When the underbelly roars
Maurice Mcleod 6:42pm
When the first riots hit Brixton, I was 12 years old. My mates and I came from south London council estates and, while we were no angels, we certainly couldn't be described as bad kids.
I can't pretend that I had any real grasp on why people were rioting but I knew it was against the same police who would stop and bug us constantly — even though none of us had either the balls or inclination to commit crime.
It may sound like a tired cliche but the police didn’t feel like our protectors. They felt like more like an occupying force. And why? There were countless incidents to explain it, but one that sticks in my mind was in 1981 — the same year as the first Brixton riots. Riding my bike on Oxford St, I was passed by a police van and every single officer made monkey noises at me as they went by. It wasn’t particularly upsetting. It just cemented in my mind the idea that many black kids had then: that the police were the enemy. So when the riots came, and we heard that the police were struggling to keep control of chunks of the country, we were more excited than scared.
After the troubles, something changed. It felt like people were afraid of us, just for being young and black. We were used to being disregarded, hassled and underestimated — but we weren't used to being feared. As an immature group of bored boys, we enjoyed the temporary shift of power. We talked about how we hoped the troubles would come to our neighbourhood — and told each other tall stories about the stuff we would loot. Fortunately, for the protection of our posturing bravado, the riots didn't hit Wandsworth.
Today, 30 years on, I still live on a council estate. I even have a couple of the same friends. We've grown up as British society has. While still sometimes irrationally wary of the police, I now see them as ordinary people with good intentions, trying genuinely hard to build bridges with many formerly “hard to reach” communities. Discrimination still exists, of course, but to say there haven't been major improvements — both in the law and in the nation's culture — is a fantasy. A policeman could conceivably still make monkey noises at a black boy, but he wouldn't now do it in a van full of his colleagues and in broad daylight on Oxford St.
So when trouble flared up in Tottenham on Saturday, I was surprised and saddened. I just couldn't understand what there was to fuel the sustained bout of anger needed for a riot. The only conclusion was that society had becomes so empty and mindless that a new pair of trainers, or the thrill of setting fire to something, was now enough.
Coming home from work on Monday evening was eerie. The afternoon had been full of stories about trouble in areas as far apart as Hackney and Croydon. Even in my home, Tooting, there was a tense atmosphere, with a clear police presence and nervous looking shopkeepers.
After watching the rolling news for a while I got a text warning me to keep away from Clapham Junction as there had been some signs of trouble there. My dormant journalistic instinct suddenly kicked in — and I decided to go to Junction to see first hand. Walking down Falcon Road, where my aunt lives, every face I passed seemed wired — with trepidation, excitement or plain, stark fear. The roads were empty and shops had shut and, where possible, boarded up.
As I got closer to the Debenhams store, I passed hooded figures nonchalantly going the other way with arms full of booty. More and more people passed me with their grabbed sportswear and electrical goods. One young guy, who looked about 15, stopped to throw a couple of tracksuits to a girl he fancied from the pile he was struggling to carry. I looked at the faces of the looters and didn't see anger, hatred or even a desire for justice. These were just opportunist young people, looking as if they were having the time of their lives.
When I got to Debenhams I saw people walking in and out of the smashed door and window as if they were doing their shopping. I saw people walking up escalators looking for more prized items than the costume jewellery on the ground floor. I saw a group of around 30 people desperately trying to smash their way into JD Sports.
I saw people watching, open mouthed, struggling to take it all in. What I didn't see — and this really amazed me — was the police. Not a single one.
Of course, the police had an impossible job as area after area caught the rioting bug, and in Clapham they clearly decided to simply stand back and let the rioters run out of steam. What was also strangely missing, especially watching the coverage of other areas, was anger or even a feeling of danger. The mood was more like a street party without the music.
The looters and the onlookers were both stunned that this was being allowed to continue.
It seemed that the police would surely show up but with every police-free minute the looters grew bolder. The group breaking into JD sports had now made their way inside through a smashed window and were emptying the shelves. Not in a panicked way but as if they had all day. People had time to try clothes on, swap them with their fellow looters and even throw away items that weren’t up to scratch.
