Apocalypse like riots in London, Birmingham and Leeds

[shootemindehead]

i was waiting for somebody to trot out a nazi reference. I'm sure you were waiting for a nazi reference and I wasn't trying to Godwin the subject, but the point still stands in relation to the "low crime rate" you refered to about China. Theres a huge difference between fascism and wanting a government that is down to earth, dosnt take all authority from teachers, dosnt take all power away from police officers, dosnt create a open prison system where prisoners are given a life of luxury and then look for excuses when riots like these happen becuase there is absolutly no deterrents whatsoever to the perpretraitors. Agreed, but there's also a "huge difference" between wanting all that and a Chinese style government Andy. Know what I mean? Look how long it took our government to react to the riots and let the police use the measures they needed, and all these cocky young scumbags that where all over the news saying "we're not scared of the police, we can do what we like" were all nowhere to be seen the moment the police where given access to water cannons and rubber bullets, if these measures had been available straight away, these riots would never have happened and the perpetrators would have been squashed after hours rather than days and many, many decent people wouldnt have lost their homes, jobs and livelihoods. Thats what im talking about when i say responsibility, im not a fascist at all, im all for freedom of speech and a open society, im all for capitalism but you have to accept there is and always will be a section of society that NEEDS to be controlled and will only ever respond to authority. Liberal attitudes in successive governments have failed to control that and allowed it to spread and these riots are the result. Or, it could have escalated into something MUCH worse, with running battles on the streets and far more damage. I really don't think you want to see Tottenham become West Belfast Andy. Look, there are many reasons why the riots kicked off in England and none of them have anything to do with "Liberalism". People in general are angry. They're confused, they don't like where they're country is at the moment. But, it isn't a "Left Wing" or "Right Wing" issue. There have been riots under right wing governments too, listed in a post above. But, I see the people of England a somewhat lost. They have little identity these days and have been governed by people, since the 70's, who have become more and more concerned with pleasing Corporate interests and less and less concerned with the impact that their polices make on the people of the Country. Western Governments have viewed their custodian duties in terms of economy, rather than in terms of society. That's one of the reasons we have had the vast collapse of the banking system. Bad economic policy made without a single thought of what would happen to people if such measures went tits up...as they did...with no regulation whatsoever on a business concern that's notorious for being shifty. That's not "liberalism", it's not "left" or "right" wing...it's not even good "capitalism" for god's sake. It's just simply a bad business model and that's the main problem with Western governments in the last 40 years. Countries are being run increasingly like businesses and not like Countries and businesses only care about their employees (citizens) as long as they have something to offer. That's not the way to govern a society. Governments are supposed to provide avenues of possibility to their citizens, they're supposed to help create and maintain the infrastructure and fabric that help a society to function and grow. They are supposed to help engender situations whereby education, employment and national welfare are facilitated for all of the citizens of the nation. Unfortunately, those ideals are becoming less and less important to the people that form governments. China, for all their faults, have a very good grip on this sort of thing and deal with any trouble swiftly and brilliantly. Our government could learn a thing or two from them and that was my point and i beleive that was UndeadChickens point aswell. Trust me Andy, the last thing you want to give irresponsible Western governments, is the right to go all "Tiananmen Square" on people.