The UK riots - My view

By Simon Wright (Personal column)

SO, ‘BROKEN Britain’ lies in ruins after last week’s horrific scenes of rioting and looting across the country.  Note to toy manufacturers, no batteries have been included in these burnt out shops, homes and businesses.  Some shops look like the burnt out shell that was The Loft nightclub after the 2009 fire in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, whilst others remain open for business as if last week was a storm in a teacup.

     It wasn’t though.  Approximately 3,000 arrests have been made by police, with at least 60 per cent of these having been charged for the crimes.  The damage is likely to end up reaching £1billion pounds and it is a dreadful promotion for the capital city, with the 2012 Olympics now less than a year away.  Chelsea Ives, one of the rioters, was an Olympic ambassador.  That’s an embarrassing image sight for the organisers and I’m pleased the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has backed us.  I’m shocked to realise that we have so many idiots in our country.  London was the worst hit, but there were also severe disturbances in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol, with minor damage reported in Nottingham, Gloucester, Oxford, Wolverhampton, Milton Keynes and West Bromwich.  So, why did we end up all fearing for the establishments we live and love last week in the worst riots seen in this country for many a generation.  Many reasons have been given, which I will go into detail later on in this blog.

     First of all, as I tuned into Sky throughout Monday night last week, I was appalled to see what was happening.  It shook me to a core and I felt sick to the stomach.  Anger was building up inside me; as the pictures saw London look like a disaster movie, with many industries looking as battered and bruised as you would if you’d taken on Mike Tyson in his prime.  I was leaving the country in 48 hours time and when I heard of trouble reaching my own hometown, I started to wonder what I would come back to.  Luckily, it has calmed down since then, but the damage has been done and left so many heartbreaking stories.

    Ashrof Rassle is brave to say he still loves this country and wants to stay.  The Malaysian student is recovering in hospital after he was attacked and robbed on the streets by thugs.  The video was recorded and uploaded to YouTube and is an absolutely disgraceful act.  I feel massively for Trevor Reeves, who could only watch in horror as his local furniture store burnt down in Croydon.  It had survived two World Wars and lived through four generations of family, what a tragic way for the business to end.  Then there’s Richard Bowes, who was attempting to remonstrate yobs that set fires to bins near his home in Ealing, only to be beaten to death in an act of cynical behaviour.  Finally, there are the three young lads in Birmingham, who were protecting their livelihoods (businesses and mosques) and ultimately paid the price, with their lives.  I’m so proud to see the community of Birmingham come together at a time of such overwhelming tragedy.    

     The government has taken a load of stick for their handling of the carnage to have descended on the UK and some of it is fully merited.  More organisation has to be used around holidays, with rotas the only way forward.  I’m sorry, but you cannot have the five main figureheads of the country (Home Secretary, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Mayor of London and Chancellor) on holiday at exactly the same time.  The one politician I did feel sorry for was Boris Johnson.  He was heckled in the streets, but he was trying to help and also got involved in the cleanup in Clapham.  It got worse when Boris was bullied in an interview last Tuesday night (August 9) by ITN anchor and Daily Mirror columnist Mark Austin.  Johnson did really well to get his points across, despite Austin’s ignorant attempts to butt into his answers.  The way he handled the interview was very professional and dignified.  As for Austin, it was a foul piece of journalism and a bad example of how to do it.  For me, a respected news anchor dropped the ball here.

     As the week has progressed, I have been deeply unimpressed by the way David Cameron has handled this national crisis.  If I knew he was going to be this bad, maybe he should have stayed in Tuscany after all, sipping his precious cappuccino!  Despite the destruction, he still wants to cut 16,000 jobs on the police front.  What on earth is he doing!  Has he had his eyes shut throughout?  If anything, we need more police on the frontline as the anarchy broke out.  I’m afraid Mr. Cameron has been just as clueless of late as Arsene Wenger!  One message to Dave; I’m sure they do decent deals on priceless coffees at Starbucks if you really are that desperate for a caffeine boost!