Some of the group threw footballs out of the store and these started being kicked around St Johns Rd as the mob laughed and ran amok.
A police car showed up going at speed from Lavender Hill and was met with bottles and soon sped away. It felt like the streets had been conquered by this disparate, opportunist mob.
There were people there with their children, walking into busted shops and filling their hands with property.
I spoke to a guy with a cycling mask and a hood who told me that he saw nothing wrong in taking stuff from the shops. And did he feel guilty? “They’ll get it all back on the insurance anyway” he said. On and on it went. I saw some people return several times to get more stuff, apparently heading home and unloading and coming back to get more.
Eventually, after about two hours of rampant looting, the police showed up in the shape of two vans. They sped along St Johns Rd and the majority of the mob scattered instantly, fleeing with their arms full along Falcon Rd back towards Battersea.
The vans screeched to a stop outside Debenhams and JD Sports. They were both full of officers in protective gear but no one got out. The vans then sped back the way they had come down St Johns Rd and within minutes the looting started up again in slightly smaller numbers.
Then from down St Johns Hill, where the police had set up road blocks, officers with dogs came walking into the trouble zone.
I decided that this would be a good time to leave as I doubted the polices’ ability to tell me apart from a looter even though I made sure not to have anything covering my face and I carried no bag.
The police — who, from what I saw, behaved with incredible control — can only do what their numbers allow. They rely on those that want to commit crime fearing being caught and for the rest of us to feel empowered to stand up to them when they get too brave. Sadly, none of that happened last night.
Previous
pottsy
August 9th, 2011 7:19pm Report this commentGreat analysis, far better than anything I've heard spouted by the criminology lecturers and 'community leaders' the BBC has been turning to for comment.
Peter From Maidstone
August 9th, 2011 7:21pm Report this commentThe Police should not make provocative noises at anyone, but I think you are mistaken if you think that account should be taken of 'hard to reach'communities. The law should not take account of how 'hard to reach' a community thinks it is. There is the law, and all communities - including yours - are required to obey it.
There are democratic and peaceful ways and means to engage with the wider society - setting your community up as a special case that must be treated differently is NOT such a democratic means.
Maurice Mcleod
August 9th, 2011 7:43pm Report this commentHi Peter, when I talk about police making great strides to connect with 'hard to reach communities' I'm talking about the good community work that the Met and other forces have made to build links here which mean their intelligence is much better and they have more chance of catching the criminals who blight inner city communities much more than they touch the mainstream.
Of course the law is the law and no one should be an exception.
David
August 9th, 2011 7:43pm Report this commentYou claim to have grown up in the area, but you seem to think Clapham Junction isn't in Battersea?? BBC, Sky News etc, why can't anyone get it right? Clapham Junction is in central Battersea, over a mile from Clapham!!
PuppetMaster
August 9th, 2011 7:44pm Report this commentWhat you are watching is the disintegration of our society jumping up a gear. This is just a taster, when the welfare cheques stop, then you are going to see a civil war.
There is no fear of authority, there is no respect for it, once people lose everything in the coming inflation, there will only be rage left.
David Ossitt
August 9th, 2011 7:47pm Report this commentThe BBC has reported that these riots have spread to Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool, in fact the 6pm evening news did show a small amount of film to this effect.
What it failed to report was that there was trouble last night in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, for those who do not know it; this is a district of Leeds with a large community who are predominately black.
The local BBC news reported it in great depth.
Apparently the cause of the trouble was that the police were investigating two black on black shootings that had occurred in the last few days, very little damage was done, one car was burnt out and one other car badly damaged.
The trouble makers were confined and there was no looting.
It was whilst watching and listening to the locals who were interviewed on camera and also the woman police officers, that I came to the conclusion that these interviews held the reasons why this had not blown up into an outright riot.
The police officer, in a marked contrast to those who spoke to camera in London, was business like, clear in her opinions and what the police would do and what they would not let happen on their watch.
But it was a local resident who was complaining, whining and moaning because a youth had been bitten by a police dog, it was his assertion that the officer whose dog it was had lost control of the dog. He went on to say there were at least four dogs and gave as his opinion that the police were wrong to bring in the dogs.
