Life's a SHITSHOW

002 Marches, Media & Manipulation: Today’s Battle for British Unity

• Jo Day / Natasha Shingles • Season 1 • Episode 2

Share episode

🗣️ Join the chat! Let us know what you think of the show, what you want more of, or what you think we’ve got totally wrong. Honest opinions, spicy takes, and topic suggestions always welcome.

Welcome
Welcome to Life’s a SHITSHOW! In today’s episode, we’re turning our attention to the current issues shaping Britain, cutting through the noise to bring you clear, honest discussion on what’s really going on.

Episode Summary
Today’s episode unpacks recent statements from political leaders, including Kier Starmer and Sadiq Khan, and examines how their messaging and social media posts are influencing national debate. We discuss the surge in online reactions, the framing of language and data by politicians, and how these narratives impact public perception and community division.
We also look at the facts behind recent marches and protests in London, the reporting of arrest figures, and how media coverage can shape or distort the truth. Our focus is on why it’s more important than ever to check facts, understand the broader context, and resist being swept up in divisive rhetoric.
This conversation centres on unity, inclusion, and what it means to be part of a diverse Britain—reminding listeners of the power of coming together rather than being pushed apart.

Key Takeaways
✨ Political language and data can be used to manipulate—always look deeper
✨ Media and politicians often frame stories to suit their own agendas
✨ Unity and respect in our communities matter more than ever
✨ It’s vital to check facts, question narratives, and avoid echo chambers
✨ British identity is diverse, and our strength is in supporting each other

Resources & Links

Thanks for Listening!
Subscribe to Life’s a SHITSHOW for more honest discussions and up-to-date analysis on the issues that matter. Not every episode will focus on Britain, but when it does, you’ll get the facts and clarity you need. 

Stay informed, stay united, and see you next time! 💬🎙️🇬🇧

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lifesashitshow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifesashitshow_/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUM54nmV343FFp8YkcnZPTw/

Website: https://lifesashitshow.com

Life's a SHITSHOW EP02

[00:00:00] Jo: Hello everybody.

[00:00:01] Natasha: Why are we doing this again? Why? Just why?

[00:00:04] Jo: I dunno, Tash, because I've got fire in me belly. I'm fired up, ready to go, and I know you are because of what you've tagged me in this afternoon, right? A lovely little post that you've shared on Twitter and one on Facebook. I'm gonna get into that one in a minute.

[00:00:21] But first of all, i'd like to get your thoughts on this, what your response would be to this if you were seeing this for the first time. So this was posted three hours ago by Kier Starmer 

[00:00:31] Natasha: Oh no. Wait. Let 

[00:00:31] me brace myself. Fuck sake. Go on.

[00:00:34] Jo: Real patriots build their communities up.

[00:00:37] They don't pull them apart. You can't claim to love our country and then go out and talk it down. In every town and city, there are people helping their neighbors and making things better. I'm on their side.

[00:00:54] Natasha: Oh, will, if ain't Captain Contradiction himself. 

[00:00:59] Jo: Do you want me to read you some of the comments? There's 11 and half thousand comments on this post.

[00:01:06] Natasha: Wait, just wait. Just to clarify, just so I've got this right, Kier Starmer is saying he would rather us all get on than not, is that what he's saying?

[00:01:15] Jo: So real patriots build their communities up. They don't pull them apart. You can't claim to love our country and then go out and talk it down. In every town and city, there are people helping their neighbors and making things better. I'm on their side,

[00:01:33] Natasha: oh, it's a double standard little diva. He is. Hey,

[00:01:37] I'm actually, do you know I'm actually raging. Okay. He's got the audacity to post that. 

[00:01:42] Jo: Kevin Darling says you win bellend quote of the day.

[00:01:47] BJatarw, I dunno if I've pronounced that right. A gatekeeper of the Trojan horse has spoken. Muriel Wagtails commented, we don't recognize our communities anymore. They have been overwhelmed. Paul Jeffrey, a real prime minister, would build the country up, not rip it apart so I won't read anymore of these Tash 'cause I'm literally just infuriated by this Prime minister.