     Last Thursday, he did say this in an emergency Commons debate; “And to the lawless minority, the criminals who have taken what they can get.  I say this, we will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you.  You will pay for what you have done.”  At least he has stuck to that, with magistrates working 24 hours a day to send a lot of the criminals into prison cells for their actions.  However, boot camps might have to be the way forward, because it might teach all of them a lesson in how to behave.  Any confidence I had in the coalition government has disintegrated.  Nick Clegg looks like a spare part, George Osbourne would rather be somewhere else rather than the House of Commons half the time and Theresa May is under huge pressure now, probably fighting a losing battle for her job.

     Now onto those who caused so much damage, fear and grief to the innocent.  It is inexcusable what they have done and an utter disgrace.  This was thuggery of the highest order.  Some don’t look sorry at all – I’ve heard stories of them smirking in court and laughing away without a care in the world.  You are a disgrace to society and I only wish we had bigger wheelie bins to tip you into!  I say to the courts, lock them up and throw away the key.  Boo hoo that you can’t afford the latest Nike Pegasus trainers, a Dell laptop or a 4-pack of Carlsberg Special Brew – it’s a tough life and we have all had to make sacrifices in the recession.  If you don’t like it, we don’t need you in the country, bugger off onto another planet!

    Despite some of the compensation packages that have been set-up by the government for affected businesses, it will end up being us that pays for most of the damage, not the loonies who did the damage.  Most taxpayers wouldn’t mind seeing these clowns having benefits and hand-outs being taken away from them.  It might help them learn, though that’s unlikely. 

    The parents need to take some responsibility too for the actions of their children.  For some of the criminals, running back to Daddy is probably the best option.  Oh wait, your Daddy probably encouraged you or is getting smashed out of his head at the local watering establishment!  The parents must take more control of their kid’s actions.  I’m pleased to have seen many parents hand their kids into the police.  Well done to you, no matter how hard it must have been, you’ve done the right thing.  To those parents who are protecting their violent youngsters, hang your head in shame, because you are not much better!

    Historian David Starkey will also probably need to find a new occupation.  His comments on last week’s edition of Newsnight have no place on television and he’d better hope that TalkSport offer him a place on their radio programming for sporting history.  After all, they seem to accept those disgraced professionals who make barbaric comments on TV.  Richard Keys and Andy Gray spring to mind!

     After what has happened last week, I have to ask myself, do I want to be a part of this country anymore?  I have to question it.  Our country might recover – but it will take lots of work to repair the burnt-out buildings and shattered glass windows.  I’m afraid, unless these police cuts are reviewed, the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) is restored and parents take more responsibility, this could easily happen again anytime soon.

     Lastly of course, my symphonies go out to those who have lost loved ones and been significantly affected by these devastating riots.

Pension strike action take place

THOUSANDS of people went on strike yesterday against the coalition government’s controversial public sector reforms over work pensions.  It might not be the end of the industrial action either, with the unions warning of further action if the government don’t back down on their policies.

UNITED: Strike action and peaceful protests were the order of the day

     Yesterday, thousands of schools were shut across England and Wales, with passport control at airports, courts and driving test centres also being significantly affected.  Earlier in the week, around 750,000 people were thought to be striking, with the figure thought to be much lower on the actual day.  600,000 is the estimated amount, with some 20,000 disgruntled workers protesting in the streets of London.  Despite this, the unions insist that it was a success in the biggest day of strike action taken in Britain for five years.

     The other pleasing significance was that in towns and cities across the country, the protests were in good spirit.  Although a small minority of people were arrested in London and Brighton for criminal damage and harming the peace, it was good to see peaceful protests, which sadly didn’t happen with the angry demonstrations following the rise in tuition fees in November and December.  However, the unions will be annoyed by Downing Street’s admission that the disruption of these strikes was ‘minimal.’

