Trump

[Lencoboy]

True, but none of those were attacks on democracy.

No they weren't, but the English city riots of August 2011 were still people behaving irrationally on the spur of the moment, led on by nutjobs on (earlier) social media platforms, with many innocent, law-abiding people losing their livelihoods in the affected cities whilst the local 'low-lifes' had their pointless fix of wanton violence and destruction, just over the sake of one incident in a North London borough, which went from a local protest against perceived racial injustice to nationwide looting, arson, vandalism and brawling between the so-called 'chavs'!!

For some reason, I'm rather dreading the forthcoming summer months in the UK, in case something happens that causes 'da yoof' to flare up. And not just owing to the global events of the past 12 months, but also unresolved existing issues like austerity, gang culture and not forgetting the knife crime epidemic of the past few years, all of which has provided us with the perfect storm for riots to break out in this country, even well before the Covid pandemic and the BLM thing.

Sorry for being such a pessimist, but it does seem like people tend use any old excuse to kick off these days, whether truly justified or not, and social media seems to be one of the biggest catalysts IMO.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well we had our BLM protests last year (and also in 2016) that not only spread here but also to mainland Europe and Australia.

Plus we had our own riots nationwide back in August 2011, originally sparked off by a Black person (Mark Duggan) being killed by the police in London, but sadly got infiltrated and hijacked by the heathen masses in many of England's big cities, who were already itching for big scraps for well over 4-5 years previous, and with mostly Whites involved by then!

That's one of the biggest evils of social media IMO, where impressionable people can be led on and start acting irrationally, especially with last year's toilet roll stampedes being a typical example!

And look how fast our BLM marches vanished. Hardly the same as the US. I was expected riots outsude the courtroom of those who tore down a statue, but nothing.

Perhaps the fact our politicians are more against such actions? I don't know about the US but moving to violence normally turns politicians against or causes some to go quiet.

Also our BLM seems less about minority riots and more an extension of other left wing movements. Is it the same in the US? Once you get into messages of anarchy like refund the police people see through it.

Duggan. Great poster boy, eh?

[MyNameIsTerry]

True, but none of those were attacks on democracy.

The last nearly 5 years have been a closer debate on democracy. Brexit, Corbynism, etc. Thankfully some didn't get their way or we might have seen more protest over Parliamentary overreach.

[Lencoboy]

Well no reports of any major incidents so far today across the pond on the BBC website.

[FrankT]

There's like 30,000 guards in Washington alone - what can they do?

[Lencoboy]

There's like 30,000 guards in Washington alone - what can they do?

Basically making a statement.

'No aggro tolerated'!

[pulisa]

Lady GaGa was good..

[BikerMatt]

After today does this shite disappear from my television?

[Pamplemousse]

After today does this shite disappear from my television?

No - there'll be a "Biden: the first hundred days" or some other crap from the BBC.

As I type this, I'm listening to Biden's speech on PBS. I'd forgotten what an eloquent President, who can speak full and coherent sentences with modulation and inflexion, sounded like.

And his speech was about America: not about him.

[Lencoboy]

After today does this shite disappear from my television?

Well I certainly hope it's the start of more sensible politics in the Western world from now onwards, less complacency and blasé-ness, and taking more hard-line stands against misinformation/fake news, and a lot of the other issues that have seemingly polarised Western societies over the past decade or so, and persistently brushed under the carpet.