what the hell is goin down in londontowne?

Some people couldnt wait until next year to light the Olympic torch...

Gazza wrote on Aug 8^th, 2011 at 6:42pm:

Some people couldnt wait until next year to light the Olympic torch...

Spoken like someone who lives in Northern Ireland........Btw your avatar is freaking me out man. :o

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Aug 8^th, 2011 at 6:48pm:

Gazza wrote on Aug 8th, 2011 at 6:42pm: Some people couldnt wait until next year to light the Olympic torch... Spoken like someone who lives in Northern Ireland........Btw your avatar is freaking me out man. :o

Blame Schillid. He uploaded it!

Gazza wrote on Aug 8^th, 2011 at 6:51pm:

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Aug 8th, 2011 at 6:48pm: Gazza wrote on Aug 8th, 2011 at 6:42pm: Some people couldnt wait until next year to light the Olympic torch... Spoken like someone who lives in Northern Ireland........Btw your avatar is freaking me out man. :o Blame Schillid. He uploaded it!

LOL, figures. Tha mad genius that he is.

I hear this will sweep Europe.

watching CNN I kept hearing Clash songs in my head... jeez, aren't these just like the riots of the 1970's when punk rock and other things exploded in Britain?

Some Guy wrote on Aug 10^th, 2011 at 6:25pm:

I hear this will sweep Europe.

not Germany... they are doing rather well... hmmm. let's take a closer look at what they have done to succeeed...

Pdog wrote on Aug 10^th, 2011 at 6:31pm:

watching CNN I kept hearing Clash songs in my head... jeez, aren't these just like the riots of the 1970's when punk rock and other things exploded in Britain?

White Riot?

Pdog wrote on Aug 10^th, 2011 at 6:31pm:

watching CNN I kept hearing Clash songs in my head... jeez, aren't these just like the riots of the 1970's when punk rock and other things exploded in Britain?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1kynkZ-F_0&feature=related

saw jones last week in philly with the BAD reunion tour, nice little show but not over the top like the 80s shows, hands down some of the best music recorded in the eighties

mojoman wrote on Aug 10^th, 2011 at 6:56pm:

Pdog wrote on Aug 10th, 2011 at 6:31pm: watching CNN I kept hearing Clash songs in my head... jeez, aren't these just like the riots of the 1970's when punk rock and other things exploded in Britain? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1kynkZ-F_0&feature=related saw jones last week in philly with the BAD reunion tour, nice little show but not over the top like the 80s shows, hands down some of the best music recorded in the eighties

They play Lolapooloza Fest too... I hope their set airs on Pladia!

What is happening in London (and Greece and elsewhere) is popular resistance to corporatist "austerity" measures which are plunging millions into misery and despair for the benefit of less than one percent of the population.

We've got trouble, that's for sure
We got millions unemployed
Some kids can't write, some kids can't read
Some kids are hungry, some overeat

:will-ya

Nonsense. They're just a bunch of opportunistic scumbags with no values whatsoever.

I dont exactly see hundreds of poor kids in rags roaming the streets.  Austerity's obviously pretty bad when you have to eat TVs and playstations to survive!

Millions of people struggle from one day to the next. They still know the difference between right and wrong.

These people are vermin. Nothing excuses it.

They're sub-human scum. Nothing more, nothing less.  :stinkypost

Honky Tonk Man wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 3:28pm:

They're sub-human scum. Nothing more, nothing less.  :stinkypost

But you don't understand Alex. Over here in the USA,we have this obsessive need to overanalyze,examine pick apart and classify every single aspect of human life. We also have a lot of time on cable news to fill. :loloncemore

if you feel like a riot then don't you deny it...

Gazza wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 12:08pm:

Nonsense. They're just a bunch of opportunistic scumbags with no values whatsoever. I dont exactly see hundreds of poor kids in rags roaming the streets.  Austerity's obviously pretty bad when you have to eat TVs and playstations to survive! Millions of people struggle from one day to the next. They still know the difference between right and wrong. These people are vermin. Nothing excuses it.

Exactly! My thought put into words.

To paraphrase David Cameron (although I'm not a fan) "People talk a lot about their rights but not their responsibilities) Incodently, the police here in NI use the watercannons and plastic bullets pretty quickly (and justifiably so) so why all the hmming and hawing in this situation?

your cops really don't carry guns?? what's up with that??

Some Guy wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 5:19pm:

your cops really don't carry guns?? what's up with that??

Yeah, but the embassy guards can vaporize you in a millisecond.  :scary

Some Guy wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 5:19pm:

your cops really don't carry guns?? what's up with that??

I suppose we just don't believe it is right that the police are going about with guns unless under special circumstances.

Gazza wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 12:08pm:

Nonsense. They're just a bunch of opportunistic scumbags with no values whatsoever. I dont exactly see hundreds of poor kids in rags roaming the streets.  Austerity's obviously pretty bad when you have to eat TVs and playstations to survive! Millions of people struggle from one day to the next. They still know the difference between right and wrong. These people are vermin. Nothing excuses it.

Thinking of the similar situation in Greece the last couple of months, there are always people who have no values at all and get inside the riots just to cause mayhem. I don't think those are the majority and I don't think they should characterize the whole condition. That is, I can't believe that what happened in London these days, and what happened in Greece and in Spain, at such an extent, can all be attributed to a bunch of people who just wanna steal or mess things up.

