Riots

[amateur51]

Thanks for the chart and the info, Am51.

You're very welcome, Simon

[Simon]

you mean you keep a record of this stuff?

Good heavens, no. That would be too anoraky. But I do sometimes cut and paste a chunk if it's likely to be of future interest, or relevant to something I'm doing or planning. Especially links, I do it with.

[Simon]

Simon, there are times when I maybe mistakenly think that there is common ground between us...

Very rarely, I'm afraid.

But of course it does make me wonder if its worth being a member of this forum.

I'm sure it is, and when you aren't being aggressive about politics you are most interesting to read, IIMSS - as others have said. But just put me on ignore and then I won't matter to you!

[Ariosto]

But just put me on ignore and then I won't matter to you!

That is the point I'm trying to make. I don't want to put people on "ignore."

That's what governments do and look where it has got us.

[Anna]

Thanks for the chart and the info, Am51.

You're very welcome, Simon

Oh Bless!

[amateur51]

Oh Bless!

Thank you Ms Cupid

You'll be getting a chocolate mouse from french frank very soon at this rate

[Anna]

Thank you Ms Cupid

You'll be getting a chocolate mouse from french frank very soon at this rate

Well, I ain't no cupid, can't get the arrows these days, bluddy French peasants innit and EU Regs! And, it's vegetable based ersatz chocolate rodents, if you please.

[amateur51]

Well, I ain't no cupid, can't get the arrows these days, bluddy French peasants innit and EU Regs! And, it's vegetable based ersatz chocolate rodents, if you please.

What about a goldfish instead?

[Lateralthinking1]

BTS - Thank you for reprieving me - LT1.

[Anna]

What about a goldfish instead?

Gefilte Fish?

Edit: Should have gone to SpecSavers!

[Ariosto]

Maybe not....but I've not been around long enough to know 'everyone' on the forum and only saw your posts recently and did start to reach for the Ignore button. So I can see Simon's point.

Bye the bye...you;re not on Ignore but I pass over your posts...as I do for Humdrum51 and Mailerey. LateralThinking I have reprieved.

Don't worry about it, the feeling is entirely mutual. Passover seems to come every day at the moment.

[scottycelt]

Getting away from trivial personality clashes on this forum, I find it beyond belief that we now have the spectacle of senior politicians and top-ranking police officers squabbling about who should be taking the 'credit' for the current tough action with looters and rioters.

Frankly it was sadly obvious to many of us (possibly most?) that both our political leaders and police were found very badly wanting at the start of this mass criminality, but at least the police now appear to be fast making up for lost time and past gross errors in tactics.

The politicians should now shut up and give the police all the support they require in bringing the thousands of criminals to justice, whilst trying to figure out how we stop these sort of public outrages happening again in the future.

Cameron looking to the USA for advice on preventing street gangs is a bit like consulting President Assad of Syria on the best method of crowd control.

[amateur51]

Agree with your whole post, Scottycelt. I also find it refreshing to see the speed and energy being put into bringing these criminals to justice, the fact that, finally, the courts have decided that enough is enough by refusing bail in many instances and by organising 24 hour court sittings giving the message that the criminal behaviour is not acceptable and that they (the criminals) can expect to be given just punishment and more importantly swiftly. One would like to think that this was the start of getting our society back on track but I doubt it. The liberal left....for whom there does not appear to be any concept of 'stick'....will scream civil liberties, police brutality, cuts, Thatcher and all their Holy Cows. At least the right have a more pragmatic approach and believe that there should be a carrot AND stick philosophy.

As the Government is a coalition of Tories & Lib Dems it's going to be intersting to see how you disentangle your sticks and carrots there, BTS.

Simon Hughes for the Lib Dems fears a knee-jerk reaction that will make things worse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14520204

And on the BBC radio news, a Trustee of the Magistrates' Trust is making the same point, worrying about the speed at which 'justice' is being meted out

[Lateralthinking1]

BTS - Good points but as I mentioned before, I have applied for 80 jobs this year. The overwhelming majority of my applications have received no acknowledgment. My cvs were well-presented. In fact, I received professional assistance with them and they were praised by those who gave me advice. I am told that it is now commonplace for applications simply to be ignored. This non-communication therefore begins at the top.

Of course, it depends how you define top. You have to laugh sometimes at the responses that do arrive. I received one or two rather pompous sounding replies about not having the right experience. Several of those and you feel about as worthwhile as a wastepaper bin. Then you realise that the letter is worded a little naively and undertake a bit of investigation. You find that the employer can be someone who is about 25, with a degree in the psychology of scooters from the university of Scunthorpe, two jobs under his belt both lasting 9 months, and obviously a very well off father. These people are very good with bluff - or should we call it the old madam? They have very formal websites that use wording that has clearly been copied from elsewhere:

"We want to support all of our valued staff with a bespoke training programme that offers continuity, effective follow-up, real career development and progression. A programme which once classroom training has been delivered provides a framework for application of learnt skills so that our staff can reap the full benefit of the impending economic upturn".

This from the "Director" with about three mates as part-time staff in a shed next to an allotment. The next step is to find them on Facebook. When you get to the photo of them in Ibiza with a bottle of beer in hand, a dozy arm round a friend, a tongue hanging out, the 900 "friends" and, well, I won't go into the hobbies. It puts it all into perspective and makes you realise that they see you as a person "of the system". And that is the last thing they want. Someone who might comment on any dodgy practices. But these are precisely the people those of their age and less fortunate aspire to. This is Britain now.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well history of replete with repentance at leisure following hasty reflex of the knee .... there is a nasty side to this jerk response ... i can not see any justice in stopping benefits without the existing rules, nor in the eviction of families or others from their accommodation because one individual is already facing penalty under the law .... in my view injustice should never be repented, it should be avoided in the first place ...there can be no justice in removing income or housing from anyone, whatever they have done, as a punishment on top of the sentence of a court .... this is just like the approach of the good old USSR creating non-persons

and in any case who would wish to see Local Council Officials or Benefit Office Bureaucrats deciding issues of crime and punishment .... what on earth is going on here it is disgraceful ....

i have no objection to more robust policing of social disorder nor the speed of justice and sentencing .... a point has to be made, but we should be very careful not to be so 'totalitarian' in our response, and we should be mindful that the plod have a bad track record in many areas, not least policing peaceful demonstrations against policies and practices of both the government and major corporations ... what price protest in the coming years ...