We're descending into ever tightening, ever more rapid, cycles of savagery. In Belfast, unspeakable violence is met with pogroms.

We see this time and again. The pattern repeats. In Southampton, murder and injustice is followed by rioting. In Southport, horror leads to anarchy.

There’s fear deep inside me at what’s unfolding. I grew up in Northern Ireland during the conflict. I reported on ‘the Troubles’, a dreadful euphemism for ethnic warfare. I was hospitalised twice, almost murdered once. I know what happens when society falls apart, and we’re falling apart, all across Britain.

What’s unfolding now in Britain is both similar to what happened at the start of Northern Ireland’s Troubles yet very different. As with Tolstoy’s ‘unhappy families’, all outbreaks of civil unrest have their own roots and reasons.

But the end result remains the same: disorder eventually tips into bloodshed which cannot be stemmed until society bleeds itself dry.

The desecration of Henry Nowak’s memory: Farage whistles and the dogs run to riot

We need to focus on the threat Farage poses to democracy

What 30 years covering the far-right tells me about Britain today

I’m not religious, but if I prayed, I’d ask God: prove me wrong. What scares me most is: I think I’m right.

The pattern of what’s happening is now horribly familiar. Violence occurs. The victim is white; the perpetrator isn’t. Social media roars disinformation, fuelled by the likes of Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson. Robinson has just met Musk’s father in Moscow. The former BNP member and English Defence League founder waxed lyrical about the glories of Russia.

Once social media has done its job, politicians like Nigel Farage pour on poisoned words.........

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