[00:02:13] I can't stand him. Same do you know, this is the strange thing, how people's minds, hearts and minds can be changed. So when we had,

[00:02:25] my god, what's his name? The guy that was in during COVID and Kier Starmer was the opposition. Oh yeah. Yeah. So when Rishi was in Kia was on the opposition. I used to sit and watch Parliament's questions every Tuesday and think, yeah, I agree with what He is saying, I quite like what He saying, yeah. You know what I mean?

[00:02:48] I was quite

[00:02:48] Natasha: Which one? Which one?

[00:02:49] Jo: Kier. I used to think what Kier was saying to Rishi. I was quite, yeah I agree with that I agree with that. I didn't vote 'cause. For those of you that don't know me at all, I don't even live in the UK anymore. I am a legal migrant. I left England seven years ago and I'll now live in Spain.

[00:03:10] I'm an immigrant to Spain. I'm an expat, and it was a very difficult process to go through and about to go through it again. All the forms to fill in, all the bloody. Money that you have to prove that you've had the jobs, that you've got to prove, that you've got the healthcare, that you have to prove that you're paying for private healthcare.

[00:03:29] It's difficult to become an expat. It's really difficult. So I understand and I get why people are getting all emotive about the topic of immigration, and we're gonna cover it. We will cover it in depth when we've got facts, figures, details, and we've removed the emotive element from it, and we're not just being the echo chamber.

[00:03:51] So I didn't vote because I don't feel like I should be voting, but I always keep a close eye on what's going on in the uk, in politics and around the world. Tash, because I'm interested.

[00:04:02] Natasha: You, Jo, you've still got family here.

[00:04:04] Jo: Yeah, exactly. But one day I might want to come back, but what I've noticed, especially since the labour government have got in, is I don't recognise the co, I mean, I left 'cause I didn't like the weather and I was always, ill always got flu one day when I'm older, I might want to come back. I might, but now since the labour government's come in and certain policies have been bought in, and Sadiq Khan will get onto him I look and think this is not a country I want to go back to. And it really, it upsets me that one day I might need to go back and I want to go back, but when I do go back to visit family, I don't want to be there.

[00:04:46] It just feels oppressive. So anyway. What's your reaction to that? What would you have to say if you were writing a post back to him? I'm gonna put you on the spot, but what would you say to,

[00:04:59] Natasha: to Kier Starmer

[00:05:00] Jo: to Kier Starmer 

[00:05:01] Natasha: Fuck off. Fuck. Literally.

[00:05:08] Do you know what I mean? I and I've been a, I've been a labour supporter my whole life. He disgusted me. I can't. I can't. I never voted for Kier. I tell you what, right? I hate the Tories. I have publicly hated the Tories For since we've had social media, I've not been quiet about my hate of Tories.

[00:05:29] Do you know how big a fucking asshole you've got to be to beat Boris Johnson in worst Prime Minister ever? For I, I would vote for a Tory right now before I'd ever vote for that party as a whole. Again,

[00:05:48] i'm disgusted. I hate them. All of them. Shame on them.

[00:05:53] Can I say something? Actually, Jo, do you know the most disappointing thing for me? For labour, I was, like I say, I didn't vote for Kier Starmer, but I knew that labour would win because I think everyone just wanted, the tour is out. So this is what I would say to Kier Starmer when you won the election, Mr. Fucking.

[00:06:16] Contradiction. Can't make his fucking mind up.

[00:06:19] Jo: Mr. U-turn.

[00:06:21] Natasha: Mr. U-turn. I'm, he's probably dizzy. He's probably got a fucking migraine from the amount of times he changes his mind. But also, can I just say how drabby he is when he fucking speaks? Can we have a personality? Anyone? Anyone got one for him? Anyway, before I go off track again, when they got in.

[00:06:41] He won because we just, they were the lesser of two evils. Yeah. No one voted Kier Starmer in because they fucking liked him. So let's start there so he can get down off his fucking ego horse. No one likes you mate. 

[00:06:54] Jo: And I think a lot had a lot. Carol Vordaman got a lot to answer for. Because she run the campaign online telling people where the marginalized seats were and how to tactically vote.

[00:07:08] So if it was likely to be a seat for liberal Democrats to vote liberal so that the conservatives didn't get in so that she. She had this kind of heat map of all the councils, all the seats around the uk and encouraged people how to tactically vote. So she's got a lot to answer for as well, but I don't think they got in with a huge majority.

[00:07:30] Natasha: They got in by default 

[00:07:32] because we just had enough of the

[00:07:34] Jo: Exactly, yeah.

