(Article) London Riots: Civil Services Mentor Magazine August 2011

Controversy continues to surround the death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in north London on Thursday evening. His shooting at the hands of police while he was traveling in a taxi cab sparked rioting and looting in Tottenham on Saturday. The unrest subsequently spread across London and other parts of the UK in what police have described as copycat attacks. Officers from Operation Trident the Metropolitan Police unit that deals with gun crime in London's black communities stopped the cab Duggan was travelling in during a pre-planned operation. Duggan died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, an inquest at north London Coroner's Court heard on Tuesday. The fact that a bullet had lodged in a police radio worn by an officer at the scene, raising speculation he might have been fired at from the vehicle. A non-police issue handgun was also recovered at the scene where Duggan was shot dead, the IPCC said. However, a report said that initial tests by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service on the bullet found lodged in the police radio suggested that the bullet fragments were from police-issue ammunition, meaning they could not have been from a weapon fired by Duggan, casting doubt on claims that he was killed in an exchange of gunfire. 120 people, including members of Duggan's family and community workers, marched to Tottenham police station in north London, only a short distance from the scene of the shooting.The march was peaceful according to reports, with protesters calling for "justice" and an investigation. Local roads were closed and traffic diverted.

What sparked the rioting is still unclear but police said that certain elements, who were not involved with the vigil, took the opportunity to commit disorder and physically attack police officers, verbally abuse fire brigade personnel and destroy vehicles and buildings. "Police say the subsequent riots in other parts of London and the UK are copycat events that have little or nothing to do with the death of Duggan. Rioting had taken place in several London locations, including Battersea in south London, Ealing in the west and Hackney in east London. Disturbances were also reported in Birmingham in central England, Bristol in the southwest and Liverpool in northwest. England.Rioting and looting was reported from several other parts of London, including Brixton in south London, Enfield in north London and Oxford Street in central London, the capital's main shopping district. Yet the riots we are seeing now are fundamentally different from those that have gone before. They might, ostensibly, have been triggered by the police shooting of Mark Duggan, a notorious gangster, in north London; but they are fuelled by pure greed, by a belief that something can be had for nothing. The usual brakes on such behaviour – either an appreciation that it is wrong, or by the prospect that the culprit will be caught and punished – are largely absent.

The police introduced special powers in four areas of London -- Lambeth, Haringey, Enfield and Waltham Forest -- allowing stop and search without reasonable suspicion in a bid to keep rioters off the streets.In theory, parliament could invoke powers to implement curfews, use water canons or even call in the armed forces.However, senior politicians and police officers have said that these options are unlikely to be used unless the situation got significantly worse.The government has yet to respond, most of them are sunning themselves on beaches across the globe but the Prime Minister doubtless to promise terrible retribution be visited upon those caught rioting. He will also say that there is no excuse for rioting or stealing and he will set up an ‘enquiry’ which will doubtless be headed by somebody who has never been unemployed, lived on a squalid council estate. They will cite poverty and unemployment but will not accept that immigration has played any part or that ill-discipline in schools and indeed in many homes has any baring. They will not accept that reducing the role of motherhood to something to be fitted around work has caused havoc in society for these people by and large have their own agenda which has the unfortunate pitfall of being utterly un-costed. Printing money and handing it out for free would not solve the problems faced.

Epithets like “rabble” or “riff-raff” are too mild for the lawless, feckless, mindless and amoral thugs who forced passers-by to strip naked while they stole their clothes; or who torched a furniture warehouse that had withstood the Blitz; or who ransacked shops across London. But the question is what is the root cause behind this ruthless and nonsensical riots. The‘causes’ are many and varied. They certainly include  the failure of successive governments to more fairly distribute the nations wealth and the draconian measures being taken to cut the social security budget but they also include the interpretation of womens rights, the willingness of governments to allow ‘factory fodder’ to be imported because business sector insists on paying salaries so low that governments have to top up those wages simply in order to ensure people can live and the ill-discipline of generations of ‘latch key’ children. Of course not all such kids are rioting and not all rioters are unemployed but it is the atmosphere created which leads to these problems. It is of course no coincidence that Mr.cameroon’s very philosophy is to reduce the role of the state, meaning that assistance is harder to get and takes longer to get.

They appear to believe that social safety nets can be fixed on the cheap but if the rioters believe that their actions will change this philosophy they are deluded. The solution must lie in long term if not life long employment being found for the people which pays well and includes provision for both health care and old age. This will involve a deal of planning from the cradle to the grave but the alternative, to leave people increasingly to their own devices is surely not an option? Such a massive undertaking would require change in all sectors of the community.

We must distribute wealth more evenly and we cannot continue to refuse to use legislation to make it happen. Of course many business people will tell you that they would be forced to move abroad in such circumstances but the time has come to treat such threats as what they are – unpatriotic and based on greed.They must also stop all immigration immediately. This is not a racial point or one of human rights. The truth is that the population is already too big for a nation of
their size to sustain both moves to tackle serious deprivation and support further immigration – our services cannot stretch to it. Perhaps in the future Britain may once more be in a position to offer safety and solace to those less fortunate, but at this juncture in they cannot continue to countenance such ideas.

Attitudes on all sides then must change but sadly there is little sign of compromise. The ‘camps’ are set up, lines are drawn, those who have intend to keep and those who have not intend to take from those who have, it is a spiral which can only lead to greater and greater unrest. My consolation is my age which may prevent me from having to witness the culmination of this madness but I also hope against hope that somebody will emerge with the power and the vision to drag us back from the abyss. As yet he/she are keeping their own counsel but you never know.

If ever we wanted proof that Britain has been divided into two nations, then here it was. But hasn’t it always been? You did not need to look far beneath the surface at any time over the past 200 years or more to find people ready to loot and rob and steal. After all, the London mob is hardly a new phenomenon. The word itself was coined in the late 17th century as the city’s population grew and aggressive crowds, fuelled by alcohol and perceived grievance, took to the streets with alarming regularity.