The best firework displays make you catch your breath. The first dazzling explosion of colours and bangs force a sharp inhalation, followed by low appreciative ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, heard in waves throughout a watching crowd.
London’s 2023 New Year’s Eve firework display had the capital gasping for all the wrong reasons. This was the most extreme pyrotechnic propaganda ever seen in the skies above London.
And the world watched too, which is rather embarrassing. We used to do a good firework display. Even the world’s most famous despots from Kim Jong Un to Vladmir Putin must have been slack-jawed at the imposition of woke rectitude blazoned above the city’s great skyline.
Can fireworks spell doom for a country? I’m afraid that once fireworks start spelling at all, the writing is on the wall, or rather the sky.
First, Sadiq Khan gave himself top billing as the the drones formed a gigantic credit and we were informed that the fireworks were presented by his egoship, the Mayor of London. At least this makes apportioning blame for what followed quite simple.
Which was woke bingo, with voiceovers piously intoning the year’s shibboleths: the King’s coronation (that one is okay), the NHS, same-sex marriage, the Windrush arrival and ‘the environment’.
Why can’t fireworks just be pretty? And when did it all change?
Using fireworks to make events special and to convey messages more effectively and memorably is not new. After all, we stick a Guy on a bonfire every November while cooing over rockets and sparklers. Fireworks are used to commemorate Independence Day in the U.S. and spectacular displays have dazzled the subjects of kings and queens in Europe for centuries. But our own feudal lord, I mean, mayor’s heavy-handed application of propagandistic messaging is particularly blunt, and it never used to be like this.
The propaganda has been sneaking in for years. Last year, the fireworks and London Eye were themed blue and yellow in homage to Ukraine. It would be churlish to complain. Although, amid the panoply of propaganda in the skies this year, there was nothing similar for Israel which suffered the worst pogrom since the Second World War and is at war with terrorist organisation Hamas.
The 2021 New Year’s Eve fireworks referenced the Jubilee line, the Euros, women’s football specifically, and a prim voiceover told us that “players take the knee united in their stance against racism”. Be told, London. 2020 was as weird as you’d expect, with Covid, Captain Tom Moore, Zoom meetings (of all things) and Black Lives Matter in the script.
Since 2020, Khan has taken it upon himself to produce a little recap of the year and consequently impose a set of values upon us. You have to go back to before 2020 for the fireworks to be a good old-fashioned normal New Year’s Eve celebration. And therefore, I’m afraid that as much as he wants all the credit, Khan will have to share with Covid. I’ve written extensively about the propaganda and nudging that the Government got drunk on in 2020. Central and local government and government agencies have become addicted to telling us what and how to think. It’s no surprise that they even use fireworks hector us.
In auld lang syne — i.e., pre-2019 — the London Eye would be lit in the colours of the Union flag. You don’t see that anymore. We’re not supposed to be proud of our country.
To commence the 2018 festivities, an announcer cheerily exclaimed “Welcome to London!” By 2019, we were told “London is open!” Inexplicably, this year London is for “everyone”. Well, I write “inexplicably” but in fact we know — if we pause for even a couple of seconds — that the “London is for everyone” slogan is the battle cry of diversity warriors who want to promote the identities of “everyone” except, that is, natives.
These little changes happen slowly. You don’t notice the tiptoe from fun to sermon, until the transformation and ruination is complete. One of the small but telling little changes is the countdown to midnight. If you watch the archived videos of old New Year’s Eve firework displays in London, instead of a voiceover and drone countdown, the crowd used to do it alone.
This might seem like a small, inconsequential detail, but it’s not. When the crowd counted down together they were co-creators. It was fun and spirited. It felt a little bit magical. Recent drone and voiceover countdowns are a metaphor for how much life has changed in just a few years. The technocrats are in charge and everything is choreographed. These days people are not even trusted to count backwards from 10 to one, let alone wake up hungover, but happy, and ready to draft their values in the form of resolutions. Khan writes our values in the sky and does the counting for us.
The wokest fireworks display in the history of the New Year’s Eve celebrations was a depressing start to 2024. Still, we’re lucky to even have fireworks, as they are increasingly criticised as being environmentally unfriendly. If Khan sticks around you should expect more drones, perfectly controlled and reflective of the correct thinking — the model for Khan’s Londoners.
Laura Dodsworth is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller A State of Fear: how the U.K. Government weaponised fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her new book is Free Your Mind: The new world of manipulation and how to resist it. This article first appeared on her Substack page, the Free Mind, which you can subscribe to here.
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These popular modern movements seem to attract people with small brains who are completely blind to the consequences of their actions.
Nail…on…head…
Bravo..!
When reality bites…That is one hell of a rude awakening, but thank the gods she survived and her kids are OK. I hope she’s now a lot wiser for this experience.
Wiser? Unlikely, she’ll be looking around for a white supremacist to blame.
“Now she’s fairly changed her tune”… but not enough to admit she was in error before.
No sympathy whatsoever for the trauma suffered by this woman. She and her kind pose a huge threat to civil society. .
Sorry, couldn’t help it!
And for the downtickers,
I bet this young lady wished the police had been there to kneel on her assailants necks no matter what colour those necks were!
she wouldn’t have give a toss so long as her and her kids where safe! Convince me otherwise instead of cowardly downticking!
I read a comment elsewhere which questioned the authenticity of the blood pattern on her face and which posited that the blood had been mixed with water to create a more extensive and gruesome flow. In any case, and bearing in mind her political allegiances and stated goals, as her fellow knee taking anti white racist traveller has said, it’s all part and parcel of living in a big city. Sorry, not sorry.
