Racism is running riot
There is never any excuse for rioting and racism. It is also true that large numbers of people have legitimate grievances which have not been adequately addressed. A distinction must be drawn.
The planned far right protest in Wycombe was a damp squib. I was glad but not surprised: Wycombe is exceptionally diverse and also well-integrated. Any town has problems, but in ours, people rubbing along peacefully is the well-established norm.
Meanwhile, the PM condemns 'far-right thuggery. He is right that there is no excuse for rioting: there never is. Yet you would not believe it from some commentators: in their rage at vile crimes against innocent children, some are confusing legitimate grievances with illegitimate action.
People with public voices ought to do better, especially politicians.
The situation
We can all read the news. These riots are a response - a completely wrong response - to appalling, high profile violent offences which every decent person utterly condemns. Unfortunately, there have been a range of inflammatory responses, including speculation about the identity of perpetrators.
Some people I would normally expect to admire have said some out of character and, it seems to me, quite dangerous things. The essence is the same: the suggestion that these riots are an inevitable consequence of elite failure on immigration and integration policy. I watched in horror as one TV presenter said the authorities, the state and the law would not protect people and that the public were on their own: this was grossly reckless and inflammatory.
Parliament is the place for the peaceful airing and resolution of the public’s grievances: as a wise police superintendent once told me, “Society is a pressure cooker. You are the safety release valve.” And he was right. And when mass legitimate grievances are not addressed, trouble inevitably follows that failure of democracy.
Yes, there have been failures and yes, legitimate grievances have gone unaddressed. The burden now falls on MPs to show they are listening and addressing those legitimate grievances.
However, seeming to excuse rioting is absolutely wrong. And let’s make no mistake: racism animates the rioters. There is plenty of evidence in my social media - no doubt yours too.
In the midst of this, somehow the Labour government has contrived by their response, incredibly, to normalise support for the far right among decent people with those legitimate grievances. See the hashtag #FarRightThugsUnite.
That is an extraordinary failure.
Can the nation unite around a goal?
The vast majority of people want a peaceful society at ease with itself in which they can get on and improve the lot of themselves and their family.
With that in mind, people have legitimate grievances about the functioning of the economy, the effect of immigration on housing and public services, even legitimate opposition to changes in the character of places where they grew up.
However, what can never be tolerated is grievance based on racism. Hating anyone for their identity is an evil, and one which this country, for the most part, long since moved beyond in relation to Christian sectarianism. That progress took too long and was bought at too high a price to be repeated.
We should learn lessons, think carefully and act with purposeful resolve and humility. I can, for example, easily think of first and second generation migrants in Wycombe who have lived here since before I was born. I am 53. They are British too and this is their rightful home: they deserve better than to be the object of animosity. They were among those who built this country and we owe them respect.
What is to be done?
One of the legitimate grievances people hold is double standards: the idea that some communities and identities are policed and judged differently to white British people. The origins of differential treatment are controversial but Kemi Badenoch dealt with some of them in the Commons.
In a nutshell, identity politics categorises people and allocates to them a measure of historic injustice and contemporary disadvantage, then tries to put things right through pursuit of equal outcomes. This is a terrible mistake – manifestly so – and one easily foreseeable and foreseen.
The antidote is to return to the rule of law as classically understood: one law, equally applicable to all.
This is the programme we need:
The police should uphold the law – and be seen to uphold the law – with all necessary and proportionate force, equally upon everyone.
Politicians of all parties should acknowledge that they have failed to address legitimate grievances but that these grievances can never excuse rioting or racism.
The Government must stop illegal migration and dramatically reduce the number of legal migrants. Alas that Labour threw out our plans.
In the longer run, Parliament and this Labour government, as unlikely as it seems, should rethink the meaning of equality as outcomes, and how the present enforcement of the concept is now manifestly failing1.
Having rethought equality to insist on equal treatment, not equal outcomes, the Government ought to pursue a new strategy for a peaceful, flourishing society, with zero tolerance of racism through equality before the law.
I am very clear: too often Parliament has abandoned the principles of a free society in pursuit of Utopia. As always, it is a failure.
Conclusion
There is never any excuse for rioting and racism. It is also true that large numbers of people have legitimate grievances which have not been adequately addressed. Those grievances can never excuse riots and racism.
Perhaps I bear my share of the blame for not achieving more through my work with Conservatives Against Racism, for Equality (CARFE). We tried. Perhaps it will take this crisis for Parliament to rethink what is now a plainly failing approach to these essential issues.
But crucially, while longstanding policy is a failure, everyone with a public voice should be crystal clear: there is no excuse for hatred, racism and rioting.
Not now. Not ever.
For the Times, Matthew Syed writes, “In Southport, I found raw grief, decency and moral courage. Tragedies bring out the worst in people but can also bring out the best — and seeing people rally round makes me optimistic about Britain’s future”.
I take comfort in that. Also in the knowledge that Wycombe is an exemplar of what can be achieved. It has taken years of patient, restrained work by decent people of all political parties. Alas that nationally the right spirit seems in short supply.
Further reading
Principles for a Free Society, Dr Nigel Ashford, 2003
I will return to equality, right and wrong later. For now, in this thread, I summarise the moral, political and legal equality and equality of opportunity to which everyone is entitled, and reject equality of outcome.
The first point you make regarding the police upholding the law is fundamental, as long as they do not face inquiries whenever they attempt to do so
Of course you make a good point.
Consistency is important but one must cope with the oroblems at hand. A revolutionary liberalisation of society would not answer the present moment, surely?