Operation Cup of Tea

What I don’t get is their choice of shops to trash. Looting places like Nandos and Carpetright makes no sense whatsoever, unless you’re a Portuguese Aladdin. Mindless robbery and destruction is the worst kind quite simply because there’s no motive. The police have less control than other riots; with the student protests or EDL and BNP demonstrations for example there were clear leaders, clear political aims, and clear motives for the protest. In this instance it is a series of mindless acts of anarchy united by no clear aims but a mixture of ambiguous ones…And you know, they want the free stuff. If I were the police I’d be monitoring EBay very closely over the next few weeks… Secondly, these are people who have a fundamental desire to stir up trouble. They are either too callous or too ignorant to realise how much distress their destruction is causing. Hopefully it’s the ignorance thing, but I doubt it. This is where middle class ‘intellectual’ types (like myself) have come together to condemn the rioters as morons, bent on mindless destruction. Unfortunately some critics of the rioters have either resorted to: a) racist slurs about how immigrants are trashing ‘our’ country (even though most of the rioters appear to be white adult males, but maybe that’s just me) b) the more rational argument of bringing in the army and shooting them or c) are blaming youth gangs. All of which I have counter-arguments too. A) Tells its own story really, the rioters are not all one race and the riots have got little to do with immigration tensions. B) While the natural response of many would be to fight fire with fire and bring in the army it would only result in yes, more fire (although bringing in the water cannon would also be an error). As cruel and despicable as these rioters are they are still human and above all else criticising violence before immediately calling for violence to be used against them seems somewhat hypocritical. Considering my first point about hatred of state bodies, the army are hardly going to offer a long-term fix. Instead shooting people would undoubtedly exacerbate the problem, increasing the antagonism of elites rather than deflating it. C) It’s not JUST youth gangs but I’ll admit, there are quite a few involved. What I would say is a lot of the people in these ‘youth’ gangs look like they’re in their late twenties and thirties.

Thirdly, the rioters are annoyed about the deteriorating political and economic condition of the country. Whilst these aren’t direct protests against the cuts or student fees for example, there is an underlying theme of dissatisfaction with the state of things. Furthermore, what kind of message have the elites been sending out recently? With the expenses scandal, the hacking scandal at the News of the World, the once more faltering economy, and countless other examples the ‘underclass’ (as they have been dubbed) are hardly going to adhere to the law if no one else appears to be upholding any kind of moral code.

If you want further explanations for why this happened then I’m sure there’s an abundance of it in newspaper articles and the internet, which brings me to my next point: the reaction. When people have questioned humanity and give me odd looks (even before I say that I still am proud to be British) I remind them of the hostile reaction to the rioters. Yes, there may be thousands on the street causing mayhem but there are – by my estimations – MILLIONS of people who are shocked and appalled. You literally can’t go on the news, Facebook, Twitter, the internet as a whole without seeing someone condemn the riots. What has been especially heart-warming is the amount of people that hit the streets with brooms the next morning and the ‘operation cup of tea’ anti-riot protest. Mass communication may have played a part in starting the riots but it has been instrumental in the backlash against it.

If you watched nothing but the news in the past month or so you would get the impression that the western world is crumbling beneath our feet. Truth is bad news always trumps good news, and there has been plenty of bad news to clog up the news media to the point we’re one big news event away from the press having a heart attack. Regardless of recent proceedings I always have and always will be proud to be British. We don’t take this lying down and now the rioters have come and will soon be gone we will come out stronger than before…you know…until the next set of riots. Inevitably, like naughty children in a classroom they will soon get bored, until the next excuse for anarchy arises. In London at least, it seems like the worst of the damage has been done. These are delicate times we live in and short-term ‘make-do’ sort of fixes won’t help anyone (except perhaps the current government). Batchwood may have been hit but the residents of St Albans are far more humble than that and besides, we’re better at drinking cups of tea – especially if it is to fight for a good cause.

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