The twice-weekly market has all the expected stalls: fish, fruit and vegetables, inexpensive clothes; the accents are often pure East End. “Real old Londoners still,” says one stallholder affectionately. But this is nowhere near London. It is Thetford, in deepest, darkest Norfolk, which was designated for London overspill in the 1960s.
That first generation of Londoners have long since made it their home, and that they and their children still speak in an East End dialect tends to imply that they don’t go far. It is an isolated part of an isolated part of the country: the constituency of South West Norfolk.
Norfolk at its most feudal
The countryside is dominated by vast and sometimes medieval estates, often the source of what little employment is on offer, their owners perhaps living abroad or in secluded magnificence somewhere beyond the estate’s long and leafy drive in.
Jobs are low wage, mostly agricultural or industrial. Any incomers these days go there to retire. Before Liz Truss was so dramatically defenestrated at the last general election by Labour’s Terry Jermy, she dismissed her rural critics (of whom there were many) as the ‘Turnip Taliban’. So Eastenders and the Turnip Taliban, living together, based on a sprawling ‘new town’ built on ideas of the 1960s, miles from anywhere, with no jobs and no prospects.
Life expectancy differs by 10 years across the town
On a previous visit, this writer reported: “Jermy loves Thetford and loves its people – or at least most of them. He extends a worldly benevolence to the rest. Health inequalities are a major concern, he tells me: between the Tesco end of the town with its four and five bedroom houses and the Sainsbury’s end there is a difference in life expectancy of 10 years.
“We’re good at talking ourselves down in Thetford. But then you’ve got a lot of people who are here not by choice and don’t have a good feeling about the town.”
So with poverty and lack of prospects – lack of anything, really – too often our stories have been about civil unrest and unconcealed xenophobia. It is little wonder one story began with the headline: “Is this the angriest town in Britain?”
Fantasy politics of world domination
In the context which our reports reveal, it would be facile to ask why this week’s riots happened. They happened because there is a vacuum between Thetford and much of the rest of the world, leading to a determined core of unrest. It has fed on the racism promoted by a resurgent far right developing conspiracy theories of fantasy world domination. Those theories tend to go unchallenged, just as do those who thrive on them.
For whatever reason, the authorities have chosen to steer clear of intruding into this murky world. A mob with flaming brands (really!) burst in on a meeting of Thetford Town Council. Leaflets declared: “Our basic freedom to travel could be at risk, and our councils are in full support!” The ironically named Thomas Paine Independents established links with far right groups.
‘Let’s hope the parents clear off to their own country now’
A Portuguese child was knocked down and killed crossing the road, and a post on local social media sneered: “He should of looked left or right or at least used the crossing up the road, I have no sympathy it’s natural selection at it’s finest. Let’s hope the parents clear off back to their own country now”.
The police have frequently been criticised for their inaction. This writer received a tip-off of intentions to invade another council meeting, but found no way of reporting it. Telephone calls to the police went unanswered. In the end, the only access was by email, to which there was no response. In frustration, there was a call to the Police and Crime Commissioner, which at least was answered by the receptionist. But the call was put through to the PCC’s secretary, where it was necessary to leave a message, again with no response.
‘An orchestrated migrant invasion’
Dealing with the right to demonstrate when it can lead to civil unrest is clearly a matter of delicacy. But it often seems that, in trying to keep a lid on it, Norfolk Police simply allow criminal behaviour. So the perpetrators, who have no real interest in peaceful protest, become emboldened. They convince themselves they represent some kind of alternative authority.
In the past there have been posts about an “orchestrated migrant invasion”, that migrants are part of an “elite manipulation”, getting “ready for lockdown”, and that there will be a time when “the flag goes up for them to attack”.
We have reported in the past that: “All of this has echoes of the great replacement conspiracy theory, which claims that native English will be controlled and outnumbered by non-white immigrants. It is rooted in French colonialism and antisemitism. It claims a global elite is using ‘Agenda 2030’, 15-minute cities and genocidal vaccinations to push for perpetual lockdowns and the enslavement of humanity.
Almost medieval fears and a jeering mob
The Guardian reports that during the current unrest: “A man could be heard shouting: ‘They don’t want the white man any more, they want to swap us.’”
Barking? Certainly. Medieval? Well it makes you think… But that’s what happens when lunatic ideas of race and world domination are allowed to grow unchecked. Of the invasion of the council meeting, Terry Jermy said: “We’ve been frustrated with the police support thus far … and I’m hoping for greater support in the future. These members of the public have invaded the personal space of councillors and staff in a threatening and intimidatory manner – it’s not right that people have been put at risk.”
During the present riots it is claimed that Jermy has been pursued through the streets by a jeering mob.
Beliefs have grown in ugly ways, unchallenged
This is by no means a fair reflection of Thetford as a whole, as it never is of anywhere on these occasions. There is no doubt that outsiders have joined in to incite the violence. But can anyone doubt that, if it were not for its poverty and isolation, Thetford would be a happier place? So there are good reasons why, in this town, belief systems that have grown in ugly ways have gone unchallenged.
But too much sympathy would be patronising. We have to give the rioters the benefit and responsibilities of being part of a shared humanity, even if they deny the same dignity to others. To suggest that in some way they can be excused their behaviour would rob them of that dignity. They have to be held to account just like anybody else, or we are effectively implying they cannot be held responsible, and so in some way are sub-human.
Suspicion and hate allowed to fester
That demands both police and local authorities make clear there are lines which should not be crossed, and pusillanimous excuses will not do. The reason why there are riots in Thetford is because there is an underlying culture which promotes suspicion and hate, which has been allowed to fester. For too long our institutions have opted for the quiet life. It is time we held them to account.
Speaking of which, on the matter of the Thetford riots, Reform’s newly elected police and crime commissioner for Norfolk has refused to speak to the local press.
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