England riots to cost taxpayers at least £133m in policing and compensation

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

The riots in England will cost more than £133m in policing and compensation for businesses hit by the violence, the home affairs select committee has been told.

London's mayor Boris Johnson also told the committee that the huge numbers jailed after the unprecedented inner-city violence must not be abandoned in prison, but helped to turn their lives around.

Johnson said he agreed with the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, who wrote a Guardian article on Monday revealing that almost 75% of the adults charged across the country with riot offences had previous convictions. He blamed a "feral underclass" and a broken prison system for failing to rehabilitate them.

"One thing I do think the justice secretary is right to highlight is the importance, if you arrest such a huge number of people as we have and you put them into the criminal justice system, then you cannot simply abandon them … you have to make sure they are educated in there," he said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/sep/06/england-riots-cost-taxpayers-compensation

[JDPriestly]

1. Did England have riots like this before they imposed austerity?

Of course not. Yet no one seems to mention that the cause of these riots might be the frustration of young people who feel that the banks and the austerity measures have robbed them of their dreams, their hopes, their futures, of even just the chance to get married, have a family, live a long and quiet life.

Interesting how the topic so quickly moves to crime and punishment of and for the poor while the self-righteous, fat-cat bankers chew cigars in their clubs and lament the decline of civilization.

[ShockediSay]

2. Don't know, but look what this austerity has purchased

Basic Economics: Austerity helps the asset holding classes but kills the economy of the nation.

[LanternWaste]

3. I'm presuming your question is pointed towards the here and the now rather than the history of post-

"Did England have riots like this before they imposed austerity?"

I'm presuming your question is pointed towards the here and the now rather than the history of post-industrial social movements in England, yes? As that history is quite colored in violence, riots, and mobs.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Of course not ? Of course we did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Brixton_riot

If you disagree with that then perhaps you could explain exactly which "austerity measures" were in place here in the UK in 1981.

Aside from that the UK public are only to well aware the the origin of the "banks and the austerity measures " was in fact the USA allied to gross overspending during almost the entire time that New Labour were in power.

[JDPriestly]

7. There was a severe recession across Europe in 1981

just as there is today.

Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through strike action.<117> Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to curb their power, but resistance eventually collapsed.<85> Only 39% of union members voted for Labour in the 1983 general election.<118> According to the BBC, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation".<119>

The miners' strike was the biggest confrontation between the unions and the Thatcher government. In March 1984 the National Coal Board (NCB) proposed to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs out of 187,000.<120><121><122> Two-thirds of the country's miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under Arthur Scargill, downed tools in protest.<120><123><124> Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the Falklands conflict two years earlier, declaring in a speech in 1984: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty."<125> After a year out on strike, in March 1985, the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The cost to the economy was estimated to be at least £1.5 billion, and the strike was blamed for much of the pound's fall against the US dollar.<126> The government closed 25 unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 had been closed;<122> those that remained were privatised in 1994.<127> The eventual closure of 150 coal mines, not all of which were losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and devastated entire communities.<122><128> Miners had helped bring down the Heath government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing a union-busting NCB leader in Ian MacGregor, and ensuring police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear, contributed to her victory.<129>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher#Industrial_relations

I was in London 1973-74 and am quite familiar with the labor movement. British Labor built the country following WWII and was rewarded with unemployment and years of privatization under Tory governments.

When I lived there the snobbism of the upper classes was horrifying.

I cannot blame the British people for finally being really fed up.

It was in England that I saw a very elderly woman buying cat food. The cashier informed me with a terribly stressed look on her fact that the woman bought the cat food for herself because it was all she could afford.

The Elderly woman was very sweet, not some sort of insane alcoholic.

[dipsydoodle]

8. There was a world wide recession then

due to inflation and associated high interest rates - the US came out of that a few years earlier than Europe.

Dunno what to make of the cat food story - its about the same price as the food I eat. I know that because I've got a Chinchilla Persian, a Bengal , a Main Coon and a British Short Hair - they all eat just normal cat food : nothing special. I have heard of people who eat cat food cos they like it.

Snobbery has pretty much died here out here because others simply ignored it which is what they should have happened long ago. Last case of snobbery I actually noticed was in Dayton OH ,in a restaurant, 9 years ago. I gave the "offenders" a look they didn't like which said YES ? and they backed off. Looking like a skinhead football hooligan does have its advantages at times even if that's appearance only.

[JDPriestly]

10. This woman did not eat catfood because she liked it.

She ate it because it was cheap.

[nineteen50]

5. Wow! the cost of the unheard. Maybe someone should listen.

[Posteritatis]

6. Uh, England has a pretty vibrant history of rioting. (nt)

[Jkid]

9. They will be abandoned

London's mayor Boris Johnson also told the committee that the huge numbers jailed after the unprecedented inner-city violence must not be abandoned in prison, but helped to turn their lives around.,

And with cases of people involved in the riots victims of attacks by other inmates, they're already abandoning them.

[Peace Patriot]

11. How much did Tony Blair's murder and mayhem in Iraq cost England?

The rioters, who were mostly young, were just imitating their elders. You want something? Oil profits? War booty? Public hanging of a leader you don't like? Murder 100,000 innocent people to get it! The rioters, though, were immensely more civilized. They just trashed buildings and took things.

What I want to know is, will Tony Blair & brethren be abandoned in prison? Or will society succeed in rehabilitating them? Oh, wait...

[Bosonic]

12. >They just trashed buildings and took things.

And murdered four people (and destroyed homes/small businesses).

Yes they were mini-versions of the as-of-now unprosecuted major scumbags; so no need to excuse or lionize them.

[raccoon]

13. It'd be nice if the royal family chipped in a few bucks. nt