UK Riots
 

So, I was almost caught up in this earlier today so I thought I'd post about it. We've been having a number of riots over the past few days. I'm sure those in the UK have seen it on the news. For those that haven't:


That is London, (the capital where the riots have been primarily focused =p.) Hundreds of arrests - many police officers injured.

It started off with peaceful protects in Tottenham over the weekend, following the shooting of a person who'd (apparently) shot a police officer and been ventilated in return. These then evolved into riots - the following couple of days its been spreading.

Hackney and Lewisham today. Houses being set on fire. Pictures of rioting from helicopters, lots of thick black smoke.... Peckham, skirmishes in west Croydon... Brixton.

The media is doing their usual wonderful job of fanning the flames. Anyone who wants a bit of fun will stick the news on and head down the highstreet to join in.

Sutton's joined in, even White Chapel for god's sake. - White Chapel's only spiting distance away from the City proper. The financial heart of the Capital.

Spread up as far as Birmingham in some limited sense now.

It's sheer madness - there's no reason behind it at this point - just something that seems to have been picked up on as an excuse to go out and smash things, steal things and generally be unpleasant.

I have a feeling they're going to start calling people in if it keeps going on, you can't keep sticking the same people on the street day after day.

The BBC have a live feed here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675

...

There's a distinct disconnect with people - - nothing to hope for, no prospect of a job. Why wouldn't they riot? What do they have to be afraid of? What stake in society do they have?

Re: UK Riots
 

Are those areas particularly poor or home to migrants? Because the background sounds a bit like the Paris riots a couple of years ago.

Fun fact: as we Germans tend to do everything by the book we have our destructive riots scheduled: the riff-raff usually meets on the first of May in Berlin for rioting.

Re: UK Riots
 

Maybe they should create their own jobs instead of thinking somebody owes them one.

How'd you do that then? Where'd you get funding to make your own jobs? People do not have an education that would tell them how to set things like that up, nor do they have one that encourages them to do so.

Fuck, I don't have a job - how do I make one? Perhaps I should ask the magical fairy for some job making dust.

Everything's owned - ideas, ground, goods. The market seems fairly full.

I'm better off than most people - I could get a job easily if I wanted one. But I don't know how you'd put your plan into action from where I am - let alone where these people are. People aren't educated to believe in themselves, they're educated to be workers.

Most of the areas it's started off in are fairly run down. It's getting into the richer areas as time goes on.

Heh. German efficiency.

Re: UK Riots
 

Meanwhile the riots in Birmingham are taking place in the heart of the city and seem primarily motivated by the presence of JD Sports outlets and Orange shops.

Re: UK Riots
 

Efficient, but usually also apolitical. Lenin supposedly said "A revolution in Germany? That is never going to work. If Germans wanted to storm a train station they'd still buy platform tickets".

Re: UK Riots
 

:lulz:

Germans make me laugh (I speak German, and lived there for awhile; so you guys are like my second nationality)
quick off topic: I went to a German middle school here in The States, and we never, EVER, EVER had school the day after Oktober Fest. Was always a fun way to get some laughs and make fun of the teachers.

Anyways, back on topic.

Those pictures are mindboggeling. It sounded like riots are taking place in other cities also. Have they all originated in the poorer neighborhoods?

Re: UK Riots
 

While this is fairly violent it seems that the rioters themselves don't have a conscious political motive. Obviously there are fairly deep social problems at work here but I doubt if you could get one in front of a camera you'd get much more than vapid thuggery.

People with cameras seem to be being attacked - reporters have been advised not to film stuff. Some residents have been advised to evacuate. Police are incredibly outnumbered.

...

News of some rioters carrying bleach around. Nice fellas. Get some of that in your eyes and you're screwed.

They do seem to be coming from the poorer neighbourhoods and then spreading out. Yes.

There's a map of the main riots here:
London riots: all incidents mapped in Tottenham, Brixton, Hackney, Lewisham and Greater London - Telegraph

It's not like the 80s riots though - where it was contained to relatively deprived areas. These are breaking out with a fairly wide spread as things go on. I'd imagine the media coverage and the better communications tech your average person has access to has a lot to do with that. You can phone your friends, stick it up on Twitter - flash groups that COULDN'T form effectively in the past are suddenly viable. As much as anything else police riot tactics are based around containing the spread of information - the feeling if you will - of a riot. And that's just not viable anymore - not with things like this.

