The cost is already running into tens of millions, yet the Government sits on their hands.
BBC News – London riots: Violence erupts for third day
Violence has broken out for a third consecutive day in London, with riot police deployed and firefighters tackling blazes across the capital.
Since then further riots have sprung up across London and now also in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham. Shops and houses are being looted and burnt to the ground, people are being robbed, beaten and even stripped of their clothing; all whilst the police stand by, seldom taking any action.
Blame Game
The blame has been placed at the feet of the police, in part for the shooting of Mark Duggan and the uncertainty surrounding the details of his death, but also because of supposed race relations failures. That’s right, the overwhelming majority of the rioters are black, ergo it is the white man’s fault.
As usual this gives those race relations experts ample ammunition to justify their own existence. The head of the Runnymede Trust has, not in the least bit surprisingly, blamed racism. It seems that the reason that these young thugs need to loot the plasma TVs, Apple Mac computers, and expensive clothing is because they have been discriminated against.
Oddly, this kind of thing didn’t happen during the Great Depression, when people faced true abject poverty, repression and staggering unemployment. But then, the likes of Rob Berkeley weren’t around back then to further fuel the victim mentality of certain sections of the community.
Entitlement
Organisations like the Runnymede Trust et al have spent decades telling young black kids and other ethnic minorities that they are in for a life of adversity, and that the Government/white man/police is against them. Then, when these disenfranchised kids hit out or just plain give up trying, they again blame racism and the Government/police/white man for promoting inequality.
Berkeley said:
“Reports earlier this year highlighted that Black men were 8 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white men.”
Not the Blitz, but the day after marauding kids ripped the heart out of Croydon.
A blatant and sickening attempt to excuse the recent violence, failing to point out that according to the prison statistics there are five times more black people in prison, i.e. criminals, than whites per percentage of the population. Indeed, 20% of the prison population is black, but only 2% of the actual population.
Therefore the police are doing their job, by searching people who are most likely to be criminals, and for that matter carry drugs, guns and knives.
Perhaps Berkeley should be asking why so many black people turn to crime, and not why so many blacks are searched. Indeed, he may well discover that he and his ilk promoting their ‘expect inequality always’ agenda, is what is causing the problems.
I would not consider myself an expert in black issues, but I am fairly sure that in modern Britain they are less discriminated against than ever before, so why such a violent and hateful reaction now?
Berkeley also went on to blame a lack of jobs and opportunities and also the schools system, claiming:
“In education there was a 20 point-gap in achievement between Black and White youth. In Haringey schools this year that gap had increased to one of 35 points.”
This seems to be in complete contrast with all the information I have seen on the subject over the past few years. According to the BBC:
BBC News – Poor pupils in struggling schools ‘lag further behind’
At secondary level, white British children in this category lagged behind most other major ethnic groups. For example, they were only half as likely to reach the GCSE target as Bangladeshi children, and also lagged behind Pakistani, Black African, Caribbean and Asian pupils
So white pupils are now the under performers, yet oddly, there are currently no predominately poor white areas rioting.
Regardless of the facts people like Berkeley will be blaming racism and rubbing their hands in glee, foreseeing huge handouts from the contrite Government to ensure that these woeful events never arise again (at least until further budget cuts; they have to be practical). Even in his article he pointed out that in the US £600 million had been earmarked to combat inequality. So even as people’s homes are burning (and people of all colours), Berkeley is holding out the begging bowl for his cause, along with the caveat that failure to give generously enough will only lead to more such violence in the future.
As nice (and rewarding for equality campaigners) it would be to lay this at the door of racism, it is far more complex than that and frankly race itself has little to do with this.
Liberal Mentality
No, what has caused this is the liberal mentality that pervades the British political system. First we were told that the death penalty should be abolished as it was inhumane.
This was never the consensus, but rather a decision made for the voter, by the people they voted for and against popular opinion. Since then we’ve seen the murder rate increase three-fold. Next came the removal of corporal punishments in schools, in order to protect the children from violence. Then the removal of the right of parents to hit their own children ostensibly to protect children from abuse. Inevitably leading to a situation where parents cannot control their own children, relying on the schools, who also cannot control the children.
Finally there has been the steady emasculation of the justice system. Where criminals are rehabilitated, understood and hugged, rather than punished, which has resulted in our soft touch prisons being no deterrent, let alone punishment, whatsoever. This is startlingly obvious to would-be ruffians from very young age.
Even the Police Force, or (Police Service as it is now known officially – time to rethink that perhaps) is a toothless beast. Too afraid to confront wrong doers, merely standing by whilst the miscreants steal, pillage and burn.
