News from London

[Primarch]

I had never heard of that Pat Condell chappy. A man with an opinion, and no mistake. An opinion, which, in this case, i agree with 100%. He puts it a bit more strongly than I would (especially the latter half of the clip) but that doesnt in any way invalidate what he's saying.

Word.

Ditto.

[Seb]

Agreed.

[Mike the Pike]

Just a quick question for those in the know. What is happening with the inquiry into the Mark Duggan shooting?

I had a look at the BBC site but couldn't find much about the extra-judicial shooting that sparked these riots.

From what I could gather he was a real troublemaker, who deserved what was coming to him. The list of un-named sources who have labelled him as a dangerous drug dealer, without citing any actual evidence is rather long. It's almost as long as the list of named people who say, while not a saint by any means, he wasn't exactly Tony Montana. I mean, he was associated with a notorious gang that murdered a police officer in 1985. Fancy that, a 3 year old gang associate!

Luckily the police dealt with him swiftly and efficiently. The Police Marksman only needed two rounds. Very economical. One to shoot a colleague in his radio. One to kill this vicious criminal. Great shooting. Fast too. It seems this vicious criminal didn't even have time to fire a single round. It had to be too, because as we all know, a un-trained vicious drug dealer armed with a converted starter's pistol is far more of a threat than a team of specialist policemen armed with MP5s. And I don't believe for a second these so-called eye witnesses that say he was shot while restrained on the ground either. Pfffttt. That sort of thing just doesn't happen in England. I know there was that one case a few years ago where an innocent Brazilian man was summarily executed by armed police but surely that was an isolated incident.

Anyways, do any of you guys "in the know" have any new info?

[Mike the Pike]

Another quick question.

Have you lot heard that Hollywood are thinking of making a movie about the rioting?
I couldn't find out much but it seems that Hollywood has finally caught on to the fact that Britain (and it's former colonies) love to watch it's criminal class on the boob-tube and silver screen.

Guy Ritchie is apparently on-board as he did such a fine job glamourizing the world of the petty criminal in his seminal film "Snatched in two smoking Barrels". Ewan Kenobi has already signed to play the lead. I can't wait, he did such a great job making drugs seem cool in 'trainspotting'. I'm sure he will do the same for looting. I have even heard that David Jason, will make a cameo as the character of Del Boy Trotter, the original, hilarious working-class, petty criminal. Nike, Puma and Blackberry are also said to be on board as sponsors. It's bound to be a sure fire hit.

My only worry is that being constantly bombarded with images glamourizing the criminal lifestyle might just have a slight negative influence on some viewers. But that's probably just being paranoid. TV and movies never influenced anyone to do anything silly.

[Mike the Pike]

As for that Pat Condell guy, what a champion. He said all the things I was thinking but dared not say. Actually, I don't think he went far enough. I think one solution for these pathetic, stupid parasites would be to send them to some sort of camps in the countryside. Somewhere where they could really 'concentrate' and reflect on the trouble they have caused.

BTW What a professional too. I loved the way he subtly sucked up the froth that was starting to form at the corners of his mouth. And the way he manged to keep from screaming 'Sieg Heil' ecstatically at the top of his lungs as he orgasmed was just fabulous.

I just wish I had the cojones to post my own views on 'Youtube' like that. I would love to be able to get all red faced and overexcited spouting forth an unsubstantiated, unsupported diatribe like that all the while tossing my cookies off camera.

[ashmie]

I think the Duggan case is being given something like a 17 day investigation by the courts. Or at least was in last weeks news.
Yeah that you tube man had some very good points, I think he lets his argument down by dehumanising the criminals but of course he is angry about what is happening so it's difficult. Perhaps we do make too many excuses for the lower class. I do believe strongly though that if you don't look after society from the bottom levels you will have it crashing down around you. You have to look after the people at the bottom of the society in order for the rest to work. Then again this man is saying they are not deprived and are too cherished which is very interesting. I do agree that teachers in the schools in Britain are too soft on the kids compared to when I was at school, as are the police. I was quite afraid of the police as a teenager and they were not people you would mess with.
My aunt seem to think that a lot of immigrants have come in to the country and are without jobs at the moment due to the Arab spring revolution and a lot of refugees are arriving. That may be passing the blame somewhat. I think it's true to say the police may need more authority. This man is right when he says the Police are afraid to use force as the media will attack them. It happened during the student riots earlier in the year when teenagers were filmed being battered by truncheons.

At the moment Labour and Tory are arguing about why this has happened. Cameron (Tory) seems to think it's a lack of moral fibre and values where as Red Ed (Labour) is taking the chance to blame society and the Cameron cuts for his obvious political interests. What really they need to think more practically on is how to contain this violence. Luckily they started last Tuesday when the Police force was increased on the streets of London. One night they had 6000 officers working London and the next they had 16 000.