[00:07:35] Natasha: In Tories. But the most disappointing thing for me when they got in. When I sat there watching, I was thinking it's one of those things where you look and you think okay, it is what it is. Now let's give 'em a chance.

[00:07:48] It's always that thing, even when there's a Tory government, I think, woo. Nothing I can do about it. So the best thing to do, you can either keep moaning, whinging, crying about it, or you just roll your sleeves up and think, let's give 'em a chance and let's see how this goes.

[00:08:02] Jo: Yeah.

[00:08:02] Natasha: I try to start every time with just a clean slate and no judgment.

[00:08:06] That's important to know and I'm coming from a labour supporting background and family, what I was so looking forward to was the women. To see a woman that was, that grew up on a council estate, has been on welfare. That was me. She represented me. She didn't talk posh. She sounded like she was common.

[00:08:32] She went to a normal school. It was like, ah, yes, don't let us down. She was Deputy Prime Minister. Please. Angela, please don't let us down. And Rachel Reeves don't even fucking get me started on Rachel Reeves. Chancellor is a woman, deputy prime minister is a woman.

[00:08:57] I'm like, come on girls, don't let me down. Fuck me. It was probably a week before they'd let me down and now watching Angela Raynor watching that play out. It's just, do you know what again, I really thought you'd be different 'cause you were one of us.

[00:09:13] Yeah.

[00:09:14] Ain't no different.

[00:09:15] I'm so disa I'm just so disappointed. They came for the winter fuel payments straight away. They came for, do you know what I'm gonna do a whole, I think I wanna do a whole episode on this PIP benefit disability thing, because I come at that from a different perspective Now. I would've been on the side of everyone on Pip's just faking a bad back.

[00:09:35] I've actually been I'm on the side of, I don't claim pip, I just wanna clear that up. But there is a reason I don't claim pip, and it is because it is so hard to do and I just don't have the energy. But I do understand where it's like when people's life changes overnight. Yeah. I have more sympathy than I would've done.

[00:09:56] Jo: Yeah. Is there anything else? Sorry, I interrupted you. Anything else just on that point on what he's posted there before I move on to the next post that you've actually responded to and shared publicly on social media? So for anybody that hasn't seen it, I'm gonna read it out. Oh no, which one is I got tagged an hour and a half ago on my public profile.

[00:10:19] Very kindly by Tash She's sharing a post from our London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Which reads like this. I know many people, particularly from London's diverse communities are feeling extremely worried. Following the events this weekend, it takes me back to how I felt growing up in the seventies and eighties when the far right political parties.

[00:10:43] Marched on our streets. The leaders of the far right are once again, attempting to hijack our flag with minorities being intimidated and fear and hatred and division sewn. As Londoners, as proud Brits, we must unite reach the far right, just as we have many times before. Sorry. Reject the far right. it's going to take a huge effort from us all from people of all races and backgrounds who are willing to stand up for British values of equality, inclusion, and mutual respect.

[00:11:25] As mayor, I'll continue to do everything I can to challenge the far right and all those who pedal the politics of fear and division. I urge other politicians and Londoners to do the same. So that's our London Major. Sadiq Khan Here's Tasha's response to his post. Why are you deliberately race baiting the public knowing full well, this is absolute bullshit.

[00:12:00] Are you going to mention the 800 plus arrests? Including many under the Terrorism Act that came from the 1500 approximate attendees of the pro-Palestine March the weekend before. For balance, it's right there on the Metropolitan Police data. Can you even read? You seem to never have figures to hand these days.

[00:12:26] No. Then just fuck off and leave us all alone. You insufferable. S sniffling, narcissistic, slimy, corrupt, self-serving, greedy, lying. Little gnome of a man. We are not playing your propaganda games anymore. Start looking for a new job. May I suggest you stay within your capabilities and start with rat catching or something equally Shit! Would you like to elabourate on that post Tash, you were obviously very emotive.

[00:13:02] Natasha: Where's the lie?

[00:13:03] Jo: I don't believe there is any lie.

[00:13:05] I think what's lie he's race baiting. He is definitely race and culture baiting..

[00:13:11] Natasha: See? 

[00:13:12] I'm gonna be honest. I don't like Sadiq Khan anyway. I cannot see. I have spidey senses when it comes to people.

