Anatomy of a riot – the good, the bad and the ugly

Causes

Consequences -Good

-Bad

-Ugly

Kids doing it for themselves		Return to Tory Britain – politicians far removed from people they purport to represent		Public sector cuts		Generations of worklessness		Rioting and looting becomes an everyday pastime
Smiles on faces – having a bit of fun		Young people have Nothing to do		Greed and hypocrisy of so-called ‘leaders’		Young people have nothing to aspire to		Mindless violence
Getting stuff for free		Classism is alive and kicking but is ignored				Marginalised communities		Fear and division
Potential to bring communities together		Gap between haves and have nots				No money for stuff		Indiscriminate targeting
Voices being heard – not being ignored		Lack of personal aspirations – nothing to lose				Dependency culture/crowd control		Demonization of a generation
No longer being anonymous				Broken Britain (nice one Dave!)				No underlying political rationale
		Troops on the streets (if there’s any spare)		Excuse for extreme force		Increase in police powers – use of water cannon; rubber bullets - what else?		Curfews – imposed or voluntary

I Predicted Riots

Following three nights of mayhem, mainly in London, our not-so-Glorious leader comes fresh out of a Cobra meeting to declare:

“We will do anything necessary”... what does that mean Dave?

I have to agree with one thing he said; it is ‘Mindless criminality’ indeed. On waking on Sunday it felt quite a bit like travelling back in time to the ‘80’s but after 3 days, it is apparent that the riots have more to do with getting free stuff than making a political statement. One of my nephew’s friends commented that he felt ill at the burring of a Gregg’s (in Peckham) and another friend commented on the amateurishness of looting Primark – indeed, 4 quid hoodies are not for the discerning rioter, although at least you can chuck them away after if using them as a disguise. The saddest thing I’ve seen is that furniture shop being razed to the ground in Croydon – survived 2 world wars including the blitz, probably one of the oldest buildings left in that soulless town – tragic!

So Ravey Davey says there will be 16,000 coppers on the streets of London tonight. “You will feel the full force of the law”. Eek! I bet the kids are quaking in their boots. And will the “full force of the law” be meted out by the likes of PC assistant deputy dawg commissioner (formerly known as PC plod until yesterday).

What Dave doesn’t get when he says to them “...You are potentially wrecking your own life too” is that it’s already wrecked, thanks to the likes of him.

I was going to go into a tirade on the causes of disenchantment but there’s already some good analysis out there.

For example: http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html