Anyway, it's a lot of hate and fear and it's sad that this guy believes peace can never exist.

Back to what Dave was saying about living in Japan. I agree. We had that terrible earthquake which caused a lot of destruction and death but it was natural causes. It seems a million times worse when the violence stems from humans, within our society too. Since WW2 Japan had no other option but to push the peace policy but it's a good one. I can't imagine people carrying on like that here. Then again they still have the death penalty in this country as Britain once did. Anyway, I'll leave it there before more hot air is created.

[The Underdweller]

Just to balance things out, here is a different point of view from Darcus Howe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzDQCT0AJcw

[Mike the Pike]

One last question for today folks. But first, another short editorial.

It seems a lot of commentators have pointed out that despite the so-called poor social conditions that in the end no-one was holding a gun to these guys heads. They all consciously made the decision to cross the line from decent citizen to looting scum all by themselves. Once again I couldn't agree more. We are all responsible for our own decision no matter what our social circumstances are.

Sure, I grew up in a reasonably affluent suburb in a middle class family and not a miserable council estate/housing project/banlieue/danchi but I think even if I had been I would never think of throwing stones at police.

I know I didn't go to a massive, soul-less state school with teachers that didn't give a toss, who were biding their time until retirement or were there on working holidays or anything but my private Catholic high school was no picnic either. Those pedophile priests were hell. But I know that if I had, I wouldn't dream of stealing a pair of Nikes from Foot Locker. Besides Foot Locker doesn't even have any stores in NZ.

I also know that while I am as white bread as they come it isn't really that easy being a middle class white male in the world today. Look at all the health problems we suffer. And, of course, if I was one of the less than 10% of Britons who isn't white I wouldn't be resentful at all for not being allowed to feed at the trough. I would just work harder.

Speaking of work, it can't that hard to find to find work surely. Sure, dozens of large scale manufacturers have gone bankrupt and dozens more have fled abroad but there must be worthwhile employment somewhere. Britain still has coal mines and stuff, right? I realize that it's easy for me to talk when I just waltzed into a job when I graduated University but that's beside the point. If I were in their shoes, I would just join the army. You can make a killing in the armed forces these days with all these overseas deployments. A year long tour of duty in Afghanistan with combat pay, free housing and food would give these louts a great leg-up in life as well as instilling some old-fashioned discipline.

What these people need are role-models. The Police, MPs, Professional Sportsman and women. There are plenty to choose from. Sure some of them have done things like committing fraud to pay for renovations on their homes, cover up illegal phone hacking and cheating on their pregnant spouses with prostitutes but that's just the actions of a few bad apples. There are plenty of good 'uns to choose from. If they are having trouble choosing they can always look to their fathers. Sure an alarming percentage live in single parent households but those ones can choose someone like the examples I mentioned above. 'Nuff said.

Some pundits will also blame the mass-media and our current consumer culture for the actions of these parasites but I say nay. Despite being bombarded daily with images and messages to consume, consume, consume I have the will power to resist. I chose to buy my iPhone of my own free will. Even if I hadn't the money to afford it I certainly wouldn't steal it. I would sign on for some extra shifts at work (see above) and slave way until I could afford one. It wouldn't take more than a decade.

Anyways, what I was trying to say is despite all these so-called social disadvantages, ultimately, we are all responsible for our own decisions. I know I am. And I know for sure that even if I had come from an underclass background I would certainly never have smoked or drunk alcohol underage, driven over the speed limit, parked illegally, urinated in public, smoked marijuana, breached the New Year liquor ban at Whangamata or any other sort of criminal mischief. I doubt any of you lot would either, right?

Now, back to my original question, when the time comes, who amongst you will join Jesus, Gandhi and I in stoning these scum-sucking leeches to death?

[ashmie]

Thanks Underdweller. I saw this interview and I thought it was a very good insight into where we are at. I don't think this has been shown on the BBC since it was aired has it.
One thing he hits upon really well is the lack of respect people have for each other, including the BBC with their interview techniques these days. I feel a lot of their coverage is very ghoulish.

[ashmie]

Britain still has coal mines and stuff, right?

Unfortunately not check Thatcher and the 1980s miners demonstrations. She closed them.

You can make a killing in the armed forces these days with all these overseas deployments. A year long tour of duty in Afghanistan with combat pay, free housing and food would give these louts a great leg-up in life as well as instilling some old-fashioned discipline.

I nearly joined when I was home for a year in Devon. There is a huge draft for Afghanistan around that area. Devon and Cornwall there are commercials everywhere. My friends told me it was the worst idea I'd ever had. Luckily I didn't sign up as I checked the new recruits that got sent out when I would have been and there were a lot of deaths of Devon boys that Summer. I'm glad I didn't go as I actually have no interest in shooting Afghans despite all the terror troubles.