Re: UK Riots
 

Step 1: Burn all current businesses to the ground.
Step 2: Take over.

Re: UK Riots
 

They are helping to make jobs. The police and fire fighters have been particularly busy, and some of the cops that got injured will need to have replacements while they heal. The building that were burned are on some good property so someone is going to want another building on it. They will employ people to build the building.

The rioters won't get jobs, but other people who need them will get some work.

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Good for them.

Re: UK Riots
 

Around 100 people have been arrested over the Birmingham riots since yesterday. Notably the violence has spread beyond the mass robbing spree in the shopping district with a police station in the Handsworth area (they like rioting over there) reportedly being set on fire. According to the news other major cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol are experience similar outbreaks of violence now, too.

Still no obvious motive for any of it besides hooliganism, though this being England I guess you don't need much more than that.

Re: UK Riots
 

BBC News - Further riots in London as violence spreads across England

Riots have spread to Nottingham, Liverpool and Bristol. It honestly seems to me to be an excuse for wannabe ASBOs to do some rioting and get some things they can't afford because they are too lazy to get a job.
This is about a black person being gunned down (which may have been justified), not looting, but I doubt most these rioters care about that now. Sure they would much rather have the new 40-inch TV...

Re: UK Riots
 

Interesting to see what happens when people realize that the police isn't able or willing to stop them.

I'm surprised that they don't just declare a curfew or martial law. This seems to go a bit beyond peaceful protesting.

Re: UK Riots
 

A bit. =p

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The main issue lies with the fact Parliament isn't in session, so no effective legislation can really be undertaken, not that this justifies the extreme indecision.
However, Cameron has recalled Parliament in response, and additionally, Met officers on leave have been recalled. Hopefully, they'll stop being politically correct about this, and realise that a majority of people would support a crack-down by the police.

Re: UK Riots
 

What?

Do you really think that parliament has to actually pass a new law for police to get out on the streets and break a riot up? Seriously!?!. There are hundreds of laws giving the police the power to do what they need to do dating back over the last millennia.

The problem is that the people in charge of the police are still buggering around with cuddly feely tactics. The riots across the country are a response to that, the anarchists on the streets know that the police response will be non existent and they can get away with it with no consequences.

This is the time to use an iron fist instead of the velvet glove. Rioting will stop immediately as soon as the anarchists/looters get the taste of tear gas followed by the repeated application of a truncheon and a pair of handcuffs.

/que wailing from left wingers that it's breaching their human rights, and their just victims of society blah blah blah. Fuck it. Their criminals and looters rioting because one of their gangsters shot at a policeman (with a pistol, ownership of which is in itself illegal) and ended up getting shot.

Deal with the problem now, instead of trying to justify their actions, seeing they have any support from muppets just provides them with encouragement. Agonise over the unfairness of looters getting dealt with after it's been dealt with and hypocritically criticise the "heavy handed" response in the safety provided from it.

Or provide an alternate workable solution to deal with the problem before it's dealt with. I'm honestly interested in how the British looney left would propose to deal with a riot without the use of force.

Re: UK Riots
 

Alright, I stand corrected. However, it has to be acknowledged that the fact Parliament isn't currently in session causes an illusion of a leaderless nation, as absurd as that truly is, causing the fuck-wits who are rioting to feel to an even greater degree that they can get away with it.

Nobody would complain if it was brutally put down. Personally, I'd approve... a bit less scum in society is always a good thing.

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No, it doesn't.

Politicians decisions or soundbytes are not required in any way, shape or form. Were every politician in the country to die of a heart attack overnight the nation would continue to run as before, and probably quite a lot better without inane interference designed to play well in the media instead of achieve anything useful. Politicians are not in charge of anything. This is not the US. Neither the police, the army or any other executive agency requires parliament. Hundreds of years ago, they managed quite well with parliament being in session an exception rather than the rule. Then again, that's because hundreds of years ago being a MP was seen as a irksome duty rather than a lifetime job for political power.

The simple truth is that 90% of laws that have been passed for decades are horribly written rubbish written simply to show that a politician or government was doing something, anything about an issue.

POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG

To quote a police officer "we don't need the army, we need the order to charge".

