UK Riots

PM Cameron has just said that last night there were 6000 police on the streets of London, tonight there will be 16,000. Police reinforcements being called in from all over the country. Parliament is being recalled for Thursday. No mention of troops, water cannon, or curfews being used. He said that sufficient and robust policing is what will be used.

That may be true for now, but unfortunately, it won't be long before the regular use of guns will come into play & then I'm afraid the police will be useless.

Prime Minister's Comments

There's a statement from our Prime Minister, that is going to come back & haunt him & also bite his ass...... its 8 paragraphs down.

"Much, Much more police are needed" REALLY? You think so PM? What bloody planet are you living on?

Successive governments, including yours have been cutting back on police numbers for years... talking about calling the kettle black..........
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While police officers had shown great bravery in dealing with the violence, "it is quite clear that we need more, much more, police on our streets and we need even more robust police action".

While police officers had shown great bravery in dealing with the violence, "it is quite clear that we need more, much more, police on our streets and we need even more robust police action".

I think he meant to sort out the immediate problem, not as a normal day to day activity in future. Depends upon how you read between the lines.

We have created a society of looters guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 August 2011 21.00 BST

"Haven't the warnings been there, from as wide a range of people from Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett to Rowan Williams? We are reaping what has been sown over the last three decades of creating a grotesquely unequal society with an ethos of grab as much as you can by any means. A society of looters created with MPs and their expenses, bankers and their bonuses, tax-evading corporations, hacking journalists, bribe-taking police officers, and now a group of alienated kids are seizing their chance. This is not to condone but to understand. Addressing inequality is the only way we can avoid a rerun of these riots.

John McDonnell MP

Labour, Hayes and Harlington

• If this government implements bigoted policies of social exclusion – deliberate creation of unemployment, ending of education maintenance allowance, dumping of Sure Start, attacks on social housing tenancies et al – then a small but violent minority of those excluded may turn to other ways of being noticed. And the huge police cuts mean that the riots are even more difficult to deal with.

Gerald Kaufman MP

Labour, Manchester Gorton"
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In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams

It might help if Twitter was voluntarily taken off line for 72 hours, that could take the edge off it.

Chris is not an Attorney Blurf.
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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Cash Donation Specialist

Chris is not an Attorney Blurf.

Chris is not an Attorney Blurf.

Like I said I didn't know if I was correct but I'd heard it somewhere....still amazed he's suggesting censorship by killing twitter for 72 hours (won't happen).

Chris is not an Attorney Blurf.

Like I said I didn't know if I was correct but I'd heard it somewhere....still amazed he's suggesting censorship by killing twitter for 72 hours (won't happen).

Anarchists respond to the London riots - Solidarity Federation

"...
The fury of the estates is what it is, ugly and uncontrolled. But not unpredictable. Britain has hidden away its social problems for decades, corralled them with a brutal picket of armed men. Growing up in the estates often means never leaving them, unless it's in the back of a police van. In the 1980s, these same problems led to Toxteth. In the '90s, contributed to the Poll Tax riots. And now we have them again - because the problems are not only still there, they're getting worse.
...

But as revolutionaries, we cannot condone attacks on working people, on the innocent. Burning out shops with homes above them, people's transport to work, muggings and the like are an attack on our own and should be resisted as strongly as any other measure from government "austerity" politics, to price-gouging landlords, to bosses intent on stealing our labour. Tonight and for as long as it takes, people should band together to defend themselves when such violence threatens homes and communities."
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In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams

No, I am not an attorney, and never have been. No apology needed, I'm just rather bemused as to where that came from. I was a Telecommunications Engineer and latterly an IT Teacher in FE.

I also don't agree with censorship, we should have a free press providing they stay within the law etc, but it is becoming increasingly clear that gangs of looters are using Twitter, and the Blackberry network to organise their criminal activity. In which case I think that temporarily taking both sites off the air will help the autorities to deal with the unrest.

It is not the fault of Twitter or Blacberry, it is the fault of the people who are using their systems for this purpose. It probably won't happen, and if it did, they'd simply switch to using mobile phones, but it will be that much more difficult for them. This will die down in time it simply has to, but any measure that hastens that must be a good thing. In this instance it wouldn't be censorship in the usual sense.

What worries me more is that Street Cred means more to these young people than life itself. It's getting to the stage where a yougster won't be able to hold their head up amogst their peers if they haven't torched at least one car. Then there is the gang mentality, our town is harder than your town, we burnt down 10 buildings you only managed 1 etc.

Not too long ago, you where worried about me. Not a riot since I lived here, just plenty of other crimes.
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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Cash Donation Specialist

The points Chris made do seem to figure in the mix, and, ultimately, the reasons (when flushed out - the real reasons) must be addressed. But, all the shop looting and property burning, to trash local communities, is not explained by social deprivation but by criminality.
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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

Not too long ago, you where worried about me. Not a riot since I lived here, just plenty of other crimes.