I don’t think that I have seen anything like the widespread criminality sweeping England, in my lifetime. It may happen in LA or the Paris bainlieus, but not England. Watching it from the sanity of Scotland enhances the feeling of it happening somewhere I don’t know.
It is necessary to be plain about one thing. This is not, in any sense, a legitimate political protest. Nor is it a revolt of the deprived, homeless and starving. Few of those arrested are coming to the attention of the police for a first time. What is happening is that the burgeoning criminal underclass is realising that it is now large enough to defy society if it can concentrate its forces quickly in specific localities.
This is not a race issue. This is the social mileu from which Jade Goody, Amy Winehouse and Wayne Rooney (all of whom have had close associations with people imprisoned for violence) emerged just as much as it is gangs of Somalis and Nigerians – and it is indeed that too. It is a product of a contemptible urban sub-culture driven by a detestation of education and an avid materialism. That its devotees can argue that the corrupt bankers and politicians are morally no better is a perfectly valid point, but no justification.
They are not destroying the homes and livelihoods of politicians and bankers, but of ordinary decent people.
The policing does raise vital questions. The Met has 30,000 officers. Tonight it will have 16,000 out on the street, including reinforcement from elsewhere. Why on earth did it only have 6,000 out last night across the whole of London, when everyone knew what would happen? And why then did they simply watch looters? Senior officers had decreed that the “containment” tactics used to control political demonstrations should be used here. What arrant nonsense. You don’t just cordon off areas in which looters are allowed to loot.
There are root problems in society which have caused this, but the immediate cause is impunity. The criminally minded witnessed that they could loot what they wanted, while the police would merely stand and watch. As a result, more and more joined in and the situation has gone from bad to worse. One thing which has been under-reported is the amount of personal violence that has been used, with people mugged in the streets, cab and bus drivers attacked and people stoned as they ran from burning flats.
I have no problem at all with calling for the deployment of baton rounds, tear gas and water cannon. If nobody has been burnt to death so far, it is a miracle. If the odd looter gets killed by the police by accident by a baton round, I would view that as very sad but something they brought upon themselves. I would not bring in the army at the moment, but the force of society should be brought to bear by the immediate enlistment of any volunteer with no criminal record as a temporary special constable. They should look to enlist tens of thousands.
The resources of civilisation are not exhausted.
Well you heard what that Stupid woman T May said ” we do not policw with water cannon in this Braintain”! Let’s offer them drinks and negotiate with them..
Anyhow, it was used in Northen Irland, so why not here??
sory Police with Water …
Must be my anger, my typos are getting gradually worse.
And why then did they simply watch looters?
Am I too cynical when thinking that there is now going to be a push to preserve or increase budgets, to ensure adequate manpower?
It seems to me that one thing we need to learn is why people riot and what it takes to stop them from doing this. If Dave Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne were to reflect honestly on their Bullingdon Club experience – and that of their friends – they might just have something useful to say. This isn’t political point-scoring but a serious suggestion. The Bullingdon Club has a reputation for destructiveness and its members have caused plenty of fear and distress. If none of the three I’ve mentioned took part in the Bullingdon’s planned expeditions of drunkenness and destructions, they could teach others how to resist peer pressure. And if they were once involved in its terrifying riotous behaviour, perhaps they could explain what led them to give up such activities.
Incidentally, the Bullingdon Club’s practices suggest that the activities of rioters are more to do with the exercise of power than anything else. I heard Guardian journalist Paul Lewis (on TV in the early hours) say in tones which suggested puzzled amazement that what the rioters demonstrated more than anything else was an empowerment (he sounded bewildered by the word) albeit an empowerment that would not last. I think that a longer-term analysis which is needed for a longer-term solution would do well to take this into account.
I’m not going to go on about how bad it is or how tragic – please take for granted that I am worried about many people I know (and people I don’t know) as I assume you and various commentators are. I’m now planning to head out briefly into the nearest area that had a riot because I think the presence of non-rioters going about their lives in an everyday manner is needed.
Does anyone else think this story of a police bullet being lodged in a police radio is complete fantasy? Well, in the sense that it happened accidentally.
I would caution greatly against employing the army, or water cannon. Public sympathy is fickle, and the riots to come would be infused with a far greater importance than what is, for the moment, criminal and opportunistic materialism.
A time for cool heads. Those who don’t have them are easily spotted right now. They’re the ones no-one should ever vote for again.
However, to dismiss this phenomenon as *purely* criminal is somewhat naive. We live in a country where the last government showed no respect for international law and blitzed the population of a sovereign state with heavy artillery. We have a media which shows respect for neither decency or the inland revenue. And we now have a government whose Conservative members wants to cut taxes for the bonus wallahs of Canary Wharf while simultaneously employing private companies to target the pitiful benefits given to the seriously disabled and chronically ill. Meanwhile the political elite were last year hoisted by their own mucky snouts in the expenses trough. If those in charge are incapable of showing society any respect, surely they are hypocritical in the extreme not to expect the most disenfranchised, uneducated and febrile strands of society to behave like this?
