Poll

1 vote (12.5%)
7 votes (87.5%)

8 members have voted

pacomartin
pacomartin
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August 10th, 2011 at 6:39:17 AM permalink
The provisional IRA's December 1974 ceasefire had ended in early 1976, which was when I first went to London. Needless to say there was considerable fear of people leaving a bomb in the pubs or on the underground.

Other than that I remember London as considerably safer than New York City which was recovering from it's brush with bankruptcy.

It saddens me to see this wonderful city have such an accelerating crime rate, which has been stated in British papers to now be 7 times higher than New York City. These riots are horrific.

The US has had it's share of riots over the decades. I was caught in a riot only once in my life, and I hope it doesn't happen again.







While a population growth of roughly 8.5 million (higher by other predictions) is modest by American standards, the country will change.
1990 : 57,411
2011 : 62,698
2050 : 71,154


Do you think attitudes will change as a result of these riots?
FleaStiff
FleaStiff
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August 10th, 2011 at 6:59:36 AM permalink
Immigrants probably means some blacks but mainly pakistanis, bangladeshians, indians, somalis, etc.

I think its more the Dole Economy and the dole attitudes. Look at all the squatters, the nonsensical AntiSocialBehavior Orders, the increased violence and increased armed response by police. Yobs are often a problem or Hoodies. Few jobs, none of them paying anything. What did the public expect.
Look to the lower class Turkish area. They went out with weapons and beat up the rioters. Their restaurants were open for business as ususal. And their streets were calm after that first incident. All but one unit of police moved out to where they were needed.

Go see Stella Does Tricks for a portrait of Galvegian poverty. The girl who can't get off the game because a job as a sales clerk in the bakery requires two years of training is often the real problem. Young, poorly educated youth are the death knell to a functioning society.

Some of the interviewed rioters were really complaining about their poverty and the lack of respect, not about any valid grievances against the merchants. Cops run around issuing summonses for disrespetful racial comments by a storeowner yet Islamic leaders boycott stores that sell pork. Gang rape by Islamic kids is okay if the girl is English because she is a whore for being out alone and dressed immodestly (ie other than a chador or Burqua).
pacomartin
pacomartin
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August 10th, 2011 at 7:07:18 AM permalink
Quote: FleaStiff

Look to the lower class Turkish area. They went out with weapons and beat up the rioters. Their restaurants were open for business as ususal. And their streets were calm after that first incident. All but one unit of police moved out to where they were needed.



The one riot I was in, the Turks and the Arabs sat on the roofs of their restaurants with rifles. Their places were not disturbed. I think a lot of it is not only were they armed but rioters thought that they were likely to shoot.
matilda
matilda
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August 10th, 2011 at 7:49:05 AM permalink
A point of view from a local. http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html
pacomartin
pacomartin
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August 10th, 2011 at 8:15:18 AM permalink
Quote: matilda

A point of view from a local.



Thank you Matilda, well written blog. I like the one quote:

In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now.

I am always amazed at how much of the verbage that I hear on TV is just filler. Sometimes you can listen for a half an hour and you can confidently say you know nothing new. But people like to hear comforting things. Violence is bad. These actions are senseless. Rioters do more damage to themselves than to anyone else. Look at these looters who are just exploiting the situation.
thecesspit
thecesspit
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August 10th, 2011 at 10:21:42 AM permalink
" It has become clear to the disenfranchised young people of Britain, who feel that they have no stake in society and nothing to lose, that they can do what they like tonight, and the police are utterly unable to stop them. "

This sums up my understanding. I can't stand watching the footage to be honest.
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
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