I think that the police in Leeds know the area, know the people but much more importantly they know their jobs and are not hidebound by the touchy feely politically correct policing methods practised in our Capital City.
Baron
August 9th, 2011 8:12pm Report this commentso far the best, first hand report on the rioting, Maurice, truly good stuff, except you could have gone abit more into why, none of those the TV cameras caught looked undernourished, physically weak, shabbily clothed, many had mobiles, some wore plenty of bling, most looked as if they could move mountains not just hold jobs, what reasons other than the desire to steal fuelled by unchecked greed, the naked enjoyment in destroying the property of others could there be?
why do many in the community you talk about think it’s only they who are fed up, frustrated, feeling impotent, Baron doesn’t speak for anyone, he a minority of one, let me tell you though, he is as frustrated, fed up, feeling impotent as your lot, would he ever dream of burning cars, smashing windows, looting? Never, it ain’t done in a civil society, fullstop.
Yow Min Lye
August 9th, 2011 8:23pm Report this commentI hear the usual left-wing apologists whingeing about 'cuts' and 'lack of investment' in commmunities.
Yeh, tell that to the people of Wolverhampton, who are now watching their brand new £23 million bus station being trashed just two weeks after it was opened!
TrevorsDen
August 9th, 2011 8:34pm Report this comment'A pair of trainers' about sums it up. OI am reminded about the low life saddo mum who kidnapped her own daughter in Dewsbury. How can these sorts have any claim to being deprived when they show such stupendous lack of imagination.
TomTom
August 9th, 2011 8:38pm Report this comment"I think that the police in Leeds know the area, know the people but much more importantly they know their jobs and are not hidebound by the touchy feely politically correct policing methods practised in our Capital City."
You don't know the West Yorkshire Police evidently !! The ones who take witnesses to brothels to get convictions; or who let car-jacking and drug-dealing abound with "grooming" of white girls, and rampant gun crime.
Yes, they are really switched on.....and useless
Maurice Mcleod
August 9th, 2011 8:48pm Report this commentHi Baron,
The larger piece I wrote looked at my view of the causes but we can only run 1000 words on here. Anyway, I don't claim to have the answers. This isn't a protest in the traditional sense. (although there was plenty of damage caused in the original riots, the student demonstrations, anti-capitalist riots and the poll tax riots).
The point is we have nurtured a generation on the underbelly of our community that doesn't feel attached to the mainstream and so doesn't care about the norms of behaviour that we have. I would never try to excuse these riots, the are self-destructive and vile. I'm just not happy with the throw away verdict that these people are just evil and that trying to understand what's happening is pointless. I believe we should always strive to understand the problems in our society before we can fix them.
Dimoto
August 9th, 2011 8:56pm Report this commentThis is a valuable blog-post offering some interesting insights.
Shame the comments feel the need to quibble and pick holes.
I have been on many blogs today and on most, there is a real feeling of solidarity and pulling together to suppress this outrage.
I am just puzzled and concerned that the police seem to be ignoring the obvious coordination of the looting.
Just hope that in some bunker in Scotland Yard there are officers beavering away to track down the evil manipulators behind this mess.
Andrew
August 9th, 2011 9:26pm Report this commentHi Maurice
Your description is first rate. I could see it all from sunny, trouble-free (so far) Devon. What really interested me is your description of the parents of these kids joining in the looting. No one has commented on this. "They get it back on insurance anyway" is a stock response. Bankers' bonuses, politicians' fraudulent expense claims and greedy CEOs have all contributed to make this behaviour "acceptable". The fish rots from the head down.
JohnPage
August 9th, 2011 9:34pm Report this commentA fine piece of writing, Maurice.
Peter From Maidstone
August 9th, 2011 10:14pm Report this commentI don't know about quibbling or picking holes. It is still allowed to disagree with a blog. I am relatively poor and come from a relatively poor estate. We are not rioting. There is always a choice. All of this behaviour is criminal, much of it is evil. I am not sure that it needs to be understood rather than supressed.
