Dale Farm.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 5:43PM Ahh Dale Farm, just the mere mention of the name and the machete’s are out. The stream of vile, murderous invective on the #dalefarm Tweet stream had to be read to be believed. Fool that I am I made a comment, well, I was avoiding getting down to work.
I was then (obviously) the recipient of a stream of tweets criticizing me, yes, it was the normal stuff, ‘you live in a media bubble,’ ‘come and join the real world’ and ‘it’s different for ordinary people like us, we live near them.’
Well, as I am currently writing a comedy autobiography, (out 2013) I’ll do a little preview. From 1975 to ‘78 I lived in a three ton furniture truck. I was a traveler. Admittedly a nice tidy middle class one. I never left busted fridges by the side of the road, but during that time I did meet a great many people who lived ‘on the road.’
Some of them were nothing short of bloody terrifying. Really scary blokes with bad tats, worse hairstyles and a moronic attitude to women. A few equally frightening women with bleached hair and white high heels who could push a loaded transit van out of a ditch with no assistance.
I also met some of the kindest and gentlest people I’ve ever known who lived in caravans, lived by a set of rules the rest of use would find alien and confusing.
In the period since I sold my truck and lived in a house, those people were systematically hounded off the road. A lot of them settled in towns near where I live. There are plenty of problems associated with them, lots of petty crime, tax dodging, violence. Probably no more than in any other community but it happens and I make no excuses for them.
So I never condoned what the people living, apparently illegally on the Dale Farm camp were doing. They had lost the court case after a very prolonged legal battle with the local authorities. They should not have resisted the eviction with violence, they should not have thrown bricks at the police. I don’t support violence like that, never have, never will.
All I did was suggest that the hate speech pouring over Twitter like a cup of cold sick was fairly unpleasant. There were lots of ‘reasonable’ people trying to explain that these people had broken the law, that they wanted the benefits of our society and yet didn’t pay tax or abide by the rules the rest of us have to.
Do those accusations remind you of anyone?
Let me give you a clue. The people I’m thinking of don’t live in caravans, they do, like many traveler families, own large a garish vehicles. The people I’m thinking about also don’t pay tax, they claim the same rights and protection the rest of us do but they’re not prepared to pay for it. They don’t abide by the laws that 99% would think were quite reasonable, sensible and well balanced. They pay people in power to turn a blind eye to their short sighted greed and stupidity. They are addicted to gambling and arrange things so that when they loose big time, we have to pay for their mistakes.
The group of people I’m talking about cost this country many billions of pounds, they loose billions and then get paid millions for the effort. They bribe the government to protect them, they hire the best lawyers and they are quite literally laughing all the way from the bank, which is where they work.
Evicting the Dale Farm people, everybody kept reminding me they can’t be travelers because they don‘t move, apparently cost the local council something like £80 million. That’s what numerous reports have stated, I think it’s probably less than that, but without doubt it will have cost millions. Is that a sensible way to spend money at the moment?
Of course many people believe it is. “Throw them out, they’re all criminals, they must be. We don’t need proof, we’ve seen them, they steal anything they can get their filthy hands on.”
Oh wait, that used to said about black kids, and before that Pakistanis, and before that Jews, and before that Huguenots, and before that, frikkin’ Vikings.
We spent billions bailing out the banks, giving money to the richest few thousand people in Europe who had lost billions through their own greedidity, (that’s a combination of greed and stupidity, make it trend)
There will, without question have be some people living at Dale Farm who none of us would want arriving at our door. I don’t live in some cosseted, gated ‘luvvie’ community, I’ve had stuff stolen by people who live in caravans. It’s not fun, I don’t feel benign towards the individuals concerned. I don’t think we should be all lily-livered and try to ‘understand’ some thuggish bloke who ignores the law and turns to violence if he doesn’t get his way.
But I know, from experience and plain common sense, that not all the people who had lived at Dale Farm until today would have been like that, and they’ve been treated in the most brutal and frightening way.
Reader Comments (11)
It's not an either/or Robert. I've sort of followed this whole debate all day and it's been fairly evenly split. There aren't many "don't knows" on this issue. What I do know is bankers can be wankers and "travellers" can be in breach of the law too. In fact, the two groups aren't really linked - unless you want to link them for political reasons.
