George Floyd - America so f**ked up

Yep I am take it all with a pinch of salt,most Home Secretary's will stand up for law and oder and the Police,goes with the job title.
Tbf there was a small minority who for what ever reason decided to lob stuff at the Police up until then it was all pretty peaceful

Great.
Good for them actually, great discipline to not allow reactionaries to deflect from the point of the protest.
But of course, having lost thousands to the murderous Apartheid regime and achieved their objectives of getting that regime confined to history they just might feel the political battle there is won.

Thanks will have a look.
Don't start me on the dear old Beeb losing their impartiality is dangerous for a public services broadcaster.

They've lost control of the country, Oldie.

They did ever since they backed Cummings over the millions.

It will be interesting to see their approval ratings right now

I don’t care what they think, I want to see how the last few weeks has affected things- the outrage about Cummings was reflected in the polls. Gassy has talked of “the millions” being offended. Where do the protests fit into the picture? I rather suspect there is not much overlap between the protesters and the Tory voters in the last election. We know that the country overwhelmingly voted Tory, so it could be argued there is a silent majority out there- where do they stand currently following Cummings-gate and the protests?

Last week's polling suggested that Johnson has slipped more than 15 points in approval ratings. If he gets another pasting at PMQs on Wednesday his own ranks may well start to mutter.

Late to this thread but fwiw:
Two issues have become intertwined in Bristol yesterday. One the George Floyd protests which are important and people have every right to protest peacefully and secondly some very local feelings about Edward Colston and the history of Bristol. It looks like some of the latter protesters saw yesterday’s legitimate protests as an opportunity to do what they wanted, that is get rid of the statue. They were able to do that under the cover of the black lives matter protests.
From reading and listening to what people have said it appears that the statue’s future and a change to the plaque underneath it and the renaming of many other “Colston” buildings have been on the agenda for some time and for whatever reasons it hasn’t happened. So the locals saw an opportunity and decided to take it into their own hands and use direct action to achieve what they wanted.

From this whole incident I would draw some pretty clear conclusions:
1. Politicians, local and national need to listen to what people are saying. A Tory party can’t just deliver what their “supporters” want nor should the Labour Party think they will ever get elected on the manifesto that was presented to us in December. Locally, politicians need to move far quicker to deliver what they can deliver. It seems that they had opportunities to change the wording on the plaque and decide upon its future but haven’t been able to close it out. I bet they all regret it now. Had they acted, they would also have been able to turn it into a learning experience of making it clear why they have acted, satisfied their community and ensured the legacy of Colston could perhaps have been turned into a far more positive thing for the people of Bristol. Instead they look to have procrastinated so that now Bristol’s reputation has suffered and some local people will feel great resentment at what protesters and thugs have done. The more extreme locals did it for them! No one wins.

2. When legitimate concerns, even if held by a minority of the people, are ignored some people / protesters will decide upon direct action because they have no trust or belief that their legitimate concerns are being listened to. Leave that situation too long for years and years and people will take direct action through frustration. This hasn’t just happened in America. It’s been happening for years with violent police and their actions against many people, in this case, George Floyd. 20 years ago it was Rodney King, it has been happening for too long and now a new generation is trying to do something about it. Mix that with a President who wants to show how strong he is, who has no grasp on history or how to take the heat out of a situation and you get what you’ve just seen. When genuine concerns are not dealt with then a small minority of activists often step into the situation and seek a redress very directly. It happened in Peterloo, Manchester in 1819, all over the USA in the 60s over segregation in schools, Chicago in 1968, Toxteth and Brixton Riots in 1981, Sharpeville in 1960 in South Africa. Governments need to act before it gets to that point.

3. This country has always largely been policed by consent. The vast majority of people are happy to be policed and accept the police’s action by and large. But over the last 10 years the police have lost a lot of respect and in some areas are rarely seen. Clearly yesterday the police made a strategic decision not to act against the vandals and whilst I might disagree with that I can’t say I blame them because they were hopelessly outnumbered. How has that been allowed to happen? Over the past few months the lack of investment, recruitment in essential services have been made very clear. I think Governments needs to reverse that. Anecdotally, talking, from a social distance obviously, to a neighbour today he said that yesterday there were less than 20 policemen in Dorset yesterday because they had all gone to cover demonstrations elsewhere. So less than 20 officers in Dorset to do police stuff, quite frightening if true.

Sure that many people will disagree but not only the actions but also the causes behind actions need to be considered.

UTG!