Precedents

[poliphilo]

I can think of two famous occasions in my lifetime when police cavalry were used against demonstrators. The first was at Orgreave in 1984 when Margaret Thatcher defeated the striking miners in a pitched battle. The second (Thatcher again) was during the Poll tax riots of 1989. 

Earlier there was Peterloo. The cavalry that charged the demonstration in St. Peter's Fields in 1819 have been described as "younger members of the Tory party in arms". An unknown number of people were killed that day- sabred, shot, trampled by the horses. Among them was a two year old child.

The Tories have an affinity with cavalry charges. Maybe it's in the genes-  all that ancestral fox hunting, all that riding down of peasants.

They don't see as us as citizens. They don't know us. We don't count.  We don't feature in their world except as annoying noises off.  We are the "enemy within" (Thatchers phrase) to be kettled and ridden down. In this latest episode of class warfare the "enemy within" are our students and school children. 

Comments

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

Nice points. One story that seems to have been swept under the media rug lately is the bizarre and unpleasant rant of a Labour MP against the middles classes, making unsavoury comments of how they were a class of boozers and potential paedophiles. Lovely. Reminds me again that if there *is* a class war, the attitude of "us and them" is just as rife in the Left as it is in the Right.

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think the Mail is spinning his words to fit their own agenda. He says a lot of voters are racist, that the condemnation of drugs by people who drink heavily is hypocrisy and that most sexual abuse happens in the home.
I agree with all those statements.

He has since resigned his front bench seat and been arrested for drink driving.

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

So in other words he slates the people who vote for him (or did) and thats acceptable?

I'm sorry, I don't care whether the Mail "spun" his words for their agenda or not. I find it repugnant. If you have *that* much contempt for the electorate, then don't run for office!

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So voters are never racist,there's no hypocrisy in condemning other people's addictions while indulging your own and all paedophiles are weird men in macs.

OK.

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

I didn't say that. You're twisting my words.

All I tried to point out was that if there is a class wat in this country, the Left are just as capable of taking shots as the Right. Yes, some voters are racist. So, are some politicians. Yes, it is hypocritical to drink heavily and condemn drug use. Yes, paedophiles deserve to be strung up. But to imply - as that MP did - that the middle-classes are more pre-disposed to that than anyone else, is offensive. Simple as that.

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it takes two to make a class war.

I've just read Joyce's original article. He doesn't use the word "middle-class" once. It's the Mail that has assumed he was getting at their readers. If the cap fits, wear it.

Re: Oh, what utterly tendentious rubbish, Tony.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I don't care whether the Mail "spun" his words for their agenda or not. I find it repugnant.

Read what he actually said first before believing what it said in the Volkischer BeobachterDaily Mail. You'll find Joyce said nothing of the sort, and actually made sensible points. All lies as per usual from the Mail. There's a link to what he actually stated below, and it differs greatly from Tim Shipman(any relation?)'s account.

jeez, I can't believe I'm defending Eric bloody Joyce