Sitting here in Vietnam all I can report is from the Tellygraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live.html

Couple of excerpts

22.50 Earlier tonight Turkish and Kurdish shopowners in the Stoke Newington area of North London were guarding their premises with baseball bats. There are reports now of "hundreds" of young turkish men chasing a group of young black men down nearby Kingsland Road, Hackney.

22.45 Bryony Gordon, the Telegraph columnist, says the streets of Clapham Junction are filled with dozens of teenage women who have filled stolen suitcases with items from shops. One asked her for the number of a taxi as they try to avoid the police. She writes: "Kids running everywhere. Girls asked me if I wanted to loot new look with them. Mad."

23.49 Damian Thompson, the Telegraph Blogs editor writes: This is what happens when multiculturalists turn a blind eye to gang culture

The roots of these appalling events are many and tangled, but for the moment let’s just focus on one: the way Britain’s educational establishment has cringed helplessly in the face of a gang culture that rejects every tenet of liberal society. It’s violent, it’s sexist, it’s homophobic and it’s racist. But it is broadly tolerated by many people in the black community, which has lost control of its teenage youths.

Another quote :

Reaping what has been sown over 3 decades of creating grotesquely unequal society,with alienated young copying ethos of looting bankers.

less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone John McDonnell

(John McDonell is the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington - a multiculturalist to the core)

I hold no brief for the way that greed for money has changed society over the past few decades, but I have yet to see bankers put on hoods, break into shops and warehouses and torch them, regardless of whether there is anybody inside.

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

Not available in Vietnam.

None of the Daily Telegraph links to videos on Twitter are available either.

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

Not available in Vietnam.

None of the Daily Telegraph links to videos on Twitter are available either.

A West Indian lady giving her views on the rioting. Talking more sense than the UK Govt as well!

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

Not available in Vietnam.

None of the Daily Telegraph links to videos on Twitter are available either.

A West Indian lady giving her views on the rioting. Talking more sense than the UK Govt as well!

she certainly spoke the truth ! , but i dont think you would see and MP saying what she was saying, although she was spot on !

more from today

'If you see a fed... SHOOT!' Looters co-ordinate raids via Twitter and BlackBerry as messages of rage spread like wildfire

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023924/London-riots-From-Hackney-Brixton-Twitter-Blackberry-help-looters-ordinate-raids.html#ixzz1UWPUPuyn

Surrender to the forces of anarchy! Vigilantes forced to defend stores as powerless police let yobs seize streets

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023932/London-riots-Powerless-police-let-mob-seize-streets-loot-start-fires-violence-spreads.html#ixzz1UWQ3ulet

and the most sickening !!!!

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024001/Forced-strip-naked-street-Shocking-scenes-rioters-steal-clothes-rifle-bags-people-make-way-home.html#ixzz1UWPrHvG8

From what I've seen on the BBC, it's young blacks and whites (not Pakis) just out for a night of fun (by their standards), and seeing what they can get away with. Too much cash (Iphones and all), no work in many cases... and a police force unwilling or not allowed to use the necessary force to dispel the rioters. Frustration too, but a large element of pushing to the limit what the police will tolerate.

btw - this photo is of Korean shopkeepers in Los Angeles protecting their property during the Rodney King riots of about 20 yearws ago. The police couldn't protect them so they took it upon themselves.

more from today

'If you see a fed... SHOOT!' Looters co-ordinate raids via Twitter and BlackBerry as messages of rage spread like wildfire

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPUPuyn

Surrender to the forces of anarchy! Vigilantes forced to defend stores as powerless police let yobs seize streets

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWQ3ulet

and the most sickening !!!!

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPrHvG8

There was one BBC clip of a young white guy who'd been hurt in some way, two black guys helped him up.... and then rifled through his pockets and took what they could get. What kind of people have we got in our country?

more from today

'If you see a fed... SHOOT!' Looters co-ordinate raids via Twitter and BlackBerry as messages of rage spread like wildfire

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPUPuyn

Surrender to the forces of anarchy! Vigilantes forced to defend stores as powerless police let yobs seize streets

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWQ3ulet

and the most sickening !!!!

