UK Riots (with the exception of Manchester which has its own thread)

Zarlak said:
I have worked in 2 call centres, both of them took under 18s (I was 17 when I started) and with no experience, it is harder at 16, I was under the assumption we were talking about adults as the typical age bracket reported in these riots is 25, then again you wouldn't be expecting 16 year olds to be in as desparate need a job, typically living at home and going to college but for those who don't go to college and don't live at home I can understand your point there. I guess I could sympathise with your point if you're that age, but 18+ there isn't really an issue unless you set your standards too high. You could walk into a bar and get a job, any call centre and get a job etc if you were desparate enough.
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Please don't take this the wrong way but I don't know how old you are and I don't like making assumptions. However, it would appear as though things have changed. In London, call centres rarely hire under 18's. I presume it's because they don't trust the professionalism of anyone younger.

I'd also like to point out that when I made a point about voters being aggrieved earlier, I was told that the average rioter is younger than voting age. Right now it's whatever suits but I would say it definitely doesn't seem to be 25 average. 25 would be a tad old, if anything. Regardless, there are many demographics, each with a reason to be frustrated with their quality of life.

You wouldn't expect 16 year olds to be desperate for jobs, yet they are. Some of these kids belong to low income families (we have a lot of those in London!) and they're expected to start bringing something home for the family. That's without their social lives being taken into account too. A lot of them are also saving for driving lessons. I think we can all empathise with that.

I think you're forgetting the impact of the recession. Whereas before any 18 year old could get barwork, the bars now have a choice of experienced bar workers who would like jobs as their original pubs close. Everyone's been bumped down the rung. Yes, there are jobs out there but they're not easy to get and you're in competition with every Tom, Dick and Harry for them.

Zarlak said:
It just seems like an excuse for people to hide behind that because they either a.) genuinely can't get a job for whatever reason or b.) don't want to do the work that businesses are actively advertising for that they need to go and smash some shops up and loot some free stuff and try to break into peoples houses and rob them. Like Plech has already said, these guys are just bored and think it's a laugh.
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I'm going to have to completely disagree here. Again though, if I were to assume this was true, surely we should question why thousands of youths in one city seem to think smashing people's houses is a cure for boredom? I can't see how "boredom" can be offered as an answer within its own right. If anything, it raises more questions!

R_Nick said:
I'm glad you're here to tell us how we think.
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Nick I'm sure you're aware of the esteem I hold you in as a poster but I think you're way off the mark today. I'd agree with the original post in that people aren't taking what he's saying on merit. Politicking aside, he's currently the only senior figure who's looking deeper than the surface.
 
Urbanned said:
The age bracket in these riots (the latest ones, maybe not the ones 2 days ago) is certainly NOT 25. These are young people, forgotten by society, living in local council estates. Oh, and you can't just walk into any place of employment if you're desperate job. People would have already tried that wouldn't they? There are genuine people out there searching for a job, and the jobs simply aren't there. You can argue that fact all you wish, but it's true.

The issue is that the people who are rioting, in my opinion, simply do not WANT a job, whether they are they for them or not. The causes of why people are rioting have been discussed to exhaustion in here, but they are, as you put it, 'bored' for a reason. They don't want to go out and get a job for a reason. You can attack and berate the fools for rioting all you want, but you can't overlook the fact that they feel the way that they do for a goddammed reason.
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Totally agree. Honestly these dick heads aren't protesting for jobs, they don't have a clue which makes it all the more sad. They are brought up poorly but how do you fix that. They don't know why they hate the world, they've been promised by adverts their whole lives they will end up rich, and they wont. They are an effect of the UK environment, even if they we shouldn't respect what "views" they have.
 
What a bunch of thick yobs. If you are going doing a bit of looting just buy (or steal) one of these:

emergency_auto_escape_hammer.jpg
 
AVARiCE said:
Nick I'm sure you're aware of the esteem I hold you in as a poster but I think you're way off the mark today. I'd agree with the original post in that people aren't taking what he's saying on merit. Politicking aside, he's currently the only senior figure who's looking deeper than the surface.
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I've not even commented on the content of his comments, I try to avoid political debate at all costs, I just hate the opportunism behind it all. If he wants to make hay if it at least have the decency to wait until people are safe and the bloody fires have been put out (literally!). I'd be saying the same thing no matter who it was, anybody in a position of any power pointing fingers and trying to gain from the situation at this moment in time isn't getting anything other than contempt from me.
 
A group help up someone who's sitting on the floor, having been beaten up by another group earlier. They then go through his backpack while its still on his bag and steal some of his stuff. Then simply walk away.
 
Zarlak said:
It's being reported down the side of the MEN arena where the road leads off past strangeways towards Bury. On Twitter, only a picture so far been taken but the street is empty atm, nothing confirmed.
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Not true.

Nothing going on.
 
gmpolice GM Police
BBC reports of rioting/disturbances in Greater Manchester inaccurate. No rioting whatsoever, no major disturbances. All quiet at moment.
 
R_Nick said:
I've not even commented on the content of his comments, I try to avoid political debate at all costs, I just hate the opportunism behind it all. If he wants to make hay if it at least have the decency to wait until people are safe and the bloody fires have been put out (literally!). I'd be saying the same thing no matter who it was, anybody in a position of any power pointing fingers and trying to gain from the situation at this moment in time isn't getting anything other than contempt from me.
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In such cases you'd have to hate all politicians. Politicians have tried to profit off 9/11, 7/7, student riots, poll tax riots - you name em, politicians in opposition are never slow to dish out the criticism.

The BBC were interviewing Ken Livingstone, so its normal to expect more elaborated comments from him besides "its terrible, they ought to stop" which is more or less echoed by everyone everywhere. A character such as him will always have an opinion, as would Boris, Cameron, Miliband or just about any politician.

