THE BOYS IN BLACK

There they were, trying to emulate the order of the Mosley’s mob of the 1930’s but without the ordered ranks Adolf would have appreciated.

I wasn’t there at the time – they had left by the time I went into Dover for a pre-arranged meeting. There were a few words about some being ready for a bun fight, but those questioned were disciplined and quite quiet and then they went off home for tea and scones, I hope, rather than take out any hyped testosterone levels on … who? Apparently, wives and partners can suffer in such circumstances.

For me the real annoyance was when some shouted about these being their streets – no, they’re not – I pay for these streets and I have every right to walk along them, drive along them, except that Kent Police would say I’m being provocative … which would be true, like the guy wearing a kippah who tried to deliberately walk into the midst of an anti-Israeli march last year. Sense has to prevail. One day it may even become commonplace.

So, there we have it, no rerun of the Battle of Cable Street, yet … but then today’s boys in black were in a pointless one-sided protest, unless it was to simply stoke unease amongst the local population, the majority of whom are fairly anti-immigrant anyway.

Poor old Dover … we have a huge castle, ‘The Key to The Kingdom’ built in the 12^th Century by Henry II to protect against his overlord, the French King. Then in the late 18^th C, work on the Western Heights began, initially to protect against Boney, but then enlarged because of Adolf, until it became, apparently, the strongest and most elaborate fortification in the country. And what did we get on Saturday 5^th September 2026 … an invasion from inland by a bunch of people that it seems nobody thought much good of.

Then came Sunday and Langstone Harbour. 140 migrants had set off from near Dieppe in a single boat. Here comes the tricky bit … should the French have monitored their progress, or should it have just left them to their own devices? Once in UK waters, HM Coastguard sent a helicopter and alerted the RNLI which sent two boats to pick up the migrants and transport them into Langstone Harbour and Eastney, an entirely inadequate landing place, but then the City of Portsmouth and ABP at Southampton had refused landing requests at those ports. Why? Questions need to be asked of inadequate answers given. By this time a truly motley crew of immigrant-haters had got themselves into a right lather. Not only did they take it out on the police but also the RNLI.

Reading the diatribes in Southern Daily Echo correspondence pages, it would appear that the RNLI have been harmed by undertaking their voluntary duty of saving lives at sea, but I suspect much of that correspondence has come from the same people who abused the RNLI at Eastney. If a boat with 140 people collapsed in the Channel, how many could be, would be saved by a couple of lifeboats? It is eminently sensible to escort such a boat to ensure safety. The haters don't care. However, while the RNLI are now having to take  precautions to protect their volunteers, there has been a significant rise in contributions, including from me.

I also have on order my RNLI t-shirt to wear next time I’m in Dover.

I can understand people who are against immigration, particularly, illegal entry, but they are a drop in the ocean of migration. That's a different matter.

When I was young my mother took me to Cable Street to warn how fascism could arise easily in England through racial hatred. 

Performative fascism needs to be called out for what it is.