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPrHvG8

There was one BBC clip of a young white guy who'd been hurt in some way, two black guys helped him up.... and then rifled through his pockets and took what they could get. What kind of people have we got in our country?

I thought it was an Asian kid helped up by a black guy then robbed by a white guy. Ain't multi-culturalism grand?

Reported now that some guy who was shot last night has died. only 26 yrs old.

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

Not available in Vietnam.

None of the Daily Telegraph links to videos on Twitter are available either.

A West Indian lady giving her views on the rioting. Talking more sense than the UK Govt as well!

Good for her but you need to modify that, its a British woman of West Indian descent standing in front of a building in the middle of the night shouting at looters and telling them to "get real" and that they are burning the shop of a hard working woman.

more from today

'If you see a fed... SHOOT!' Looters co-ordinate raids via Twitter and BlackBerry as messages of rage spread like wildfire

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPUPuyn

Surrender to the forces of anarchy! Vigilantes forced to defend stores as powerless police let yobs seize streets

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWQ3ulet

and the most sickening !!!!

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1UWPrHvG8

There was one BBC clip of a young white guy who'd been hurt in some way, two black guys helped him up.... and then rifled through his pockets and took what they could get. What kind of people have we got in our country?

I thought it was an Asian kid helped up by a black guy then robbed by a white guy. Ain't multi-culturalism grand?

No,the black guy and white guy were together and helped themselves to the young man's stuff.

There was one BBC clip of a young white guy who'd been hurt in some way, two black guys helped him up.... and then rifled through his pockets and took what they could get. What kind of people have we got in our country?

I thought it was an Asian kid helped up by a black guy then robbed by a white guy. Ain't multi-culturalism grand?

No,the black guy and white guy were together and helped themselves to the young man's stuff.

It's hard to buy the excuses that these "people" are out of work, upset over their prospects/future or some police shooting when they rob some small guy who is injured. I guess he should be happy they didn't just kick him almost to death like what happend to Reginald Denny in LA all those years ago.

on my way to Smithfield meat market today at 3 a.m i was stopped by the police at the top end of Camden high road next to Chalk farm underground station and was told i would have to turn round and make a detour. most of central London was very quiet on the rest of the way in, but there was a very heavy police presence around the market itself. would have been interesting to see these <deleted> in hoods trying to turn over the place though as i regard the place as what i would still call old London with most of the characters having the same sort of outlook on the way things should be sorted out and get done. i.e work hard, play hard and don't stand for any shit along the way.

i will leave you to draw your own conclusions about what ive just said, but it is an ethic i and a lot of other Londoners stand by and firmly believe in that has sadly been gradually eroded from the society we now live in by too many softly softly pc do gooders like local council officials, MPs and others alike. and is probably one of the main reasons why i long for the day when my wife and i can get back on that plane to Thailand.

incidentally on the way back from market i decided if i could try and get back up Camden high road and was successful.

the damage, two Sainsburys metro stores with broken glass fronts that had obviously been looted because there were old bill everywhere. J.D. sports same as previously mentioned. a Dominos pizza outlet <deleted> ! what's worth nicking from a place like that at 3 in the morning ? a couple of clothes shop outlets one of which had about 8 yobs/ youths including a couple of girl standing outside until i slowed down and pulled my mobile out and motioned as if i had taken their picture and was about to make a call to the plod.

it was also the same sort of story for most of the way out of London for most of the way, in places you wouldn't even think of having any kind of problem like this.a sad and sorry chain of events, but if you ask me, should be counter acted upon by the police and armed forces operating under a policy of no holds barred from now on.

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

I couldn't understand her. Please translate, or send a transcript.

But kindly someone explain to me what is happening there: Are these non-British people living in Britain that are burning and looting and complaining about the British government? If they don't like Britain, why do they stay there? I just don't get the point.

I am not British, but as a guest in a country (any country), I would think I would have to respect the culture and the law.

A West Indian lady giving her views on the rioting. Talking more sense than the UK Govt as well!

