Agh

[LeftishBrit]

Usually I get on OK on the main boards; but I keep coming against two opposite but equally infuriating reactions to the riots: either the rioters were all freedom-loving political protesters just like those in Syria, or the Daily Mail is quite right and it all just proves that the welfare state corrupts people!

Argh!

[oldironside]

1. Agreed.

There is an awful lot of pontificating from people who have virtually no direct knowledge of the UK and who have their own agendas. All they are really doing is parading their own ignorance.

Even allowing for the time I have here and the fact I have American friends, I still don't think I can lecture them about their country.

[fedsron2us]

2. It is a shame as there is plenty of decent analysis

amongst the knee jerk stuff from both right and left.

The collective threads on the riots on the BBC and Guardian are well worth reading in full.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/london-riots
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097

For example the BBC has the interesting statistic that 83% of the suspected rioters were over 18 which rather gives the lie to the claim that most of those involved were bored out of control school kids. The reality seems to be the majority of the rioters were young adults.

Even the Telegraph and the Mail have had some considered articles amongst the inevitable hang and flog all benefit claimants drivel. All the better pieces have pointed out that the acquisitive must have consumer society pushed at the young 24/7 by the media shaped way the riots played out. There is also a growing recognition that the values displayed by the financial elite are trickling down to the rest of society even if the cash stays at the top. As A.A.Gill (not normally my favourite commentator) put it rioting looters were technically 'shorting their neighbourhood' in search of a quick profit perhaps because they instinctively realised the goods might not be there in the future. Thus are the dubious morals of corrupt bankers, media moguls, police officers and politicians are played out on the street.

[non sociopath skin]

3. As half of an Anglo-American partnership, I long ago ceased to get aerated ...

... at how little folk in the US know about the UK and "Yoorp" and vice-versa.

I still get annoyed at how British politicians seek answers from the States, though. With the possible exception of the Reagan-Thatcher axis, you wouldn't see that the other way round.

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

4. I think you know that the answer lies inbetweeny

not helped by the fact that a peaceful protest became something totally different. The area of disagreement seems to lie in respect of the subject of whether those subsequent events were or were not a form of protest. The key to this may be what those in court have explained to be the reason for their behaviour and there are plenty of links to that subject regardless of whether they have been reported by the The Mail, The Guardian or others.

btw - I have no interest in The Mail other than picking it up on a Saturday morning for my mother because she likes their TV guide. Aside from that I have no interest in our newspapers period as I have a general reluctance to be told what to believe - I am old enough to be cynical in that respect.

[T_i_B]

5. Yep

On the one hand you get American DUer's who are very distant from the events and trying to tie the riots into some half baked political theory which they really don't fit.

On the other hand you get the likes of David Starkey just spouting bigotry with no consideration of who the people doing the looting actually are and just trying to blame any minority group they happen to dislike anyway.