Why is Northern Ireland the only UK nation other than England where the riots took hold? Alex talks to Belfast MP Claire Hanna, who has seen thuggery in the last few days on her patch, about what factors make Northern Ireland different on this - and what wisdom, from decades of dealing with this sort of violence, actually applies more universally. A thoughtful and illuminating chat.

“People have been consuming the same media landscape, the same messaging that dehumanises immigrants from the top, and there is here - there’s no other way to put it - a ready-made pool of recreational rioters.”

“South Belfast has the second highest concentration of asylum seekers in hotels, due to the catastrophic failure of the Home Office to efficiently process people’s applications. But the community, in the main, has really, really tried to wrap itself around them.”

“I spoke to somebody two days ago who said they were sitting in their house with the lights off, the other night. And it really shocked me to my core that that was happening in 2024. Because the violence seems so random.”

Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod and on Bluesky. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. (We are working on threads and YouTube.)

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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou, and Kenny Campbell - in cahoots with Sandstone Global.

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