The police command is so scared at actually being sued by the disadvantaged and horribly misunderstood youth protesters organising mass rallies for the right to take anything they want without paying for it that they are paralysed with indecision. Who's fault is that? I blame politicians for messing around with the police system and introducing "elected head police" to make the police "more accountable". I don't want police worrying about popularity, I want them to arrest the bloody criminals.

Re: UK Riots
 

It's not like we didn't see this coming, the Kaiser Cheifs predicted this years back. ;)

I knew about the Riots in London, but Bristol too? I've literally just spent this past weekend in Bristol (Friday Night was at the Bristol Cider Festival). Everything seemed okay then; same goes for Saturday night ~ I was at a Friend's house-warming BBQ. Granted it wasn't in the centre, but I'd have thought if there were problems that early on, someone would have commented on it?

...that is, unless it has literally only just happened (Sunday Night or Yesterday). Either way, parts of London seem to be a mess, and I've no doubt these other cities mentioned will match that mess.

They should bring in the Military... Oh wait, they're all out in the Middle East!

Re: UK Riots
 

Yep;

BBC News - Police appeal for calm after Bristol disorder

I was in Birmingham City Centre late on Sunday and there was no sign of any major disturbance there, either. Now the area I was in is cordoned off with police all over the place. Pretty astounding how quickly these incidents sprang up.

Re: UK Riots
 

Like all riots, the media will focus on the violence and looting, but they will do their best to ignore the tensions that sparked it in the first place. Sure, there was an altercation with the police, as there was the same with the LA Riots when Rodney King got beat by the LAPD, but it ignores what tensions were there bubbling for some time. Economic distress, dissatisfaction with current policy, tension between the police and the community, and so on.

It just takes a spark to bring it all out in the open. For instance, the protests that have been swarming the Middle-East have roots in discontent with economic disparity, corruption, and the recent spikes in food prices and unemployment. All it took was the young man in Tunisia setting himself on fire to make that nation go up in arms, and from there it spread into Egypt and elsewhere.

It goes with out saying that those in London probably won't go to that level because of different social terrains, but after the riots boil over, there'll be a lot of questions to be asked about public policy. I believe just a few days earlier Vince Cable said something along the lines of “Britain is an oasis of calm” in regards to how the people were weathering the depression and justifying their response to it.

Edit: Now I'm not saying that I support people burning shit down and looting. Rather we shouldn't look at the event itself, but at its roots and why it occurred in the first place, and not just the shooting.

Re: UK Riots
 

Obviously it has been the main topic of the news today and yesterday (followed by the stockmarket and problems with the euro, dollar etc.) though I haven't bothered to really read into it alot. It sounds a lot like the riots in Paris and other places where there was an incident with the police, which sparked tentions and problems that have been boiling under the surface for a long time.

As for the guy that was shot dead and apparantly unarmed... that really doesn't really give enough information to say whether or not there was any misconduct. Can't jump to conclusions without knowing if other people involved were armed, extremely hostile etc. basically if there was a life threathening situation or not.

Back to the riots, it might be due to lack of camera footage but I haven't seen much of a police anti-riot force (with tear gas, armoured or semi armoured vehicles, water guns, rubber bullets, battons, dogs) respond in any force. I've heard about people saying they didn't see any at all or were there just not enough and/or in the right locations. I'd imagen calling up 200-300 riot police in a few hours shouldn't be a problem. Certainly not after all the changes to tighten public safety. But a force of a few thousand strong might take a day or more.

Re: UK Riots
 

It has to come to violence before anyone notices that something just might be wrong with society. And then rather than worrying about the problems that cause it people want to beat the symptoms over the head with a truncheon and go back to business as normal.

This is just two tribes going at it. What can you hope to do to these people? What can you take from them? You're going to jail for six months - I'm sure you'll miss your job at McDonalds. :lulz: Please.

What investment do these people have in society's future?

You can only control people when they've got hope. You can't do much to people with little left to lose; not unless you're prepared to round them all up and kill them. And frankly if the deal being offered to them boils down to shut up and live off benefits/ a McDonalds job without any pride or hope whatsoever, or we'll shoot you -- well I'm not sure I'd be on the same side as the government.

It'll cool down in a bit, but I doubt very much anything will change. It'll just be a matter of holding the lid down on a pressure cooker until it boils over again.

Sixteen thousand police on the streets of London tonight. Other cities are kicking off. Most of it seems to be theft and property damage.