The thing is, it's easy to categorise groups according to generalised characteristics (you can think of some for both bankers and travellers, I'm sure). Individuals may not always fit this stereotype though. All we can try to do is have some sort of agreed order to society and then carry it out as best we can. The worst case scenario is do as you please or one rule for one and one rule for another.
This applies whether you are a traveller or a banker.
I have no issues with the travellers. I know a few who settled in the 60s and work in the industry I work for. The majority are ok. They do pay tax, if they're working for themselves then they go through HMRC and do all the things other people do. The tax thing is just an unrelated, uneducated rant when people whinge about it.
However with Dale Farm theres a downside. They didn't get planning permission, they also caused problems for local residents. One man has video and photographic evidence of crimes being committed and it appears the community has protected those involved.
This who "ethnic cleansing" claim also annoys me. I've met people from Zimbawee and Eastern Europe who have seen their sisters and mothers raped and killed. I'm not aware this has happened at Dale Farm. The fact is hyperbole has been used on both sides of the argument and its done nobody any good.
A well written blog. It is a case today if you dare say "Hang on a mo'!" you are instantly the enemy of the state and deserve nothing more that to be spat abuse at.
I'd tell you to change the record on the Bankers, but I'm with you on this one. They do need a bit of a kicking, albeit maybe gently, like with a foam-rubber fake-fur-lined digger scoop, scoop 'em up, tax 'em their share, and maybe retrain 'em doing something useful, like writing books about ninjas or summat.
I dunno. But I do know that travellers is people too.
The story with bankers erks me. I'm a working class man, and although in employment I'm struggling to make a living. I'm not the only one, and I have had someone say to me "if you want a living, get a degree!" But thats not going to solve the labour crisis - not everyone can be a manager, an academic or a scientist, etc. Someone still has to be a support worker at some level.
It also seems to me that those who work the hardest get the least out of it. I have seen Executives in the company I work for get bonuses of several thousands of £££s, and yet we're told theres no money for a measly raise.
The Banks are the same... they need appropriate regulation, there are so many people leaching the system that its bound to fail again. Economies cannot constantly grow, they need to be sustainable to protect jobs and protect investments. I once saw a customer at my bank ranting at the girl behind the desk about his charges and how hard he was finding things, and he assumed she was on a fairly above average wage. It turned out when I chatted to her after that she wasn't that far above minimum wage.
Anyway... I think everyone should watch these kinds of videos and hope for change!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4iLOP1WCVk
We are, it seems, the 99%...
I have every sympathy with the individuals being evicted from their homes, BUT the fact remains that the site they're built on is illegal. I suspect that if I got together with my family and friends, bought a filed and started building houses on it I'd be evicted in far fewer than ten years. Basildon council was right to apply for eviction orders, but I hope these people are given as much assistance as possible to find somewhere legal to live.
Robert: Why are you so careful not to tar all travelers with the same brush yet happy to make generalist remarks against those in the banking industry?
I have no sympathy whatsoever with the residents of Dale Farm. They don't have planning permission, they have had plenty of notice to relocate, so none of yesterday's events should come as a surprise. The council had no option after such a flagrant breach of the law. This is not persecution of 'travellers'. Why use quotes in the last sentence? If they've been living in the same place for the last decade they're not very good at travelling.
I think the whole sorry incident was blown considerably out of proportion by the media frenzy, which appeared to be fuelled by the 'Rent-a Cause' activists. Like all those f***wits who chained themselves to various fences and gates. Very big and clever. Perhaps they could take some real action and provide a legal place for the evictees to stay.
But of course, that would just get in the way of their next cause célèbre.
I totally agree Robert. It's madness wasting millions to move a group of people not really well off but bailing out the rich to the tune of billions and mortgaging the future of todays teenagers. Total effing madness.
Kind regards,
Jay.
Robert! I hate having to pull you up on a glaring error in your blog but I just can't let it pass.
You state that "...they steal anything they can get their filthy hands on.” and then, as a point of proving the opposite, cite the Vikings. I'm pretty sure you'll find they DID steal anything they could get their filthy hands on...and kill anything they couldn't.
Not only that but they were damn proud of it! Had you kindly remarked to a Viking that they were getting bad press regarding excessive rape and pillage, they'd have sliced your head off, spat down your neck and stolen your watch.
I have always lived by the rule "Never trust a Viking" and have managed to survive pretty much unscathed for nearly 60 years.