I predict a riot!!!

[Lord Beria3]

This behaviour is not acceptable -whatever your politics.

Its about time looters are executed by the police and solders (they should come back) and law and order restored.

Time for this country to get tough on the scum.

[UndercoverElephant]

The following is an interview with two Croydon girls boasting about how the riots were "to show the Police we can do whatever we want" and "having a laugh."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424

I lived in Croydon for ten years. I hate the place. Absolutely despise it, and mainly because of the attitude of the people who live there.

These people have some serious surprises coming their way in the coming months and years.

[mr brightside]

These people have some serious surprises coming their way in the coming months and years.

It* can't come soon enough, i heard the interview on R2 this afternoon whilst i was building my Skoda engine and nearly threw my pushrods at the wall. The welfare state has been enabling the creation of useless individuals like these for too long; all living in introverted communities and not sharing the value system and thought processes of the rest of the population, they grow up expecting to be provided for and bitching ignorantly about social/class gaps. People like this make communism look like a fantastic proposition.

*If it is this TEOTWAWKI some PowerSwitchers talk about then i'll settle for it.

[clv101]

Its about time looters are executed by the police and solders (they should come back) and law and order restored.

Hyperbole I hope?

[biffvernon]

two Croydon girls boasting about how the riots were "to show the Police we can do whatever we want" and "having a laugh."

Ah Croydon girls. Don't seem to have changed much in the forty years since I used to hang about there. These two certainly weren't displaying much intelligence, whereas the two most senior police officers in the Met who recently found they had to resign... I wonder what it would take for the police to earn the respect of those two girls.

[Lord Beria3]

Its about time looters are executed by the police and solders (they should come back) and law and order restored.

Hyperbole I hope?

No. I'm serious - enough is enough. We need to crack down on this kind of lawlessness early, because with PO and the economic crisis, its not going to get better.

Tolerating looting on the streets is a very dangerious thing and could spiral out of control when we see serious shortages of food and petrol (only a matter of time in my opinion). Sending a message to the underclass NOW that the looting will be answered by death will prevent much greater future civil disorder.

[biffvernon]

Time for this country to get tough on the scum.

But who defines scum? Take the case of the fellow who, finding himself with a little inherited cash, wisely invests it in gold and sits back to watch the price rise and himself get rich without lifting a finger. No proximal victims of course, the family repossessed of their house or the miner poisoned by mercury are not counted. No, no, not he. It's the kid who grabs the chance of a new pair of trainers that deserves to be shot in the street. A strange world.

[Snail]

Time for this country to get tough on the scum.

But who defines scum? Take the case of the fellow who, finding himself with a little inherited cash, wisely invests it in gold and sits back to watch the price rise and himself get rich without lifting a finger. No proximal victims of course, the family repossessed of their house or the miner poisoned by mercury are not counted. No, no, not he. It's the kid who grabs the chance of a new pair of trainers that deserves to be shot in the street. A strange world.

Are you being serious, or being devil's advocate or something? This underclass is scum, a class you join via your actions or beliefs. I've never had much money, and have become unemployed. But i would never do what these scumbags are doing. And that's despite feeling angry and a little bitter myself.

Lord Beria is completely right. the underclass has been tolerated for far too long. People's heads need cracked, and the so-called 'community leaders' told to F--k-off. I pity anybody who lives in a town or city. Not taking a stance against these types of people and gangs is the reason why we have these problems now.

[Lord Beria3]

Biff, you really are a naive individual. I feel like sending a bunch of yobs to your sleepy area of the country and see how sympathetic you are towards thieving scum.

Everything about you is hypocritical - you are prepared to accept tens of millions of migrants flooding the country in the future - even at the risk of the country imploding from over-population and lack of food. Yet, you live in one of the most unpopulated rural areas of the country.

Buying gold, like buying shares or property for that matter is a perfectly legitimate act and nothing to do with burning buildings (and putting peoples lives in danger and destroying businesses). After all, a businessman like you should realise that.

On a bigger picture, the response by these violent minority of youth suggests that the future could be pretty grim if we don't get on top of this problem over the next twenty years. Do you seriously think that these uneducated violent thugs will happily become farmers on the farms in the future? Or accept the end of their designer (welfare and crime funded) lifestyle of bling bling. This is the unmasking (as Alex Scarrow predicted in Last Light) of a violent terriifying underclass with no future and thus have nothing to lose from trashing any chance the rest of us have of transitioning to a better low-carbon future.