     Both have sides to this argument.  The government pointed out to statistics released from the Cabinet Office, which suggested that not even 20 per cent of the civil service workforce went on strike.  In return, the PCS Union, which runs the police and border/immigration department, said that 84 per cent of its staff went onto the picket lines, with the Metropolitan Police being forced to draft people in from other areas.

     Prime Minister David Cameron has described the strikes as ‘wrong,’ and the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband is in agreement over this.  However, Miliband has accused the government of ‘wreckless behaviour,’ which led to a fiery showdown between the pair in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday morning.  Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC told Sky News that he hoped this sort of action doesn’t have to happen again;

“I’m a firm believer of negotiations and as I’ve said, I hope we’re going to be able to resolve this through negotiations – without the need for further industrial action.”

     It was schools, who were significantly affected by the walkouts yesterday, with nearly 5,000 schools partially closed and another 5,069 totally shut in England.  Three teaching unions staged strike action, which left Education Secretary Michael Gove unimpressed.  He said at the House of Commons that the planned walkout was “unnecessary, premature and disruptive.  This strike, at this time, will not help out schools.”

     It is difficult to judge if there were any winners, if there were any yesterday.  However, don’t be surprised if there’s more action to come and for more disruption, as this is an issue for the government that simply isn’t going to go away.

AV vote is rejected by UK

CRUSHING: A resounding victory for the 'No' campaign

ALTHOUGH counting has not concluded yet, the Liberal Democrats miserable 24 hours at the polls has just been finished off resoundingly.  Britain has decided to reject the ‘Yes to AV’ voting policy, which would have seen the Alternative Vote scheme, where voters would rank their politicians to vote for in order of preference.  Instead, we have decided to stick to the tried and tested formula of ‘First Past the Post.’  By just putting a simple x on the ballot papers, the country has decided to keep the simple policy at this referendum, and it is a crushing victory too.

LOOKING OVER: Clegg will be under pressure after this battering

    With 386 results declared in the 440 councils across England and Wales already, the ‘No’ campaign has already taken over 360 regions, with the ‘Yes’ campaign still staggeringly in single figures.  This is going to be a hammer blow to the Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg, who is already under pressure and will surely feel the full force at the next annual party conference in Liverpool in September.  This adds to total rejection in the council elections across the country, which saw a number of Lib Dems MP’s lose council seats, in which the party has had strangleholds on for the last decade, particularly in the North of the country such as Liverpool, Manchester and Clegg’s own constituency of Sheffield.

    Around 18.6million people voted in this referendum, but the percentage turnout of 41% (excluding Northern Ireland) is disappointing.  This hints that either people couldn’t care less about the referendum, or the feelings towards the coalition government in general are really starting to hit home, just under a year after its formation in Downing Street. 

    The crushing rejection by the British voters is a blow to the Lib Dems, who although feared a backlash, surely can’t have predicted such a grim response to one of their key pledges in their manifesto.  Danny Alexander, a Cabinet minister for the Liberal Democrats told Sky News of his thoughts;

“It is disappointing that people have chosen to vote the way they have.  I think there is a whole number of reasons for that, but I think the most important thing is to accept with good grace the verdict of the people and say 'That's that'."

This follows a harrowing night for the party, following their worst council elections results since the 1980s.  This morning, Clegg spoke to reporters outside his home and remained defiant, although he admitted it is ‘a kicking’ in which his party took.  It seems like the brunt of the blame has gone with Clegg and the Liberal Democrats within the coalition, especially with the controversial spending cuts, and the change in heart over a rise in tuition fees.  The battering of the Liberal Democrats means that Conservative support stuck relatively at the same.  The results will be of some relief to David Cameron, which suggests that the public don’t seem to mind his side of the coalition.  There were some encouraging results for Labour too, although they missed out narrowly on forming a majority government in the Welsh Assembly by a single vote.  Ed Miliband will be modestly satisfied with the results last night, especially as it was a test for him, considering the unpopularity he seems to hold from several political experts.