The UK Government should take a long hard look at itself in the wake of recent events. They’re largely responsible after all.
This really is about more than common-or-garden criminality. There is a massive amount of anger, frustration and outright hatred of the Police. The nature of the riots is complex, as are the people taking part, and the answers are not simple, not simplistic. One thing is certain; dealing with the palpable hatred of the police will not be answered by strong-arming, merely strengthen and exacerbate the problem.
Similarly the enlistment of specials as described would be a field-day for EDL thugs, who have already been calling for anti-rioter action. Frankly the thought of uniformed EDL on the streets scares me far more than the riots. Have you been listening to your inner Jeremy Clarkson or something?
Respected economic commentators have said for years that the consequences of the bursting of the mother of all economic bubbles, the hyper-mega-credit card debt of western rampant consumerism, would be widespread rioting. Now, coinciding with the beginning of the fallout of collapsing economies, we see widespread rioting and politicians of all stripes and anybody with a mouth for hire are falling over each other to say that it has nothing to do with the economy!
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Get Real!
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As one economic repeatedly has said, ‘when people lose everything, they lose it!’
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Do you think these youths would have been up all night rioting if they had to get up for work?
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I am not in any way condoning the violence and destruction, but if you genuinely want to fix the situation, there is no point is looking the other way when the reality invades your comfort zone.
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I moved out of an English city and into a remote part of Scotland almost two years ago precisely because I expected this to happen. I’m not a politician, an economist, a sociologist or an expert of any kind with regard to what we are seeing but if I could feel the pulse of a population being marketed into oblivion because there was no way of stopping the raging appetite for profit and growth in a finite space, and so could many other lay folk, why the hell could those who are paid handsomely for their expertise not see the consequences of the idiocy of infinite growth?
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I suspect the answer to that question is that they were doing too well out of it to want to say anything.
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Well, nobody took any notice of the likes of Gerald Celente and I doubt anybody will take any notice now. But the foreseeable future is bleak. Keep in mind that supermarkets only stock about three days worth of food. Don’t wait until people are panic buying, get a good supply of non-perishable food and an independent means of cooking it.
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Do you really believe that the global economy is too big to fail?
“Similarly the enlistment of specials as described would be a field-day for EDL thugs, who have already been calling for anti-rioter action. Frankly the thought of uniformed EDL on the streets scares me far more than the riots. ”
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lets not forget that the edl (combat18 et al) have been seeking a response from the muslim community to their provocations for the last 2 or so years (they are upping the stakes with attacks on mosques), this mixed with media demonisation and to consider camerons berlin speech (lets not forget former communities sec. hazel blears whilst in office she almost encourage edl to riot claiming a hot summer of violence) .. this was not the civil unrest they were expecting.
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neither did they expect breivik.
I wish I were in a position to say that I blame them.
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Our whole civilised culture screams at them daily, hourly, that success is measured in what you consume.
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If you’ve no money, job nor prospects, what are you to do.
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They’ve chosen to rob and steal, often with menacing violence.
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Our civilisation was based on such a choice.
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There was a time, from WWII until Thatcher, when the political consenus across the board understood that excluding people would be bad for society as a whole.
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Many are now beginning, just beginning mind, to see just how bad that can be.
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Once they realised just how easy robbery by steaming could be, it was only a matter of time before they ratcheted it up a notch.
The chickens are coming home to roost. I predicted the consequence of BBC feminist propaganda back in October 2008:
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http://jimmygiro.blogspot.com/2008/10/hang-bbc.html
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“A community is held together by the nuances of decency, the social norms that help us identify with the sense of right and wrong we all share. Divisive propaganda, that splits society into saints and sinners, works upon those nuances, undermining cohesion and morale in the process. The lowering of morale would typically be the prime aim of an enemy to aid invasion; indeed, Lord Haw-Haw was hung for less. When contentious factions are mischievously rewritten into the identity of a community, then the social instinct will retract toward the intimate and familiar. We will see the formation of cliques and gangs in reaction to the perceived threat of the greater community; and those that hold the male pariah in contempt, will retract further into the insularity of the single parent home.”
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It’s what you get when you disenfranchise boys at school; they don’t disappear, they form their own society, the chavs. And when society blames them for existing, treating them as enemy, they become enemy to society in natural reflexive response.
I completely agree with your blog, JimmyGiro. Hang all those who wantonly promote homosexuality!
“I moved out of an English city and into a remote part of Scotland almost two years ago precisely because I expected this to happen.”
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appears more have sought refuge in france, spain, italy for when it gets difficult here .. so the wealthy like our politicians can do business from afar (we’ve been told by both sky and the bbc). liam fox appears to be running the libyan war from spain (daily mail), and cameron, boris and may have all returned to compare their sun tans. before undoubtedly seeking refuge elsewhere again.
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blair left a legacy of laws that were enacted by 2008 that prepares the way for some heavy handed rule in the uk , so its not unreasonable that this civil unrest was foreseen if not created by politicians via the financial/economic management in favour of transferring wealth from the not so wealthy to the very wealthy.
