London Burning

Where are the Watchmen when you need them...

Hey, I'm with Rorshach on this one. "[They] will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No.""

Either Britain needs to put down these riots and fix the fundamental problems (such as unwarranted entitlement) that they have created over the past forty or so years... or perhaps it needs to burn as an object lesson. Superheroes (aka outside forces) won't solve this, not permanently.

I suspect a number of Britons may be coming to some of the same sad realizations I came to in the cold light of day back in LA in 1992...

By the way, we're about to have similar problems in many parts of the US - we're already starting to see issues in Milwaukee and Philadelphia with 'youth' mobs committing crimes en masse without apparent fear of retribution.
 
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Stealing and arson is always wrong - we have twenty trillion cameras but that will not stop anyone doing the deed we will see if it helps catch the perps and how much gaol time these perps get. I am not hopeful.
 
All the Brits are at this thieving lark!
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Stealing and arson is always wrong - we have twenty trillion cameras but that will not stop anyone doing the deed we will see if it helps catch the perps and how much gaol time these perps get. I am not hopeful.

I'll make a prediction: It won't, and not much.

I will say 90+% of those offenses caught on government camera during the riots are never solved. I also say they will get almost no time in jail, if any, and they'll be let out with a 'solemn promise' to go forth and sin no more.

I also say that it's a 50/50 tossup as to whether people rightfully defending themselves and their property from the mob will be charged instead - and given longer sentences than those who they were defending against (assuming they are ever caught).
 
As of the deaths of 3 british-asian men last night defending their property from mostly Afro-Caribbean looters, this has just gone up another level. There were already tensions between those communities and last time they faced off it was not pretty.
 
As of the deaths of 3 british-asian men last night defending their property from mostly Afro-Caribbean looters, this has just gone up another level. There were already tensions between those communities and last time they faced off it was not pretty.

Saw that. Guess it's only getting started, then.
 
Was there not something called the riot act? Hang on - oh yes there was - I bet those stupid Euros made us get rid of it - repealed in 1973, when did we join the EEC?.
As such laws are still in effect in many EU countries, you'll have to blame that one on your own goverment.

Saw that. Guess it's only getting started, then.
I think we both hope you're wrong here.
 
I think we both hope you're wrong here.

Yup, I don't want it to happen, but the probabilities are otherwise.

More info in - apparently more shots fired at police (so much for that gun ban), also this just absolutely disgusts me:

09.02 Police in London were ordered to "stand and observe" rather than intervene or confront rioters, officers have told The Times (?). Their caution was said to be the result of a number of pending legal battles, where the Metropolitan Police is being sued for its public order tactics.

Idiots dithering, playing politics and bowing to political correctness when people are dying out there.

This idiot also disgusts me, but for different reasons:
09.31 Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh has called for a halt to the vigilantism that became more widespread last night:

What I don't need is these so-called vigilantes, who appeared to have been drinking too much and taking policing resources away from what they should have been doing - which is preventing the looting.

These are small pockets of people. They're frustrated, they're angry, and that's totally understandable. The sadness of those images through the night and the night before last will affect everyone. But the support that we need is to allow those officers to prevent looting and prevent crime.

Well, if you morons were doing your jobs from day one, maybe people wouldn't be needing to become vigilantes. Idiot.
 
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Why don't they load up one of those trucks with a water cannon with the dye they use in the exploding packs they have for banks that get robbed?? Spray as you drive through the riots and go and arrest everyone that has the dye on them. Problem solved.
 
Why don't they load up one of those trucks with a water cannon with the dye they use in the exploding packs they have for banks that get robbed?? Spray as you drive through the riots and go and arrest everyone that has the dye on them. Problem solved.

The Brits consider water cannon to be cruel and akin to torture when used on humans and therefore ban its use without special permission and clearance... unless you happen to be in Northern Ireland in which case it's a free fire zone for the water cannon boys.
 
Anyone else starting to think about the Olympics next year? Just imagine what these opportunist pricks will try and pull then...

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of overseas nationals refuse to turn up to the games out of security concerns. That is unless the police show some balls.
 
Anyone else starting to think about the Olympics next year? Just imagine what these opportunist pricks will try and pull then...

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of overseas nationals refuse to turn up to the games out of security concerns. That is unless the police show some balls.

China (and IIRC some other countries) have started saying that the Olympics should be moved elsewhere as this 'clearly' shows that the UK is unsafe... and they do rather have a point.
 
