Google thinks the Mayor promised to create 3000 apprenticeships. I'm afraid there's often something of a gap between a politician's promise and reality.

One of the news broadcasts last night mentioned that those arrested included students, employed individuals and someone who had recently applied to join the police force.

Some of the messages (I assume collected from BlackBerrys owned by arrested rioters) implied coordination of riot times and locations by "ends" (established gangs).

Without an official list of the occupations of those arrested, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of the types of individuals involved here.

From the reports, though, it seems to me that it's instigated by gangs (who probably have and probably will continue to do low-life criminal activities anyway) plus a bunch of "thieving thrill seeking vandalising wannabe gangsters" (many in a category other than "NEET").

Surely the existence of the gangs is there to satisfy the contraband needs of society; they're established, have been for a long time and always will be in big towns and cities. Along with those already employed, I doubt any of these guys would be really interested in an apprenticeship.

I still haven't heard from you about what you would have done.

One assumes those referred to above, receive some form of housing benefit and welfare and, one assumes, this enables them to have a roof over their head, clothes on their back and food in their belly. I appreciate, it may not enable them to purchase a plasma TV. Does this justify them smashing their neighbourhood up and stealing one?

Its funny how you guys try to rationalise and catagarise these looting rioting pricks. If you listen to the radio interviews with these idiots you will hear the morons explaining that they are doing this because they can. Sheep following sheep. No rime or reason no typical background, workers, unemployed, neets, young & old, just doing it for the fun and thrill of it.

Why no curfu? Why not turn off the blackberry messenger.? Or give a cop or two a phone and get one step ahead of them.

Now we have deaths and vigalantie white v black mini racist wars going on. Whats coming next?

Water cannons, if the Calgary Herald is to be believed

I blame Research in Motion for the riots. They should kick that two bit Canadian multinational out of the UK and increase it's slide into oblivion.

Police shooting a drug-dealer causes outbreak of riots in London.... give me a break here... I guess soon we'll hear numerous speeches how multiculturalism didn't work in Britain... and the people will be noddling in response "no, it didn't"... speaking about sheep...

At least Greater Manchester Police have an understanding of how do deal with Rioters effectively:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...sing-gang.html

Alleged drug dealer. Obviously that's an event tenuously connected to the rioting but what does it, or the riots, have to do with multiculturalism?

Listening to radio Manchester and it sounds like P.C. Rain has turned up and quelled the tensions in this area.

So water cannons may have worked.

Obviously it's much easier to conclude that 'multicultural' people were the principal rioters, rather than, say, failed-education-system-people, or third-generation-benefits-people.

Which is true across all parties.

Who or what are they? Ex heads of comprehensives

Ok which do you think is more likely:

• He was a drug dealer known to the police
• He was just on the way to the library

A quote from the end of a DM article reviewing press coverage around the world. The German papers seem to present the most compelling insight in particular the Die Welt comments.

Only two German papers, who yesterday questioned England's ability to host the 2012 Olympics, continued with front page coverage - BILD and Die Tageszeitung.
But several publications had lengthy comment pieces on how a 'deep seated malaise' is at the heart of the British riots.

Some papers said British youngsters have grievances every bit as real as those of street children in Cairo - and just as many prospects.

The centre-left Süddeutsche Zeitung said: 'Behind the glittering facade that Britain presents, so much pent-up irritation, resentment and anger has built up that all it took was a spark to trigger an explosion.'

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung criticised the government's response to the violence and said: 'The politicians, who are responsible for the police, should at least consider whether the 'softly-softly' approach of the British police is appropriate, or an invitation to brutal street criminality.'

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung said: 'The situation playing out on London's streets has nothing to do with social protest.

'There are neither clear political goals, nor an identifiable movement with leaders. And it is mainly the victims who now face social collapse.'

The financial daily Handelsblatt said: 'The riots reveal fundamental societal problems that extend far beyond London and England.

'They are too deep for the short-term austerity measures to have had much influence. There wasn't just looting in troubled areas, but also in the affluent district of Notting Hill and among the middle class in trendy Clapham.

'The riots reveal the decay of society at its edges, brought on by deeply cemented inequality, the erosion of social norms, great frustration and a lack of opportunity for the lower class.'

The Financial Times Deutschland added: 'The British elite has systematically compromised itself in recent years. They claimed to be a role model, or at least trustworthy.

'In the economic crisis the financial establishment declared bankruptcy, and British politicians became mired in the expenses scandal of 2009. Then this year the media and politicians have been damaged by the Murdoch scandal.

'When the country's elites don't take the law seriously, why should we? No question is more dangerous for a society.'

Left-leaning Berliner Zeitung said: 'The country has lost faith in every authority: the banks, politicians, the media, the police. The corruption has reached even the smallest unit - the family. There is a generation growing up without values of any kind.'

Finally, the conservative Die Welt commented: 'The unrest in London is a form of hooliganism by losers who are living in a society which no longer has anything left to offer losers. Among the arsonists are people who no longer possess any values.

'They've got used to drawing money from the state and they complain when the handouts stop coming as generously as they did in the past.

'This is a problem that, within the foreseeable future, many more Europeans are going to be confronted with, including many young people.

'This is because most European countries have been living far beyond their means. They will, without exception, be forced to cut back their spending.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1UeRAggVa