    Both Cameron and Clegg have insisted that the coalition will survive the referendum results, although things did turn very bitter in the ‘AV’ campaign, and definitely showed some cracks that simply weren’t there before.  What is clear is that the British public have spoken and made their decisions.  It is crystal clear that the Liberal Democrats are not the flavour of the month with anyone in Britain at the moment.

Student protests turn violent in London

A GROUP of students yesterday took matters into their own hands, turning a peaceful protest into a violent bloodbath.  Milbank Tower, home to the headquarters of the Conservatives was stormed by an angry bunch of protestors, with fires lit, windows smashed and furniture damaged.  It is estimated that over £1million in damage was caused.

ANGER: Students turn against the coalition government

As the battle was over last night, the war between students and the coalition government has only just begun.  It is the first sign of rebellious action that has been taken since the spending review around three weeks ago.  Over 50,000 students marched through London, angry with proposals of an increase in tuition fees, from £3,290 a year to £9,000 year.  It wasn’t just tuition fees that dominated the concerns, with many cuts in education budgets and the removal of the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) and ALG (Adult Learning Grant) for students that attend sixth form or colleges across the country.  The march was set-up by the NUS and the UCU (University College Union).  President of the NUS, Aaron Porter was furious with those who had taken matters into their own hands; “It’s an utter disgrace.”  “Perhaps 500 or more have chosen to use disgraceful tactics to try and undermine us.”

FIERY: Fires were started by the protestors

Although no-one can condemn the students who decided to use violence to get their point across, the police have been strongly criticised for their response to the violence.  As the protestors stormed the roof of Milbank Tower, police admitted that they didn’t anticipate the trouble that was caused.  The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson has announced an enquiry into the lack of police and looked shocked when he told the media of his thoughts on the day’s events; “We didn’t expect this level of violence – but we’ve got to ask ourselves the question: Should we have anticipated this?”  For him to have even suggested this is absolutely startling.  There a load of questions for the police to answer.  Their response and pre-planned action was simply unacceptable, when trouble could easily have been predicted by many.  It shows the lack of organisation within the Metropolitan Police – you do wonder whether a pet animal could have organised it better!

Another man feeling the heat is Nick Clegg, who seemed to be the main person that the students were targeting for broken promises.  In the Liberal Democrats manifesto, Clegg promised a cutback on tuition fees and many of the Lib Dem MP’s signed pledges against increases on university fees.  Standing in for David Cameron, who is in China at the moment, Clegg got a roasting yesterday at Prime Minister Questions from the Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman; “In April, you said it was your aim to end University tuition fees.  Can you update the house on how your plan is progressing?”

Clegg’s response was far from convincing; “This is an extraordinarily difficult issue.”

Harman went on the attack again; “In April, you said increasing tuition fees to £7,000 a year would be a disaster.  What word would you use to describe fees of £9,000?”

Clegg started to use old examples that simply didn’t awash with the main opposition.  Cameron’s suggestion in Beijing that overseas students will get a significant cut in fees, whilst domestic students get a raise just adds insult to injury.  The coalition government had a very bad day yesterday and have a lot of answers and very reasonable ones to give to win back the trust of many students.

FURY: A fire extinguisher is thrown from the Milbank Roof

There were some casualties on the ground, as students from the roof began to throw missiles, with a fire extinguisher one of the items thrown, which narrowly missed police, who were now dressed in riot gear.  Around 14 casualties were taken, with three police officers being treated in hospital.  The mayor of London, Boris Johnson was appalled by the events; “It was a quiet, peaceful, good-humoured demonstration.”  “They were fully entitled to do so, but it is very tragic that a few minorities have decided to abuse the right of protest and cause criminal damage.”  “Completely unacceptable and those who are responsible, I hope they are bought fully to justice with the law.”

Some of the troublemakers may not have been students; some could have been unemployed people or other minorities who have been affected by the spending cuts.  Police confirmed that 32 people have been arrested and hopefully, those responsible will be kicked off their courses and face the full force of the law.