Removing the state funding which facilitates this lifestyle would be a good start. Members of dysfunctional communities should not be rewarded for bad behaviour. Fear of worse behaviour should not facilitate increased funding. My kids also need youth clubs and youth activities. They don't get them because the funding goes to 'deprived' communities. Unemployment and poverty are no excuse for this behavior. There is unemployment and poverty where I am. My children are not out destroying and thieving.
We do need to make a distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor. I try to be one of the deserving. So do most of those who don't have much money. Fund those and exclude the others. Do not fund the breeding of more of the same. Reward good behavior and punish bad.
Lock up anyone and everyone caught carrying a knife as we were promised. Clear the streets of those who wish to perpetrate the violence we have seen. There is no excuse. There are no reasons that stand up to scrutiny. These people have made a choice. They must face the consequences of their choices - just the same as the rest of us. If we have to build a prison camp to house 1,000 rioters and looters then it needs to be done.
TomTom
August 9th, 2011 10:59pm Report this commentPeter From Maidstone, there used to be a Pyramid of Values which made society function, but it was inverted. Every value you try to instill in your children is inverted by the institutions of the society around you.
To have ethical values you have to be apart from this society, to distance yourself from its institutions which are fundamentally corrupt and foundering.
Duncan Reed
August 9th, 2011 11:18pm Report this commentEr, Bill Bratton anyone??
daniel maris
August 9th, 2011 11:34pm Report this commentVery good article. But I think Peter from Maidstone makes some fair comments as well, in so far as he is talking about removing rewards for bad behaviour.
The Police performance has been very poor. It seems to be improving somewhat. But it was inexcusably bad.
Some general points:
1. I think it is unacceptable of the fire brigade who are well protected in their gear to be expecting Police to protect them when they are not actually under attack. How can they justify that when elswhere people are losing their homes to firebombers?
2. I think the use of generalised stop and search powers is always a bad idea. We need to get the Police back to patrolling and targetting criminals.
3. We need to reinstate the EMA as before.
4. We need to ensure there is a guarantee of paid work for all young people.
5. We need special legislation to target gangs. Forming a gang with criminal objectives of intimidation, robbery and so on should be completely unacceptable and subject to criminal penalties.
Tom Pride
August 9th, 2011 11:36pm Report this commentJust listening to Newsnight and the dreadful, appalling Harman. “I condemn but EVA, cuts etc – all the fault of the Tories”. Gove in fury is taking her apart. She looks and sounds the two faced idiot she is. Almost in tears as he deconstructs her limb by limb.
Watch it on the iplayer if you can. Gove passionate, eloquent - magnificent.
Someone ought to tell the rioting youth that they are simply being used by the Statists, the PC establishment and Labour Party lefties like Harman as their latest battering ram against a non-Labour government. Sacrificial lambs led to the slaughter. As they sit in their cells they might consider the similarity of their plight to those of the miners – the last group the Statists sacrificed in their attempt to undermine and remove a legitimately elected government.
On Thursday the Tories should not seek a false and imaginary “consensus” but attack the Labour party for its excuses for the looters and its undemocratic intentions. Expose them to the country for what they are.
Good news - it’s been very quiet in my part of London tonight. Streets and tube as empty as a Sunday morning – doing as requested by the police. A decent law abiding majority we are. A good and safe night.
RKing
August 9th, 2011 11:41pm Report this commentIs this really all about the colour of peoples skin?
If I was to knock the shit out of an intruder into my house there would be half a dozen police around in now time, I'll get locked up and the intruder would get off with ten hours community service. Then he would probably sue me for £500,000 because he tripped up on a piece of carpet as he was trying to get away and he has never been able to work since.
It's his 'uman rights init!!!
What happens to a teacher who restrains a pupils unruly behaviour? He gets suspended and will probably lose his job and pension and kids parents will likely sue for compensation.
It's the kids 'uman rights init!!!
And probably the worst example is the way our police dare not go in heavy without the consent of the prime minister as has now happened.
Our politicians should now look closely at all of the legislation which has been imposed, mostly by europe, which has made this country almost uncontrollable.
I'm sure there are many more examples than those I have quoted.
