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All the coverage of the riots over the last few days have left me feeling very depressed, angry and numb.
I'm furious with the scumbags who think smashing up and torching independent retailers is "sticking it to the man", the kids who reckon the police can do nothing to do "because it's my first offence, innit" and even worse the ones who go on Sky News complaining that there's nothing to do in an evening, so instead of doing something positive they decide to shit all over their community.
The 'me,me,me' mentality of some of these kids (some of whom have been gloating on twitter and facebook at how big and clever they are for nicking some t-shirts from JJB) just makes you feel sick. I know I'm going to sound like a real fuddy duddy, but when I was their age I swear we weren't like that, oh yeah we were selfish and mean in a way that kids are but we didn't go round smashing stuff up, we didn't attack teachers or abuse adults. And I'm not that old.
Where did it all go wrong?
I've been seeing pictures of my beloved Birmingham today and it's so depressing to see all the shops boarded up along New Street and Corporation Street. Hearing that the Custard Factory of all places got looted (now, if there's a place that is the epitome of independent it's the CF). Seeing people trashing Richer Sounds (where the staff are absolutely lovely) made me a bit teary.
It's depressing to think that I've brought a child into this world and I haven't the faintest idea where to start to start repairing it. I work with people in the age range of the rioters and our funding has been absolutely slashed by the government, so many brilliant community projects have had to close because there's no money there and no one can afford to run them for free. I hear kids saying that they only go to college so they can get their EMA to buy booze or drugs (and these are 16yo kids). With all the redundancies we've had at work recently we don't ave the staff to support these people as much as they need and I can only see it getting worse.
And don't get me started on David Cameron and his 'sick communities'. He's compounded the problem by penalising the poor and deprived by cutting all the community funding instead of going after the fatcats and billionaire tax dodger who bankroll his old boys club. And how dare he claim that the #riotwombles are part of his Big Society. oooh, he makes me so mad, he really does.
Also don't get me started on all the MPs getting compensation for having their holidays cut short. The police who have all had their leave cancelled and the ambulance and fire staff who are having to work extended or extra shifts won't get any compensation and what exactly are the MPs going to do?
As far as I can see it (and if you see it differently please share in the comments) we need money made available to run community projects to get the kids off the streets, make more money available to get people into work (either through training or making monetary incentives available to employers to take on Apprentices - because at the moment that's something that's dying a death because employers can't afford to take them on, not even at £2.50 an hour) and try to find a way of building community spirit. How many of your neighbours do you know?
I really, really hope that we can wake up tomorrow and there have been no more deaths due to the rioting.
I'm furious with the scumbags who think smashing up and torching independent retailers is "sticking it to the man", the kids who reckon the police can do nothing to do "because it's my first offence, innit" and even worse the ones who go on Sky News complaining that there's nothing to do in an evening, so instead of doing something positive they decide to shit all over their community.
The 'me,me,me' mentality of some of these kids (some of whom have been gloating on twitter and facebook at how big and clever they are for nicking some t-shirts from JJB) just makes you feel sick. I know I'm going to sound like a real fuddy duddy, but when I was their age I swear we weren't like that, oh yeah we were selfish and mean in a way that kids are but we didn't go round smashing stuff up, we didn't attack teachers or abuse adults. And I'm not that old.
Where did it all go wrong?
I've been seeing pictures of my beloved Birmingham today and it's so depressing to see all the shops boarded up along New Street and Corporation Street. Hearing that the Custard Factory of all places got looted (now, if there's a place that is the epitome of independent it's the CF). Seeing people trashing Richer Sounds (where the staff are absolutely lovely) made me a bit teary.
It's depressing to think that I've brought a child into this world and I haven't the faintest idea where to start to start repairing it. I work with people in the age range of the rioters and our funding has been absolutely slashed by the government, so many brilliant community projects have had to close because there's no money there and no one can afford to run them for free. I hear kids saying that they only go to college so they can get their EMA to buy booze or drugs (and these are 16yo kids). With all the redundancies we've had at work recently we don't ave the staff to support these people as much as they need and I can only see it getting worse.
And don't get me started on David Cameron and his 'sick communities'. He's compounded the problem by penalising the poor and deprived by cutting all the community funding instead of going after the fatcats and billionaire tax dodger who bankroll his old boys club. And how dare he claim that the #riotwombles are part of his Big Society. oooh, he makes me so mad, he really does.
Also don't get me started on all the MPs getting compensation for having their holidays cut short. The police who have all had their leave cancelled and the ambulance and fire staff who are having to work extended or extra shifts won't get any compensation and what exactly are the MPs going to do?
As far as I can see it (and if you see it differently please share in the comments) we need money made available to run community projects to get the kids off the streets, make more money available to get people into work (either through training or making monetary incentives available to employers to take on Apprentices - because at the moment that's something that's dying a death because employers can't afford to take them on, not even at £2.50 an hour) and try to find a way of building community spirit. How many of your neighbours do you know?
I really, really hope that we can wake up tomorrow and there have been no more deaths due to the rioting.
