Ashamed to be English

Its in the nature of things for older people to see the generations coming up behind them as rotten beyond redemption!

 

But we're not talking about bad manners in Tottenham etc are we? Or, for that matter, just kids. We're talking about crims. Somehow I don't think the ancients would have wasted much time feeling the pain of an army of cretins who just felt like appropriating other peoples' property and doing a bit of fire-setting. They'd have been much more likely to round up a few ringleaders in order to do ghastly things to them in public as an awful warning to the rest.:D

 

Well said, Clueless. There are plenty of people in my area who are struggling to get by but don't resort to criminality or hide behind 'victim' status. They're the ones who are really worth looking after but they're often the most disregarded members of society. A lady I know cleans offices at night in a rough part of Chatham and then walks home through the darkness. There are no buses and if she takes a cab the fare absorbs such a chunk of her wages that it's not worth working. So she scurries past the drunks and street walkers and hopes no one will notice her.

 

Morning you!

Ancient Minoans would have exiled the kids! Or shoved them in the Labyrinth and the Minotaur and told them to get on with it! :-)

My point was historically kids have always misbehaved List of riots - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ive just been out running with a lot of kids. More than usual came which was a really pleasant surprise.

There wasnt rioting where I live, but the organisers made a special effort to target teens this week. We had an extra 11 turn up, and some came with a parent.

 

I bet you were made up with the turnout, here in Manchester at the moment there is a rally with all the young ones making a point that they are not all bad, well done to them.

 

From At the End of the Week | The Slog

'Our father, who art in prison, my mum knows not his name, thy Riots come, read it in the Sun, in Birmingham, as it is in London. Give us this day our Welfare bread & forgive us our looting, as we’re happy to loot those who defend stuff against us, lead us not into employment but deliver us free housing, for thine is the Tellies, the Burberry & the Barcardi, forever and ever… Innit'

 

But Clare, don`t tar them all with the same brush, Amongst the criminals is a professional model, a professional athlete, a welcomer to next years Olympics, the daughter of a millionaire and a serving member of the Parachute Regiment. I am glad to see them all going down for their part in the " misbehaving ".

 

A welcomer to next year's Olympics? I suppose they'll work in threes. One to break the visitor's jaw, one to comfort him and a third to go through his rucksack.

 

Don't mind us, Melinda. You're twenty-four; you still have an optimistic view of human nature and feel the need to balance what you say and see the other person's point of view. The crunch will come when you have kids. If you're still living in London by then and haven't decamped to a leafy village in the Cotswolds, I guarantee you'll pile the children into the back of a Chelsea tractor, ferry them to a nice Kensington prep school and thank God that they don't have to rub shoulders with kids who will be inside for GBH before they're out of their teens. :D

 

Barnaby, I think we do have a war between government and police force, the police dont want their budget cut.
Who does?

Last thing we need is a long winded review, with "Lord so and so", presiding for the next two years and coming up with the bleeding obvious.

I'm sure if a copper had hit one of the actual rioters, instead of an innocent bystander, as in the case you describe, a different approach would have been taken.

 

The police have become afraid to do anything very much and I'm sure that their attitude was a factor in the recent riots. Every last little skank in town grows up mouthing 'you can't do nothing about it'. By and large, they're dead right. We need a police force, not a service and we need to support it and recognise that from time to time things will go wrong; that is inevitable when people are making split-second decisions in extreme situations.

 

I had to go through central Maidstone tonight on my way home from work.
It involved driving past the police station which has the magistrates court next door.
You would not believe the amount of teenagers just sitting on the steps outside having a treetreetree, either waiting for their mates or for their own case to come up, presumably.
They were a pretty grotty looking bunch, and I doubt an employer would even look twice at any of them.

There was also a gang of about seven loitering just outside the police station, just as I drove by one threw a box of something he had been eating ceremoniously into the road.
And we have signs, saying £200 pound fine for littering, this was 20ft from the cop shop.

Drop a treetreetree butt, and they are on you like a ton of bricks.


Why does f a g , come out as treetreetree
I cant spell cigarette.

 

I think there's a major difference there. The man that was murdered by the policeman was making a very clear statement that he just wanted to get out of the way. His entire body language was screaming "I'm not hostile, I just want to leave this area". He had his hands in his pockets, his shoulders were slumped down, his head was down, he was walking slowly, he was deliberately trying to avoid getting into arms length of anyone. And then a copper attacked him and the man died. It is situations like that, and many many more thankfully less serious but still unacceptable actions that cause so many (including myself) to lose respect for the police.

Even if a rioter suddenly saw sense, and was then assaulted by the police, that would be wrong too. But if someone accidentally gets hurt while resisting arrest having been caught red handed smashing up people's homes and businesses, I think most people, while not necessarily being glad that it happened, would understand how and why it did.

 

Can I be controversial and suggest that the subject has been covered very fully, from many different aspects.

To prolong the discussion is opening a number of abrasive arguments that seems to be causing ill-feeling between previously harmonous members.

Could we allow the authorities to progress any follow-up actions to bring these serious issues to a conclusion, and return this Forum to the healthy banter that was the watchword of this site.

I accept the situation was very serious and merited discussion, however the Forum Thread has become unhelpful.

Apologies if I mis-read the feeling of the rest of the members, but at least I can provide the opportunity for you to tell me I am wrong.

Geoff

 

Agreed. Thanks Geoff.