Skip to main content

Riot thoughts from abroad

From a distance, it is hard not to see the similarities between the current riots across the UK and the student riots of a few months ago.

At that time, I pointed out that there was an organised cadre of so-called "anarchists" determined to cause trouble. Clearly, when one looks at the new targets for the rioters: Oxford Street, Notting Hill, it seems pretty obvious that the same or at least a very similar group is operating here again.

They are trouble makers, without a viable vision, simply spurred on by a dead ideology. They can not be taken seriously as a political force in themselves. However the damage that these criminals are causing, not just to the political process, but to the communities where the rioting has been most focused, is significant and the challenge must now be met.

All of the community work that has been put into improving the security and prosperity of such places as Tottenham and the St Paul's area of Bristol has been lost- to the drastic detriment of the residents there. Now, the only short term solution is heavy policing to restore order.

Security starts with zero tolerance for the thugs and "anarchist" fellow-travellers. Once order is restored, then the long and painful process of rebuilding must begin again. A depressing prospect indeed for those that live there- and indeed the rest of us.

However we must not kid ourselves that the way that the violence has escalated has been accidental. Whatever the initial spark, these riots have been deliberately incited by anti-democratic thugs. We need to find those responsible and punish them according to law- and it needs to be done quickly. That is the first challenge for the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary as they return to their desks. Once the fire is out, only then can the process of rebuilding the burnt out communities begin anew.

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Is Wayne Rooney this revolution's Louis Blanc ?
5:29 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Concert and Blues

Tallinn is full tonight... Big concerts on at the Song field The Weeknd and Bonnie Tyler (!). The place is buzzing and some sixty thousand concert goers have booked every bed for thirty miles around Tallinn. It should be a busy high summer, but it isn´t. Tourism is down sharply overall. Only 70 cruise ships calling this season, versus over 300 before Ukraine. Since no one goes to St Pete, demand has fallen, and of course people think that Estonia is not safe. We are tired. The economy is still under big pressure, and the fall of tourism is a significant part of that. The credit rating for Estonia has been downgraded as the government struggles with spending. The summer has been a little gloomy, and soon the long and slow autumn will drift into the dark of the year. Yesterday I met with more refugees: the usual horrible stories, the usual tears. I try to make myself immune, but I can´t. These people are wounded in spirit, carrying their grief in a terrible cradling. I try to project hop...
Post a Comment
Read more

One Year On

  Head vabariigi iseseisvuspäeva! Happy Estonian Independence Day! It is one year since I stood outside the Estonian Parliament for the traditional raising of the national flag from Tall Hermann tower. Looking at the young fraternities gathered with their flags, I was very sure that Estonia too would soon be facing the aggression of the criminal Russian regime. A tragic and dark day. 5 eyes intelligence had been clear: an all out invasion was going to happen, and Putin´s goals included- and still include- "restoration" of Russian imperial power across Europe, even to the Atlantic. Yet there was one Western intelligence failure: we all underestimated the guts of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ZSU, and its President and people. One year on, Estonia, and indeed all the front line states against Russia, knows that Ukraine saved us. Estonia used that time to prepare itself, should that "delayed" onslaught ever be unleashed, but equally the determination of Kaja Kallas, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Media misdirection

In the small print of the UK budget we find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister) has allocated a further 15 billion Pounds to the funding for the UK track and trace system. This means that the cost of the UK´s track and trace system is now 37 billion Pounds.  That is approximately €43 billion or US$51 billion, which is to say that it is amount of money greater than the national GDP of over 110 countries, or if you prefer, it is roughly the same number as the combined GDP of the 34 smallest economies of the planet.  As at December 2020, 70% of the contracts for the track and trace system were awarded by the Conservative government without a competitive tender being made . The program is overseen by Dido Harding , who is not only a Conservative Life Peer, but the wife of a Conservative MP, John Penrose, and a contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson at Oxford. Many of these untendered contracts have been given to companies that seem to have ...
Post a Comment
Read more