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A man injured in a Belfast knife attack has lost his left eye, a court heard, as the suspect was named for the first time. Hadi Alodid appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court charged with attempted murder. Lewis Goodall and Shelagh Fogarty discuss the past 24 hours. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #shelaghfogarty #lewisgoodall #news #crime #debate #politics #elonmusk #belfast #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
Lewis, very tough events overnight. What have you found so far since being there
0:06
Well, you know, I've reported from Belfast a fair number of times, including after there's been periods of violence
0:12
And what's sort of peculiar about it is that Belfast being Belfast, obviously a city and part of the UK
0:19
part of the island of Ireland that is not unfamiliar with political violence, not unfamiliar with the shadow of violence
0:27
What is striking is how similar and familiar it feels and yet also how different
0:31
Because, of course, this isn't violence in the traditional Northern Irish sense between nationalists and between loyalists, between Republicans and between unionists
0:41
Although there is, of course, inevitably a dimension of that in terms of who is involved
0:45
This is actually, in a sense, a very Northern Irish story. But it's also actually a story that we're seeing play out in cities across the UK, indeed across the British Isles overall
0:54
on it we've seen it in the republic as well time and time and time again there is an incident
0:59
a horrific incident horrific incident that involves either an immigrant or a refugee or
1:05
whatever it happens to be and whatever that person happens to be and then that being seized upon
1:11
sometimes by people who okay fine have legitimate worries and legitimate concerns but the flames
1:17
fanned in some cases by political actors thousands and thousands of miles away and i've been speaking
1:23
I know you spoke to Matthew O'Toole earlier in the show. I've spoken to him as well
1:27
And I was extremely struck. A very senior Northern Irish politician talking about a pogrom in British streets, in UK streets
1:36
Yeah, he used that word three times in my conversation with him, yeah. Indeed. And even in the long history of the Troubles
1:43
and the interneesine violence in Northern Ireland, we didn't see too many pogroms
1:48
Certainly not of the sort where people were going door to door simply on the basis of the color of their skin
1:54
And indeed I know you spoken to Andy Huesman a crime agent as well his telling I arrived that you know he literally witnessed last night a case where a group of hooligans thugs rioters were up turning a gentleman car in one of the streets in East Belfast
2:11
He comes out, says, what the hell are you doing to my car? They see he's white and they turn around and go, I'm so sorry, my friend
2:18
We didn't realize. Now, there is a name. There is a name and there is a word for the perpetration of violence
2:25
simply on the basis of the colour of your skin, and it can only be described as the most heinous form of racism
2:32
Of course it is. And the city is bound to be on tenterhooks
2:38
Now, kids were let out of school early. I know that in the next hour or so
2:42
public transport, various forms of public transport, are going to be stopped or limited. Hopefully it pours down with rain
2:49
That might keep a few of them at home, the potential rioters. but do you get the feeling that it's a place on tenterhooks as you walk around
2:58
Oh, for sure, absolutely. And that's one of the things that struck me most about being here today
3:03
You know, Belfast in so many ways now, a tremendous success story. A very vibrant city, tremendously thriving in all sorts of ways
3:12
And you speak to people here, and it is extraordinary the extent
3:15
to which that kind of second skin of the threat of violence, that shadow of violence, how familiar to people it can feel
3:21
So the thing that's been going on in Belfast all day that I've been so struck by, and again, this is a kind of twist, a modern twist on an old tale, is the number of people, whether it's taxi drivers, you walk up to people in the street, people come up to you
3:34
This exchange, this flurry of exchanges that are going around virtually every WhatsApp group
3:39
And Belfast isn't a huge city, so it's very easy for this stuff to be able to transmit very quickly
3:44
basically ai generated images that can literally be mocked up in seconds looking like official
3:51
documentation pictures look like official documentation saying these roads are going to
3:56
be closed from 11 a everybody needs to get out everybody needs to shut their businesses these schools need to close down And of course it not official at all And although the police and local politicians are saying don listen to them there will be no road closures
4:08
there will be none of this. Inevitably, people see this stuff and they go, Jesus, I'm going to get out of town. We spend about 45 minutes going probably about
4:16
you know, 50 to 100 feet or something like that, because the roads are absolutely choked
4:21
choked just to get out of the city because people had all been seeing these same images
4:25
images these jpegs these pictures that as i say can be generated using ai interfaces in a matter
4:33
of seconds and as a result look terribly official and there's again a word for that
4:37
shula as well and that's terrorizing people it's terrorizing people through the threat of violence
4:43
that they think is going to come to a street near them it when you saw the traffic did you get that
4:49
sense did anyone confirm to you they were getting the hell out for now 100 100 you could see the
4:55
that absolutely and you know you speak to tax drivers that you're in or you sort of people are
4:59
sort of speaking to each other out the window and so on absolutely and this is obviously people this
5:03
will be catholics this will be protestants it will be people who are not aligned and and that is
5:08
you know something that used to happen in the bad old days and is now happening again or it has
5:13
happened certainly today simply because it's that sort of threat that looming threat of of of
5:19
political violence, but albeit in a new form. I was talking to Laura Trott earlier on in the
5:26
program, the Shadow Education Secretary, and we discussed Elon Musk and indeed J.D. Vance over
5:31
Southampton and some other comments he's made and the kinds of contributions they make to this
5:36
conversation. I mean, to say they're unhelpful is an understatement. I do wonder if it's time
5:44
for leading politicians in this country to get much more vocal. I mean, we heard David Lammy say, didn't we
5:50
Yeah, I've had a word with so-and-so. I've mentioned it to JD Vance. I've suggested it's not helpful
5:55
I'd say this. It should be possible within our discourse and our politicians And I amazed that we haven heard a little bit more about this from right across the spectrum That attack which is obviously now subject to criminal proceedings was heinous and appalling and scary and disturbing
6:10
And I totally understand that. I think, you know, liberal politicians as well need to respond
6:15
to the real fear that can exist when something like this happens
6:19
and not just talking bromides, not just talking clichés, not just start talking about, you know, diversity is our strength
6:25
and we'll never let this defeat us and all that sort of thing. It's too meaningless to people
6:28
People want to have more direct conversations and that's completely legitimate. But it should also be completely
6:35
the second breath should come, which is to say that nothing, nothing that has happened in the last 24 hours
6:42
can ever be justified, ever. That both events are appalling and sinister and disturbing
6:49
And what is certainly not necessary in either case is for the world's most powerful, richest tech oligarch
6:57
sitting thousands of miles away, an ocean and a continental landmass away
7:02
fanning the flames in a city about a city about which he knows precisely nothing
7:08
I doubt Elon Musk would be able to point at Belfast or get anywhere near Belfast on a map
7:14
And yet there can be no doubt that his interventions are making what is already a bad situation
7:20
And let's not pretend that he invented it as such, what was already a bad situation, worse still
7:25
And that's the bit that Mr. Musk doesn't seem to understand. When he turns around and says, with some legitimacy
7:30
I didn't create this situation, I didn't let this guy into the country, fair enough, that's true
7:36
Politicians will have to make account for their policies and so on. And of course, that's entirely right
7:41
But there can be no doubt that he is making a bad situation worse still
7:46
The old adage used to be that with power comes responsibility. it is absolutely clear that musk has enormous power and he has zero sense of the responsibility
7:57
that ought to go with it thank you very much lewis lewis goodall a host of the news agents podcast
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