If only. :lol:

Edit: Cameron just announced that water cannon are "available on 24 hours notice" - that's a slight improvement, but does he mean that it's going to take 24 hours to get one, or that they're on standby and ready for deployment 24 hours? Also, makes that ditz Home Secretary look like the moron she evidently is.

Also, nice - at the end of his presser, there were emergency sirens going...
 
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Idiots dithering, playing politics and bowing to political correctness when people are dying out there.
According to the Guardian's live blog, Met police denies a "stand and observe" order ever existed.

The political editor of youth-orientated "Live" magazine has some insight to share:
Live Mag said:
Let's not kid ourselves. These riots and looting now have nothing to do with police brutality or government cuts.

They are to do with a frustrated youth who have no sense of direction. These youth, most probably, are the same thugs who go out and vandalize, steal, and cause havoc in society.

What good is burning a random car or business going to do? What if that car or business belong to a friend or family member?

All these rioters will soon be caught, the majority of it all is on camera. The worst thing, though, is that these idiots burning down businesses, shops and houses mean that innocent people are losing their livelihoods.

If a father or mother loses his or her job ? their only source of income ? how are they suppose to feed their family?

There may be a minority who are protesting against police violence and, true, of course some police do abuse their powers, but that shouldn't reflect on the whole police force.

The youth aren't thinking about all of this. To be honest, this is the cause of the whole situation. Nobody is thinking.

But we're not trained to use our minds in this society, we're trained to use our ego. And that is the root cause of all the problems.
(bolded text by me) http://live-magazine.co.uk/article/riots-the-voice-of-youth/677

What gives me hope that Britain (and the spirit of Britishness) is not lost yet is that people are organizing community-based cleanups.
We must never forget that even among the frustrated, hopeless, underprivileged, underemployed and undereducated, the rioting morons are a minority. While I don't think vigilantism will do anything but make the situation worse, it is important that society, both as a whole and as their local communites, shows the rioters that they do not agree with what they are doing, even if they share the underlying frustration.
 
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Spectre; calls for water canons or rubber bullets are pointless - in the vast majority of cases the problem has been that the looters cause havoc before the police can get there and are gone by the time they arrive. It's a minority of cases where the police actually end up face-to-face with the looters. What's needed is a better network of police on as many street corners as possible ready to respond rapidly for discouragement purposes until this particular zeitgeist has blown over. You can't subdue that zeitgeist with force, that would only re-enforce it in their small minds. The UK isn't Texas or LA and the mindset of the criminals isn't the same either. When I was in the states I noticed very clearly that there wasn't really any US equivalent of inner-city urban hoodies or chavs. They're a uniquely British cultural phenomenon.

I'm not suggesting you're entirely wrong, I just keep seeing post after post from you and I can't imagine you're as in tune with the UK cultural problems as you would be with your own domestic cultural problems.




In other news, some kid in my city of Glasgow posted on Facebook trying to get a riot started and was promptly arrested for disturbing the peace. Now that kind of swiftness of prevention is a good tactic. If that shit kicks off here I'll be the first on the street cracking some fucking skulls myself. (We have Rangers/Celtic games for that kind of thing anyway).
 
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If only. :lol:

Edit: Cameron just announced that water cannon are "available on 24 hours notice" - that's a slight improvement, but does he mean that it's going to take 24 hours to get one, or that they're on standby and ready for deployment 24 hours? Also, makes that ditz Home Secretary look like the moron she evidently is.

Also, nice - at the end of his presser, there were emergency sirens going...

UK has six water cannons in Northern Ireland.

Bring the troops out on the streets is not necessarily a good thing. The British Army have created too many marytrs on the streets around the world.

The sorta strange very very very low budget Sangat Tv were live close to that awful scene last night where the people killed in the hit and run.
http://sangattelevision.org

http://twitter.com/#!/sangattv
 
Anyone else starting to think about the Olympics next year? Just imagine what these opportunist pricks will try and pull then...

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of overseas nationals refuse to turn up to the games out of security concerns. That is unless the police show some balls.

From the BBC News site:

Chinese communist newspaper China Youth Daily asks whether the 2012 Olympics will be safe following unrest in London. "If things are not settled with local angry youth, the London Olympics really will not put people at ease," the paper said. Another Chinese paper, Guangzhou's Nanfang Dushi Bao, said the Games could become "an unshakeable nightmare for the UK government"

Also

While in Hong Kong, the Oriental Daily News said: "If the UK wants to use the London Olympics to restore its glory as a great power, this will probably backfire."

To be honest I thought that from the start, it looks more likely now though.
 
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