The week England went mad.

It started with a man from Tottenham being shot. It ended with over 1000 arrests, looted shops and burning cities.

The rest of the world looked on in horror as they witnessed the previously proud English nation transform into an anarchist mob.The sad thing is, that despite the majority of citizens being totally shocked, outraged and bewildered by these acts of violence committed by our own, all the outside world would have seen was footage of London's streets ablaze and hooded gangs looting from their own communities. This left many questioning the country's capability of hosting the Olympic games in just under a year. And can we blame them?

However, this question is hardly the most pressing issue for your average Joe living in England. (At least it isn't for me) People are more concerned with how these riots were even allowed to happen, the underlying social tensions that have now reared their ugly head, and, possibly the most depressing fact, that most of the rioters and looters seemed to be under the age of 20. Doesn't say much for our great and powerful society, does it?

While the initial riots in Tottenham appeared to have a valid cause, this seems to have been totally lost along the way and replaced with greedy opportunists who have no regard for their own community, city or country. Many youths have seized the chance to grab a new TV and set of trackies, while burning a few cars (and hey, why not buildings?!) in the process. 

At the risk of sounding 5 times my own age, what has happened to the youth of today? I can not even begin to comprehend the thought process of these idiots. Some are claiming that they are fighting back against the police who 'are lyk totally racist innit'. Ummm, then why are you smashing up your local newsagents for fags? While others argue they are 'reclaiming the streets from the rich.' Again, is there any need to burn a carpet shop or drive a stolen digger down the road to do this? Nope, thought not.


Whether we want to admit it or not, these riots have highlighted that there are social issues in our society, that have been ignored for far too long. And while these kids are completely uneducated, brainless criminals - there must be a reason behind why so many are popping up all over the country with the same idea, thinking 'hey, burning buildings and robbing shops in a mass gang sound like a hoot.' So who's to blame? The government, parents, education or society? Cos let's face it, while it's nice to think they're all just scumbags on the rob, and it has nothing to do with us, it's a tad naive to think it's just a big coincidence that thousands of people have exactly the same thought process.

I feel I'm starting to get a tad ranty here, so I will leave this with some images and clips of the madness that encompassed our country for a few days in 2011. And also with the hope that, like myself, there are decent, educated people out there who really want the police to water-cannon the little bastards  rugrats right back into their holes. JOKING. Kind of.

Pictures from the London riots on the BBC

Croydon riots

Footage from the riots

Till next time, bizzle x