I am on a train. Free wifi is an absolute winner. When shooting through Englands rolling hills its easy to forget the hideous riots that swept over the country in the past couple of weeks. It looks too peaceful to ever be a land of discontent but discontent it is.
There is a growing concern amoungst sane, civil people that the country is going to, quite frankly, the shitter and it is the lowest eons of society that are causing all the problems. I agree to a point, these people who apparently feel so angry at our society they have to smash up their own backyard are a disgrace. I will never ever doubt that. The riots brought out my conservative side (I wasn't aware I had one before this, corporal punishment no, gay marriage yes, I am as liberal as they come so I thought) but when I saw the joy that was coming out of the people smashing up my own fair city my temper rose to a volcanic level and I was ashamed. My shame didn't last long though, one of my good friends showed me that the real scouse of the city were not the ones looting and burning cars but those who went out with brushes the next morning and cleaned it all up again. I saw a very funny comment regarding the fact that we may riot but we, in the very British way, clean it all up again the next morning without complaint, with spirit. These riots did not divide our communities but united them through mop, bucket and brushes.
I am getting extremely fed up of the people who are describing these rioters only as 'the youth'. It was not just young people gleefully breaking societies rules but older generations too. It would be wrong surely to let them off the hook and focus just on the 11 year olds who are the media's main focus. Yes it is vile that these children, because at 11 yes you are still a child, are out vandalising and stealing. Yes there needs to be something done about the fact that SOME young people are so carefree in their abandonment of societies norms but to let the adults off who should know a whole lot better is wrong. They should be the ones with their faces splashed across the front of the paper, they should be shamed, humiliated and punished for their lack of respect, lack of morality. There is still a chance with these young people to give them to tools to become responsible members of society and to change what could be a very destructive path in their lives. It would be incredibly easy to give them up as a bad lot without doing anything about it but for once not taking the easy way out would be profitable and beneficial for all in society. It's what needs to be done rather than just what should be done. This government, as much as I dislike it, here has the chance to step up to the mark and make a difference, whether they do remains to be seen.