I would query the fact that her lippy and eye makeup are intact, neither of which would survive the experience of being roughed up and dragged around – hell, I’ve only got to sneeze to smudge my eye make-up.
Edited to add, why are her earrings still in place too?
All we need is a report of a noose and her masked attackers shouting “this is MAGA Country” for the picture to be complete. And didn’t George Floyd hold a pregnant woman up at gun point during a home invasion?
She may well of been cleaned up in hospital immediately after the attack then used a bit of fake blood to recreate an injury for her post but I don’t think there’s any doubt she was attacked. The big question is what colour were her attackers? There’s a good chance they were one of her black siblings she’s so desperate to be an ally with. If this is the case no doubt the attack was a result of slavery, systemic inequalities and white dominance. There’s no chance black attackers could of been people with free will who chose to do it.
Exactly – and no way is that red stuff blood. She’s up to something.
Fancy chain round her neck in the bigger picture in the daily email. Her top ;looks unruffled too.
Nevertheless, it was a terrible thing to happen to her. Hopefully she’ll change her mind about dismantling the police.
Looks like raspberry juice to me
The full picture shows the top she is wearing has quite a damp patch like it’s been poured on. Her hair looks untouched as does her face except for the splatters.
Are there any reports of what the neighbours did after the attackers left? I couldn’t find any except the neighbours “wanting to help” while the attack was in-progress. I would have thought it newsworthy to report how they came to assist once the attackers had gone.
Yes, I’ve just had a closer look at the picture – eye make-up perfect, no smudges so no obvious attempt to wipe her face, ditto lippy. Her appearance is fake. Was her make-up done specifically for a photo shoot and some blood applied, carefully mind, just before the shutter was pressed?
So if the piccie is fake what about the story? I suspect some minor argy-bargy which she has blown up out of all proportion.
Might have been better to show a picture of her supposedly broken leg.
Some speculation in the Telegraph article about the colour of the assailants, but if they had been white it would have been trumpeted loud and clear, as is normally the case in the media.
That’s what immediately sprung to my mind, HP. If I had been savagely beaten, so much so that blood ran down my face, I don’t think the first thing I would have done would be to take a selfie. I would have been worried for my children. There is no obvious bruising, no – as you say – smudging of make-up, no blood-shot eyes, no swelling or other cuts. It looks like raspberry juice and not blood which doesn’t dry like that. You tend to mop up blood that is running with a tissue or cloth which smears it. This looks like it was squirted on to be honest. Call me a sceptic and of course I may be wrong but something about this doesn’t add up.
Entirely agree Aethelred and:
“You tend to mop up blood that is running with a tissue or cloth which smears it.”
This is increasingly becoming a Democrat story.
(I am sure the euphemism is obvious.)
Seen a lot of bloody and beaten people and she looks faked. Glad I’m not the only one who has spotted it.
Yes, agreed. It does resemble a joke shop, Halloween effect type of effort. However, it’s a lot harder to fake a broken leg. Plus, call me soft as clarts, but I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done, I draw the line at somebody’s attempted murder/serious assault being witnessed by their own children. I’m just relieved everyone concerned is alive, being America and all..
While I agree about the children witnessing the ‘attack’ if the blood is being faked then how much else is being faked. There is no pallor, no ‘pain face’, no fear or anxiety, nothing. Having broken bones and been ‘duffed up’ (I won, but it did not feel like it, I had more boo-boos than my two assailants), and having also seen a lot ot ‘stuff’ in the Army, I can assure you that her body will react like any other persons body. You just cannot help it, adrenaline rush shows and I am not seeing anything.
I have net zero sympathy. In fact these thugs did all right-minded people a favour because unless others like this woman suffer that which they are happy to see visited on others the de-fund the police madness will not cease.
Suck it up lady.
The lovely Julie Birchill nailed it when she called them ‘luxury beliefs’….amazing how easily they crumple in the face of reality!!?
…not the same State I know, but oh the irony!!
https://themessenger.com/news/walmart-is-building-a-police-station-inside-its-new-atlanta-store-to-deter-shoplifting
Walmart announced plans to build a police station inside one of its stores in Georgia, local news outlet Rough Draft Atlanta reported.
The Vine City Walmart Supercenter closed last year after sustaining fire and water damage in a suspected arson case. Walmart executives and Atlanta officials announced on August 29 that it’s slated to reopen next May — with the addition of a police substation meant to deter shoplifters.
LOL!
Or this:
Instead of giving thumbs down why don’t those commentators have the b*lls to express their opinions so that we can see where they are coming from? Can they be BLM supporters?
The only ones with downticks seem to be the posts that are enjoying her misfortune. She may well be a left-wing Dem fk-wit but that doesn’t mean everyone appreciates kicking someone when they are down. And no, it wasn’t me that down ticked.
Not at all. See Mogwai.
Oh I can tell you exactly why, based on personal experience and my experimentation. Apparently there’s a correlation between being a tight-wad and a coward. All you have to do is mention a small, furry children’s pet and it’s even smaller appendage and you’ll trigger the feck out of them. But you still won’t get an actual reply though.
Minneapolis were all for defunded the police. How did that turn out.
Instant karma!
LMFAO
So there IS a God.
Trying hard not to laugh but it’s difficult
“Let’s hope other wokesters can change their views on the police without being assaulted.”
Hopefully but doubtful.