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” That its devotees can argue that the corrupt bankers and politicians are morally no better is a perfectly valid point, but no justification”
But could it be a reason? Expecting moral behaviour in this situation is like asking the fox to fill out an application form for some of your chickens. Avid materialism is the stuff of society, we are constantly assailed by advertising offering a way of life just out of reach. The sickness is in a culture which elevates materialism beyond sharing.
Good post Mr Murray, I agree with most of it. Although I think “Jane Goody” was actually “Jade”. You might be confusing her with Jane Goodall.
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I see Jimmy Giro is another example of the confirmation bias I was talking about on the other thread. For Jimmy Giro this is just another example of how feminism has destroyed the world. Funny bloke that Jimmy Giro if you know what I mean.
Guildford High Street, a temple to consumerism in the 20th and 21st centuries (shoes, phones, clothes, furniture, cosmetics, jewellery, banks and building societies), was a place in which to riot in the 19th century.
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http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/bonfire-night/features/the-guildford-guy-riots
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Mayor Jacob brought in the Lancers and introduced more police with cutlasses to restore calm. A man after some of the ConDems’ hearts.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
of course these people had no real grievance.
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i love the media blaming the blackberry … nothing to do with poor half hearted policing , politicians sunning themselves whilst the country is going down the gutter .. a £250 million in a war against libya an £18 billion in afghanistan … a £100 billion in tax avoidance/evasion , the rich income rise by 18% last year as the poor have an effective 10% tax increase — and the bankers walk away with subsidies and bonuses all nicely put away in the shadow banking system .. whilst boris asks the question that demands the lowering of the 50% tax threshold .. and camerons dream of the big society.
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well at least cameron got his wish.
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and the govt gets its wish to monitor all forms of encrypted communication.
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and the police well they can continue with their heavy handed targeting of muslims, blacks encouraged by government directives and media demonisations.
I don’t think any economy in Europe will come out particularly well.Nor Northern Americas or parts of Asia.
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It’s about attaining some means of self sufficiency and being somewhere away from urban areas.
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Many forecasters are advising pulling out of investments – not that I have ever had any – but the markets are already in decline. I’ve been keeping an eye on eBay’s shares for completely different reasons and it has been going downhill for two weeks. If folk start ditching shares for hard cash or PMs and SPMs, we will see a total collapse.
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We are living in interesting times 🙁
Avid materialism is the stuff of society, we are constantly assailed by advertising offering a way of life just out of reach.
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Let’s get this right. Most of the time we see advertising offering a way of life completely within reach: “mmm Chicken McNuggets!”, “Hobnobs!”, “Let’s have some Coca Cola!”. In fact, the advertisers would probably be very bad at their job if they were always appealing to a target market that couldn’t afford their products. You’ll have to re-think your particular brand of right-on theorising I’m afraid.
Bet Boris wishes he had stayed in British Columbia.
1448: One resident demanded of Mr Johnson: “What are you going to do tonight.” Another woman, stuck in her hairdressing salon overnight, asked “Where were the police”.
1446: Mr Johnson – who flew back early from his summer holidays – faced an angry reaction from people who complained that last night’s police was far from adequate.
1444: Mr Johnson adds: “I just want to say to the people that instigated the riots, to those who have been robbing and stealing that they will be caught, they will be apprehended and they will face punishments that they will bitterly regret.”
1444: London Mayor Boris Johnson thanks volunteers in Clapham Junction for cleaning up the damage, saying their work represents “the spirit of London”. He says he is very sorry for the loss and damage business openers have suffered.
@Angrysoba,
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It was the intention of Marxist-Feminism to change society; they have succeeded via the schools, and the BBC.
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Yes, I’m suffering from confirmation bias, because those aims of feminism are being confirmed!
Oh dearie, dearie, me:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14456050
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The magic spell is broken. We are many. They are few. The delicious empowerment of it all.
Mods Can Yugo/Larry be taken off? I thought he was banned anyway. He is stirring things up on the previous thread – 9/11, Holocaust etc in his usual style. It is tedious to scroll through it.
Guildford High Street, a temple to consumerism in the 20th and 21st centuries (shoes, phones, clothes, furniture, cosmetics, jewellery, banks and building societies), was a place in which to riot in the 19th century.
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http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/bonfire-night/features/the-guildford-guy-riots
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Mayor Jacob brought in the Lancers and introduced more police with cutlasses to restore calm. A man after some of the ConDems’ hearts.
What exactly have I done?, Mary I will check what i wrote and apologize if something should not have been said.
Larry I am referring to Larry from St Louis who now posts as Yugo Stiglitz.
Dear Mary I have been through all my posts and I do not see anything to do with the holocaust? what thing did I stir up? can you post it so I can at least know how you are offended.
For many young people in Britain, even Hobnobs, Coke and MaccyDs are out of reach!
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It’s this austerity thing you see, Angry. Benefit cuts, sanctions etc., to pay the banksters’ bonuses.
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Angrysoba – complacent and out of touch as ever.
Larry Levin – Mary means another poster. You’re fine as you are 🙂