Once such misbehaviour would, at the very least have resulted in a good braining from the police truncheons for offender, if not the use of water cannon’s, tear gas and rubber bullets.
But that doesn’t fit with the liberal way of doing things, Theresa May, the supposed Home Secretary said:
“The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities.”
Seemingly confusing these riots with the rowdy behaviour of certain individuals at one of her late night garden parties. Where, after politely asking them to leave, the drunkard may make a few bawdy comments, but will eventually leave without much disruption, as they usually have to be up for a high ranking political duties in the morning.
May and the rest of the Government are unconcerned as only the peasants are suffering at this point. She also hopes to reason with them and more bizarrely, get them to consent to going home!
It seems that May is going to continue waiting for the louts, thugs and thieves to get bored and stop, rather than stopping them.
As of yet, only police dogs and horses have been deployed, it seems water cannons are only reserved for the Irish. The police have made no attempt at clearing the streets. This is not solely the fault of the police, but the liberal and ineffective politicians who cannot even carry out one of the basic functions of Government, to protect its people.
Instead, they are letting the rioters have their head, in another example of what has become common place in Britain, giving more thought and protection to the criminal, than to the victims. It seems that the Government believes that using violence on the violent is wrong, better to wait till they wear themselves out, like a toddler’s tantrum.
This has meant that for every looter that manages to get an LCD TV home, ten of his, and even now her, friends want to do the same. After all, there is literally nothing to stop them, no punishment. The police cannot even protect their own police cars, or even police stations. These young criminals may be ruffians and vandals, but they aren’t completely stupid, they are finally starting to realise that the softly softly approach actually means that there is nothing to stop them, at all.
Like a teacher cannot remove them from the classroom for being disruptive, only ask them to leave; the police cannot remove them from the streets, only ask them to leave. They can do what they want, and no one can stop them, as these girls are happy to say.
Spreading Like Wildfire
Because of this inaction the violence and disorder has now spread not only across London, but to other cities in Britain too. And the police reaction to this? A promise to release CCTV footage of the rioters to catch them later, maybe, and a request that parents call in their children.
This water cannon was used less than a month ago in Northern Ireland. It appears however that water cannon, plastic bullets and tear gas are only used against the Irish, or perhaps only against white people.
A heavy hand is needed to discourage further rioting and pillaging. Briton’s up and down the country and crying out on social networks, the internet and local news for the army, for tough measures and for swift and decisive action.
But that is not the liberal mentality, which advocates first and foremost an understanding of the brute, then placation and finally all out surrender. May and the Government have literally surrendered the streets of Britain to the thugs and are hoping that they get bored, or stay home to play on their stolen gadgets.
The Government and police force have shown themselves up to be ineffective and limp wristed. They have spent decades trying to understand criminals and make them see the error of their ways, believing them all, at their core, to have the same moral integrity as the Oxbridge political elite. And this situation is a result of that.
The Riot Act
In the old days, back when Britain used a heavy hand to deal with criminals, and unsurprisingly the crime and murder rates were very low compared to today, they used the Riot Act to clear the streets.
The rioters were read the Riot Act:
“Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King!”
Once the Act was read, the rioters had one hour to disperse, or would be forcibly removed, either by the police or local people. The last point is an important one, the Act ensured that anyone aiding in the removal of rioters were not liable for any injuries or loss of life.
Fortunately the people of Britain, at least in some areas, retain a back bone. And there are already reports of communities heading into the streets and confronting the rioters and driving them away from their neighbourhoods.
However, as the riot act was repealed in 1973, they are literally playing Russian Roulette with their lives. Apart from possible harm they may face at the hands of the rioters, should they injure a rioter, or even kill one, defending themselves or their property, they will go to prison.
It is an inexcusable situation that the people of Britain now find themselves in, and all thanks to successive feckless Governments. The streets have been taken over by violent thugs, burning and pillaging, yet the Government and Police are incapable or unwilling to take any action.
Even now it is too late. London has a population of 8 million, yet just 30,000 police officers. If the these people want to riot throughout Britain, there is becoming less and less chance that the 150,000 police officers in the whole of the UK will be enough to contain them. The army has just 110,000 men, and many of those are abroad.
The Government should have nipped this in the bud, instead they have sat back, and wished it away.
Instead it will ultimately be left to the citizens to protect their homes, their places or work and themselves from the hooligans and people will die, but in doing so, they will inevitably be punished by the very Government that has failed them.
Charlie's Space 