London riots

[Opal]

This was posted 9 days ago...."there is nothing to do here....there will be riots"

http://gu.com/p/3vyad

I really feel for the youth of today, nothing to do unlike in my era (I'm 64) when we had lots of games to play in the street, like 'ollies, rounders, cricket, football on the ollers, kick the can, making tar lolly ices off the roads (best around the cobbles).

When older after a few drinks it was football till 2am, into bed then up for work at 6:30am, they haven't lived!

 

[robin wood]

I guess they haven't burnt down any benefit offices, this is nothing to do with jobs just criminal gangs looting.

Ah nothing to do with jobs? what proportion of those looters do you think will be up for the day job at 7am then? Though you maybe think they can't be arsed to get a job, it's so easy for 19year olds to get jobs at the moment.

It is a wild guess, but you are not black are you?
<-smiley face

 

[nodd]

Its so easy to blame the lack of jobs for this ,Im 49 unemployed but I don't go out setting light to property and looting shops I am trying to do something about it by retraining IMHO we are reaping the fall out of people being taught no discipline by people who were taught no discipline. Or do we just say there there its ok to do this your 19 and unemployed so we understand you want a new telly!

 

[Bushwhacker]

They can make more money selling crack than they ever can with the sort of job they'd be suitable for.
It's gangsta culture and wannabe gangstas.

 

[nodd]

descent people in their houses being burnt out by the oppressed and hard done by, waiting to come out and clean up after them, what is this country coming too!

 

[Bushwhacker]

They need this guy to clean up the streets.
[video=youtube;ssHEAOrAdCU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssHEAOrAdCU[/video]

 

[nodd]

Just seen on the news shop was looted for masks so they could go looting, but on a more sickening thing was the video of a man who had been attacked dazed, bleeding from the head two good Samaritans come to help him while one is asking if he is ok the other is nicking stuff out his backpack. All I hope we never have a major disaster in this country with help full people like that. Planet of the Apes, Lord of the flies spring to mind.

 

[spandit]

I went out on Saturday and bought a new telly (from Richers Sounds in Brighton)... should have waited!
Without getting too "Daily Mail" on the subject, it's a good job I'm not in the police as watching some of the scenes on telly made me really angry. If some hoodie had some up to me and started mouthing off, I would have hit him with the largest, heaviest thing I had to hand.

I just feel so sorry for the poor people who have had their livelihoods ruined by the criminal scum involved. The big chains, JD Sports etc. can probably cover the losses but small convenience store owners have lost everything.

 

[robin wood]

Its so easy to blame the lack of jobs for this ,Im 49 unemployed but I don't go out setting light to property and looting shops I am trying to do something about it by retraining IMHO we are reaping the fall out of people being taught no discipline by people who were taught no discipline.

I agree with a lot of this and of course there is absolutely no excuse for mindless looting, I don't "blame" this on lack of jobs or having indoctrinated a generation into believing material goods are the single route to happiness not in the sense that that gives an excuse or makes it OK to do it. I do say those are two of the major contributing factors and that overlooking them will make avoiding repetition difficult. You can keep people down by force but not for long. There are many young folk living in these areas without jobs or hope of jobs who chose not to be on the streets, it is a minority who are doing the looting, they will have a blast for a short time at others expense but it won't make them happy, just remove the boredom for a while.

 

[Suffolksteve]

I don't think the lack of jobs available at the moment is the core issue. I think there are a number of issues which are affecting and causing the situation in our cities.

The long term deprivation many communities have, the continual lack of prospects, oppurtunities and jobs mean that there are whole sections of our society that are completely disconnected. They just don't see the world the way many of the people on here do. Because of the media, need for instant gratification and the expectation that they should be able to afford the lifestyle they want when in reality they can't it provokes anger and frustration.

In addition to that there is a continual problem with broken homes and absent parenting, being a step father I understand that parenting is tough, that sometimes partnerships need to end. But too frequently that has led to absent fathers.

Our society has stopped a lot of traditional parenting, parents are being threatened of being reported to child line by their own children and it has spiraled. I understand the need to protect children, but I also believe boundaries should be set, which they consistently aren't or aren't enforced.

Our police force is restricted, under manned, under equipped and have low morale. Why would you get involved in a riot when if you strike someone they could die and you could get prosecuted, no water cannons and no rubber bullets like almost every other state police force have in Europe. They can't even tell someone off for spitting as it a "cultural issue" and when they do arrest people they don't get punished. Not one burglar last year received the maximum sentence from the courts.