Good for her but you need to modify that, its a British woman of West Indian descent standing in front of a building in the middle of the night shouting at looters and telling them to "get real" and that they are burning the shop of a hard working woman.

Thanks for the summary of her speach.

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

I couldn't understand her. Please translate, or send a transcript.

But kindly someone explain to me what is happening there: Are these non-British people living in Britain that are burning and looting and complaining about the British government? If they don't like Britain, why do they stay there? I just don't get the point.

I am not British, but as a guest in a country (any country), I would think I would have to respect the culture and the law.

I think most of them are British by nationality, a mix really. I's not confined to race either, unless chav is a race.

Another quote :

Reaping what has been sown over 3 decades of creating grotesquely unequal society, with alienated young copying ethos of looting bankers.

less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone John McDonnell

(John McDonell is the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington - a multiculturalist to the core)

I hold no brief for the way that greed for money has changed society over the past few decades, but I have yet to see bankers put on hoods, break into shops and warehouses and torch them, regardless of whether there is anybody inside.

I don't agree with the second part of the quote. Allegorically perhaps but not in a literal sense. The first part is spot on. Creating schisms in equality in any society will produce a myriad of social problems. And when the root of the seemingly disparate problems remains unrecognized and ignored then little wonder that sooner or later all hell breaks loose. I don't condone any violence but am not at all surprised that pent up anger would erupt in a manifestation of unexpected violence.

This little interchange between a clueless main stream media pundit and a commoner with a full life living in the midst of the inequality exemplifies the disconnection between the "ruling" class and the poor.

BTW HB, the bankers don't need to put on hoods, break into shops and warehouses and torch them. They have their own insidious methods whose effects I consider comparatively exponential in their destructive consequence to society as a whole.

This little interchange between a clueless main stream media pundit and a commoner with a full life living in the midst of the inequality exemplifies the disconnection between the "ruling" class and the poor.

That old guy isn't a "commoner". He's a writer and broadcaster. And according to his wikipedia page "Has a mouth like a mountain goat chewing a wasp Howe has been married three times." OK, somebody must have added that pretty recently I'm guessing.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Darcus_Howe

When asked if he had ever participated in a riot he answered no, but he had participated in "protests which turned into conflict".

I couldn't understand her. Please translate, or send a transcript.

But kindly someone explain to me what is happening there: Are these non-British people living in Britain that are burning and looting and complaining about the British government? If they don't like Britain, why do they stay there? I just don't get the point.

I am not British, but as a guest in a country (any country), I would think I would have to respect the culture and the law.

I think most of them are British by nationality, a mix really. I's not confined to race either, unless chav is a race.

What's "chav"?

I couldn't understand her. Please translate, or send a transcript.

But kindly someone explain to me what is happening there: Are these non-British people living in Britain that are burning and looting and complaining about the British government? If they don't like Britain, why do they stay there? I just don't get the point.

I am not British, but as a guest in a country (any country), I would think I would have to respect the culture and the law.

I think most of them are British by nationality, a mix really. I's not confined to race either, unless chav is a race.

What's "chav"?

Sorry

Lower class 'common' people. Not necessarily poor people, but working class people who are unsociable and often aggressive. They usually live on government handouts.

This little interchange between a clueless main stream media pundit and a commoner with a full life living in the midst of the inequality exemplifies the disconnection between the "ruling" class and the poor.

That old guy isn't a "commoner". He's a writer and broadcaster. And according to his wikipedia page "Has a mouth like a mountain goat chewing a wasp Howe has been married three times." OK, somebody must have added that pretty recently I'm guessing.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Darcus_Howe

When asked if he had ever participated in a riot he answered no, but he had participated in "protests which turned into conflict".

Is your point to debunk? He claims to have lived 35 years in Brixton, South London. Not that I've been there but I hear it's comparable to Harlem in NYC. No doubt his roots are and a good portion of his experience is as a commoner. And yes, his Wikepedia profile has been updated today.

I don't agree with that Darcus guy.

I don't deny his experience, but his experiences seem to conflict with everything else.

What is happening all just seems to be very opportunistic. I've watched various clips and none of them seem to have an agenda other than stealing for personal enrichment. Some have made lame excuses such as "we're getting our taxes back", which just goes to show how utterly clueless they are.