[00:13:19] I can talk to someone for a few minutes and I just get a feeling. It's always been the case and I am never, I'm 46 years old. I have never been wrong yet, and Sadiq Khan gives me the Spidey senses. I do not like there's something about him that is really off. I ain't gonna go into that, but. The problem was our episode plan, one of our episode plans means that I have to deep dive into research.

[00:13:50] Those who know me know I love to hyper focus on a topic, and I will, and I do deep dive, really deep dive. 

[00:13:59] Jo: Yeah, so let's just pause there quickly. I wanna explain the roles here. So Tash is doing all of the research and I am chipping in. I do all the tech, Tash does all the research on topics we agree between as what we're doing and these.

[00:14:15] Past week, I guess Tash it's been three in the morning, some mornings and we still, have you seen this? Look at this. Yeah. We're down the rabbit hole and sometimes we come up for air. And once you go into the rabbit hole, it's hard to come out without some kind of emotion and grounding yourself back into neutrality to see things from all Yeah.

[00:14:37] Ends of the spectrum. So yeah, that teaches the research and. Yeah. The sterling work that you do in 

[00:14:44] Natasha: the research involved in this particular episode? Actually, I, it's okay to say because I, we put the post out yesterday. I was just thinking that people know yet. But yeah, I put a post out yesterday on the on, on, on our page.

[00:14:59] And the reason I was asking for so much feedback from everybody is for this reason, I want to really make sure that I do, we do the episode justice. Yeah. Because it's very important. It's a very sensitive topic and it's a hot one right now happening here, and we are in a position of responsibility.

[00:15:17] I'll fuck around. We can have a laugh. We can, I, we can vent to the people. In authority. Fuck 'em. I don't care. But I am very aware of the responsibility that we have for people that potentially are vulnerable. I don't think some of those, some of the refugees that are coming over, I am sure are genuine and vulnerable and we have to remember that and they are human.

[00:15:42] That said, I understand as well that where British citizens are coming from. So I wanna make sure that I give a balanced thing. I want to give it as much research, I wanna talk to as many people as I can, that I know are in certain areas where this is concerned. And I wanna make sure I've got facts and figures so that I am not fearmongering Yeah.

[00:16:05] I am not saying something even that maybe proves well, my opinion was wrong. I will state the facts and figures because. This is what needs to happen. Now, at the same time, when I do research, I also, I get the facts and figures, and then I stand back and look at both sides, and I consider lots of different things and I make my mind, this is how I get to my opinion.

[00:16:27] I make my mind up based on lots of different things. So I tend to see both sides fairly. I can completely remove emotion from it. Yeah. I am all about, let's get to the truth of the matter, and then. Let's understand where everyone's coming from and try to communicate that to the other side. 

[00:16:46] Jo: Yeah, I think it's important as well.

[00:16:48] I'll just go back to what we said on Friday. In the first episode, that language is being weaponized, and we've touched on data as well. So data can be presented and manipulated and without even changing the numbers, you can present data in a different way. For positive or for negative? It depends how you present the data.

[00:17:12] Yeah. And language is very important and how you present with that language is important. I'm gonna give you an example, Tash, right? I've sold 20 bottles of wine today to yourself

[00:17:27] or. Tash, listen to this. Tash. You never guess what? Oh my God. Can you believe I've sold 20 bottles of wine today? Can you see the first one? You weren't sure? I'm gonna be serious. Is that good? Is it bad? You're not really sure? Yeah. The second one, I'm excited. I've presented that 20 in a different way, just by changing tone and yeah, I said the same words.

[00:17:51] I just changed the tone. And this is what's happening with the media. It's what's happening with politicians and online. Taking data and changing the emotion, changing the language, and using numbers. In a manipulative way. 

[00:18:10] Natasha: This is part of the reason why I said what I said to Sadiq Khan today because. I was doing some research, actually, I've been doing it most of today, and in doing so. Because we are gonna be talking about the London March, I wanna make sure that I get as many, as much information as I can possibly find.

[00:18:31] Twitter is one of the best places for that. Yeah. So going into this with the mindset, oh, if there was any violence, there's definitely gonna be some videos from certain people on Twitter that I know can't wait. Love race baiting. They know who they are. So I went on there looking for it. Okay. Looking for it.