Hog
August 10th, 2011 4:27am Report this commentVery well written. I'm in Clapham South, and I know exactly the odd atmosphere you describe.
normanc
August 10th, 2011 6:59am Report this commentYoung people like a bit of the old ultraviolence after sharpening the knives with some moloko plus.
Always have, always will. It was the fitba back in my day. Now there seems to be no outlet for it so I guess we have to expect things to erupt every now and then.
Boys will be boys and all that. Or open up all the closed boxing clubs so they can knock spots out of each other in a controlled environment.
TomTom
August 10th, 2011 7:19am Report this commentNever mind, a few more weeks and Teachers will have to deal with problems Policemen run away from. Lucky Schoolteachers get to be prison warders without bars between themselves and the inmates.....
Sirt Everard Digby
August 10th, 2011 7:28am Report this commentOf course the flip side of Maurice's argument is that none of this anti-social behaviour could take place if the law abiding majority did not set a framework which can be broken. For at least 13 years that majority has had no voice at all. They will watch in dismay as money is poured into these damaged areas by politicians who think a solution to anything can be purchased.
The more this happens,the more the law-abiding majority being come detached from the political classes who rule us.
That is not a situation any politician should be comfortable with; yet they don't even see it as an issue.
48Crash
August 10th, 2011 7:41am Report this commentThis reads as an authentic description (and I lived for a long time in Finsbury Park, and recognise the police behaviour you describe) and you've not rushed in to judge, unlike a lot of your commentators here.
1. The original fuse for these riots, the shooting of someone by the police, is taking an awful long time to explain. From this, we can deduce that events didn't quite unfold as the police described them (as in Stockwell). The message this sends to the community is that your lives aren't really worth anything, or taking seriously. This might explain some of their attitude towards law and order.
2. Income from drug dealing so far exceeds benefits, a fair number of people no longer bother with signing on - not worth the effort. So the calls to 'turn off the benefits tap' are irrelevant here.
3. Looting and setting fire to things is unproductive, but what do we expect? That they break into Waterstones and read Keats to eachother? This is not a middle-class riot, and the rioters will respond in a way they feel makes them better. So they steal trainers, and set fire to M&S - not the other way round.
oldtimer
August 10th, 2011 8:52am Report this commentThat reads like a convincing account. The report of police holding back is not confined to riots and arson in London. It has also been observed where I live - a large, reasonably prosperous village. Here the local jewellers were being robbed by a gang. The police were summoned but waited round the corner until the gang had left and the coast was clear for them to turn up.
Comments by those in the know namely that the police have been turned from a "force" into a "service" has the ring of truth. It was even repeated this am on BBC Breakfast by a former inspector of constabulary (I did not catch his name).
Chris lancashire
August 10th, 2011 9:00am Report this commentOne good thing might come out of this and that is that successive governments' social policies have produced a feral underclass with no self-respect and consequently none for anyone else.
Short term - strong policing will be required (although rain in Manchester tonight will also do the trick). Long term - we must stop providing financial incentives to feckless parents to continue producing feral kids. Replace all financial benefits with a system of sheltered accommodation.
pottsy
August 10th, 2011 9:26am Report this commentGood points, Tom Pride. These apologists like Harman are pathetic, a sort of middle class version of the scum who are running rampage. If they want to score political points, bring it on. How about the fact that most of the yobs received their entire schooling under Labour governments. So much for educationm education, education!
ellubo
August 10th, 2011 9:45am Report this commentYou are right Maurice. You just don't see Boris or Dave just going up to the hoodies and saying " What's the problem" .
They just define it to suit their goals and policies. Not terrorism, that's a no no. Not lack of opportunity. Not a right to a free education.
Just crime and punishment.
Fred Taylor
August 10th, 2011 9:49am Report this commentExcellent article. I wonder if -- pure speculation of course -- one thought lingering in the back of our policemen's minds is a desire to show the government exactly what happens if there aren't enough cops on the streets because of cuts?
FvH
August 10th, 2011 10:12am Report this commentThank you Maurice for an excellent piece
We can debat the reasons ad nauseum but the point is that this sort of thing will now become the norm (perhaps not in such a spectacular way) but at a more localised level .
