Britons Are Stranded on Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach,’ as Fresh Riots Erupt Nightly

The country is like a melting-pot, yes — but a melting-pot of molten anger.

Danny Lawson/PA via AP
Police officers face protesters at Rotherham, England, Sunday. Danny Lawson/PA via AP

France had the Terror and Spain the Civil War, England had a few yobs rioting against our Caribbean community in the 1950s, a few scuffles between left and right in the 1970s, and a smattering of burning and looting 13 years ago.

You’d have to go back to the English Civil Wars of the 17th century to find an example of internecine violence here. Our national self-image is one of extreme stoicism; “Musn’t grumble,” my parents’ generation replied when asked how they were, which infuriated me as a teenager but for which I yearn now. 

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