Apparently Blackberry Messenger is being used a lot for coordination of rioters movements. Some police nob has asked for it to be shut down and Blackberry have refused. With the knowledge that it's being monitored now though many of the rioters seem to be moving to messenger services in other jurisdictions.

Re: UK Riots
 

If the public finds that beating the symptoms over the head with a truncheon is remotely effective in alleviating said symptoms then it is certainly the only thing we are going to see happening as a result of all this.

It's not as though this kind of indiscriminate violence and criminality isn't a constant on the streets of the UK already. Everyone knows why it happens, including those with the ability to change the situation. As damaging as these events will be, they don't reach high enough to alter the status quo in any positive way.

Re: UK Riots
 

Riots have also broken out in Wolverhampton. Nobody could tell the difference, though. Some people are worried about them breaking out in Telford too, but the population of Telford is too stoned / drunk to do anything like that. It hasn't stopped all the stores closing early today though. I can't get fags for love nor money.

Hey, these rioters may actually help me to quit smoking. If I knew that all it would take to quit was thousands of angry chavs causing millions of pounds worth of damage all across the entire nation, I'd have orchestrated something years ago...

Re: UK Riots
 

Why do these events happen and how could the status quo be altered in a positive way? I'm not trying to troll, I'm honestly asking what are the societal ills plaguing Britain and how could they be so easily fixed?

Re: UK Riots
 

Rumours just started up here ( Norfolk) that Norwich is going to be hit, I dunno if it's mere rumours or it actually will. I could do with some new nikeys, so hopefully they will :lulz:

serious note:

The media is nothing but a pain. They are throwing words around constantly like "thug" "yob" and "hoodie" which is just making us look bad.

At the moment there seems to be no real cause, people are apprently trying to make a cause but it won't happen. It's just people angry for whatever reason looking to blow shit up. Hell if they started here I would probably get my blow against the torries.

Re: UK Riots
 

Nemm's, don't take this the wrong way, cause it isn't a jab just a realization. But, wasn't socialism suppose to fix all this? It would seem the system many young people put their hopes into has failed them. Some of the articles I've read said that the riots were primarily fueled by young people who are angered by the decline or lack of social services and by the...heat. Seriously, the heat? Really, try living in the US where the heat is killing people, wiped out food supplies and hasn't dropped below 90 degrees in 13 states for over two months. Thankfully, at this point, we have refrained from burning our infrastructure, homes and business to the ground. They only do that in L.A....cause they are all nuts out there anyway. It's tough Nemmerle - everywhere right now. Be safe over there.

Re: UK Riots
 

Well, being a london resident myself, there is no actual clear reason for these riots, and i'm not joking at all. i never saw this coming at all, the Mark Duggan case is just being used for a face for the riots, but mainly it is because the people have seen how inneffective the police were in containing the riots in tottenham, and so decided to have a crack at it themselves. thus leading to mondays events where basically the entire city went up in flames.

Honestly, there is no clear and easy way of dealing with this. The majority of the rioters are ill-educated and drop outs, chavs and the relatively poor. its mainly youths mixed with a few young adults and older people trying to get in on the looting.

I find it very frustrating that people moan that the police are not doing enough, yet when the police crack down and crush riots, there is always one complaint that they were to hard on the rioters.

The social ills? Just the usual money problems, and the massive strain on the government to commit to its promises on social security and the NHS.

In short. there is no reason. just youths taking advantage.

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The rioters (AKA stupid people), actually make me ashamed to be british. So much so, that I want to leave this country, right now, and never ever look back.

Re: UK Riots
 

It is shameful, a lot of angry people. All they are doing is making things worse. How is this going to change anything I wonder. I had the same sentiments some years ago with the LA riots. It started over some of the very same BS and in the end it cost the city millions, cost lives and made the poor communities even poorer.

Now this is something that doesn't happen often, London citizens taking back the city from the rioters:
http://news.yahoo.com/londoners-stri...155127609.html

Re: UK Riots
 

The events of the past few days are simply a more organised form of street crime. What is it about the UK that can breed this seemingly purposeless violence on such a large scale? Well primarily poverty, joblessness, the growing gap between rich and poor and the lack of social mobility. Essentially, the fact that an entire underclass has been allowed to slowly develop in the UK with no prospects and no relationship with the wider society.