[00:18:52] Yeah. Couldn't really find it. I did find where the, where he's talking about arrests were made. There was 20, there was 25 arrests made at the weekend, and there may be a few 

[00:19:03] more. 

[00:19:04] Jo: Interestingly enough, I'm not sure if you've seen this, but if you want to go and have a look, I'll send you the link. But the Metropolitan Police shared a video.

[00:19:13] About the violence at the weekend. I've seen it. Unfortunately, for them it's been challenged because actually that video was not about the weekend. That was from a protest earlier in September for pro-Palestine, a pro-Palestine march, and it's time stamped and people recognized the people in it that were there, and they've been challenged saying who scrolled back those many days?

[00:19:40] And gone looking for this? Video, like if it's just a simple copy and paste and upload thing from a folder. Yeah, I get, you could have made a mistake, but things are timestamped Tash and they've put out a video of police being assaulted and a, quite a violent looking video of a, a not very nice crowd of people attacking the police and attributed that to the unite march that happened. On September the 13th, and it's not true. 

[00:20:11] Natasha: This is what people will find. Just before we had to, because obviously I knew roughly what time we were gonna be recording tonight. I was downstairs, I was doing the research. I had, I was on the Met Police site. I had just got to that bit. I had seen the video and I was, yeah, hang on a minute.

[00:20:29] Hang on a minute. So I was just getting into that bit when I had to stop come up here. But this was why when I then saw, so I want people to understand I was in this bubble, I was in this research bubble. I know people that were at the march. I wasn't personally at the March I at the moment. This is where I stand on that.

[00:20:48] I'm not, I don't trust Tommy Robinson. I could be wrong and that's fine. I've got no hate for him. I've got no love for him. I'm a bit on the fence. I can't quite work him out yet because ultimately all of these political commentators, no matter who they are, they're all earning money somewhere, right?

[00:21:05] So I'm very distrusting until I've got reason to really make my minds up and I'm just on the fence. So I don't really tend to go to anything Tommy Robinson led, but I'm not, I dunno, the guy. I only see what everyone else sees and I try to keep an open mind. But what I do know is I do know people that attended, and I do know what the majority of this country, at the core of who they are, I do know what they're about.

[00:21:34] I do understand old school British values. I do understand multicultural communities. I know because I grew up in them too. I understand the respect. For our war heroes and our remembrance parades and our, and royalty, and I get all of that. It's not, I'm not on board of all that necessarily.

[00:21:56] The pomp and the ceremony. I can't stand it.

[00:21:59] The worst person to rock up today is Donald Trump, isn't it? Oh, they, oh, honestly, he's gonna get all riled up. You know what I love Donald Trump for the bantz he just doesn't give a fuck what he says, and I am here for it. It's hilarious. It's hilarious. But anyway, I was in the middle of all of that sort of research and I was getting angry that people I know are not racist, are not in this for violence.

[00:22:28] I'm looking at the massive numbers from that march and thinking, listen, don't try and tell me that my country for the most part is racist. I'm not having it. Do people say stupid ignorant comments? Yes. Are they ill-informed and they, I think a lot of the time the British try to show they're not racist and then casually end up being a bit racist.

[00:22:48] It's not intended in a vicious way. There's certain, that's not to say there isn't far right activity going on in the country. I'm sure there is. I'm sure some of them are in the crowd, but I'm not having it. The British public as a whole are marching through London to get rid of immigrants. Stop that.

[00:23:09] And when, and they, that's lies. Blatant government knows Jo Lies. Starer knows Sadid. Kahan knows why those people were marching the streets. They know there was no violence. There may have been an incident. I'm not saying there wasn't. There might well have been an incident. I saw some footage of police blocking the crowd in the crowd was being bottlenecked and the police were blocking them in and stopping 'em from getting further, and it got a little bit aggressive.

[00:23:39] Now, that's not to say that didn't escalate. I haven't finished the research yet, so I can only speak on what I've seen. But what I know is that the government know exactly why they're marching and they know why they're not marching. There. There are all cultures in that crowd. Stop. Just show me the white group.

[00:23:58] Stop it. 

[00:24:00] Yeah, stop 

[00:24:00] it. And I'm gonna, and I'm gonna say this, and I'm not saying I'm not doing that. I've got a black friend thing. I am saying this so that people understand where I'm coming from, right? I have mixed race grandchildren. I have a mixed race son. I have an in-law family that are African, so I, many families are blended like that.

