London's Burning With Boredom Now / This is England

London riots, Sean MacEntee, August 2011

London's Burning is an exaggeration, of course, but it seems everyone's invoking The Clash these days. So what's happening on the streets down South? Very likely the same thing that happened in France six years ago. It would be easier just to list the problems that exist: mutual hostility between police and youth, economic disparity, high unemployment, political neglect, racism. In return, at provocation the local adolescents take to the streets, burning everything in sight. Sounds a lot like the death of the social contract, but that's really been the case since the 1970s and the destruction of the post-war compromise.

Burning local shops and the private property of neighbours is obviously counter productive. But I doubt that much has crossed the minds of the looters and I'm not going to pretend here that it has. After all, why bother adhering to the law when the authorities don't keep their end? It's far easier for the elite to denounce what is now more akin to a crime wave, than try to tackle the root causes. Why should the underclass bother to work to obtain the high definition televisions when they can just take them from the high street? Isn't this the lesson we learnt from Wall Street and The City three years ago? You can tank the economy and still walk away loaded after mugging the public. What's the tax rate for a multi-billion pound corporation these days? In a state where employment is considered the only valid form of productive activity, is it really surprising things are fucked up?

The people on the streets are not articulating this in a politely-worded letter to their MP. Much like the politicians can declare poverty defeated with the shuffle of some numbers, it's easier just to burn the place down in anger than try to improve the community. It may have started with a protest outside a police station, but it is not the Arab Spring anymore. That doesn't mean locking them up will solve anything, though. There are problems on both sides which will remain untouched until genuine change. Big Society my arse.

[366;49]