will endure from the riots is an overweight shirtless man in Sunderland proudly displaying his swastika tattoo.
This would have been unthinkable a few years ago. That swastika is the symbol of a regime that tried to obliterate this nation.
My father’s body was a mass of scar tissue because he fought against that regime.
Many of his friends, boys of 19 and 20, gave their lives fighting that tyranny.
But I know that far too many of our people feel left behind, unheard and ignored. They are not going to throw rocks at foreign NHS nurses. But their sense of embitterment is real.
They voted for Brexit, and their lives did not change. They voted for Boris, and their lives did not change.
Four million of them just voted for Reform — or nobody at all — and discovered that, once again, their lives are not going to change any time soon.
And they have concerns that deserve to be heard. They, and their ancestors, built this country.
They fought its wars, they paid its taxes — and they deserve to be heard.
They are the poorest members of the working class, and they have legitimate concerns.
For example, 4,000 souls have illegally arrived in small boats since Keir Starmer moved into 10 Downing Street.
What are you going to do about them, Keir? Because they are your problem now.
Becks is the only man with socks appeal
THIS is the sun-splashed time of year when the fashion police warn men not to wear sandals with socks.
But David Beckham has never been ashamed to step out in them.
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At wife Victoria’s Paris fashion show last September, Becks, that modern man who casts his influential shadow over every other modern male, was wearing sandals with socks.
And of course David, with his daughter Harper, looked as adorable as ever.
So if you don’t avoid wearing sandals with socks this summer, please do make sure that you are David Beckham.
Quick u-turn
WHEN did our attitude to Covid change?
Not sure, but the pandemic certainly seemed a long time ago when we learned that American sprinter Noah Lyles won bronze in the 200 metres two days AFTER testing positive for Covid.
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Asked if he considered pulling out of the race, Lyles emphatically replied: “No.”
Only a few years ago, you could not sit with your family at a loved one’s funeral even if you DIDN’T have Covid.
And now you can run the 200 metres final in the Olympics – even if you do.
ALYSHA NEWMAN, the Canadian pole vaulter, sparked controversy at the Paris Olympics by joyfully twerking after she won her bronze medal.
“I’m not sure about that!” gasped the commentator for the BBC.
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The crowd were more approving.
If only they gave medals for the best celebration.
Ballsy move
THE Good Morning Britain producers must have thought it a great idea when presenter Ed Balls interviewed his missus, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
But Ofcom has received more than 8,000 complaints so far. Funnily enough, it was a pretty good interview.
Balls asked Cooper about “two-tier policing” – the perception that some protests are dealt with more harshly than others.
Good question, Ed!
But getting a presenter husband to interview his politician wife must be what breakfast television is like in North Korea.
Biden a lost cause
AS the odds on America’s first female President grow shorter, the burning question is – what happens if Donald Trump loses to Kamala Harris?
Joe Biden was asked by Robert Costa of CBS News if he was confident that there would be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025.
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“If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all,” Biden blurted.
Er – we know what you mean, Joe. The opposite!
Just as he did when he introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as Vladimir Putin, Biden hastened to correct his mistake.
“If Trump LOSES, I’m not confident at all,” he said.
I don’t know if Kamala Harris will be President in January.
But she should surely be President right now.
AFTER the greatest humiliation of his murderous career, Vladimir Putin howls with protest as Ukrainian troops invade the Russian region of Kursk.
You started it, comrade.
Chilled Gareth
SOME say that former England manager Gareth Southgate looks the same on holiday in Portugal as he did when he was taking our boys to within touching distance of the Euros in Germany.
It’s not true.
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You can tell when Gareth is taking a sunny break in the Algarve.
He very slightly loosens the collar of his polo shirt.