‘I went out to pick a fight with anyone’
I came out of the book event in Central London last night (thanks for attending by the way, some people did this time and it was fun) to find reports of rioting all over the city, and to find quite a lot of Soho plunged into an eerie darkness by a series of power cuts. It was pretty weird to walk through what is normally pretty much the brightest square mile in the country with hardly anyone around, everything shut, and everyone muttering about fighting and looting not far away. I knew about the riots of course, but I’d sort of assumed it was one of these things you get on the news which don’t directly inconvenience you. This idea was swiftly dispelled. Unlike Arcade Fire I did not respond to the power outage by writing a heart-stopping song, or any song at all in fact. I flagged down a taxi with some difficulty and went home nervously listening to the radio as they flipped between London boroughs like they do on election night. but this time reporting on massive fires rather than vote-counting. Truly very odd and unpleasant.
This phase of mass violence is so important that it feels pretty stupid to be blogging about anything else at the moment, but I don’t quite have time to do justice to the topic and I’d dislike to put something up here which half-dealt with it and made me look like a jackass (more than usual). So this is just to bridge the gap while I try to get some thoughts together. I mean, there’ll be a billion words written about this over the next few weeks, I shouldn’t think the Met Police are in the control centre going ‘wait, wait. Wait till Watson speaks. Then we pounce.’ As with Amy Winehouse, other people will do any summing-up that needs to be done. But it’s nice not to let these things pass or the blog becomes a bit of a cloud-cuckoo-land. Stay safe, everyone. And don’t get involved in, you know, looting and all. I think the readership of this blog is probably not particularly looty by inclination. But just in case. I’ve done my bit now.
Posted by Knox on August 10, 2011
it’s taken three days for me to get to a place where i can think straight again. it’s surreal and scary and sad. i’m just hoping now there’ll be a look at what makes people feel so disaffected they can, effectively, sh*t where they eat with such abandon. my worry now is that cameron and his strong-arm posse will maybe stop the rioting (for now?) but, doing nothing to change the status quo, will just be putting off further, and possibly worse, explosions.
Posted by Beth on August 10, 2011
It’s totally depressing. I’m a Croydon girl and usually get quite a bit of stick for that. I’m always complaining about how glad I am not to live there anymore, but watching parts of it burn to the ground was totally gut-wrenching (and in all honesty, not that suprising). The Twitter clean-up campaigns have kept my tiny shred of hope for humanity alive though…
Posted by Rachael on August 10, 2011
I am thinking of going into hibernation until it is over. It is making me too angry.
Posted by Lydia on August 10, 2011
Don’t have much to add. The whole thing is really fucking depressing.
Posted by Lizzy on August 10, 2011
Looty by Inclination
Posted by Misha on August 10, 2011
It’s very worrying, but interestingly Edinburgh, full of liberal minded arts fans, seems to be safe.
Thing is, when I rang my grandparents earlier to check if they were ok, my Grandpa said simultaneously the funniest and most insightful thing i’ve heard. He said:
“it’s like when I used to be a teacher, and the kids would muck about because they were bored”
He did then go on to grump about how life was boring and that was what being an adult was about. But it was an interesting point that i’ve discussed with a few people; because really these are bored and disparate people of my age. Unemployed and angry, and seeing this as a way to deal with it.
I obviously prefer the, “get a job, any job” approach, but there are a lack of them. It’s weird though, and a bit scary. Luckily, most of my family and friends remain unharmed physically, if shaken.
Posted by Megan on August 10, 2011
Just met up with my (Birminghan-based, Canadian) former dissertation advisor. I’m not sure we agree about whether smashing up an Adidas store is a political statement.
I’m not sure what to say other than I hope people can see sense and stay safe.
Posted by Katie K on August 10, 2011
Glad to hear that you got back from the book event safely & to those who attended as well. It really is a horrific event that is happening over the UK, but there are far more good people in this country (riot cleanup, support, etc) than the disillusioned twats doing all of this. Let’s try to keep up our true British spirit people & not let the street destroying scum get us down! Kx
Posted by Tibbs on August 10, 2011
This is a very sad and worrying thing. It was really nice to hear news of the clean-up efforts, but I just can’t wrap my brain around the scale of things. I’m glad to hear you got off alright, and I hope everyone who’s still in London, and the other areas being affected, is safe.
Posted by Jen on August 10, 2011
I find the whole thing very sad n annoying – its so awful to see the few ruin things for the many – it also upsets me that things have got so out of hand – its like people in authority have been made to feel too scared to act – people (police etc)shouldn’t be scared to do their job…I don’t want people to be oppressed but if you cross the line you should be made aware of the consequences – why is it right that city centres are a no go area because of people who are acting out mindless aggression!Its wrong and upsetting!Rant done – sorry!Jx ps as I said in y’days blog – I agree with Suzanne – ‘peace n love’ – stay safe y’all!
Posted by Alex on August 10, 2011
I don’t really know what more there can be to say anyway. It’s horrible. I just feel so sad. This is what’s going on in Birmingham/Wolverhampton: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sangat-tv
Posted by Melanie on August 10, 2011
Safely away on holiday in north Wales, but just heard the Asda in Huddersfield, (where I come from) in West Yorkshire is being looted. Facebook has just informed me that Nottingham has had a police station fire bombed and now Liverpool is being targeted. It’s like a disaster film or something. If I wasn’t in the middle if frickin’ nowhere I would have gone to a clear up. My sister just said Cardiff has maybe been hit too?!
Posted by Melanie on August 10, 2011
Safely away on holiday in north Wales, but just heard the Asda in Huddersfield, (where I come from) in West Yorkshire is being looted. Facebook has just informed me that Nottingham has had a police station fire bombed and now Liverpool is being targeted. It’s like a disaster film or something. If I wasn’t in the middle if frickin’ nowhere I would have gone to a clear up.
My sister just said Cardiff has maybe been hit too?!
Posted by Cathy (traineeflorist) on August 9, 2011
Well done for doing your bit. Not sure what to add. The mayhem reached Oxford last night in a small way, a McDonalds was smashed up and fires started, let’s hope that’s all we get. And Bristol too I hear, did the football get cancelled? Hubby’s team played again tonight, I think they won, he seemed to be calm after the whole thing so always a good sign. Night Mark x