TROUBLEMAKERS: Angry protesters charge into Tory HQ

The tuition fees proposal must be approved in the House of Commons and House of Lords next month.  If the £9,000 a year cap is introduced, then students will be close to facing £40,000 of debts.  Yesterday’s events are unlikely to sway the government’s thinking, but it was a day of shame and embarrassment for all parties.  A day when the coalition government came properly under-fire for the first time, a day when the students fought back – but with disgusting and shameful results, a day when the inadequacies and the lack of organisation of the Metropolitan Police were well and truly exposed, a day which bought the worst scenes of violence on British streets since the Poll Tax riots of 1990. 

In fact, yesterday was a black day for everyone, and the fear is, more is to come.

  

Johnson Gets The Top Job From Ed

The first big task of Ed Miliband’s reign as leader of the Labour party was to appoint a strong Shadow Cabinet, in challenge to the coalition government.  With his brother David having ruled himself out of frontline politics last week, it made the contest of who was going to become Shadow Chancellor even more competitive than ever before.

In the end, the Shadow Chancellor role has gone to Allan Johnson, with Ed Balls, who finished third in the recent Labour leadership contest race, getting the role Shadow Home Secretary.  Yvette Cooper, who had been tipped by many to earn the top post, as ended up being appointed as Shadow Foreign Secretary, though she still told Sky News that she was ‘delighted’ with the role she now has.  It shows Miliband’s trust towards Balls and Cooper, who are husband and wife, so for both to earn top Labour jobs really shows their commitment to the party’s potential turnaround.  There are also roles in the new cabinet for former interim leader of Labour, Harriet Harman and another candidate at the recent Labour leadership contest, Andy Burnham.

LIST OF THE KEY LABOUR APPOINTMENTS IN ED MILIBAND’S SHADOW CABINET

Shadow Chancellor:                                                       Allan Johnson

Deputy Leader:                                                              Harriet Harman

Shadow Home Secretary:                                               Ed Balls

Shadow Foreign Secretary:                                             Yvette Cooper

Chief Whip:                                                                   Rosie Winterton

Shadow Education Co-Ordinator:                                    Andy Burnham 

Shadow Defence:                                                          Jim Murphy

Shadow Communities & Local Government:                    Caroline Flint

Shadow Health Secretary:                                             John Healey

Shadow Business Secretary:                                        John Denham

Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary:                           Douglas Alexander

Shadow Lord Chancellor:                                             Sadiq Khan

Shadow Minister for the Olympics:                              Tessa Jowell

Ed Gets The Labour Nod of Approval

Ed Miliband has been chosen as Gordon Brown’s long-term successor to lead the Labour party into the next General Election and maybe beyond.  After months of hard campaigning, Ed surprised many by just getting enough votes to edge out his brother and favourite with many bookmakers, David Miliband.  The news was announced at the weekend, at the start of Labour’s annual party conference.  He will take over from Harriet Harman, who has been standing as acting deputy leader during the transitional period in British politics.

After four rounds of vote counting, Ed received a 1.3% bigger majority share to win the role and become the figurehead into challenging the coalition government for the next testing period that politics has to deal with, which is the inevitable spending cuts.  Fellow candidates Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott were a distant third, fourth and fifth in the final votes, with the leadership already looking like it was heading to one of the Miliband brothers.

In his acceptance speech, Ed was full of praise for his brother:

“David, I love you so much.”  “To the country, I know we lost touch, I know we need to change.”  “Today begins a new generation for Labour.”

There is now intense speculation about the future of David Miliband political career.  Many insiders are expecting him to quit frontline politics to spend more time with his family.  Whatever he decides, his support for the Labour party must remain strong if the party is going to recover from the devastating blow of losing power in Downing Street when we went to vote back in May. 

Can Ed Miliband turn around the fortunes of the Labour party….he certainly has a tough and challenging job on his hands…..