I'm not suggesting that these problems are easy to solve... on the contrary, it's generally far more expedient to leave this underclass to rot on benefits and watch as their general uselessness makes them into pariahs for a discontented public, while leaving the police to clear up the mess that results.

Re: UK Riots
 

So, then would you say it is a failure of British multiculturalism? Or simply a rich and poor thing?

Re: UK Riots
 

Multiculturalism is a misnomer.

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So these poor, deprived, oppressed rioters all have blackberries? Does that seem like a non sequitur to anyone else?

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I doubt possessing a blackberry defines class situation or income. The only non sequitur I see, is the faulty connection between blackberries and class status.

Re: UK Riots
 

Seriously? I'd wager there is a correlation.

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Blackberries are so 2005. Only poor people use them nowadays, rich folks would have iPhone 4s or Android-powered devices.



I'd get into how owning things which are seen as essential to functioning as a person in our current society is not exactly an indicator of wealth (a 1986 Honda Accord? Man, you've got a car? You must be loaded!), but my statement up above seems like a response that matches the question.


EDIT: Red Menace, there's been an underclass in England for far longer than there's been a Great Britain. It's just the color palette a painter must use when depicting a lower-class scene has expanded significantly, is all.

Re: UK Riots
 

When was there "socialism" in the UK?

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That's a good argument.


This isn't because it's too general. I didn't say I expected a correlation between owning any type of phone and not being poor but between owning a higher end phone and not being poor.

Re: UK Riots
 

Well, there is unfortunately a degree to which these issues overlap. But I would say it's more about poor job prospects and lack of aspiration than any particular race or culture.

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The problem is not that an underclass has been "allowed" to develop. The problem is that an underclass was encouraged to develop under our previous government. All of those yobs on the streets are seeing their hand outs being reduced or eliminated through fraud crack downs, free council houses are no longer for life etc. Breeding (paid for by the taxpayer) will no longer be an acceptable career option.

Without trying to sound overly political, only the terminally stupid in the UK did not know we had this coming. The problem was encouraged, since all of these people are voters, and it doesn't take a quantum physicist to realise that given a choice of voting for:-

1) A party that would keep giving them free handouts, and sending them to counselling courses instead of prison when they occasionally get caught in criminal acts or:-

2) A party that would take a chainsaw to their abuses of the welfare schemes and punishing crimes harshly when they realise how bad the criminal benefits system is. (oh, sorry. Criminal justice system. It's hard to forget the difference when you don't get any appreciable punishment for minor crimes like robbery and any long term sentences you get your house paid for, which leads to criminals dragging the trials out long enough to pass the paperwork buying a really expensive house for the tax payer to pay for)

It's a failure of absurd idiocy that police officers have been complaining about for years.

Magistrates are little happier. The army blokes in the UK quite fancy a crack at the problem, but understand they won't get asked, because the politicians don't like the idea of the solution that the military is enthusiastically discussing implementing on their sites.


http://www.collectedcurios.com/SAS_0085_Small.jpg


Yeah, so incredibly poor. They can't afford to eat... oh, wait. Scratch that. Well, they are so poor that they can't afford clothes... oh wait. Scratch that. Well, at least they can't afford high end luxury goods like smartphones, playstations, xboxes, tv's and computers. Oh wait. Scratch that.

Well, they can riot and smash the place up to show that they can do!

BBC News - London rioters: 'Showing the rich we do what we want'

Re: UK Riots
 

Yep, Wolverhampton was definitely hit. The very same street I used to work in, in fact, right opposite the local newspaper headquarters (rioters just happened to hit a jewellery store in their rampage against 'the government'). They like it when the news comes to them.

A poignant reminder that the rioters don't know why they are doing it. They don't care about the damage they're causing. They're clueless, remorseless scumbags, part of an entire class of clueless, remorseless scumbags who have developed over the last ten to fifteen years. They have a massive sense of entitlement, without the work ethic or ambition to warrant it. You can all thank the Labour Party's long period of government for their arrival.

Frankly speaking, if we were to let these riots reach a high point and then set the army lose on them, as the comic in the post quoted rightfully suggests, we wouldn't miss any of the casualties. Britain could do with a bit of 'spring cleaning' in its populace.



As though all this rioting wasn't bad enough, we now have the 'English Defence League' talking about 'helping' the police deal with the 'rioters', which basically means stomping on 'brownskins' no doubt. The EDL is marching in Telford on Saturday, so even though we've escaped the riots, we'll have some lovely street fighting instead. All bars and clubs in the region they're hitting are going to be closed that day, to give you a hint of what's expected.

