What on Earth are you doing?

I could not quite believe my eyes when I saw photographs of the 1st Test between England and the West Indies. All the players were kneeling down, and some of the West Indies’ players were wearing a black glove and raising a clenched fist in what to people of my generation was called the “Black Power Salute”. How many of the England players wanted to kneel down or was this just a new iteration of ‘virtue signalling’? The match was delayed by rain and so we had the edifying spectacle of Sky Sports providing a platform for Michael Holding to lecture people about racism. I was spitting feathers and - despite missing televised cricket - I will not watch a minute of this match or any other when the players “choose” to demonstrate in this way. And reading the comments in The Times there are many other supporters who feel the same.

This summer of protest was set alight by the unlawful killing of a black man by a white policeman in the USA. A tragic event but absolutely nothing to do with the UK. I cannot remember any protests in the USA or any other country when PC Keith Blakelock was murdered in 1985 during the Broadwater Farm riots. Where was the “White Lives Matter” protest then?

In both the USA and UK it has been an excuse for rioting and looting (I wonder how many widescreen televisions were liberated). Of course no sensible person wants to see police brutality or racism in their country. But demanding the removal of Cecil Rhodes’ statue from outside of Oriel College in Oxford was ridiculous in the extreme. I wonder how many black undergraduates who benefited from Rhodes’ Scholarships to Oxford were in agreement?

And then I come to the apparent surrender of the police to mob rule. Policemen and women running away from demonstrators - or even worse, kneeling down in front of them in a show of “solidarity” - which just shows we now have a Police Service instead of a Police Force. Utterly farcical behaviour and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner should be ashamed, and if she does not resign ...

So depressing to watch this from afar, but no doubt far worse if you actually live in the UK, where it would appear to be a crime to be white and educated. And the Main Stream Media ... I cannot bring myself to comment on their bias.