[00:24:23] Now. Our communities are. Th those, these people have brought that culture with them and we've embraced that culture. British culture is immigrant culture as well. We have our pomp and our flags, our culture's pretty shit in comparison, our food shit, and music's pretty good. But then the Jamaicans came over and brought better music and better food.

[00:24:49] And 

[00:24:49] better dance moves, eh? 

[00:24:51] Jo: Yeah. So fully integrated. Do you know what? I remember when I was like I guess seven, eight years old. My first experience was a Chinese takeaway, and it was a treat on a Saturday night, and I loved it. And I've grown up like beef chow meine, egg fried rice, curry sauce on a Friday night with a glass of lemonade.

[00:25:11] It was like better than Christmas. Honestly. So good lemonade. Then we started getting our asian friends coming. Chicken Tikka Masala. Do you know I was 18 years old before I tried a curry chicken tikka masala. I've since progressed, like Indian food is my favorite food. Asian food. I absolutely,

[00:25:33] Natasha: I like Indian food. Yeah,

[00:25:35] Jo: but chicken tikka masala was so 18 years old. That was when I was 18.

[00:25:39] Natasha: That's still what I order.

[00:25:40] Jo: No. Tash. That's, I've moved on. I've moved on. Now I'm like, some days I'm a vindaloo or days I'm like hot madrass, but I teeter between vindaloo and a madrass. I always have garlic, chili cheese, nan, with like green chilies on all the time. I'm hot and spicy, you know what I mean? So.

[00:26:00] Natasha: Well, that's my opinion, mate.

[00:26:01] Jo: But when people say, what's the food in Britain like, my other off, he's Romanian, but he's lived in Spain for nearly 30 years and he came to the UK a few weeks back with me, just like for visit for the weekend to visit family.

[00:26:16] Natasha: What'd he say?

[00:26:17] Jo: I gave him stafordshire oatcakes 'cause that's where I'm from.

[00:26:20] So he tried bacon, they're lovely, they're nice sausage cheese out cake. He loved it. We went for an Indian, so he had to have the traditional English version of chicken tikka masala. There's a certain flavour of how it's made in England. Do you think the people in that march, that's what they're against. These people that have come and given us all this culture. It's, it's our heritage and culture now. I'm not wording this very well, so apologies if I'm, 

[00:26:49] Natasha: you're 

[00:26:49] not, but it's, listen, that's just, people know what you mean. They know what you mean.

[00:26:57] Yeah. This is what I mean. We are not, we listen, life's too hard for us to be sitting here fucking worrying about words constantly. Like 

[00:27:09] life's hard enough. I've got time

[00:27:11] Jo: far right of hijack the union Jack and the England flag. 

[00:27:15] Natasha: That language. That language. Can I tell you something about that?

[00:27:20] My granddad years ago, my granddad was in the Navy. He died many years ago. He's been dead now, 30 years. He's been dead longer than he was, than alive for me. But as a kid, my granddad was one of the most beautiful men, still to this day that I've ever met in my life. He was my hero and he was very calm and he was very patient, and I'm sure he wasn't when I wasn't around.

[00:27:43] My nan was an alcoholic, so I'm sure my granddad at the, he must have had patience 'cause I never saw him like throw across a room or anything. But he was just a beautiful man. And he, I remember growing up hearing a story that my nana told me about, and my granddad was younger and him and his my, my Nan's sister's husband.

[00:28:03] So my great uncle, they'd gone out. Coming back from the pub or something, one evening, I dunno when this was, maybe late seventies, early eighties. And as they're walking home at night, there was a fight going on. Yeah. And there was a couple of, two or three, like skinheads, like you talk people keep using language like far right?

[00:28:27] Yeah. Used to see far right in, in front of you in the street, beating the shit out of someone and. There's people in that march that will remember that time, they would've seen that happen. So they, my granddad and his his brother-in-law have seen this and they've looked and they've seen a couple, all they saw initially was a couple of men onto one, and they've what's going on, mate?

[00:28:54] And the lad that they were beating up was a black lad. And my granddad, and I think there may have even been three of them. I think there may have been a friend, my granddad, and maybe I can't remember exactly, but I think there was two or three of these guys and my granddad and his brother-in-law went over and got stuck in.

