BLOODY HELL

[David Robertson]

Kicking off again in Liverpool as I write. About 400m away from me, south of the centre, close to the kick-off point last night. Riot police everywhere; helicopters churning away over our house; roads nearby all closed. My son is monitoring the social media. Reckons he was at school with a number of the main players. Describes them as seriously malicious bastards - wannabe 'hard men' who are looking to build their posses. "Mainly black youth?", I ask. "Not at all" he replies, pointing out and naming a couple of white rodent-faced hoodies from this evening's local paper. "Politics?" "None whatsoever", he scoffs, as if I'm an idiot for bothering to ask.

Wandered round the area earlier today. Counted a dozen freshly burned out cars; smashed bus shelters & street furniture. But relatively little damage to property. That could change tonight though.

Local response today has been universally derisory. Not a shred of sympathy, even from the most liberal (unlike in 1981 as I recall). Encouraging willingness to get out there and clean up. But bafflement as to cause; and bewilderment turning to anger that some parents have no idea that some quite young kids are involved in this.

I should also add that the Liverpool Bridge Club lies slap bang in the middle of the war zone. Fingers crossed it doesn't receive a Grand Slam tonight

[Paul McKeown]

"Mainly black youth?", I ask. "Not at all" he replies, pointing out and naming a couple of white rodent-faced hoodies from this evening's local paper. "Politics?" "None whatsoever", he scoffs, as if I'm an idiot for bothering to ask.

[... snip ...]

Local response today has been universally derisory. Not a shred of sympathy, even from the most liberal (unlike in 1981 as I recall).

Well, apart from the some of the more wild-eyed scribblers in the Guardian who are singing paens of praise to the Black proletariat youth rising up in righteous wrath against Tory oppression - and John McDonnell who's gone on off on one - oh - and the Iranian government who are inveighing against British state brutality. Don't know which is worse, the delusions of the mad Guardians of the flame of the Left, or the rest of the journalistic profession who seem to be slavering at the prospect of a good ruck, hopefully inflamed by the police massacring innocent passer-bys with a volley of baton rounds. Makes for good TV.

It'll all blow over soon enough. If the peelers have to crack a few skulls, well fair enough, as long as they crack the right skulls and stop before the bloodlust kicks in. And whatever happens NO bloody baton rounds. If in some extreme life or death situation some senior officer sees no other resort, then okay, water cannon, baton rounds, tear gas, whatever, but get the army to do it. At least the soldiers have done it before for real and won't balls it up. Leave it to the police, never done it for real, out of ten officers, seven will do the job right, one will s**t his pants and spend two years in therapy before being medically discharged, one will go berserker and the tenth will hit a three year old in the head with a plastic bullet. Then you will have a REAL riot and the rioters will be using sharp rounds.

Nah, seven day wonder. It'll all blow over and we can get back to normal.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Hazel Blears made an interesting point (one that had occurred to me as well):

"She also told the BBC that the "wall-to-wall" coverage of the violence may have encouraged more lawlessness."

That, and the ability to organise via mobiles and social media.

Just realised I've only been reading about this and seeing still photos. Not seen any actual video footage yet.

[David Robertson]

It's nearly 3.00am, and I've needed to wait up to ensure my daughter's safe return from Athens (where they know a bit about rioting!). So you can tell domestic anxiety levels have ticked up a notch or two.

My daughter reports, from her trip in from Manchester Airport, that our area appears ringed by armed police, with roads closed but otherwise quiet/deserted. I'm not surprised they're deserted if armed police are patrolling.

Heard no fresh reports of disturbances, so it might have petered out here. I'm sure Paul is right: it'll blow over. In this city anyway, from all the evidence, the rioters/looters have absolutely no support. In fact they're regarded as an unwanted and unnecessary distraction from ongoing problems; and a pestilence in the community. Whatever is driving the mob, it'll wither from lack of support.

[Mick Norris]

Hazel Blears made an interesting point (one that had occurred to me as well):

"She also told the BBC that the "wall-to-wall" coverage of the violence may have encouraged more lawlessness."

That, and the ability to organise via mobiles and social media.

Just realised I've only been reading about this and seeing still photos. Not seen any actual video footage yet.

There are videos on the BBC website and there has been extensive news coverage

The Manchester experience appears to show that water cannons and other extreme measures wouldn't have worked due to the small scale of the groups involved, often youngsters, and the layout of the city centre - the use of police horses, and later, police dogs seems to have been the most effective

It was weird at Gigg Lane last night in the second half to get announcements that the Metrolink (tram) was shut and then that no public transport was leaving Bury (although it did distract from the clown of a ref who I hope to never see again) - more so for the Coventry fans wondering if they could get home after seeing their team outplayed

The rioters broke into the offices of The Children's Society in Manchester

[Christopher Kreuzer]

There is a tenuous link between the rioting and the Bobby Fischer film, as the distributors (Dogwoof), along with many other small distributors, had/have stock at the Sony warehouse that went up in flames. Not sure if there would have been any actual DVDs of the film there (possibly the DVDs haven't been manufactured yet), but this large loss of stock might well have some knock-on effect.

News story here:

http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/uk-fi ... use/229560

[James Byrne]

...

[John Upham]

Would it be a good idea to arm the Police with Blue Peter scissors in-order to dehood any hoodies?

The hooded tops could then be collected outside Primark or Argos and burnt by the local Neighbourhood Watch persons...

[Nicky Chorley]

Seems to have calmed down now. Hopefully it stays this way.