This week in Britain we are witnessing unprecedented scenes of rioting, looting and arson in many of our major cities. What started as a localised incident has escalated beyond belief. The images that are unfolding on our TV screens and in the press are horrifying. We are used to seeing this in war torn countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria but not our own. Unlike those, our riots are not caused by an uprising of oppressed people but by criminals and opportunists. They are totally out of control and the police seem to be unable to stop them.
The Prime Minster is promising us a robust response and although too late for many of the victims, let us hope this will be the case. What sickens me the most is that the perpetrators of this violence are being egged on by Twitter postings. Most of them have Blackberries or iPods. So much for the 'deprived youths' as the liberals are fond of calling them. Once again social networking has shown it's ugly side. On the other hand Twitter helped to rally people to help clear up the mess left behind after the mayhem, so something positive has come out of it but on the whole it has been responsible for spreading the word to the looters of where the best places are for them to carry out their crimes. In some countries looters are shot. Here we have less draconian measures. We take photos of them and hope to bring them to justice. This often means weeks, months or years later. So many of them are under the age of criminal responsibility that they may never be punished. Depressing news, especially as we are building up to the 2012 Olympics which will help boost our economy and therefore help the unemployed and under priviledged. It just doesn't make any sense.
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