[00:29:11] And that resulted in my granddad's brother-in-law, my uncle, my great-uncle being hit over the head. With, I dunno if people were, some people will probably remember these, we used to have the big grip bins on the street and they would have the big metal snow shovels, big council snow shovels back in the day when you were responsible for the road, outside your own house mate can we bring that fucking back again please?

[00:29:36] But that's a whole nother, ugh. Don't get me started. Anyway, they whacked him over the head with that and it resulted in him having to have a metal plate in his head, and I am assuming because I, like I say, I was just a kid. I remember hearing it when I was a kid. I'm assuming how fucking rude of my neighbors.

[00:29:55] Honestly, I'm assuming that meant that he may have had a broken skull because all I remember when he got older was just Uncle Len's, got the metal plate in his head. And so that, so my granddad's in that, he went he served in the war. He went to war. He was on a naval ship in the war.

[00:30:16] My granddad went to war for that. My granddad went to war to keep this country. Now, after the war, we had the wind rush and stuff like that. We had other countries came here to help us build the country and they were promised citizenship. And that's what this country was built on after the war.

[00:30:36] And listen, I'm not. Downplaying and this, I'm not gonna go into all this on this episode. I'm not downplaying the racism that we definitely had here, and we still do. We're not denying that. But this country, for the most part, my whole life, I've not, I, I've not heard real viterol, you know, like real hate.

[00:31:03] I'm sure it's there, but it's not. In 46 years, I've never heard real. I've heard some offensive language. I've heard some shitty things, but racism is not just, oh, people are marching and waving a flag, therefore they're far right. How dare you? Far right were violent. Nasty. Racist to their fucking core.

[00:31:29] Yeah. 

[00:31:30] They would walk past somebody that wasn't white dying on the street and let them die. That's what was far How dare, how fucking dare you call these people? Far right as a whole. Shame on you. I'm getting angry now because that's what made me angry earlier. I was, how fucking dare you sit there and tell us.

[00:31:56] You love our communities all getting on. You want to nurture that blended community. Fuck you. No you don't. No, you don't. That's what those people are marching for. That's exactly what they're marching for. 

[00:32:11] Jo: Exactly. They're marching for Exactly that.

[00:32:14] Natasha: They know it, Jo. 

[00:32:16] Jo: They're hijacking. Saying they were marching for something completely opposite that was racist, like far right. it's just extreme what they're actually saying. I didn't see any evidence of any extreme. I've not seen I've seen,

[00:32:34] Natasha: I saw a video today of a young, I think she was a Muslim girl, say young, maybe in her late twenties, very articulately spoke. She did a video on Twitter. I'll have to I'll have to maybe dig, I'll dig out the video.

[00:32:48] I did save it and she basically said, I went to the march and I was expecting a little bit of hostility. 

[00:32:56] I got numb. She asked me, 

[00:32:57] she didn't get any now, so are you calling her far right as well? Yeah. Are you calling the black communities that showed up far? Right. Are you talking Community Asian and far right as well?

[00:33:10] Yeah. British March is not about whiteness. It's about British. The British, the people that have pay into the system, the people that can't get healthcare, can't get a GP appointment, can't get a school near their home, can't get a fucking job, can't whatever, can't get housed, and they are watching our government just. Allow anyone, and it's not just people that need to flee war. We are not an intolerant country. Stop fucking making us feel bad. Yeah. We must be the only country in the world that isn't allowed to be patriotic. And I'm not one of those. I've don't care. I've never cared about the flag waving and I'm getting angry because you are attacking.

[00:34:02] I'm seeing them. The government just. The black communities, the Asian communities, the Muslim communities, the white communities, and they're antagonizing both sides. And we are falling for it. Yeah. And now we are not. And now coming together, 

[00:34:20] Jo: minorities feel marginalized, feel like that's what this march was about.

[00:34:28] They are telling them, this is against you, this is against you, this is against you. Yeah, actually no, they all march together. It's about none of those things. And it really winds me up that they are twisting the words and using it for their own ends, their own gain. Why they're race baiting in such a way.

[00:34:52] Natasha: Divide, conquer, Jo, 

[00:34:54] divide and conquer, divide, conquer.

