Riots in England

Cover up? At the Met?

Nah, that's not like them at all.

A looter has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years for starting a fire which destroyed a family-run furniture shop in south London in the summer riots.

I remember that story. Dude did it just for shits and giggles, and to score some free stuff. Never occurred to him that some of the nearby buildings were occupied and that he nearly killed another person because of the blaze. That sentence suits him right.

That sure was a stupid thing to riot about.

I don't see any riots in Florida because of Trayvon Martin. Talk about an overreaction.

I remember some story about a nasty racism-related event that took place somewhere in the US (sorry, no more recollection than that) and various community leaders in the area immediately and pre-emptively called for calm. They had clearly learned lessons since the Rodney king incident and I was rather impressed with their proactiveness. I wonder if the same kind of folks averted race riots this time too.

Worth noting, however, that the Trayvon Martin issue isn't over yet. The next flashpoint is going to be if George Zimmerman escapes conviction.

Well, he was also apparently depressed from a divorce and didn't intend to cause such widespread damage. I'm sure he was also affected by deinviduation, ie. doing stuff in a crowd he'd never do on his own.

I'm also pretty sure that none of that excuses his dangerous, stupid actions and 11 years is wholly appropriate.

edited 12th Apr '12 10:56:38 AM by betaalpha

I don't see riots sprouting because of that.

Frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a riot start with a justified reason. Just a bunch of pissed off people who hate cops.

This. When this was going on still, I remember the family of the guy who got shot putting out a message about "this isn't what we want!"

Riots just need a trigger and a sufficiently angry population.

Doesn't help that the Met are also institutionally racist and corrupt.

So, are we going to see a "Police Service of London" in the next few years?

What exactly does "Police Service of London" mean?

I was being a little Sarcastic — the old Royal Ulster Constabulary was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland for similar reasons. I was just riffing off that, as it were...

Frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a riot start with a justified reason. Just a bunch of pissed off people who hate cops.

Now ask yourself why they were pissed off, and why they hated cops. The UK isn't a universal utopia, y'know. The inner-city regions where this mess caught alight are mostly poor, mostly non-white, and mostly forgotten by the government except when police squads bust in to break down someone's door. Couple that with the ever-increasing wealth gap, the recent economic crisis, and the way that the folks who started it basically got away with throwing everyone else in the shitter, and made a tidy profit. Many of the rioters were young, and suddenly found themselves without any meaningful job prospects. All in all, you've got a pretty explosive cocktail.

Not all the rioters came from that background, but that's what started it all.

After decades of corruption and political and private sector double-dealing that have resulted in massive poverty throughout the UK I'd be very, very surprised if England doesn't burn again this Summer.

If you want to know how far back — there were episodes of The Professionals that covered the same problem...

I'm afraid this is almost one of those Inherent in the System-type problems.

The fact that the Union is on the brink of ending kinda shows how bad things really are. It's really bizzare when you stop and realise that we've actually gotten to this point. Ten years ago, who would have seen this coming?

edited 13th Apr '12 5:51:28 AM by TheBatPencil

Some people in Scotland wanting independence isn't really anything to do with the riots. I don't think they're even saying they don't want to be part of England 'cos everything's supposedly getting more rubbish there. It's more about wanting self-governance and believing they can be self-sufficient now there's oil in that thar North Sea.

I know it isn't; I'm just saying that people all over the country are very unhappy with the way things are and that it's quite remarkable that we've gotten to where we are so quickly.