We HAVE to get a grip of this violent minority now - WHEN WE CAN - otherwise they will send us the abyss of anarchy.

Tough decisions - yes - but in the longer run the only way to get a better low-carbon future.

[Standuble]

If I may comment on this article, I'm going to keep my views out of this except my concern that if PO starts to bite, that loved ones and other law-abiders will one day become the rioters and the looters. Even if they're aware of whats happening and completely prepared for PO, they aren't immune to having a breakdown or cracking under the pressure that the situation will press upon them. I wonder if we would reach the point one day where there is more than five million looters, all of whom have become the new "scum." I wonder if anyone here or anyone we know from our normal lives will become them. Especially if we rationalise it to ourselves thats its a victimless crime and its a necessary evil for our own survival.

[biffvernon]

Biff, you really are a naive individual. I feel like sending a bunch of yobs to your sleepy area of the country and see how sympathetic you are towards thieving scum.

LB3, you suggest I am sympathetic towards those who you call 'thieving scum'. If you read what I say carefully I hope you'll find that I'm just searching for reasons why people behave badly. If we are tough on the causes of crime we stand a better chance of preventing it. Your suggestions of summary execution and 'sending a bunch of yobs to your sleepy area' might be construed as incitements to violence, which should regarded as a crime. It is certainly unhelpful in finding a way to deal with a deplorable situation.

I actually have very little sympathy for any criminal act but it's a sobering thought that all of the deplorable damage could be paid for out of the bonuses of a handful of bankers and the ~£750billion write off by RBS of Greek loans is three orders of magnitude larger.

Of course there is nothing illegal about profiting from speculation in gold, land or whatever but it's worth thinking about the morality of unearned income and just how far 'property is theft'.

Reasoned discussion of difficult issues is more challenging, but ultimately more profitable than knee-jerk reactionary outpourings.

[Ludwig]

If I may comment on this article, I'm going to keep my views out of this except my concern that if PO starts to bite, that loved ones and other law-abiders will one day become the rioters and the looters. Even if they're aware of whats happening and completely prepared for PO, they aren't immune to having a breakdown or cracking under the pressure that the situation will press upon them. I wonder if we would reach the point one day where there is more than five million looters, all of whom have become the new "scum." I wonder if anyone here or anyone we know from our normal lives will become them. Especially if we rationalise it to ourselves thats its a victimless crime and its a necessary evil for our own survival.

Yes, that's the scary thing.

Desperation makes monsters of people, and everybody has their breaking point. It's one thing to loot for fun - another to do so because it's the only way you can feed yourself and your family.

[Kieran]

Just posting this to help counter the growing Daily Mail tendency here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 33991.html

"Shops looted, cars and buildings burnt out, young adults in hoods on the rampage.

London has woken up to street violence, and the usual narratives have emerged – punish those responsible for the violence because they are "opportunist criminals" and "disgusting thieves". The slightly more intellectually curious might blame the trouble on poor police relations or lack of policing.

My own view is that the police in this country do an impressive job and unjustly carry the consequences of a much wider social dysfunction. Before you take a breath of sarcasm thinking "here she goes, excusing the criminals with some sob story", I want to begin by stating two things. First, violence and looting can never be justified. Second, for those of us working at street level, we're not surprised by these events."

Article continues...

Still, what would Camilla know, compared to the vast experience of some here?

Oh, in case you start calling me a bleeding heart liberal or naive, I have no problems in cracking a few skulls to maintain law and order. I also live in a pretty damned rough area, and have had a number of scary encounters.

Good post Standuble.

[biffvernon]

‎"I love the way that we call people who break into chainstores 'looters', yet the rest of us law abiding citizens get to loot the entire planet and are deemed peaceful. Instead of H&M, read rainforests. Instead of JD Sports, read oceans. Instead of Tesco, read soil. If you want to see a looter, look within, we're all looters. Just some are culturally normalised."

[clv101]

No. I'm serious - enough is enough. We need to crack down on this kind of lawlessness early, because with PO and the economic crisis, its not going to get better.

Indeed, it's unlikely to get better. Our challenge is to avoid becoming the totalitarian police state not embrace it. Your proposal may start with the rounding up and executing of a few dozen of your "thieving scum" - which in itself is wholly unacceptable, but where does it end? Where have you been for the last six months? Police/army shooting civilians never ends well.