[00:34:56] It's that simple. It's divide and conquer. If we are all getting on, if you listen, look through history, mate. The people that are taken out are not the ones that are dividing everyone. Did anyone ever think about that? It's always the ones that are trying to get people to come together, that are trying to get everyone to live peacefully.

[00:35:15] It's them that get taken out. 

[00:35:17] Jo: Yeah. Oh, always. Always.

[00:35:20] Natasha: Every time. I'm so sick of it though. Genuinely. I've had enough. Yeah, I've had enough. 

[00:35:26] Jo: Yeah. 

[00:35:28] Shall we leave it there for today?

[00:35:30] Natasha: Yeah. You told me. We just have a laugh.

[00:35:34] Jo: We all, we're all gonna have a laugh. It got serious because that was like, as I'm coming on here, that was the Facebook post that popped up and I was like, I can't believe.

[00:35:44] The gaslighting. I've been in abusive marriages, right? And I know what gas lighting 

[00:35:51] Natasha: is. I know what narcissism is. Yeah. Like I've literally been counseled outta these bloody abusive marriages and bloody abusive relationships physically and mentally. I know. I know what they're doing.

[00:36:07] I did the same. I sat there and went, oh, you sound like a narcissistic partner.

[00:36:12] Jo: Yeah. 

[00:36:13] So anyway,

[00:36:14] Natasha: fuck 'em. Let's not talk about them for now. We'll do a whole week's epi. We'll do a Netflix documentary series on those. 

[00:36:21] Jo: Yeah. So anyway, the key message is Tash is doing the research. We are gonna bring you the real facts, figures, numbers.

[00:36:29] How many people we're actually at the march? What people who attended that march? What they were there for, what they were marching for, what was the real motive behind it? It's gonna take some time. Take some time. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll also get all the accurate data and comparisons of other marches that have gone on and what are the real arrest figures we can actually show you the data to show you. Who's gaslighting who's race.

[00:36:56] Natasha: I'm gonna show you the data and you may not like what

[00:36:59] yeah. 

[00:37:00] I already know. I already did a I've already done the last five years. London March is only on every political stance. And trust me,

[00:37:10] Jo: just Have a look at what happened at the Notting Hill Festival a few weeks back. But anyway, 

[00:37:16] Natasha: Notting Hill Festival. I've never been, I've always wanted to go, but I got older and now I'm more fearful and I don't like being in big crowds anyway. But I, we have family that go to Notting Hill and it's, they have a great time.

[00:37:28] It's great. I think it's just people use those events to fucking be dickhead. Yeah. And it makes everyone look bad. But listen, Nottinghill Carnival People prep for a whole year for that it, yeah. And it's not like it used to be, but we all, everyone that attends things like that, 

[00:37:45] Jo: that like something like, he'd Sadiq Khan, didn't put a post out of similar vein of similar narrative for that for the Nottinghall Carnival.

[00:37:58] And I think off top of my head, I think there was something like 546 or 586 arrests during that carnival versus the 25 that happened at the weekend, and the volume of people were there was. Five, five or 10 times more. I haven't got the actual data in front of me, Tash. That's what we're looking into. 

[00:38:18] Natasha: I do, yeah. I do. I have gone. Yeah. I'm going to cover everything. Stop Oil extinction, rebellion, climate change. Palestine, all pro Israel. Marches, antisemitism. The lot. I'm going in, guys. I am going in.

[00:38:35] On the government's own sites that they just refuse to bring to fucking meetings. Yeah. Sadiq Khan fucking read at this point. Every time you see him, it's, I don't have the figures. Fuck off and go get 'em then and come back. 

[00:38:50] Jo: Yeah. for the fear of sounding like an absolute subscribe to our channel Wanker.

[00:38:56] See this red image here that says subscribe, notify. If you just click on that's been there, or the whole video, click on that. It'll subscribe you to the channel so that you don't miss any of our episodes and updates. You'll get emails to let you know. Yeah. So Subscribe to Live's a shit show channel. Click that. Come and join us.

[00:39:20] Natasha: You know what? They're probably thinking. Life's already a fucking shit show, mate. I don't need to subscribe to it, but I'm mean indoors at home as well. Fucking gimme a break. 

[00:39:29] Jo: Come on. Humor me. Come on here 

[00:39:31] Natasha: girl's.

[00:39:32] Gotta eat. Come on. 

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jo Day

Host
Contributor

Natasha Shingles

Host