So why should these people with zero prospects obey the law, respect people and their property? They have nothing to lose because if they get caught, which is unlikely, they won't get punished.

Realistically the short term answer is to equip our police force, which rioters will stay out when soaking wet? Or being shot at with rubber bullets?

Long term, there are so many issues I couldn't list them all. The priorities in my eyes would be a stonger police force, better education and actually getting children out of poverty.

 

[Bush Matt]

Many issues underly the problem. However this is straightforward criminal opportunism. When you see kids throwing rocks, youths looting and adults burning buildings - with the police unable to react to stop them - it encourages others to have a go at getting away with it. It is not difficult to deal with these people but it is difficult to deal with them in the current soft touch environment.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Just seen on the news shop was looted for masks so they could go looting, but on a more sickening thing was the video of a man who had been attacked dazed, bleeding from the head two good Samaritans come to help him while one is asking if he is ok the other is nicking stuff out his backpack. All I hope we never have a major disaster in this country with help full people like that. Planet of the Apes, Lord of the flies spring to mind.

Watched that two dude, true face of there cause, idiots,

I really hope that the Armed forces aren't brought in, as these kind of kids are seen in recruit training centres all the time, cocky know there rights and willing to push the restraint of instructors, but in that scenario they can just be thrown out and the instructor goes about his life, where as when you face people on a base line, the level of restraint shown by soldiers will be equal to the police but when the kids don't back off and think they will just get a shove to move like the police give, they wont, there will be a lot of crying parents shouting bout the terrible treatment of there sweet child when he got his head stoved in and stepped over, as the guys who protect our country do what they are supposed to do, water cannons would be the softer option and more palatable by the public at large, Though if they have been into blacks they may have bivvies and pac a macs so the effect would be reduced maybe a strong mix of Robinsons juice, that stuff will stick to anything!

 

[nodd]

It is always the minority that has the ability to gab the headlines and its the majority that suffer from their actions. I agree all factors need to be looked at but the minority will always find a excuse for there actions in this PC society we live in.

 

[Shewie]

Stephen Kavanagh said on breakfast telly that we don't have any water cannons on mainland Britain, only those in NI. I can't see how they'd work anyway as the violence isn't happening in one place, there's no way they could be positioned each time to absorb the next wave of chavs.

Rubber bullets and tear gas along with the authority to use them is what's required, the namby pamby "it's not their fault" attitude is what's got us into this situation in the first place.

Still it's useful that we're now allowed to protect our porperty with reasonabe force now :twak:

 

[sandbender]

As always one of the best selections of photographs can be found on the 'Big Picture' website...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/08/london_riots.html

Its worth scrolling down to picture 23



Another selection can found at cryptome

 

[Retired Member southey]

Rubber bullets and batton rounds are ace, but iis back to the after effect, they are also very effective at blinding even if skipped off the ground, and looking at the footage there are alot of people just trying to get home who all of a sudden find them selves in a riot area as the groups move so fast, containment of the groups will be the only real option by numbers of plod and I guess curfue if it continues,

 

[Wilderbeast]

As always one of the best selections of photographs can be found on the 'Big Picture' website...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/08/london_riots.html

Its worth scrolling down to picture 23



Another selection can found at cryptome

That's heartbraking

 

[dwardo]

I really feel for the youth of today, nothing to do unlike in my era (I'm 64) when we had lots of games to play in the street, like 'ollies, rounders, cricket, football on the ollers, kick the can, making tar lolly ices off the roads (best around the cobbles).

When older after a few drinks it was football till 2am, into bed then up for work at 6:30am, they haven't lived!

You forgot "poking dead things with a stick" ahh memories....
There used to be something called the "riot act" once read who ever was still about got shot. I am not suggesting a shooting but surely with all the CCTV about it cant be hard to line em all up after the event. We need more prisons and much tougher sentences, fund the prisons by making them work producing goods as they do in the states.

 

[nodd]

A lot of the issues that have been mentioned in various posts as to the cause of this have always been there. There was even looting during the blitz there always has been thugs and criminals and always will be. Society now seems to have more than its fair share of them. To my mind there is no excuse it the more basic its right and wrong and I dont care about any one else so long as I get what I want and now attitude.

 

[Opal]

There has been much talk of "jail their parents" for the youths misdeeds, some of these idiots would shoot their own parents.