The Tottenham Riot

[SiHart]

Now that would sort the problem out for good, but might cause a bit more harm in the long run!

[Jon Masters]

Well, they found one! I'd be impressed if all of them worked at primary schools, hospitals etc.

And note that they say 'Primary School Worker'. Not teacher

Bloody News International!

That's because he was a classroom assistant, not a teacher. However, the reports of the cases of people already appearing at court have shown that there are just as many employed people (including a graphic designer) as any other 'underclass'.

I'm getting tired of all the middle-class, middle politics hand-wringing going on in the media, trying to find excuses as to why people behave like this. They do it because they believe that they can do what they like, because they have no sense of moral or ethical obligation to anyone else, and because they think that if they want something they have the right to get it by any other means possible.

Let's not make excuses for them in terms of deprivation or unemployment or lack of ambition or hope. There are, unfortunatley, vast numbers of people trapped in poor jobs, just above poverty, who don't believe they have the right to ruin other peoples' lives for their own betterment. There are similarly vast numbers of people who, relatively, have a good life who think there is nothing they cannot or should not do to make their own lives more comfortable or to enjoy themselves, regardless of the law or the effect their actions have on other people. And I'm talking about all walks of life, from the feral teenagers all the way up to politicians and company directors.

Everyone has the ability to make these choices - those who choose badly must face the consequences of their actions.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Here here (or hear hear or whatever it is).

It's all very well being a Professor of Sociology writing an article for the Independent about how it's all everyone else's fault. But it's not is it.

[Rob McCow]

I'm getting tired of all the middle-class, middle politics hand-wringing going on in the media, trying to find excuses as to why people behave like this.

Reasons aren't the same thing as excuses. If we find out the reasons, then we can do something about it before the bloody riots start.

Yes, I sincerely hope that everyone who participated in the riot is arrested, tried and forced to face the consequences of their crimes. I wouldn't want to mitigate it because they're poor, or under-educated or whatever. I appreciate that usually, the criminal law has to work through fear.*

But no man is Satan. Wouldn't it be better if we could turn these 'Feral Monsters' into people who gave a shit about society, somehow? Without resorting to brain surgery or torture.


*Fear is not always what law is about and certainly not civil law. It has nothing to do with my trip to the solicitors today where we discussed legal documents to do with placing street lighting on buildings.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

But no man is Satan.

I think some people are much worse. Humanity is a very broad spectrum, and one end of that spectrum features about the worst things that exist in the universe in my opinion.

[Paul Clement]

Reasons aren't the same thing as excuses. If we find out the reasons, then we can do something about it before the bloody riots start.

What if the reasons are simply because they can? The initial demonstration had a purpose, but there is a certain element in society that will utilise any excuse to do what they want. So called experts are trying to say that these people are disenfranchised youths who are rebelling against a society that has left them jobless with no future. The thing is, there are jobs out there and even during the height of the recession there was work available but they don't want it. There a lot of people out there who just want something for nothing.

[Dino]

If you or anyone you know had their property damaged in the riots, you can actually claim it out of the police funds (within 14 days) due to this mental law. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/49-50/38

So basically, parasites have run amok and after them come... the legal parasites!

[WhiteCrowNZ]

We need to make them part of our society, or this will just happen all over again.

I like that.

[Rob McCow]

Unemployment is pretty high in Tottenham, where this all kicked off:

http://www.tottenhamjournal.co.uk/ne...erage_1_837009

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/Totte...allowance-2906

But again, it's not an excuse.

[Si Hunt]

How can any man be "worse than Satan"? Unless you know him well enough to quantify how bad he is.

Si.

[Si Hunt]

Massive Attack has waded in. And they agree with the people looting and burning down homes. Well, they wouldn't, wouldn't they?

Massive Attack have said that the recent UK riots are political.

In a Facebook post, the band also compared the scale of the looting to the bailout of British banks in 2008 and legal tax avoidance.

"In context with the complicit support of the government, the banks looted the nation's wealth while destroying countless small businesses and brought the whole economy to its knees in a covert, clean manner, rather like organised crime," the post read.

"Our reaction was to march and wave banners and then bail them out. These kids would have to riot and steal every night for a year to run up a bill equivalent to the value of non-paid tax big business has 'avoided' out of the economy this year alone."

The 'Unfinished Sympathy' group continued: "They may not articulate their grievances like the politicians that condemn them but this is absolutely political. As for the 'mindless violence'... is there anything more mindless than the British taxpayer quietly paying back the debts of others while contributing bullets to conflicts that we have absolutely no understanding of?