In any case I don't think there's any harm in evaluating his comments, I think for the most part they're spot on.
 
R_Nick said:
I've not even commented on the content of his comments, I try to avoid political debate at all costs, I just hate the opportunism behind it all. If he wants to make hay if it at least have the decency to wait until people are safe and the bloody fires have been put out (literally!). I'd be saying the same thing no matter who it was, anybody in a position of any power pointing fingers and trying to gain from the situation at this moment in time isn't getting anything other than contempt from me.
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Ah, I think that's the issue. It's the content that's important here. Yes, he's politicking but in a way that is benefitting to some. I would suggest you take a look at it and see that he's actually shedding light on a situation that's mystifying "experts". I'm going to go even further, he's nailing it.

Neo_Mufc said:
I don't have facebook what is the link about?
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A guy is sitting down, having clearly been attacked, bleeding profusely from his face (probably his nose). A guy picks him up to help him, another guy walks up behind and opens his rucksack and goes fishing. The guy who helped him up then digs in too. The injured guy still doesn't realise. Then a guy on a bike just reaches for his pocket to see if he's got a phone and the injured guy realises but has no way to prevent it happening. The first guy pulls something out and walks away with it, realises it's crap and throws it around so that even if the other guy found value in it, he won't be able to retrieve it. Humanity at its lowest.
 
Wibble said:
If there are more unemployed people than job vacancies, which I believe is the current situation then however job vacancies you see there are going to be people who can't get a job. Vacancies aren't going to be evenly spread around either and most people don't have the flexibility to move, especially large distances, at the drop of a hat even if they want to leave family and friends. If you are then young then you may well be buggered for a job or at least feel like you are.

Which doesn't excuse anything of course.

There are also jobs that people don't want or like to take either because of the pay or the conditions or the locations or a combination of factors. In some cases this is snobbery or laziness but it will also often be for practical reasons. For example a 16 year old living at home can't really be expected to up roots and start living alone in a different part of the city or even a different city for a dead end job with a minuscule salary even if they could afford to move. I think we have had enough social disintegration in the UK over the last 30 years or so thank you very much.
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At the start of the year I did 3 months unpaid work 10am - 6pm in a busy office on the promise that they'd hire me if all went well. 3 months came and went, was in every weekday, did all they asked and they told me "sorry, because of the economy we just can't afford to hire you". I was nearly tempted to burn down the building there and then, to be honest. Kept my cool and got an excellent reference for my cv though.

What I've noticed here in N.Ireland is pretty shitty. I was going to interviews and the people there were 10 - 15 years older than me and this is for a standard 14k - 16k a year job. You just know you have no chance because that person will have more experience than you. Most of the bar/shop work is taken by the students as well. Although I have a job now I know how it feels to send out 100s of applications, go to interviews etc and I guess some people give up hope and say feck it.
 
Just seen a pic of a bus in West London crashed into a lamp post. Apparently the yobs forced out the driver and then took it for a ride. These idiots are turning the city into a real life version of GTA.

Shameless stuff.
 
RedKaos said:
In such cases you'd have to hate all politicians. Politicians have tried to profit off 9/11, 7/11, student riots, poll tax riots - you name em, politicians in opposition are never slow to dish out the criticism.

The BBC were interviewing Ken Livingstone, so its normal to expect more elaborated comments from him besides "its terrible, they ought to stop" which is more or less echoed by everyone everywhere. A character such as him will always have an opinion, as would Boris, Cameron, Miliband or just about any politician.
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To be fair he said "If I was mayor" several times. These people haven't suddenly become fecktards in the last 2 years (okay 4 years for Ken)

They've had a lifetime of hatred of themselves, and everything they can't have, built into them.
 
Zarlak said:
Out of interest how do you know? I've seen you say it a few times here, I'm glad if it's true, but where are you getting your info from?
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I work in 1 of the GMP control rooms. You asked me that before and I answered you then too :)
 
Dr. Dwayne said:
I see similar things here sometimes. I wonder if it is because of the places they come from? They surely seem to be more vigilant about protecting their property and rights.
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I think part of it is that they value what they have much more, especially if they're first generation immigrants. They don't take things for granted the way that many of us do. For most people, law and order(not the show) are two things that most people don't think about. They're just expected. I would guess that many aren't as trusting of the police nor do they have the dependence on them.

In other places there is often a greater sense of community amongst the people, like New York. If people were looting in NYC, the public would be much more aggressive in reaction. The average people have some ridiculous love and pride for the city that is rare.
 
RedKaos said:
In such cases you'd have to hate all politicians. Politicians have tried to profit off 9/11, 7/7, student riots, poll tax riots - you name em, politicians in opposition are never slow to dish out the criticism.

The BBC were interviewing Ken Livingstone, so its normal to expect more elaborated comments from him besides "its terrible, they ought to stop" which is more or less echoed by everyone everywhere. A character such as him will always have an opinion, as would Boris, Cameron, Miliband or just about any politician.

In any case I don't think there's any harm in evaluating his comments, I think for the most part they're spot on.
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The bold seems like a fair starting point! Like I said it's not the content, it's the politicking whilst the crisis is ongoing that's bothered me.

AVARiCE said:
Ah, I think that's the issue. It's the content that's important here. Yes, he's politicking but in a way that is benefitting to some. I would suggest you take a look at it and see that he's actually shedding light on a situation that's mystifying "experts". I'm going to go even further, he's nailing it.
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At the moment my more pressing concern is hoping things start to subside and even more so that nothing starts to show up in Manchester city centre where my missus will be for work tomorrow and the rest of the week. Once normality has been restored I'll give more thought to cause and will be more likely to listen to arguments from both sides.

Don't want to argue with either of you guys, but that prat gets on my nerves.
 
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