The Times are right…

Here I am spending the day at the Times newspaper headquarters. A nice early start prompted by my dearly beloved alarm tone…Antelope. If you are unfamiliar with this most infuriating of alarm tones, I suggest you never EVER get a Blackberry. Granted, its harsh tones get you out of bed quicker than you can say gazelle. I guess that makes it a good alarm then. Anyway, in preparation for my work experience here at the Times I have been keeping myself up to date on the goings on in the country by watching the news, reading the newspaper and keeping up to date online as well.

With the London and Birmingham Riots taking centre-stage in this week’s news coverage I thought to myself, ‘What on earth brought that on?’

Many of the rioters maintain that the wrongful killing of Mark Duggan by a policeman who was killed last Thursday in Tottenham, North London, motivated them. However, while some of the anger may be fueled by this, I believe that many just (for want of a better phrase) ‘jumped onto the band wagon’. The riots were just as much motivated by the desire for high-quality clothing as they were in outrage for Mark Duggan’s death. Camila Batmanghelidjh, of the charity Kids Company in Waterloo, talked to the Times reporter, David Aaronovitch about her taxonomy of responsibility for the young people involved. According to Ms Batmanghelidjh there are these three groups: initiators, imitators and opportunists. Many of the young people involved were opportunists, who reasoned that ‘Everyone else was doing it…’

What I think needs to change in this country is the way the government handle the benefits scheme. Many parents who are on benefits expect the government and state sector of education to raise their children for them. However, with suffocating restrictions placed on teachers in these schools they are unable to discipline the children who are being raised in dysfunctional family environments, with many of them living in the absence of a father figure. Many single mothers are ‘scared of their children’ and dare not to question these criminal acts as the children are taking on the role of provider/bread-winner.

However, although a majority of the rioters were of working-class backgrounds, there were many from middle-classes as well! One girl, who acted as the getaway driver for some of the looters, lived in a one million pound home! So while some of the rioters were motivated by political problems, a lot was just pure greed.