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Boris Johnson’s Strange Relationships — with the Working Class and Reality
On Friday a terrorist armed with two knives and wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest, was bravely restrained by civilians. They tackled him with fire extinguishers and a whale tusk, then managed to pin him down until police officers arrived.
Those involved were a broad range of citizens, including a chef and a tour guide. An off-duty British Transport Police officer was seen in footage taking a knife from harms way.
As someone born in London who has spent much of my life living, working and socialising in the city, I felt proud of those who tackled the killer and of London. I take pride in Londoners, wherever they came from in the world — whether the Polish chef who tackled Khan or the Romanian baker who tackled terrorists in Borough Market, armed with nothing but a plastic crate.
Being from a working-class background in increasingly gentrified and expensive London is a difficult thing but my experience is it is often those with the toughest lives who step in when there is a problem. Yet it is often those people who are demonised most by wealthy right-wing politicians.
London for me has always been a multicultural city and a person is no less a Londoner if they came originally from Poland or Plymouth. My family has Irish, Romani and…
