Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Laerise [PIE]]

So when exactly is Cameron going to be elected Lord Protector of the Commonwealth?

[orange]

The root cause has been acknowledged, it remains to be seen if the government will acknowledge it.

Then what?

[Crucifire]

The root cause has been acknowledged, it remains to be seen if the government will acknowledge it.

Then what?

Exactly what I was wondering.

You can rack your brain trying to figure out why these people are the way they are, but shit doesnt need a reason to stink.

Just quoting.


Anyhow, from what I understand, several hundred of the suspects arrested during the London riots are already being charged? If so, it sounds like justice is being dealt a lot swifter there than in Vancouver where not a single rioter is currently facing criminal charges, let alone jail time.

[Graanvlokkie]

... There is a phenomenon that I have witnessed in the local black community. When immigrant black mothers (not subsequent generation ones) have a baby, the father tends to do a runner. I can name at least two first-hand cases of this myself, and in all honesty I have no idea why this is, and will not even bother to pass a theory on it ...

So, is it is the fault of the black immigrants? It must be, because there are two whole verifiable cases confirming that when the fathers of black immigrant pregnant wives "do a runner", it leads to the social decay of an entire generation?

Were there no children not born from black immigrant mothers rioting?

[Wanoah]

The recent riots shamed this nation in as much that they simply didn't go far enough. I am bitterly disappointed that, as an acceptable minimum, the Houses of Parliament or Buckingham Palace were not burnt to the ground. Please try harder next time.

As far as I'm concerned, the real criminals are the ones sitting happily on the piles of money they have plundered from us all; not the unheard underclass. Sir Philip Green, for example, has stolen around £1billion from us in tax avoidance, and has been knighted for his trouble. All of which puts a bit of damage to some of his tat-selling high street shops in perspective.

Our politicians, meanwhile, queue to one-up each other in their condemnation of the rioters and willingly scramble to throw away some more of our hard-won freedoms in yet another knee-jerk reaction.

[scagga]

Our politicians, meanwhile, queue to one-up each other in their condemnation of the rioters and willingly scramble to throw away some more of our hard-won freedoms in yet another knee-jerk reaction.

Which freedoms do you consider being unjustly taken away?   Freedom from consequence is not freedom. 

I agree that there may have been organised criminals making off with the largest proceeds.   I have also seen evidence that the looters came from many walks of life, not just the unprivelaged.

However, amongst the first duties of government in my eyes is the assurance of the upholding of the law.  That someone was poor or came from a 'broken family' must not change the tenacity with which it is upheld.

You cited a prolific tax evader - I am sure you are aware that the battle against tax evasion is one of many the UK government faces.  Not to comment on its efforts, but I don't see how citing this one successful tax evader has weight to belittle the criminal behaviour seen in this event. 

In general, I would like to understand why poverty can be used as an excuse for such behaviour.   Why doesn't this behaviour regularly happen in other countries faced with huge inequalities, or why it hadn't happened at other times of crisis, such as during the great economic depression? 

In my view this is mainly a problem to do with values at the personal and societal level, not poverty.  I would agree that the problem is layered and poverty is a factor.  The looters were stealing luxury goods, not articles of sustenance.

As part of a multi-input solution, I would have liked to see those convicted drafted into reconstruction groups, who would repair the damage done, a type of community service.  In doing so, they would learn skills that they could use to obtain an honest income after being discharged.  In doing so, they would become accustomed to a scheduled life.  In doing so, they'd be able to pick themselves up on their own merits after they get kicked out of subsidized accomodation that their community had previously funded.

A community has to learn to take care of its own.  I would welcome less government involvement in trying to solve these overly complicated problems rather than spending money on solutions that have had no worthwhile effects.   The movements for enhancing cross-community cooperation would be part of the way forward.