Advice would be 1) don't live in the inner city 2) increase investment in your domestic and personal security 3) don't display obvious signs of wealth if you venture into London, Brum, Manc etc 4) make sure your tax affairs are well managed so you don't feel like you are subsidising the underclass lifestyle 5) get to know a group of Turkish/Asian/ football casual gang who could be paid to come and defend your neighbourhood if it ever comes under threat
Guy T.
August 10th, 2011 10:16am Report this commentMr McCleod (the article's author),
I cannot help but wonder what else you did -- of value -- while watching all of this. At one point you write, "after 2 hours of rampant looting..." so you were there for a LONG time.
What were you doing other than observing?
Surely you had a mobile phone with you? Did you ring up the police? Did you use the camera on your cell phone to photograph the thievery? Particularly the thieves you saw coming back for second and third times.
(They may not live far away; they'd be easy to locate, yes?)
I hope you've just left these details out -- for whatever reasons you might have. I surely hope this is the case.
Otherwise, yes, you are part of the problem. You see, we adults, aged 42 or 43 cannot just stand back and passively observe.
There might be residents right there and shopkeepers (and staff) who would have wanted you taking photos and imploring the police to get themselves on the scene pronto. Maybe even some audio recordings?
Might have saved an easy 300,000 pounds in merchandise?
Your article is okay. What I'd prefer is to later learn that you are a big reason some of these thugs are apprehended and made to pay for their lawlessness.
Citizens are doers. Not just writers who want to stand aloof.
Aren't you a bit too old to be so cowardly?
Disillusioned
August 10th, 2011 10:24am Report this commentGood article. I recognise the vacuum you allude to at Clapham Junction. I came out of the station around 9.15pm to see one (female) police officer standing at a cordon stopping cars going down to the junction but otherwise just watching what was happening. Utterly surreal. By time I arrived home, my shock had turned to anger at what I had witnessed.
TomTom
August 10th, 2011 10:25am Report this comment48Crash - got points !
2012 London changes to digital - Olympice year, brilliant ! At least there will be lots of bargain TV kit available !
Just another tax - digital switchover and frequency sell-off. So much seems to be run for "interests" and too little for "people"; it is plain that if you crowd rats together and make more obstacles they start to eat each other.
The demonisation of people on blogs is essential for some people to get themselves into the punishment mentality of shoot, beat, gas, incarcerate.....but they won't pay for incarceration and tell Ken Clarke to let them out.
What a joke System, and it looks very Ancien Regime right now as the Stormtroopers test out the defences and find them wilting and disorganised - Bureaucratic Inertia
Raffles
August 10th, 2011 10:50am Report this commentAs already commented on by a few above, Harman on Newsnight put on one of the most nauseating performances i have ever seen from a politician. Gove was clearly genuinely appalled by her and even the BBC patsy anchor seemed amazed at her chutzpah. This joke had been in power for 13 years and was one of the cheerleaders of all the human rights, forced equality nonsense that has got us to this sorry pass and she had the temerity to sit there and blame it all on the Tories. Utterly sickening.
Elle
August 10th, 2011 10:58am Report this commentI am viewing what is happening from Australia. You cannot jail the large number of people arrested, and in many cases it would not change their behaviour. However, a monetary penalty will change behaviour. Even if they are on social security, you can make them pay a few pounds out of each payment for as long as the legal system determines (preferrably the government determines this rather than the judiciary). You'd be amazed at how a few pounds each week/fortnight can act as a deterrent. You also need to take into account the fact that the damage to people's lives, health and property is going to cost the Brits millions - someone needs to pay and it shouldn't be the innocent.
Maurice Mcleod
August 10th, 2011 1:10pm Report this commentGuy T.
I felt I had to respond to your accusation that I was cowardly.
I went to Clapham (as a trained journalist) to try and understand what was happening on the streets I know well.
There was certainly no point calling the police to alert them to what was going on.
It was on Sky News, the police set up a road block half a mile away up St Johns Hill and were watching from there.
I took picture on my phone and forwarded these to the police but they don't really identify anyone. (I'm not a photographer)
If you are suggesting I should have rugby tackled the looters as they ran off with their goods, then you have an unrealistic view of the world.
