reggiedh

One simple thing is to monitor the retailers. There are plenty of shops that don't ring up the purchases and add purchases up on a calculator!! I now insist for a register receipt for all purchases. It wouldn't be a stretch to clamp down on them.

Rotor

Most retailers dont set out to be crooked but are forced to bend the rules purely to survive , its similar to employee`s who pretend to be busy to keep their jobs when theres nothing to do, civil servants excell at this!

HBG

Historically, we know it couldn't happen in the UK, the closest we came was a peaceful hunger march from Jarrow.

Historically, the people in Spain are more respectful (with good reason) of their government.

Historically, it's best not to delve into the history of the biggest country in the EU.

I read some clever statistics once on a country's stability based on unemployment rates. I remember 25% indicating street riots and 45% revolution and anarchy.

I think the Internet will save us, we are better informed than before it was invented.

rugbymatt

It was always going to be on the cards for Greece, I lived and worked out there when I was a nipper for some very wealthy clients and their son was on Military Service and was shot outside the barracks while on duty. The Greeks are a pretty fiery bunch, they are not Spaniards, not of the same explosive but passionate stock... hatred runs deep in their psyche and grudges are carried for years. An example of this is the way the Greeks look on the Turks, hate doesn't describe it, but you look at the way the Spanish just wanted to move on and leave the hell of the Franco years behind them.

The violence just wont happen in Spain, would the crash? I'm sure there is a possibility but I have a suspicion that many in Brussels are happy this has happened, it sends a very clear signal to the people who still consider Turkey a likely candidate for inclusion. I suspect greater politics are being played here.

Bigger Jim

How about:

1355 - St. Scholastica riot, (Oxford, England)
1517 - Evil May Day, (London, England)
1607 - Midlands Uprising, (Northamptonshire/Warwickshire/Leicestershire, England)
1668 - Messenger riots, (London, England) "Bawdy house Riots."
1675 - Weavers riot, (London, England)

Then we get onto:

18th Century Riots
19th Century Riots
20th Century Riots


2000 - English football fans riot in Charleroi, Belgium[citation needed]
2000 - Riots between English and Turkish football fans break out in Copenhagen, Denmark after the final of UEFA Euro 2000, [3]
2001 - Oldham Riots, May 2001, (Oldham, Greater Manchester, England)
2001 - Harehills riot Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
2001 - Bradford Riot, July 2001, (Bradford, West Yorkshire, England)
2001 - Holy Cross dispute, Summer 2001, (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
2003 - Caia Park Riots, Wrexham, Wales
2005 - Worst riot seen in Ireland after Orange Order Parade was banned from marching through a Catholic area, (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
2005 - Reading festival riot, approximately 150000 music fans rioted for 3 nights just for the fun of it (England)
2005 - 2005 Birmingham race riots in Lozells, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
2006 - 2006 Dublin riots, Feb. 25, Dublin, Ireland
2006 - Download Festival Riots, Donnington, UK
2007 - Riots in London, United Kingdom at the Notting Hill Carnival.

That's just some of them.

Jim

Dick Dasterdly

Strange,non stop action up to 2007,then 3 years peace and quiet.
Maybe now nearly everyone has internet and broadband they can all get it out of their systems on discussion forums and the like.
Rioting is probably too much like hard work for todays uk yobs.

HBG

Christ, Jim, I can't answer that. Thank you for the information. Did you miss the poll tax riots?

rugbymatt

Or maybe we are just so brainwashed by the incumbent bunch of liars that we just believe we are all better off.

Dick Dasterdly

Don't think many ppl. are brainwashed judging by the widespread public opinions expressed over events of the last two years.
Probably too complacent more like or I'm allright jack.
Real poverty and hard times hardly exist now, as they used to, despite the recession.
Most ppl.have nice cosy homes,a car on the drive,all mod cons and quite a few of what would have been regarded luxuries just a few year ago,plenty of supermarket food and booze in the fridge and the latest designer rags to wear.
Yes, more than a few of them have run up their credit cards and overstretched their resources because they either just don't worry or just don't care about debt so much these days.
I mean there always the social to fall back on,so they can always have a mini riot down there if they get a bit short.
Don't see Greek type riots happening in the UK,...at least not for a while yet,...just have to wait and see what the incoming shower have in store for us,..maybe that could change things.

cricketman

Riots will happen if middle class unemployment reaches 20% and people start losing their very expensive houses they've spent years climbing up the property ladder to afford.

Or if the government halves the amount paid in benefits.

Both possible...

Dick Dasterdly

....but unlikely.
If it got to that stage half of Europe would already be in turmoil.
Doesn't bear thinking about.

rugbymatt

Poll Tax riots, thats all I'm saying.

Dick Dasterdly

No,... election night riots,...all over the country,...
What a shambles in the Mother of Democracies.
People all over the place unable to vote.

rugbymatt

They should have turned up earlier to vote then.

savateur

I agree, David Dimbleby himself called the situation " 3rd world democracy", and was quite visibly angry !

Saying that people sould have turned up earlier doesn't quite cut it ! It take's no account of the lack of staff in the polling stations, nor of polling stations running out of ballot sheet's ! Nor does it factor in the people who were left of the electoral roll through no fault of their own !

Let's not forget, also, about the "bogus voters" appearing on electoral rolls in marginal seats, which are the subject of police investigations !

The situation is an outrage, and an absolute disgrace. In fact if these events had take place elsewhere in the world, the partisan, sensationilist, British media would be all over it !

These word's can't even begin to express how angry I am about this farce of an "election". Nor about how far this country has fallen in overall standards. It's actually an embarrasment to be British these day's.