Rioting

I haven't posted much about this because it just seems like - well, a really bad case of mass guerilla shopping. I don't think it has much to do with politics, or poverty, or race, or injustice, or any of the things that usually cause people to riot. Nor do I think it has to do with innate evil. People want stuff and they've seen an opportunity to go out and take it: the people processed through the courts so far have been a postman, several students, and a primarcy school worker. It's also the chance to have a ruck, and the EDL distinguished themselves last night by having a clash with the Met in the complete absence of any rioters (what one of my FB list described as fat white dolts in action, referring to the EDL). That the riots diminished last night is significant, because it rained over most of the country and it's harder to set fire to stuff in the rain. Also, you might get your new trainers wet.

I don't think it's a co-ordinated plot by the government to distract attention from the financial crisis: anyone who has had the misfortune to visit an averagely sized British town on a Saturday night will have noted that it's just under riot conditions as it is. The only startling thing about Gloucester's rioting was that it happened on a Tuesday, not a weekend.

The only results of this will be a police crackdown, possible curfews, a lot of mobile phones suddenly ppearing on Ebay and the conditions of genuinely poor people who are trying to eke out a living in Handsworth and Hackney will be made a great deal harder.