"It's mad, sad and scary when we have to take to the streets to defend our homes and businesses from angry thieving kids, but where are the police and what justice is ever done when the mob is dressed in pin stripe?"

It's food for thought, but their argument seems to come down to "Tax laws and the banks have taken our money, therefore it's even stevens for yobs to burn down peoples houses". I'm not quite sure why they are happy for ordinary folk to suffer actual violence in retaliation for the banks "financial" crimes.

And the last bit is very muddled. Where are the police? Well there were 16 bloody thousand of them out on the street the other day. Didn't they see?

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

How can any man be "worse than Satan"? Unless you know him well enough to quantify how bad he is.

Si.

Well, since Satan came out of the imagination of man anyway, quite easily Anyway, I'm sure a moment's thought would be all it takes for you to think of appalling acts and atrocities that have been committed by human beings across the ages, any one of which would be worthy of the Horned Beast himself.

[Si Hunt]

Well, since Satan came out of the imagination of man anyway, quite easily

You have an unerring ability to state your opinions as facts.

Unless you can prove that as well.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

What I meant by that comment is that no-one is completely evil. Branding individuals as 'Scum' doesn't help anything.

[Si Hunt]

What about Noel Edmonds?

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

You have an unerring ability to state your opinions as facts.

Unless you can prove that as well.

Si.

I know, I was going to put a qualifier in there but I decided not to bother I'm afraid. It doesn't change the fact though, that if you try and imagine the worst, sickest, vilest thing one human being could do to another human being, then at some point in time it's probably been done at least once by someone. Satan generally seems quite charming by comparison, from what I know of him.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

What I meant by that comment is that no-one is completely evil.

What about Noel Edmonds?

Si.

Sorry but that didn't half make me smile tonight.

-----


I've been thinking though, not justifying the riots. But together with a lot of other events around the world, it has really been a year of general unrest.

[Rob McCow]

David Cameron:

"In my very first act as leader of this party, I signalled my personal priority: to mend our broken society. That passion is stronger today than ever," he will say.

And now on Blue Peter we'll be showing you how to mend a broken society. You'll need water cannons, rubber bullets and plenty of batons. The first thing you'll need to do is to snip away the bits you don't want, such as public healthcare, youth associations and libraries. Don't worry, these parts of society are very inefficient and you can safely chuck them in the bin.

You'll need to take the Police Force and snip away about six thousand officers - you may want to get a responsible adult to help you with this as Police Officers can be dangerous. If anything goes wrong, remember you can always smooth over any bumps by blaming the previous Government.

Now it may seem strange that in order to mend a broken society, you have to cut bits out of it. But don't worry - when everything unfolds like this you get a lovely snowflake pattern, ready to hang in your window!

Join us next week on Blue Peter, when we'll be solving the financial defecit and we'll have a special location report on how to run an Olympics. Goodbye!

[Perry Vale]

Also, he believes everyone with the name Andy Coulson deserves a second chance.

[Si Hunt]

It's weird how people quote politicians before they've said the thing. "... he will say."

No-one ever does that with me. "Si Hunt was asked if he could lend me a tenner. "Stick it up yer arse" he will say."

I mean, I might not! (although I probably will)

Si.

[Perry Vale]

It's because they release their speeches to the press before they make them. (If that was a serious question?)

[Rob McCow]

That's because the press are desperately trying to turn them into fiction.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

This is an interesting article on Cameron's attempt to blame the riots on Facebook and Twitter ...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology...ectid=10745360

[Rob McCow]

Lynda Baron's role in the London riots was revealed by Iain Duncan Smith:

Britain is in "the last-chance saloon" when it comes to solving the "social crisis" at the root of the riots, the work and pensions secretary has said.

In a Spectator interview, Iain Duncan Smith predicted the unrest on England's streets would prove to be a turning point in David Cameron's leadership.

Hang on - Iain Duncan Smith?!! Didn't the people of Britain resoundingly tell this guy to f*** off a couple of elections ago? What is he doing in government?

[Anthony Williams]

Hang on - Iain Duncan Smith?!! Didn't the people of Britain resoundingly tell this guy to f*** off a couple of elections ago? What is he doing in government?

Actually, he never made it to an election - the Tories got rid of him as leader when it was realised how unelectable he was. Only to replace him with the slightly-less-unelectable-but-still-unelectable Michael Howard, who fought the 2005 election.