London Riots

**BonnieShels** · 08/08/2011, 8:12 PM

Seems like it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Whereas there is potential of Sky-perbole to have kicked in it seems that they are in fact reporting properly here. Have mates all over the city and they are reporting that the fan is covered now.

Clapham is on the way now.

**Closed Account 2** · 08/08/2011, 10:46 PM

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

**mypost** · 08/08/2011, 10:49 PM

Who said August was a "quiet time" in politics?

**BonnieShels** · 08/08/2011, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

No mention of Ealing on the news. Had a friend staying there over the weekend. Thankfully she managed to get out in time to Poland on Sunday.

Mad looking at all those places going up when I was just there yesterday!!!

**Lionel Ritchie** · 08/08/2011, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

Dave's having tennis lessons apparently. I s*** you not.

**BonnieShels** · 08/08/2011, 10:54 PM

great photo of a girl arrested after looting the store... that she works in!!!

**Closed Account 2** · 08/08/2011, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by BonnieShels

No mention of Ealing on the news. Had a friend staying there over the weekend. Thankfully she managed to get out in time to Poland on Sunday.

Mad looking at all those places going up when I was just there yesterday!!!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...7776DY20110808

Ealing is happening now, literally as we speak. Apparently it looks like cars were set on fire on the broadway, but now looking at the flames my mate thinks the whole Ealing shopping center might be up in flames, you can see the flames right over the A40.

All London Carling Cup matches (West Ham, Palace etc) are apparently off tomorrow night, England Holland is unlikely to go ahead (not enough police) on Wednesday, talk of the Premier League matches being postponed. Fulham v Villa, QPR v Bolton, Spurs v Everton, Palace and Millwall are at home too, so it's unlikely there will be enough police. All of this football news is unconfirmed, but if anyone's going to a game this week check.

Rumours now that the Airports are going to shut.

**thischarmingman** · 09/08/2011, 12:08 AM

Incredible.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msi...14195,0.298691

**tricky_colour** · 09/08/2011, 2:17 AM

I'm in Nottingham, a long way from London But I am still pretty worried, probably unnecessarily, Just fetched an axe from the garage 'just in case'.
You just don't know when it will end, I thought it would be over last night but it is worse than ever.
There has been trouble in Birmingham, I'd like to think Nottingham will not be affected, but who knows, there is no precedent for this stuff.

**Pauro 76** · 09/08/2011, 6:05 AM

I'm working in Reading and living in Uxbridge, thankfully well away from it all. But Twitter rumours, Uxbridge might be next today. It's absolutely frightening. I've been here 7 years and the lack of leadership from Cameron and Johnson is ridiculous. These people have no respect, no fear, no morals, no ethics. Animals, absolute animals. Many friends here and i hope they stay safe.

**DannyInvincible** · 09/08/2011, 7:41 AM

Originally Posted by Pauro 76

I've been here 7 years and the lack of leadership from Cameron and Johnson is ridiculous. These people have no respect, no fear, no morals, no ethics. Animals, absolute animals.

But what's your opinion on the rioters?

**Pauro 76** · 09/08/2011, 8:34 AM

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

But what's your opinion on the rioters?

Well played sir!

**DannyInvincible** · 09/08/2011, 8:52 AM

More seriously, I think these words, apparently from rioters interviewed or overheard in the street, are worthy of consideration, a riot being the language of the unheard and all that.

When it's revolution in Egypt you all go, oh wonderful! Why are you dissing us then?

NBC correspondent, Martin Fletcher, wrote the following:

[H]ere's a sad truth, expressed by a Londoner when asked by a television reporter: Is rioting the correct way to express your discontent?

"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"

The TV reporter from Britain's ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."

Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere.

It's obvious these people, whether they're versed in the politics of activism or not, whether it's orchestrated or not, or whether they're even really all that conscious as to why exactly they feel an urge to cause such destruction and mayhem, are driven by some fundamental quest for acknowledgement and empowerment; obviously states of being they've exceptionally rarely had the pleasure of ever experiencing before. I don't think it's helped dismissing the whole thing as "mindless criminality", nor does it help to marginalise further by verbal dehumanisation a section of society who already feel very much left out. I'm not sure what answers that gets us, other than insulating those who might actually be worth questioning for such a sorry state of affairs because apparently there's no more to discuss beyond this being "random" and "inexplicable"? And I'm not talking about those who've been arrested. There's a cause for everything. Those rioting are human beings, like us, who share the very same range of emotions as us. If we grew up in their shoes, who's to say we wouldn't be out there with them? It's clear there's a lot of anger and disaffection there, even if it is manifesting itself in such an unsophisticated, hopelessly self-destructive and misdirected manner that is both damaging their own communities and threatening the lives of innocent others, but let's bin the myth that there's no reason behind this.

**SwanVsDalton** · 09/08/2011, 9:42 AM

Danny - largely agreed, although the debate, at least initially, is going to be dominated by the 'looting' stories, organised elements loading up cars of swag etc. A lot of this action doesn't really lend itself to understanding. Hopefully after it all dies down a bit, there can be a proper conversation on why exactly this is happening now.

Live in Sydenham, just south of Catford/Lewisham/Peckham, and just north of Croydon. Got home last night about 10pm, all quiet except for a gang of masked hoods quite obviously discussing where they should go for their destruction kicks (heard one say 'Let's hit Bromley'). Is it wrong I'm feeling kinda nostalgic for home off the back of all this?!

**Mr A** · 09/08/2011, 10:02 AM

There may well have been reasons for the initial protests but the later stuff simply seems like scumbags taking advantage of how overstretched the police are. Yeah, there's poverty and deprivation, but people still need to be responsible for their actions. There were plenty of people from the same areas who didn't feel the need to smash up their local Currys or torch a shop with flats above it.

**BonnieShels** · 09/08/2011, 10:09 AM

Another concern I have Is with the wave of copycat disturbances abounding around England as we speak what chances that our scum element will try something after watching the pictures from London.

**shakermaker1982** · 09/08/2011, 10:38 AM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Facebook.html

SCUM.

**Pauro 76** · 09/08/2011, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton

Is it wrong I'm feeling kinda nostalgic for home off the back of all this?!

Not at all. I'm seriously thinking of coming back. No jobs back home though. David Cameron's speech was a bit meh. But hoping it'll subside soon, surely the looters can't expect to get away with this for a 4th night?

**Pauro 76** · 09/08/2011, 10:44 AM

oh and this is quite heartbreaking if you haven't seen it. Poor kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gex_ya4-Oo

**Lim till i die** · 09/08/2011, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Enoch Powell

As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood". That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century.