I did not read thru the whole thread but overall not surprised.
The London incident is just one more incident in a long list of similar incident in Europe in the last few years: Look at Greece a few months ago, France a few years ago....
This is just the global trend. Western Europe, alongside the US is on a slow but clearly downward trend, be it economically or socially.
As for those young wankers there is very little the gvt can and will do. They will catch a few, send them to jail for a few years and so what? Nothing would have changed.
Unless very proufound and painful structural reforms are kicked off, I really do not see how the US or Western Europe can get out of this - the problem is very few ppl are willing to sacrifice one or two generations (and who could really blame them) for the good of the future generations...
This sums up a lot of the looters attitudes towards the legal system now:-
"And even if they do get caught, they are not afraid of the consequences, with one telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'What are they gonna do? Give me an Asbo? I'll live with that.'
However, rioters quoted by BBC Radio showed a terrifying sense of impunity about their role in the violent clashes that gripped the heart of the city last night.
'Why are you going to miss the opportunity to get free stuff,' one asked a reporter during the unrest last night.
'The government are not in control because if they were we wouldn't be able to do it would we?'
The young looters told the Today programme that they were unconcerned about being caught and did not expect that they would have to suffer as a result of their crimes.
'This will be my first offence,' continued the young miscreant. 'I've not been in trouble before so I'm not really bothered.
'I'll get a caution. The prisons are full.'
Last edited by Cwbguy; 11-08-2011 at 02:38 PM.
Youth rioting isn't the problem, it's the symptom of the problem. The problem is inequality and lack of opportunities in life. If you come from a poor household and are not particularly bright, what kind of options do you have in life? Spending your life on a minimum salary job, in a tiny flat, with only entertainment a couple of beers at the local pub on Friday evening? While the other chap who has rich parents and is also not particularly bright earns 10 times more than you and drives a Mercedes? Many poor youth say "no more!" and they are perfectly right in saying so.
Politicians (in the UK, France, Greece) should start doing something about it, instead of filling their pockets and those of their friends and call in the police every time poor people say "no more!".
I know this will not be a popular idea, but I would love to see the reintroduction of corporal punishment for this type of behaviour.
I think that if some of these yobs thought they would be on the end of a caning or birching they might think differently about their behavior.
Hasn't done Singapore too much harm has it?