The Metropolitan Police say they still haven't encountered a single incident relating to the viral red vs blue school wars trend. So is the threat real? And are parents unduly worried?
I too felt that these videos were part of the “London has fallen” genre, most likely dreamt up by an adult (a bit like our ‘friend’ at Reform_UK_2025) rather than a teenager. Because, let’s face it, the idea of a rivalry against another school in this day and age - let alone a rivalry you’d inflict or endure violence for - is ridiculous. Most of the teenagers I work with couldn’t care less about their own school let alone someone else’s (and as a former teenager, I concur).
Quite often I find these issues are a symptom of poor digital literacy and critical thinking skills when it comes to matters of “the internet” in those who weren’t brought up with it. Couple this with the ever increasing use of social media and AI to craft pernicious narratives for political, cultural or nativist gain, our ability to spot and sift out nonsense is at an all time low.
Much like the amplification and exageration of phone-snatching and daily stabbings, it's also possible that the proliferation of spreading overall disinormation like this is on the agenda of those wanting to promote London as a no-go city. It suits so many when this spreads.
The last paragraph is the important one. The sooner the social media ban is in place the better. It’s true that school rivalries are nothing new, when I was teaching in Peckham in the 70s children from the school at the other end the street used to wait for our lads to come out and shout:
Catholics, Catholics, quack quack quack
Go to hell and never come back.
At which point the response was:
Proddy dog proddy dog, yap yap yap
Go to the devil and eat his crap.
Not nice, but soon stopped as staff marched out and read the riot act and issued stern warnings to parents - until the next time.
But the rise of sm and the very real fear of weapons has resulted in panic. My own youngest grandson in Bexley was in floods of tears as the thought of what might happen and his Dad had to take him into school and collect him.
Of course, nothing happened and the school staff and police have done an excellent job of calming the children and reassuring them that adults were in charge.
None of this would have happened if TikTok or other platforms stopped the nonsense before it reached the screen. It even turned up my FB feed! Which as far as I know is strictly for uncool old people.
A social media ban would ruin the life and the future of many kids, like queer ones. Those who are defending the ban have never listened to the kids themselves.
And I am getting really tired of this allowed authoritarism.
It would really help if all social media was compelled to verify the ID of their users, so this, and countless attempts to spread disinformation and trouble could be attributed to someone.
The fact it appeared in your FB feed would indicate that a social media ban for Under 16s wouldn't fix this? There will always be bad actors trying to instil panic. It shouldn't be on the platforms but that's a different question to banning certain websites/apps for a portion of the population, who seem to have better critical thinking skills from the article than their parents
On one of these posts my child's school was teamed up with a nearby school who are bitter rivals. We found it nonsensical that their students would ever co-operate on anything. If they had been placed on opposing teams I would have been much more concerned with them mingling at bus stops etc.
These things used to be started by the tabloids. Like when they managed to invent specific drug problems like “Meow Meow” or that whole thing about kids eating tidal pods from a couple of years ago. In the seventeenth century riots by London apprentice boys based something made up in a pamphlet were not uncommon. I suppose the positive is that while the impulse to make up and spread this stuff still exists, and doubtless the Faragists and Times Radio and other assorted racists will try and convince us and themselves that it’s a national crisis prompted by immigration, the kids have more sense than to actually act on it now.
I remember the "meow meow" panic of the late 2000s – it was known as MCAT, the Mail ran a piece based on a misunderstanding/god knows what claiming it was called "meow meow", and the name got retrospectively adopted. A rare example of Paul Dacre's language having influence over the UK drug scene.
I too felt that these videos were part of the “London has fallen” genre, most likely dreamt up by an adult (a bit like our ‘friend’ at Reform_UK_2025) rather than a teenager. Because, let’s face it, the idea of a rivalry against another school in this day and age - let alone a rivalry you’d inflict or endure violence for - is ridiculous. Most of the teenagers I work with couldn’t care less about their own school let alone someone else’s (and as a former teenager, I concur).
Quite often I find these issues are a symptom of poor digital literacy and critical thinking skills when it comes to matters of “the internet” in those who weren’t brought up with it. Couple this with the ever increasing use of social media and AI to craft pernicious narratives for political, cultural or nativist gain, our ability to spot and sift out nonsense is at an all time low.
God bless Goldsmiths and everything but the idea that their students might get drawn into a vicious turf war stretches credulity.
Much like the amplification and exageration of phone-snatching and daily stabbings, it's also possible that the proliferation of spreading overall disinormation like this is on the agenda of those wanting to promote London as a no-go city. It suits so many when this spreads.
The last paragraph is the important one. The sooner the social media ban is in place the better. It’s true that school rivalries are nothing new, when I was teaching in Peckham in the 70s children from the school at the other end the street used to wait for our lads to come out and shout:
Catholics, Catholics, quack quack quack
Go to hell and never come back.
At which point the response was:
Proddy dog proddy dog, yap yap yap
Go to the devil and eat his crap.
Not nice, but soon stopped as staff marched out and read the riot act and issued stern warnings to parents - until the next time.
But the rise of sm and the very real fear of weapons has resulted in panic. My own youngest grandson in Bexley was in floods of tears as the thought of what might happen and his Dad had to take him into school and collect him.
Of course, nothing happened and the school staff and police have done an excellent job of calming the children and reassuring them that adults were in charge.
None of this would have happened if TikTok or other platforms stopped the nonsense before it reached the screen. It even turned up my FB feed! Which as far as I know is strictly for uncool old people.
A social media ban would ruin the life and the future of many kids, like queer ones. Those who are defending the ban have never listened to the kids themselves.
And I am getting really tired of this allowed authoritarism.
It would really help if all social media was compelled to verify the ID of their users, so this, and countless attempts to spread disinformation and trouble could be attributed to someone.
A retired teacher granny will not be affected
Posted too soon. It was reposted by a concerned parent. But none of this would have happened if children didn’t have access to these platforms.
The fact it appeared in your FB feed would indicate that a social media ban for Under 16s wouldn't fix this? There will always be bad actors trying to instil panic. It shouldn't be on the platforms but that's a different question to banning certain websites/apps for a portion of the population, who seem to have better critical thinking skills from the article than their parents
On one of these posts my child's school was teamed up with a nearby school who are bitter rivals. We found it nonsensical that their students would ever co-operate on anything. If they had been placed on opposing teams I would have been much more concerned with them mingling at bus stops etc.
Madness:
The headmaster's had enough today
All the kids have gone away
Gone to fight with next door's school
Every term, that is the rule
These things used to be started by the tabloids. Like when they managed to invent specific drug problems like “Meow Meow” or that whole thing about kids eating tidal pods from a couple of years ago. In the seventeenth century riots by London apprentice boys based something made up in a pamphlet were not uncommon. I suppose the positive is that while the impulse to make up and spread this stuff still exists, and doubtless the Faragists and Times Radio and other assorted racists will try and convince us and themselves that it’s a national crisis prompted by immigration, the kids have more sense than to actually act on it now.
I remember the "meow meow" panic of the late 2000s – it was known as MCAT, the Mail ran a piece based on a misunderstanding/god knows what claiming it was called "meow meow", and the name got retrospectively adopted. A rare example of Paul Dacre's language having influence over the UK drug scene.