I put this down to an ineffective police force that doesn't know what to do because over the top liberals have over ridden common sense leaving them confused. Plus the welfare state giving the chavs a sense of entitlement which to them justifies what they are doing.

This little interchange between a clueless main stream media pundit and a commoner with a full life living in the midst of the inequality exemplifies the disconnection between the "ruling" class and the poor.

That old guy isn't a "commoner". He's a writer and broadcaster. And according to his wikipedia page "Has a mouth like a mountain goat chewing a wasp Howe has been married three times." OK, somebody must have added that pretty recently I'm guessing.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Darcus_Howe

When asked if he had ever participated in a riot he answered no, but he had participated in "protests which turned into conflict".

Is your point to debunk? He claims to have lived 35 years in Brixton, South London. Not that I've been there but I hear it's comparable to Harlem in NYC. No doubt his roots are and a good portion of his experience is as a commoner. And yes, his Wikepedia profile has been updated today.

Your take on the interview was misleading and I'm just correcting your characterization of him as a "commoner". Why did you think he was? He was a magazine editor, had a song written about him, organized a march of 20,000 people, hosted a TV show on Channel 4, and made a documentary. HARDLY a commoner.

Your take on the interview was misleading and I'm just correcting your characterization of him as a "commoner". Why did you think he was? He was a magazine editor, had a song written about him, organized a march of 20,000 people, hosted a TV show on Channel 4, and made a documentary. HARDLY a commoner.

He is also a father and grandfather who has lived in the area for a long time. The local policing is poor indeed with the local station having steel shutters down at night. Community policing at its best.

Crack cocaine is freely offered in Coldharbour Lane in the same manner as a McDonalds drive thru.

I don't agree with that Darcus guy.

I don't deny his experience, but his experiences seem to conflict with everything else.

What is happening all just seems to be very opportunistic. I've watched various clips and none of them seem to have an agenda other than stealing for personal enrichment. Some have made lame excuses such as "we're getting our taxes back", which just goes to show how utterly clueless they are.

I put this down to an ineffective police force that doesn't know what to do because over the top liberals have over ridden common sense leaving them confused. Plus the welfare state giving the chavs a sense of entitlement which to them justifies what they are doing.

I believe the point he was making was that, to quote Wiki here, "the message coming from disaffected youth in the country was not being listened to." Unless you are of an impoverished mindset I think it difficult to relate to that mindset. To pretend away their feelings, which certainly aren't imaginary, is to deny them the validity of their experience. As illustrated by the talking head during the interview.

I believe everyone feels a desire to live a fulfilling, meaningful, and rewarding life and if, in their minds, the avenues seem closed to them then they will react in unpredictable ways. Entitlements, or welfare, have long been used to placate the poor just enough to keep them from creating mayhem, which inconveniently disrupts the lives of the well-to-do of society. Pressing on their necks too hard with a boot has proven to be a disastrous solution too often.

Ever notice how riots generally happen in poor areas? They don't happen in middle-class or upper-class neighborhoods. And that they are often brought about spontaneously by a single, seemingly insignificant event, which acts as a trigger to release pent up, latent emotion that has been dammed up for too long?

In short, inequality ultimately leads to a host of unintended social problems and unless that connection is made then events such as we are witnessing now seem inexplicable.

There was one BBC clip of a young white guy who'd been hurt in some way, two black guys helped him up.... and then rifled through his pockets and took what they could get. What kind of people have we got in our country?

I thought it was an Asian kid helped up by a black guy then robbed by a white guy. Ain't multi-culturalism grand?

No,the black guy and white guy were together and helped themselves to the young man's stuff.

It's hard to buy the excuses that these "people" are out of work, upset over their prospects/future or some police shooting when they rob some small guy who is injured. I guess he should be happy they didn't just kick him almost to death like what happend to Reginald Denny in LA all those years ago.

Yeah, I don't buy it either...as Isanbirder has mentioned too....it's louts and yobs trying to get away with as much as they can for the thrill of it and for the stealing.