alfrombarking

This might spread across UK and bumface is no where to be seen nor his posh mayor. Man! I used to live in Edmonton sad to see Tottenham is up in smoke!

NorthernLad

Sounds a bit cliched, but you see what someone like this did http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14441032 then you look at the scum who are destroying parts of London, and it is sickening.

I feel embarrassed when people in the office ask what is going on in the UK. Great advert for The Olympics.

Alexa

Why exactly are they rioting? From what I understand, this guy was an alledged gang member/drug dealer?

Sorry, I am not British, so have very little insight in the society.

Brains1983

I wouldn't worry about it, I am British and have even less of an insight to the British society!!!

kittycat1

I believe the investigation of the lads death has not been completed yet, however my understanding of it is that the lad was involved in criminal activities, however he is from an area of high unemployment where kids get few breaks and are struggling in these rather hard times and the majority of them are involved in the same sort of thing. The riots began with peaceful protests which then snowballed into general aggression towards the police, who obviously had a presence at the protests which also antagonized the crowds. I would say things in the UK are very combustible at the moment, people are the worst off they have been for decades, public services have been cut left right and centre, unemployment is massive, basically people are feeling pretty hard done by and have few options. Obviously this doesn't make it right to go out and burn down buildings and loot businesses however these are a byproduct of such discontentment.

The areas that have rioted Tottenham, Haringay, Enfield, Brixton are all poor areas of London. What started off as a protest to the lads death quickly turned ugly due to general tensions being so high. People are feeling let down and frustrated and of course all you need are a few anarchists to add fuel to the fire and you get a full blown riot. You then have a police force who are also feeling rather sorry for themselves after paycuts and job cuts I cant imagine they felt much like chasing the looters off when insurance would cover the theft.

To be honest as much as I dont agree with violence I believe in having a voice and the British government has made such drastic budget cuts I think they should listen to how fragile society is at the moment and how desperate people are feeling. There is a similar feeling of dissatisfaction to the 1980's Thatcher years and with a recession that is still seeing job cuts I do not see this ending any time soon.

Alexa

Thanks for the explanation.
I wonder what kind of backlash this one will have....

kittycat1

well Im seeing rumours of things kicking off in Hackney so expect to see more of the same.

Alexa

Yes, but once it is all over...what is going to happen? Will those who are responsible have to pay their dues, or will it just all fade away?

kittycat1

There will probably be a few prosecutions for incitement and the odd person done for looting- obviously a lot of talk of these things being organized via social networking so will be interesting to see if there are any prosecutions through those platforms.

The government will make an announcement of some description, the lads death will be addressed and whether that puts a stop to it Im not so sure. Depends if the rioters can verbalize what they want. Its like a 2 year old having a strop- if they cant tell you whats the matter you just have to let it become bored and fizzle out. Could go on for a while though or potentially turn to rallies as was seen in the 80s, depends if people feel strong enough to march for it.

kittycat1

an arty view of the riots

Alexa

Hmm, do you think that the people who have nothing to do with it all are going to call for more, let's say, drastic measures? Or maybe changes?

kittycat1

I dont know to be honest- I dont really see what good it's going to do anyone- there are no jobs, there's no money, education has now become very expensive so kids cant stay in the education system so are coming out of college to no jobs and there are huge ammount of debts by the country and individuals and as a global recession its hard for a small country like UK to lead the way out of it. Living costs are high. If they get the countries debt under control perhaps the pressure will release from the budget cut side of it. However the government is just trying to get high street spending going again which is the wrong way of going about it in my opinion, spending on credit cards is part of the problem- its exactly the same as the country owed too much money and so do individuals. With bankruptcy at its highest ever at some point they have to recognize that consumer spending is not the answer to this. I think the government needs to look a some positive action rather than all the cuts etc. I honestly don't know how you break the vicious cycle that has developed. Investment in people and society before banks perhaps.

Charismatic

Difficult to know, that's the thing about laws...they work if only a small number of people break them.

My guess is part greed and part poverty, UK youth (18-24 years old) unemployment was running at over 20% earlier this year and rising. When people don't have other options they turn to crime. It's the culmination of a poor approach to solving youth unemployment, present budget cuts and less positions being created at companies trying to keep their profits up.

These things rarely have just one root cause, is it their fault? We seem to have avoided a catastrophic recession in financial industries but seeded a depression in the process .

kittycat1

Up to the minute coverage here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...iots-live.html

seems it will be a rough night around London

dsmuk

The Police need to be able to use water cannon and rubber bullets. It is disgrace this can happen in the capital city.

Just seen on BBC News 24 a lorry stopping at traffic lights when scum opened the back, pulled out some wood and started throwing it at a bus that was also stopped at the light... presume there are people on board the bus.