In the news

It's ironic that Morrissey was holding court in London on Sunday and Monday.

I wonder if he sang Panic...

And another from Camila today

Working at street level in London, over a number of years, many of us have been concerned about large groups of young adults creating their own parallel antisocial communities with different rules. The individual is responsible for their own survival because the established community is perceived to provide nothing. Acquisition of goods through violence is justified in neighbourhoods where the notion of dog eat dog pervades and the top dog survives the best. The drug economy facilitates a parallel subculture with the drug dealer producing more fiscally efficient solutions than the social care agencies who are too under-resourced to compete.
The insidious flourishing of anti-establishment attitudes is paradoxically helped by the establishment. It grows when a child is dragged by their mother to social services screaming for help and security guards remove both; or in the shiny academies which, quietly, rid themselves of the most disturbed kids. Walk into the mental hospitals and there is nothing for the patients to do except peel the wallpaper. Go to the youth centre and you will find the staff have locked themselves up in the office because disturbed young men are dominating the space with their violent dogs. Walk on the estate stairwells with your baby in a buggy manoeuvring past the condoms, the needles, into the lift where the best outcome is that you will survive the urine stench and the worst is that you will be raped. The border police arrive at the neighbour's door to grab an "over-stayer" and his kids are screaming. British children with no legal papers have mothers surviving through prostitution and still there's not enough food on the table.
It's not one occasional attack on dignity, it's a repeated humiliation, being continuously dispossessed in a society rich with possession. Young, intelligent citizens of the ghetto seek an explanation for why they are at the receiving end of bleak Britain, condemned to a darkness where their humanity is not even valued enough to be helped. Savagery is a possibility within us all. Some of us have been lucky enough not to have to call upon it for survival; others, exhausted from failure, can justify resorting to it.
Our leaders still speak about how protecting the community is vital. The trouble is, the deal has gone sour. The community has selected who is worthy of help and who is not. In this false moral economy where the poor are described as dysfunctional, the community fails. One dimension of this failure is being acted out in the riots; the lawlessness is, suddenly, there for all to see. Less visible is the perverse insidious violence delivered through legitimate societal structures. Check out the price of failing to care.
I got a call yesterday morning. The kids gave me a run-down of what had happened in Brixton. A street party had been invaded by a group of young men out to grab. A few years ago, the kids who called me would have joined in, because they had nothing to lose. One had been permanently excluded from six schools. When he first arrived at Kids Company he cared so little that he would smash his head into a pane of glass and bite his own flesh off with rage. He'd think nothing of hurting others. After intensive social care and support he walked away when the riots began because he held more value in his membership of a community that has embraced him than a community that demanded his dark side.

Wonder what all the people who voted for him think now?

They're probably thinking something along the lines of

'Get the army in to sort them out, live rounds if necessary too.' or some other similar shite.

It's ironic that Morrissey was holding court in London on Sunday and Monday.

I wonder if he sang Panic...

He didn't last night.

And another from Camila today

Are these on Kids company or somewhere?

I can't see how this is going to end because the police clearly can't deal with it. The only scenario is that the looters get bored, or the army are called in. The latter would signal the absolute failure of British society.

Heh, with an internet attention-span the former is surely inevitable.

why don't these kids get on their stolen bikes and go out there and look for work ?

I really hope South Kensington is unaffected. Was going to buy some Frescobaldi White Truffle Paté.
Its divine!

Heh, with an internet attention-span the former is surely inevitable.

Well they will soon run out of stuff to nick.

How much does your definition of antisocial behaviour encompass? Does it extend to the economic irresponsibility of the rich? If so, they were excused, weren't they? And continue to be. Why expect any different from the (relatively) poor?

no it doesn't although I can see that there is a case for what some bankers did to be seen as anti social. Those who broke the law in banking and finance need to be dealt with. I'm talking about anti social behavior that we immediately think of such as vandalism/looting etc. In both cases failure to impose law will only result in further collapse of it. Last night and all anti social behavior has very little if nothing to do with what the bankers did. These youths have been 15 years in the making, 15 years of getting away with no consequences to their actions. If you think this is a direct result of capitalist economics then how are you going to raise your child? And I mean that seriously Scarlett. As a law abiding father you will teach your son to respect people and property regardless of what bankers do.

Is anyone cycling today? Call me what you like, but my bikes stay indoor today.

I rode in - saw no evidence of rioting on a ten mile commute all the way to the city. I'm riding out east after work though, not looking forward to that so much....

pasquale's place got looted and trashed :(
no one injured thankfully

FFS :(

And all the staff bikes and a few customer bike's went.

BC or that evans? shit news anyway

why don't these kids get on their stolen bikes and go out there and look for work ?

because they have trashed a lot of the places where there are employment opportunities?

"all police cells in london are full" is gonna cause chaos if we have another night of this crap

Is anyone cycling today? Call me what you like, but my bikes stay indoor today.

Cycled into Islington from Walthamstow, bit eerie on the streets but didn't really see that much on my route in, there is a lot of glass about...

Looks like someone tried to tunnel into my office building by the canal until they hit the concrete wall... wood and insulation everywhere.

day-moe from Londonist and Independent

FFS even the seagulls are in on it.

SCUM

FFS even the seagulls are in on it.

SCUM

definitely from outside the community too. look at him. BRAZEN.

Thanks Dub.

"all police cells in london are full" is gonna cause chaos if we have another night of this crap

stack 'em high. can you believe they are wasting police shipping these idiots out to the surrounding counties? squash 'em in.

15 years of getting away with no consequences to their actions

You could be talking about the bankers / economic policy makers. Although it's more than 15 years, obviously.

I'm going to teach my son, to the best of my ability, to respect other people, and to not be duped into grasping at the hollow and ultimately unfufilling self-centred non-community minded consumer fantasy that's pumped into his environment (despite our efforts to limit exposure). FYI.

I'll also suggest he stands up for his rights, and questions the imbalance of power and wealth that exists.

Was anything going on round Blackstock Road last night? Or were there Turkish shopkeepers out and about? I'm hoping the Turks will keep it quiet round me.

Any word on how the Battle of Kingsland went down? Were any of the shop owners injured? Did a battle actually break out?

day-moe from Londonist and Independent

The indi article is excellent, she's clearly know the issues very well. I'd be interested to see more from her.