It's a riot, innit, like!

Well, the Guardianistas must be cleaning their love issue off several ceilings this morning having so much social unrest to pontificate over. also Telegraph readers will be stocking up on apoplexy medicine to stave off a case of the 'my face was so red people thought I was a traffic light' syndrome.

Top question of the day, which is the same as every other day, is 'why?'.

Let me put you straight on this; if you're asking yourself this question you're either stupid or you haven't been paying attention over, well, your entire life. Because this hasn't happened before, ever. Has it?

I was reminded this morning, on my fear-filled commute from Paddington to Piccadilly, of the '70s and punk rock. Yes, that social scourge of disaffected youth rebelling against (stop me if you've heard this one before) a society that has abandoned them in favour of material goods, selfishness and a complete lack of community and social awareness. We all said 'why?' then, too. Trouble is we did fuck all about it. The punk rockers got rich and bought Bentley's while the fans grew up and got shit jobs at Wickes and B&Q.

Fast forward to August the 9th (the anniversary of Nagasaki, a slightly worse evening for some). We have, on the one hand, the auld guard; 'hang them, birch them, bring back National Service (which did a great job of preventing the '60s riots, sorry, fights on Brighton Beach), send in the Army'. On the other we have the apologists; 'these kids feel abandoned, bereft of job prospects and security'. The truth, as usual, lies scatted in between.

The seeds of this particular puddle of poo were sown many years ago by well meaning individuals who thought kids needed more rights but also needed to be measured to within an inch of their lives. they were given targets and objectives and grades to meet/reach/fulfil but never actually taught how to think for themselves or to feel any kind of responsibility for their own actions, there is always someone to blame; society, your parents, that horrible and traumatic incident you suffered, probably, sometime, that some 'official person' thought might look good in a dissertation.

The truth is that we did this, as a society, by allowing people to get away with bad behaviour by explaining the cause, not punishing the result. so yes, I sympathise with a generation who feel lost, betrayed and let down. I also firmly believe that when they behave the way they do they should be dealt with, and harshly. To quote Will Graham, when asked if he sympathised with a miscreant :
Agent Jack Crawford: You feel sorry for him?
Will Graham: As a child, my heart bleeds for him. Someone took a little boy and turned him into a monster. But as an adult... as an adult, he's irredeemable. He butchers whole families to fulfill some sick fantasy. As an adult, I think someone should blow the sick fuck out of his socks.

Thank You, and may your neighbourhood watch go with you.