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  1. Ok - so why have there been cuts to the social welfare programs in the UK?

    Though I still think the 'youth disenchantment' and 'inadequate welfare program' excuses are just a pretext offered by certain commentators and the rioters themselves have no such political ambitions and really just want an excuse to cause damage and loot property.
  2. Free iPads or Nike trousers are tempting, I'll admit it.
  4. The rioters have shed every last ounce of legitimacy that the original protest had, if they don't understand that this will just work against them, idiots.
  5. Originally posted by vanquish:Ok - so why have there been cuts to the social welfare programs in the UK?

    Though I still think the 'youth disenchantment' and 'inadequate welfare program' excuses are just a pretext offered by certain commentators and the rioters themselves have no such political ambitions and really just want an excuse to cause damage and loot property.

    The rioters clearly have no inkling because they don't appreciate the situation properly; but then again if you find yourself in the shit, you probably don't give a toss, which is the problem - they need to be encouraged to give a toss, otherwise there's no hope for any of us. I'm not saying it's a one-way street and everyone owes them the good life - you could easily argue and with reason that this is a result of the increasingly consumerist instant-gratification culture we live in, and the notion of everyone placing rights over responsibility. There have been interviews on the news with some rioters who are claiming they're getting their tax money back, fighting against the government (with one such interviewee saying, 'yeah, the government, whoever's in charge' which puts a very sad but fitting ring around the whole thing - some are trying to make a statement but clearly haven't got a bloody clue where to direct their anger). We have the social welfare programme (cuts or not) which will provide benefits to those who need it, but unfortunately that's become abused by people who would rather live on benefits because for some, it actually provides more than the low-end jobs they used to work it. I would argue that there's a decrease in the need to feel responsible for themselves AND towards each other (not the entire nation, certainly, but in a lot of areas of society), and therein lies one of the problems. Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree that there are a lot of people who've been involved who are being opportunistic in this situation, and have spotted an occasion to go and steal whatever they can simply because they can, but I think the issue is what has lead to them being at a place where they feel that's the only thing worth doing? Why has it come to that? Where their moral and social compass has become so warped, almost non-existent, that they don't care whether it's ok or not but just go and do it anyway?

    As for why have there been cuts? Well, to my mind, I don't know because I think it's stupid, but that's not much of an answer. Clearly, we find ourselves in a tough economic climate and some measures must be taken, but if you're going to make cuts, you need to make reinvestments in the private sector to allow for the kind of growth which will put us back on the up. The public sector won't make any money because it relies on the government budget which will only grow on the basis of the tax money they make from the majority of the population who work in the private sector, and so yes, things like social welfare reform will come under that bracket. However, not everything should be cut in a blanket move without putting money back into the economy, and making sweeping cuts to the private sector without investing what they do have increases the plight further. I believe that cuts without reinvesting the money that is available, i.e. tax, will only continue the decline further, and this is what I feel to be the problem with the Tory government - whenever they've been in power, they have come off the back of a Labour government who overspent, or at least much more so in recent years - especially under the Labour/Brown era. Labour have money to spend because the Tories saved it and spent virtually none, but because of that lack of investment in the economy, Labour have to go and spend it but don't know when they should stop, and so the vicious circle goes 'round. If a Labour government were to come in, spend but not overspend, they'd be laughing, at least in economic terms. So where social welfare is concerned, I don't see any legitimate reason other than simply getting the rough end of the deal from a government intent on cutting everything and not giving anything back.
  6. Whether I agree with you or not (which I do most of the times), Harry, it's always a pleasure reading such intricately elaborated written opinions.
  7. Originally posted by LikeASong:Whether I agree with you or not (which I do most of the times), Harry, it's always a pleasure reading such intricately elaborated written opinions.

    Cheers Sergio I don't usually get worked up enough to express my opinions, so when I do, I try to put as much as I can out there. Quite simply, I feel that we need as much public debate and discussion as can be had, and the best way for that is to get everyone to understand each other's position.
  8. they played a BBC radio interview on the news tonight, it was a phone call between BBC and two teenage girls who have been rioting. What the girls were saying made absolutely no sense, i got pissed off just listening to them. from when i started listening it went something like this

    Girls: "Yeh we got a few free things (they laugh)"
    BBC: "why are you doing this?"
    Girls: "to get back at the government, to show the police that they cant control us ..........."
    BBC: " but the buildings you are looting and destroying are in your own community"
    Girls: "yeh but its rich people, they own their own business, they are rich, they have money, they arent like us"

  9. Originally posted by Andrew_C:they played a BBC radio interview on the news tonight, it was a phone call between BBC and two teenage girls who have been rioting. What the girls were saying made absolutely no sense, i got pissed off just listening to them. from when i started listening it went something like this

    Girls: "Yeh we got a few free things (they laugh)"
    BBC: "why are you doing this?"
    Girls: "to get back at the government, to show the police that they cant control us ..........."
    BBC: " but the buildings you are looting and destroying are in your own community"
    Girls: "yeh but its rich people, they own their own business, they are rich, they have money, they arent like us"




    Yeah I've just seen it. They haven't got a clue. It's just sad. They don't understand that they're pissing on their own doorstep by destroying their own community. The 'rich people' are completely absent from all this.
  10. This riot is like a tour of Britain. It will soon hit us, and I don't want that. These people are utter stupid, rioting because of no sufficient reason whatsoever. These rioters don't even know what they are talking about - a great example is that BBC interview that Andrew mentioned. This is an outrage, very upsetting.
  11. There was just the same situation in French suburbs in 2005. That was no fun at all for people living there. I hope this will end soon.
  12. Oh fuck, they're at it again in Korea.
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