THE rioting over recent weeks has a hinterland in a poisonous narrative perpetuated by Establishment party politicians. In particular, the small boats issue — culminating in a last-gasp electoral device by the Tories but sustained by the hypocrisy of the political class as a whole — gave an impetus to Nigel Farage’s electoral vehicle, Reform UK.

Anti-refugee, Islamophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment run through our monopoly media, and successive Tory governments share a poisonous politics that has made migration the issue on which much formal politics turns.

These riots drew in wide circles of people well beyond the minuscule fractions of fascists who, despite their pretensions, have little organisational reach, are thoroughly surveilled, and deeply penetrated.