Post by fred on Feb 20, 2012 20:20:22 GMT
Thoughts on the ,'London," Riots!
It's been just over six months since the London (and English) riots temporarily turned our streets into a war-zone. I watched my own neighbourhood of Stoke Newington/Dalston resist the violence that flared up in other areas, even though the feeling on the streets was remarkably tense.
Surprise was expressed at the time of the level of looting that the riots inspired. This was no political protest like the Brixton riots of the early Thatcher years, even though it started in a similar fashion. These riots were the product of utter frustration with society in the poorer areas of our city and the economic reality that many of us face.
I was at a conference several months ago where senior management of most of the large supermarkets chains spoke about the reality of the situation that they were currently experiencing. The CFO of one of the smaller chains presented a startling set of figures: the amount of money that the average family in the UK had to spend on non-essentials had fallen by around £15 per month over the last few years, and that this trend was expected to continue.
The fact that these average families only had around £170 per month for non-essentials meant that an increasingly large amount of their prosperity was rapidly diminishing, and that hikes in energy, housing and transport costs are not being kept up with by wage rises. The effect on the big retailers is where it's had the most obvious effect. People don't have as much money to spend on "luxuries" anymore, and this is affecting the bottom line of many companies. These luxuries that I talk about are things that many of us take for granted as necessities, such as alcohol, make-up, entertainment and eating out.
Our world is so consumer driven that we cannot go through a normal day without being bombarded with advertising, opportunities to buy things, and popular culture that champions consumerism on every level. We covet the ideals of prosperity in our society but the gap between the extremely rich and the average person grows wider every day. Working families are less and less able to enjoy the fruits of their labour in what society presents as a "normal" way.
We now have a situation where the companies that sell everyday products and goods to the average person are seeing their profits reduced and their margins squeezed. This only compounds the situation by putting more people out of work at a time when it's difficult to find a job. In turn this puts more pressure on the welfare system as well as raising the level of despair in our communities that manifest in alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling and criminal actions like mugging, theft and domestic violence.
So in poor and marginalised areas - the very ones that saw the largest amount of rioting - it was no wonder that many people took to the streets to vent their displeasure, and even less wonder that many used the opportunity to take what society teaches us to value so highly - fashion items, technology and other trappings of the successful.
The events of last summer happened in the wider context of a Conservative government (sorry LDP) that is intent on cutting down services and welfare. The reason for this? A recession that was caused by the incompetence of an under-regulated financial sector on a world-wide scale.
I'm not apologising for the criminals and the angry kids that took part in the riots, but I can understand why it happened a lot more clearly than at the time (I wrote two articles on the riots for my blog, links here and here). The system is not working in the way that it needs to and too many are falling through the gaps. The general population is suffering from the deeds of the very few, and we are looking at a situation where it's probable that it's only going to get worse.
Another warm summer during school holidays might just mean that such riots become a regular feature of the British calendar. But at least David Cameron has a potential answer for such future occurrences: the development of nerve agents (chemical warfare) for the use of British police forces is apparently close to being sanctioned by the government.
Rupert Duffy>
At one time it, was drink, drugs or anarchists? At last someone, a Rupert Duffy, has mentioned poverty.
Whatever caused the riots, it showed up the complete collapse of English politics. The establishment was not able to control a population, if only for a few days, without hope. Now commentators a scratching for the truth and drawing conclusions, have your say, why not write a word to us!
It's been just over six months since the London (and English) riots temporarily turned our streets into a war-zone. I watched my own neighbourhood of Stoke Newington/Dalston resist the violence that flared up in other areas, even though the feeling on the streets was remarkably tense.
Surprise was expressed at the time of the level of looting that the riots inspired. This was no political protest like the Brixton riots of the early Thatcher years, even though it started in a similar fashion. These riots were the product of utter frustration with society in the poorer areas of our city and the economic reality that many of us face.
I was at a conference several months ago where senior management of most of the large supermarkets chains spoke about the reality of the situation that they were currently experiencing. The CFO of one of the smaller chains presented a startling set of figures: the amount of money that the average family in the UK had to spend on non-essentials had fallen by around £15 per month over the last few years, and that this trend was expected to continue.
The fact that these average families only had around £170 per month for non-essentials meant that an increasingly large amount of their prosperity was rapidly diminishing, and that hikes in energy, housing and transport costs are not being kept up with by wage rises. The effect on the big retailers is where it's had the most obvious effect. People don't have as much money to spend on "luxuries" anymore, and this is affecting the bottom line of many companies. These luxuries that I talk about are things that many of us take for granted as necessities, such as alcohol, make-up, entertainment and eating out.
Our world is so consumer driven that we cannot go through a normal day without being bombarded with advertising, opportunities to buy things, and popular culture that champions consumerism on every level. We covet the ideals of prosperity in our society but the gap between the extremely rich and the average person grows wider every day. Working families are less and less able to enjoy the fruits of their labour in what society presents as a "normal" way.
We now have a situation where the companies that sell everyday products and goods to the average person are seeing their profits reduced and their margins squeezed. This only compounds the situation by putting more people out of work at a time when it's difficult to find a job. In turn this puts more pressure on the welfare system as well as raising the level of despair in our communities that manifest in alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling and criminal actions like mugging, theft and domestic violence.
So in poor and marginalised areas - the very ones that saw the largest amount of rioting - it was no wonder that many people took to the streets to vent their displeasure, and even less wonder that many used the opportunity to take what society teaches us to value so highly - fashion items, technology and other trappings of the successful.
The events of last summer happened in the wider context of a Conservative government (sorry LDP) that is intent on cutting down services and welfare. The reason for this? A recession that was caused by the incompetence of an under-regulated financial sector on a world-wide scale.
I'm not apologising for the criminals and the angry kids that took part in the riots, but I can understand why it happened a lot more clearly than at the time (I wrote two articles on the riots for my blog, links here and here). The system is not working in the way that it needs to and too many are falling through the gaps. The general population is suffering from the deeds of the very few, and we are looking at a situation where it's probable that it's only going to get worse.
Another warm summer during school holidays might just mean that such riots become a regular feature of the British calendar. But at least David Cameron has a potential answer for such future occurrences: the development of nerve agents (chemical warfare) for the use of British police forces is apparently close to being sanctioned by the government.
Rupert Duffy>
At one time it, was drink, drugs or anarchists? At last someone, a Rupert Duffy, has mentioned poverty.
Whatever caused the riots, it showed up the complete collapse of English politics. The establishment was not able to control a population, if only for a few days, without hope. Now commentators a scratching for the truth and drawing conclusions, have your say, why not write a word to us!