What I did do was offer support and comfort to several residents that I saw looking scared.
I also talked a small group of teenage bystanders who were getting tempted to join in, out of doing so.
The following night I helped watch over the row of shops near my Tooting home.
I have published advice for charities and business that suffered damage in the troubles.
Not much I know but my purpose for being there was to observe, attempt to understand and hopefully contribute to the debate that stops this from happening in future.
Out of interest, what have you done?
Guy T.
August 10th, 2011 4:26pm Report this commentMr. Mcleod,
Now I am confused. You wrote in your response a few hours ago: “I went to Clapham (as a trained journalist) to try and understand what was happening on the streets I know well.”
Yet in the article you had written, “After watching the rolling news for a while I got a text warning me to keep away from Clapham Junction as there had been some signs of trouble there. My dormant journalistic instinct suddenly kicked in — and I decided to go to Junction to see first hand.”
Maybe your writing is too unclear. In the article you make it seem as if you head to Clapham on a nudge or whiff. In your response to me, you make it seem as if you’re doing it out of deliberate purpose and duty.
Which is it?
Look, if you did all you could that evening, then fine. I think I offered that up a few times in my earlier comment. As in, “What I'd prefer is to later learn that you are a big reason some of these thugs are apprehended and made to pay for their lawlessness.”
But, sorry. I remain, well, dubious. Here's why:
If you’ve lived there all your life, where are your mates that you could call up and say, “Hey, get over here! Stand with me. Let’s stand together!”
A local clergyman you know well who could mobilize an entire congregation of men? Surely you know some of them well.
And, yes, I’d be ringing the fire services as well. IMPLORING THEM to get their LOUD sirens and vehicles on the way. Make noise. Frighten the buggers off. Show presence. Sometimes an official uniform is all it takes. Who knows? Right there in Clapham could be the first place water hoses were used on the scum. Why not? You are man enough to persuade a fire chief to do it. Tell him, “Look, this is what I’ve personally witnessed the last 45 minutes. We need action. So just give it some big streams of water for 3 -5 minutes and see if that doesn’t get them running away.”
Right?
And I’d be lambasting the police. You write in your response, “There was certainly no point calling the police to alert them to what was going on.” Well! I’d be ridiculing them for doing nothing. I don’t care what SKY News is showing or not showing. You’re directly on the ground where rampant mayhem is taking place.
What’s to say it doesn’t take a turn far more violent? How could you be sure some wouldn’t turn to auto burnings or outright building arson?
Cajoling sometimes works. Harranging.
Guy T.
August 10th, 2011 4:40pm Report this comment(I know I am writing terribly long. But the topic is worth it. So here is the second part of what I was writing in reply to Mr. Mcleod.)
Walk that short distance to St. Johns Hill and ask the police directly as to the reasons for their inaction. Then, journalist that you are, take their names. Use that iPhone/Motorola/Nokia, whatever you’ve got to photograph them. And tell them, yes, your response is “on the record.”
Audiotape all of this.
Also, you comment about police vehicles arriving, but then just as swiftly departing. Well, photograph them as well when they come, look, don’t get out, and drive on. Get that police vehicle and license plate number. That helps the public when we have to directly and empirically/factually confront the police with their bewildering inactivity.
If the police are too wimpy, get an ambulance there. Yes, an ambulance coming. Why? Simple. One blue siren wailing loudly in the night sounds like all the others. An approaching siren cannot be distinguished. It would get at least a good percentage of those looters running away like the rats they are.
Just having the blue swirling light flashing in the dark distance is enough to make the more feeble-minded looters cautious.
And please don’t talk about not being a cameraman. Sorry, that falls flat. Who is? (All journalists have at least rudimentary skills with this, no?) Who needs to be super cameraman in the age of digital photography and 10+ megapixels?
I mention all these things because this is what it is going to take. And this is what needs to be actively running through your head and mind when confronted with a situation like this.
Plus this is where you, neighbors, friends, and family call home. Is this what you want for your home?
Mr. Mcleod, you are not a young man anymore. Not even close. You’re of the age that steps up and takes responsibility. You don’t need a badge or title to do this.
