Friday 13 November 2009

"...all aged between 14 and 18 and come from Romford. "

Scouts who screamed death threats at Jewish war heroes during a Remembrance Day parade are today being investigated by police.

Eye-witnesses said the 'Explorer' Scouts repeatedly shouted 'Let's kill the Jews' at ex-servicemen attending a parade in Romford, Essex, to honour the fallen.

A furious Scout leader has since issued a heartfelt apology for the taunts by the youngsters while police are carrying out an investigation.
*speechless*

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've read this a couple of times and confess to being at a loss myself. Young people who join the scouts are generally the 'nice' youngsters, the ones who want to achieve things and look like they will turn out more than OK. Being a scout is itself a particular statement. I can't believe they are real scouts at all, that said being Romford I wonder if the 'scouts' are from a particular ethnicity or follow a particular prophet? The Scout Movement has made very many concessions over the years and I doubt if Baden - Powell would indeed recognize it.

Weekend Yachtsman said...

Scouts of no appearance, I assume.

Quiet_Man said...

Dear Lord

sobers said...

How very revealing as to the nature of Britain today.

I'm at a loss here - one expects that in this case the Scouts in question are followers of the 'Religion of Peace'TM, but if they are not I can only assume its a BNP thing? But even the BNP seem to have given up on pushing the 'global jewish conspiracy' stuff these days so I still not sure where this has come from.

woman on a raft said...

Are we quite sure this has even happened? I can only say that in all the years I've known and worked with Scouts and Girl Guides, I've never come across anything like this - or even remotely like it.

To be honest, I simply don't believe this one unless somebody has a recording and can positively identify a member.

Clarissa said...

The torygraph has it down as a single 'scout'.

Mark said...

'Scouts of no appearance, I assume.'
Could be. Had they been scouts of 'indigenous appearance' I would have though Harrys Place would have picked this up by now.

Pavlov's Cat said...

I have another theory, weren't a lot of the East End resettled around Romford after WW2 to clear the slums and bomb sites.
There was never much love lost between the East Enders and the residents of Whitechapel.

Maybe it's been handed down.

Edwin Greenwood said...

"...being Romford I wonder if the 'scouts' are from a particular ethnicity or follow a particular prophet?"

Not really my manor, but I was under the impression that Romford was still of a "hideously white" complexion. (Quick! Send for Emma Thompson forthwith!) Ilford, now, there's another story entirely.

Mind you, the only memorable thing I know about Watford is a rather unkind Linda Smith joke:

"Do you know, if you hold a shell suit to your ear you can hear Romford?"

Edwin Greenwood said...

"Watford?"

"Watford, which tried to negotiate a suicide pact with Erith but was rejected in favour of Romford."

Time for another blue pill, methinks.

...

God I hate smart-arsed browsers. I've just installed Seamonkey 2.0. It's kept a list of previously entered word-verification strings for me to choose from.

Anonymous said...

This might be relevent then?

Anonymous said...

Blame Sacha Baron Cohen for this one.

Anonymous said...

Pavlov,

East Enders were the residents of Whitechapel.

Antisemitism from native Brits was not very high even in the turbulent 30s when The East End had a large Jewish population

Muslim Antisemitism in Whitechapel today runs deep even though most of the Jewish population have long since, like a lot of indigenous Brits, moved on.

Richard

Chris Hall said...

I think this Blog is the best writing in Britain. Not just today, every single day.

staybryte said...

JuliaM

This one doesn't add up in its current form. Be interesting to see how it pans out.

banned said...

I was in a London Scout Group in the 1970'/80s, we were what might be called old fashioned but had nothing against the Jews.
Something odd here indeed, lets see what occcurs. No pics obviously since they are cheeeeldren ( C. Leg_Iron ) but methinks this attack upon the Scout Movement might backfire and bite the righteous on the arse.

JuliaM said...

"I've read this a couple of times and confess to being at a loss myself. Young people who join the scouts are generally the 'nice' youngsters, the ones who want to achieve things..."

That was why I was a little suspicious of this at first, but there seems to be something to it...

"Scouts of no appearance, I assume."

It's possible, but I'd have thought that would have leaked out if so...

"...if they are not I can only assume its a BNP thing?"

Another possible.

"Are we quite sure this has even happened? I can only say that in all the years I've known and worked with Scouts and Girl Guides, I've never come across anything like this - or even remotely like it."

Well, it seems (pace Clarissa's link to the 'Telegraph') as if the 'Fail' has been a little guilty of embellishment, but there are enough named witnesses in all papers reporting this to conclude something untoward happened.

JuliaM said...

"I have another theory, weren't a lot of the East End resettled around Romford after WW2 to clear the slums and bomb sites.
There was never much love lost between the East Enders and the residents of Whitechapel. "


Now, that's a distinct possibility.

"Not really my manor, but I was under the impression that Romford was still of a "hideously white" complexion."

I'm pretty familiar with it, it's the nearest large shopping centre to my mother's home, and I often take her there. I'd say it's clientele, and the surrounding areas, are still majority white. Some very nice areas too.

"..."Do you know, if you hold a shell suit to your ear you can hear Romford?"..."

*chuckle* Very true, though!

"I've just installed Seamonkey 2.0. It's kept a list of previously entered word-verification strings for me to choose from."

Now, that's pretty impressive! Problem is, after a while, it'll be a BIG list...

JuliaM said...

"This might be relevent then?"

Well spotted!

"Antisemitism from native Brits was not very high even in the turbulent 30s when The East End had a large Jewish population"

No, that's certainly true. One must always remember the comments in CiF and the 'Indy' don't reflect the majority...

"I think this Blog is the best writing in Britain. Not just today, every single day."

Well, thanks! :)

"This one doesn't add up in its current form. Be interesting to see how it pans out."

It's certainly odd. I'm not really shocked by much of the news, sadly, but this one did bring on a moment of sheer disbelief.

"...methinks this attack upon the Scout Movement might backfire and bite the righteous on the arse."

If it's something calculated, they've chosen a pretty odd messenger to spark it, in the form of Rev Lee Sunderland, though?

Sue said...

I'm afraid I'm with the Weekend Yachtman on this one. Our culture does not encompass this hatred of Jewish people and never has as far back as I can remember.

This hatred belongs to one culture alone....

Anonymous said...

Astonishing that anyone could think that Romford is in the rural county of Essex when it's quite clearly a deeply urban part of London, & has been since the mid 1960s.