General Chat

This morning I happened to see the tail end of an interview (Sky), where a few youths who had been involved in the rioting/looting mayhem were talking about it (masked so they couldn't be identified). Their attitude was shocking!

One of them, a 16 yr old, was asked what sort of stuff he'd taken - tv's, clothes, shoes, phones. He said he'd made sure to get plenty for his son!
Asked if he felt any kind of remorse, upon reflection afterwards when he was at home in bed, he at first seemed surprised that the interviewer should have asked such a question** - and then replied that no, why should he feel sorry when he was happily watching his flatscreen tv, having got his baby son "the full Johnson's set" and got himself plenty of clothes and shoes.
Asked what his reasoning behind it was, he said it was pay back time because...."I applied for a job, sent my CV, went and spoke in my politest voice an' they still didn't give me a job, so I went and got what they (Comet) owed me".
Apparently the rich people don't care about the poor people. NOt sure I understood that bit!!

These lads had gone in a van to a couple of different areas, filling it up with loot, taking it somewhere to empty, and then driving to another area to fill it up with more loot.

Another of the lads said he could sell (or had already sold) his booty for about £2000. Asked if he felt what he had done was wrong in any way, he said no why should he! It was a case of him not having money, then going and getting it, and now he was well rich with a couple of grand for a few hours work!

Can you believe it!!!!

K

**or was he trying to fathom what he'd just been asked!!!

I used to work there many moons ago, Ann.

Wrt Chris' post. Just goes to show you shouldn't believe all you hear.

TW yes it was the old Gloscat building. The college has moved out and it was due for demolition anyway. It is blackened but still structurally safe. Very near where I was but I didn't see anything about it. I did see a lot of 'suits' walking around but didn't take a lot of notice. Apparently it was politicians and councellors.

Friends daughter works in Benefits Office - earlier this year a large african gentleman (I forget the country) walked into this office and demanded his money. Apparently he was miffed because they would not give him any - but he insisted he had been told!

No he wasn't in London/Manchester etc where large airports are but in a small town in N. Ireland. Not the obvious place to arrive from Africa.

I heard about a huge fire in the Brunswick area Ann, thought of you.

Apparently a gang of 60 'yobs' went on the rampage the night before last in Gloucester. I was in town yesterday and didn't notice anything but it was not in the town centre. However the local police immediately activated an exclusion zone so that any 2 or more people asked to move on and don't can be arrested. And they had (when the paper went to print,) arrested fourteen and rising.
Haven't heard of any further trouble.

'I only have 25p left but I WILL start again': Shopkeeper whose stores was ransacked by rioters vows to re-open

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024928/London-riots-2011-Hackney-shopkeeper-Shiva-Kandiah-25p-open.html#ixzz1UklwHFo6

speaks for itself.

No its Suzanne you only have to get off a longhaul flight your self from the Carribbean or Inida and you can see that vistors dont just walk through the gates and sign on... still I wait for cold hard facts...

A lot of places have closed shops early as a precaution, usually on the adivce of their insurance companies. Certainly in Norwich shops were shut and secured in the Royal Arcade on the advice of their landlords, Legal & General.

According to my Mum some traders in Sutton have been boarding up their properties.

One large supermarket has been closing at 4pm

Suzanne, you're arguing with the wrong person there...trust me, Hayley knows what she's talking about.

I voted Conservative because their manifesto contained a promise to either repeal or amend the human rights act T.

Couldn't agree with your post more. x
(not that I'm suggesting you're a Tory of course...far from it lol) x

As said earlier, I really do think it's time we dropped this 'human rights' claptrap which only really comes down on the side of the criminals while the victim's human rights are forgotten and swept under the carpet.

All too often we are hearing stories of criminals trying to claim compensation from their victims....HELLO!!!

Without that and all the PC rubbish, we'd perhaps have a more law-abiding country, and more respect for others.

my cousin works in the benifits office in toxteth liverpool.
my sister is a financial officer for the C.A.B in widnes chesire and the surrounding areas dealing mostly with benefits.
and yes its quite easy to get into the uk.
hope this answers your questions.x

....And therein lies the lesson...if the consequences are harsher than the lure of the crime folk are less likely to push their luck.

Let the police do the policing without every step they take being picked to pieces.....and carry out a zero tolerance policy for anyone who thinks they can behave like this...enough now...kid gloves have been worn for too long. imho.

Hayley, I wish there was a 'like' button for your post. :-)

If you listened to two of the panelists on the Sky debate the riots happened because young people are being shot..young girls being gang raped and it took for London to burn for their voices to be heard.

personally I think it's a load of old carp.

They tried it on as a result of the Mark Duggan shooting...got away with it..(police neutered) and went back for some more..as soon as they were faced with the prospect of water cannon they decided not to go back for more cos they didn't fancy the consequences. Simple as that imho

The rioters are too diverse in terms of, age, race, intellect,employment etc for it to be any different

I'm glad they're getting harshly punished in court today and i think it's just a shame it didn't happen before this.

I would love to know where people get their information from about immigrants being able to just walk through the airport door right down to the JCP office and get hand outs because anyone who has ever claimed or tried to claim money off the state knows it isnt that simple and it just doesnt work like that. For a strart it isnt that easy to get through the airport door.

So please lay on me these stats facts and figures and please dont quote any part of the media because that just doesnt count they all lie :-(

Well we brushed the 'immigrants' point earlier in the thread and was generally agreed these riots have absolutely nothing to do with immigration, nor should immigrants be blamed for any of this.

I also agree that much of the responsibility lies with the parents and the communities themselves, as well as the individuals taking part. It's easy to say parents should control their kids, but in my opinion it's 'parents should be ALLOWED to control their kids.

I did learn two interesting points today. In my opinion for what it's worth, it's no coincidence that this week's riots took place in the same areas as those in the 80s. Tottenham/Broadwater Farm, Toxteth and so on. It is quite clear to me that the anger of the youngsters rioting in the 80s, has been inherited by their children who are rioting now in these same areas. These children have been brought up hearing over and over the old grudges and anger and perhaps using that to fire more unrest. Take for instance, people of my generation, born post-war, in my case 15 years after the war ended, to parents who lived through it, and experienced either bombs dropping on their towns and cities, or were evacuated, and whose own parents lived through WW1. Either way, there was a wariness of all things German for a very long time, and yes, someof that did brush off onto us kids. It didn't make us racists but it did create an element of wariness. Its the same thing.

The other point I learned today, and one I've only just heard and completely agree with, was spoken a few minutes ago on Sky by a young girl who said, these riots are just lawlessness, there are no excuses for it. People go on about kids having no voice, no jobs and so on, but the real reason is greed and lawlessness. The media themselves are to blame for those excuses, as they voiced them before asking anyone involved what it was about, and now these kids only recite what they have heard the media saying.

Got to say, she had a point.