I read of no personal threat to you; so there’s time for a fertile mind to be processing and doing.
According to your account in the article, we are talking well over 2 hours that you are on the scene.
Yes, it is good that you talked some teens out of participating. Great! Then encourage them to do likewise with their mobile phones – start photographing. (Don’t all teens have mobiles AND always have them on their person?) In fact, see if you can get many who are on the sidelines/bystanders doing this.
Right now, that is the only means to bring these perps to justice: Photos. Whether by CCTV, shop systems, or what individual good citizens took.
Guy T.
August 10th, 2011 7:10pm Report this comment(My final say, then I'll desist. Promise.)
Use your available resources: Like one of those enterprising teens you talked out of looting. Say to one of them, ”Look here, start video filming on your Smartphone. Just film and get the audio.” All 17 year olds can do this with ease.
This could be a clip now posted to YouTube, a video that accompanies this very article in Spectator. Moreover, it might aid apprehensions. It surely would make the rounds of your part of London and stir up the locals who are angered and ashamed.
Maybe you did all you could that evening? Yes, this is certainly more than the bloke who barricaded himself away in his flat and wanted to act like nothing is happening. (Yes, he’s the coward.)
However:
If you’ve been a journalist awhile, you’ve got CONTACTS. Use them. Shame the local politicians into action. Get THEM phoning for action. Rattle the sabres, and use that big phone directory index of contacts you’ve got in your Smartphone. Dial them up and scream at some if you have to.
You had no idea (who could?) that things in Clapham wouldn’t dramatically escalate, or did you?
I hear too much passiveness in your narrative. And, yes, I hear a bit of wanting to excuse it some/understand it some. Understand it? I sincerely hope I am wrong on that last point.
You witnessed something on a Monday, and
just one day later it is on a national journal’s site, visible for the world's readers to see. Good! So that means you’ve got some “umph,” some muscle, some clout. Well, man, use it! Flex it!
Alas, these "riots" lootings, arson, etc. will all transpire again. Be ready.
Maurice Mcleod
August 10th, 2011 9:16pm Report this commentGuy T,
Very long response, although you still didn't tell me what YOU did to bring calm to Britain's streets.
I won't go into all of your points because most of them are, I'm afraid, out of touch with reality.
Neither will I defend myself against your accusations, my conscience is clear.
We all have roles to play in society. I believe mine is to try to understand situations and, if I can, pass on what I think I've learned to others.
If yours is to play Rambo or to live out some Hollywood version of real life, then I wish you well.
Next time I hear of any trouble I'll be sure to call you to sort it out.
Best wishes
Victoria B (@queenvb)
August 11th, 2011 9:07am Report this commentGreat eyewitness account Maurice. I think you have summed up the febrile atmosphere of opportunism and lack of real disaffection very well.
Stan Wright
August 15th, 2011 7:09pm Report this commentTaking advantage of the absence of oversight to gleefully loot the shops differs in no significant detail from taking advantage of the absence of oversight to gleefully loot parliamentary expense funds.
Except, of course, that unlike the inner city poor, MPs committed their thefts whilst occupying positions of trust. Ain't it funny how no one ascribed racial causes to those earlier crimes?
Chris
January 9th, 2012 1:37pm Report this commentMaurice, great article, great rebuttal!Woud have been interested to see yr response to peter from maidstone.
Guy T, have you thought about offering your insights to solve the Israel/Palestine conflict, your excellent analysis and action planning skills should be utilised and shared for the good of mankind.
Elle, I agree, prison isnt really the answer, but i think the point is that some form of discipline is necessary, financial discpline would be great, but the whole welfare system here and in Aus needs a big overhaul, there are single mothers earning fortunes and pensioners that have worked their whole lives that cant afford to pay a heating bill...not to mention the benefit cheats... you are just lucky that Australia doesnt have a population of 3 billion with half living on minimum wage... enjoy it!( its 50+times bigger than england, with a third/quarter of the population )
FvH... lololol
Jon
January 30th, 2012 2:32am Report this commentOdd question, but where you on early 1990's game show, Raise the Roof with the late Bob Holness?
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