Re: UK Riots
 

You can give people all the pretty trinkets you want but at the end of the day if they've nothing they can dream of achieving within the paradigm of your society and nothing to take pride in, then they're not well off.

These people aren't oppressed, well no more so than anyone else is by being stuck in a people zoo - aka school - for the first fifteen years of their lives with crap teachers and no real adult input, they're not even particularly poor in a monetary sense. They just don't have a stake in society.

They're criminals - culturally educated criminals. You offer these people money in return for obedience they'll take it, fuck you over and laugh about it. Why shouldn't they? Unless you can hold a soft form of power over their heads - work with us to get your dreams, have a bit of pride - then you have to use a hard form of power. Fuck with us and we'll kill your families, burn your house to the ground and salt the earth. If you're not willing to do so why should they keep their word to you? You're just too weak to respect.

And the option that British government has chosen is?.......... Neither. To let the situation run unchecked for decades. Well done, Britain. Go back to sleep.

One of the first people to appear before the courts over this - 31 year old teacher. It's not about the money.

Re: UK Riots
 

This veteran writer/broadcaster gives his accounts of potential motives behind the riots. Not sure of his credibility, but the video has gone viral fairly quickly. I only included it, because I can’t seem to find blogs that don’t link back to this interview gone awry.

He basically describes the riots as an insurrection of disenfranchised youths. Who have long since been victims of widespread systematic racial profiling and authoritative abuse. The interview was for me at times, intelligible. Could be my notebook‘s sub-par sound system, the accent, or both…

What’s the story on this guy. Real vet with “writing broadcasting” credentials? Or some loon pulled out of the wood work for an elaborate propaganda run?

Oh and the news lady on here. She did try to bait self incrimination, mildly..

Re: UK Riots
 

What are the EDL saying? Let's look at their website.

English Defence League | Blog | Urgent Call for Action - Clean-Up Operations

Well, that looks really sinister.

To be fair, if we had looting around here I would turn up to provide a disincentive to loot the shops. Making a citizens arrest is perfectly legal, and has been since time immemorial.

Well, let's look at the BNP.

“Call your friends� – Nick Griffin urges our people to stick together | British National Party
Horribly sinister! Helping old people by making sure they can eat and drink and stopping them getting mugged on the way to the shops. The horror.

Well, it does look like the shoe is on the other foot. The BNP and EDL have been called crazies for years for saying that these communities (ie, the ones they live in) are full of thugs and criminals and wanting to do something about it. Now, to look at it another way it kind of looks like they are responses to this criminal underclass having developed.

These people are broadly speaking the law abiding citizens from those communities. For years the major political parties didn't want to hear what they wanted to say about the problems they had. For years they were dismissed. Now the problems in their communities are spread to riots across the country and other people aren't happy about it and want something done.

Funny that.

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Like so many other radicals, though, what they are saying and what they actually do will almost certainly turn out to be two completely different things. The people in charge may genuinely mean what they're saying, though I doubt it. The sorts of people they attract, though, are often no better than the rioters on the streets. Neither the EDL nor the BNP have reputations for being 'peaceful and community-minded'. The fact that half of my town is being closed on Saturday because of an EDL presence is testament to that.

I hope I'm wrong.

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Somewhat surprising, although it might be that many young teachers flock to the far reaches of the political left. Sucks that those guys are teaching kids in the morning and burning down houses in the evening though.

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He is a political activist who was a member of the British Black Panther Movement in the 1970s. His journalistic career includes working as editor of Race Today magazine as well as several TV documentaries centering around the subject of race.

His view seems to be that these riots are a result of the police use of "stop and search" powers and is likely affected by the personal experiences of his relatives as he describes. I would say that genuine anger at the police probably accounts for a small fraction of these occurrences at best, since much of the violence we've been seeing hasn't been directed at the police, but rather at the owners of local businesses. Overall, there are a lot of political factions trying to pin convenient motives on the rioters at the moment.

Truly terrible interview on the part of the BBC, though... she can't even get his name right at the start. If they thought his background or the activities of his relatives made him an unreliable source then he shouldn't have been on the programme in the first place.A 31 year old "primary school worker" living at home with his parents isn't really knocking down the stereotypes.