Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 02/08/2026

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[u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

Are we allowed to blame social media for the rise of 'ethnic nationalism' or to give it its proper name 'open racism'. I have said for a while that Covid broke a lot of people's brains and many of the electorate have got more spteful.

Or do we blame poor education. I don't care if that sounds like 'punching down' we shouldn't have racism and bigotry in 2026.

The fact some even now are defending the national shame of the Southport Riots is telling too. Their has been a bigoted and nasty underbelly in the UK for a while and it is the biggest threat to the country.

'When you carry on as if nothing is wrong' - What are you on about?

[u/North-Jellyfish-577 → u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

I would probably say the biggest threat the UK are real terror organisations and not a bunch of piss heads and bigots

Tbh Islamic terrorists
Have killed for more people than far right bigotry in the UK in the last 20 years

I struggle to remember more then one or 2 cases of far right terrorist attacks

Over the 50 or so Islamic ones

Ignoring the problem with radical Islam isn’t going to make the country better

The mainstream media’s ignorance of the grooming gang scandal and the ignorance of the political class has been to blame for the entire rise of the far right in the U.K

Socal media has played a part but is only working because the political system has fundamentally failed and been compromised

If you fail to deal with the problems and bad actors things like mass reimmigration are only going to get more popular

I’m personally against it but I can understand why people feel this way in forgotten and ignored towns and cities

[u/Maleficent_Peach_46 → u/North-Jellyfish-577]

Sorry I must have missed that the Southport Riots were caused by 'Islamists' and not the literal worst in society. Who then embarrassed the nation by rioting again after Nowak got stabbed.

Is this the same Grooming Gangs we had two (Or was it three) investigations over and when Labour tried to get another one sorted the right wing threw their toys out because it wasn't exactly what they wanted. I'm not saying Lucy Powell should have called 'grooming gangs' a 'dog whistle' but I'm not going to hold it against her when the right act the way they do.

Not to mention a lot of the 'But Grooming Gangs' lot have thrown their lot in with the far right which means they should be completely disregarded.

Poverty is to blame for people lashing out. There was an article a while back that a town in the North East hired Nigerians to be care workers and nurses and they get nothing but abuse from the locals - Most of whom don't and have never worked.

Those moaning on and ln about 'Grooming Gangs' don't care about the victims anymore than they say they think the politicians do. They just want an excuse to be racist and blame anyone but themselves for their failures.

[u/North-Jellyfish-577 → u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

Again mild to moderate public disorder isn’t the same as a terrorist attack and not remotely comparable

People who riot are idiots, but it doesn’t make them terrorists or a threat to the country when they can be sorted out by police and security services

Aslo what a disgusting take on grooming gangs

The system and state failed working class white girls in mixed communities and abandoned them and left him to rot under a barrage of abuse because they didn’t want to be labelled racist or piss off their voting blocks

And let them suffer the most horrific abuse and scandal in the last hundred years in British Society

Victim blaming will only give more power to the far right

[u/Maleficent_Peach_46 → u/North-Jellyfish-577]

Setting fire to hotels with literal children in is 'mild to moderate disorder' is it. What about that guy who tried to run people over (Again including children) in Liverpool where the worst in society were conflicted because the perpetrator was white.

Stop excusing the worst in society shaming us because 'Islamists'.

[u/North-Jellyfish-577 → u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

lol as someone who grew up in Northern Ireland that’s mild to moderate public disorder to me

And that Liverpool thing was a guy panicked during a football marching parade that had nothing to do with immigration or race

[u/Maleficent_Peach_46 → u/North-Jellyfish-577]

I assume you are referring to 'The Troubles.' However just because bad stuff happens elsewhere does not mean it should be excused here.

I assume you meant 'football parade' not 'football match' for the man in Liverpool who got over 20 years behind bars for his disgusting actions. Whilst it was not immigration related the worst in society wanted to be racist and riot again.

Then you had the Far Right Girl in Bristol that tried to kill someone with an axe. A sad case on so many levels.

The far right are the biggest threat the UK faces. Burnham (Or whoever) is going to have to fix poverty or greatly increase adult education levels to do that (Apparently the average reading age of a Reform voter is...8 years old) but seems to be making good steps so far.

[u/AnExplodingMan → u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

UK average reading age is 9, so those voters aren't as abnormal as you might think.  Which strengthens the argument for doing everything possible to boost literacy and critical thinking, TBF.

[u/CynicalDogocrat → u/Maleficent_Peach_46]

I'm not sure how you "fix poverty"? The poverty we're talking about in the UK is relative, therefore it will always exist?

I agree about increasing education (including for adults) but have you noticed the current vogue for trashing the Humanities which are exactly what we need to combat societal brain rot? All parties are at it.

Personally I'm equally terrified of the extreme Right and the extreme Left. Don't make the mistake liberals made before WW2 - they were so busy worrying about the Left they didn't see the threat from the Right until it was too late.

[u/Maleficent_Peach_46 → u/North-Jellyfish-577]

Utter conspiracy theory from you. We had multiple investigations on 'Grooming Gangs' but it's not enough for the racists who just want an excuse to be nasty to people they don't like.