I think the riots indeed show the people's dissatisfaction with the way things are going, and their rage. Austerity measures do have a lot to do with it, but most of all I think it's this sense of unfairness, lack of hope for the future and everything revolving around interests and money. At least that was the case here, and I find lots of similarities.

SoulPlunderer wrote on Aug 11^th, 2011 at 4:56pm:

Gazza wrote on Aug 11th, 2011 at 12:08pm: Nonsense. They're just a bunch of opportunistic scumbags with no values whatsoever. I dont exactly see hundreds of poor kids in rags roaming the streets.  Austerity's obviously pretty bad when you have to eat TVs and playstations to survive! Millions of people struggle from one day to the next. They still know the difference between right and wrong. These people are vermin. Nothing excuses it. Exactly! My thought put into words. To paraphrase David Cameron (although I'm not a fan) "People talk a lot about their rights but not their responsibilities) Incodently, the police here in NI use the watercannons and plastic bullets pretty quickly (and justifiably so) so why all the hmming and hawing in this situation?

Selective political correctness, Conor.

FotiniD wrote on Aug 12^th, 2011 at 2:17am:

Gazza wrote on Aug 11th, 2011 at 12:08pm: Nonsense. They're just a bunch of opportunistic scumbags with no values whatsoever. I dont exactly see hundreds of poor kids in rags roaming the streets.  Austerity's obviously pretty bad when you have to eat TVs and playstations to survive! Millions of people struggle from one day to the next. They still know the difference between right and wrong. These people are vermin. Nothing excuses it. Thinking of the similar situation in Greece the last couple of months, there are always people who have no values at all and get inside the riots just to cause mayhem. I don't think those are the majority and I don't think they should characterize the whole condition. That is, I can't believe that what happened in London these days, and what happened in Greece and in Spain, at such an extent, can all be attributed to a bunch of people who just wanna steal or mess things up. I think the riots indeed show the people's dissatisfaction with the way things are going, and their rage. Austerity measures do have a lot to do with it, but most of all I think it's this sense of unfairness, lack of hope for the future and everything revolving around interests and money. At least that was the case here, and I find lots of similarities.

Can't really agree with that. If frustration over unfairness and austerity was a major factor, then the obvious target would be the institutions whose policies led to that situation, eg banks.

Torching and looting local shops serving your own community isn't some kind of political statement.

I honestly think this could have happened in Britain at any time over the last decade. Maybe even longer.  Its more a reflection on a breakdown in basic values due to years of neglect from governments and the legal system which have for too long sought to make excuses for fecklessness and criminality. Hopefully the last few days has led to a tipping point as to what the decent majority of people in the UK are prepared to put up with.

A post on a discussion forum from a friend of mine from Belfast who has been living in London (Ealing) for the last few years sums it up better than I can.

Some right rubbish being posted on here by the 'hug a hoody' mob. These people are not poor - they do not go to bed hungry every night. If they have no job the state will pay them and house them, leaving many low paid hard working families on the breadline, not being able to get affordable council housing as these under class go top of the queue in the waiting list. If any thing it should be the low paid working class taking it out on this underclass, not the other way around.

Some on here are going on about state violence, beating the people down, etc. If that was the case, this whole sorry state of affairs would have been over before the start of the week, but no the police stood back, the only people using violence where those who decided to hold the hard working people of London and the other cities to ransom, with the spread of fear......and terror. I witnessed the destruction of shops, who's owners and staff have worked hard over the years to provide a service to the local community, now these people are out of a job, well done to the scum who have increased the dole queue.

There can be no other reason for what I witnessed in Ealing on Monday night (and the same goes for every where else), this was not a political protest, this was not a people fighting for freedom (ffs we live in the UK the mother of modern democracy, and have more freedoms than you can point a stick at), it was not about race, nor was it about religion, it was not hungry people, or oppressed people, it wasnt even about a wronged people, or tax hikes, nor was it about cuts in services, or the fact they wanted to over turn the government, at the end of the day this was all about greed and the fact that liberalism has destroyed the moral compass of this once great nation. If you feel you should side with the looters, then hang your head in shame and think about the poor honest working person, who watched their place of employment raped and destroyed by a class of people who no better than vermin

I found it interesting PM Cameron wants to block social networking, citing the rioters are using it... When we cheered on those in Arab countries doing the same... but, regardless, whether that is debated as apples versus oranges... they neglect to point out, how many social networkers and groups showed up in force to help clean up and support those who were looted and hurt...
and to really ppint out the absurdity of all this... when push comes to shove... we live in a society, that would rather watch riots as entertainment, while a great human catastrophe is happening is Somalia and the African Horn, were millions are sick and starving and children are dying every day a slow horrible death... and let is be said by me, these aren't people who did anything to deserve this... they are victims, nothing else... and given the chance, these are wonderful people, these are people worth rioting for and sacraficing some of our convenience to help save. They are smart, hardworking beautiful people. I don't know about any of you, but I am strongly affected by suffering of others, and when my internet is slow and I can't record more than 2 shows on my DVR and I see how much I pay for food and fuel... I stop and realize, I don't have one fucking problem, except myself!!!

It is the entitlement thing....gimme gimme gimme.........lock the buggers up and bring back the lash!

So much for this being an uprising of the poor and underclass people.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ballerina-olympic-ambassador-arrested-london-sweep-152907901.html