# Tottenham north London riots **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836 "2011-08-07T17:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/81 "2011-08-09T12:56:09Z")
> [@Hallucinex](#): > > [Riot shield tea-tray](http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel-eight/6024429000/) This is the most British thing ever. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/82 "2011-08-09T14:33:53Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Precisely. These people get benefits and handouts that make them far wealthier than the working classes of a few generations ago. Look at the video footage - these are teenagers with expensive branded clothes, mobile phones and jewellery. They have no idea what true hardship is, but they think the world owes them everything. > > Don’t try to bring a political dimension into this. It’s greed, pure and simple. The kids rioting were not protesting against the inequities of British society; they just know that they can smash, burn and steal property with no comeback whatsoever and want to profit from it. Hence it is spreading across the country. People are realising they can do what they want and face no consequences, and they think: “That looks like a laugh, I’ll have some of that.” > > It makes you realise just how thin and fragile the veneer of civilisation in this country is. When it happens, as it happens a lot, in Northern Ireland it is dubbed “recreational rioting”. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/83 "2011-08-09T14:51:04Z")
You wonder what the parents of these kids think but I suspect they’re aware and don’t care. There are at least 2 generations now of people that don’t want to work and expect everything to be handed to them. They are envious of the perceived greater wealth they see around them. Of course the guy driving the BMW probably has large car payment and insurance bill and might not have any more disposable income than they do. More money more problems etc. People need to stop expecting handouts, that’s the big problem IMO. The world doesn’t owe any of us anything. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/84 "2011-08-09T15:13:37Z")
[Darkus Howe talking about the riots](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=player_embedded). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/85 "2011-08-09T15:15:50Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > You wonder what the parents of these kids think but I suspect they’re aware and don’t care. There are at least 2 generations now of people that don’t want to work and expect everything to be handed to them. They are envious of the perceived greater wealth they see around them. Of course the guy driving the BMW probably has large car payment and insurance bill and might not have any more disposable income than they do. More money more problems etc. > > People need to stop expecting handouts, that’s the big problem IMO. The world doesn’t owe any of us anything. From what I can tell, unemployment is high while the rich are getting richer, more or less. I don’t fully understand the reasoning behind “they don’t want to work and expect handouts.” Sounds to me a lot of them are pissed off because they would like to work. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/86 "2011-08-09T15:19:42Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > From what I can tell, unemployment is high while the rich are getting richer, more or less. I don’t fully understand the reasoning behind “they don’t want to work and expect handouts.” Sounds to me a lot of them are pissed off because they would like to work. Is their strategy to keep burning London until someone gives them a job?? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/87 "2011-08-09T15:26:38Z")
[This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You couldn’t parody such idiocy](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/88 "2011-08-09T15:31:55Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Is their strategy to keep burning London until someone gives them a job?? No, I’m pretty sure there was no strategy. Greedy opportunistic looting and vandalizing pretty much is what it is. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/89 "2011-08-09T15:35:13Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Is their strategy to keep burning London until someone gives them a job?? From their POV, nothing else has been working and the global economy is about to crash again. What have they got to lose? ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/90 "2011-08-09T15:44:09Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > What have they got to lose? Their liberty, with any luck. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/91 "2011-08-09T15:47:10Z")
Can we start a pool on when an American will post, “This is what happens when you don’t give policemen guns.” ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/92 "2011-08-09T16:08:13Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Their liberty, with any luck. Oye, thats against the Human Rights Act!! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/93 "2011-08-09T16:09:39Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Their liberty, with any luck. Possibly their life. Anarchy isn’t exactly safe. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/94 "2011-08-09T16:26:42Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > [This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You couldn’t parody such idiocy](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424). Gah, isn’t it? I kept hoping some angry shopkeeper…ideally one that sells the brand of rosé the twits were drinking…to come up to them and set them straight. Maybe something like letting them know that their yearly salary is less than minimum wage, because of the cost of running the business, and that they live in the basement of the shop because they can’t afford rent, but their assistant - who is about their age - is earning enough to support themselves through school. Which would be a sad life for that shopkeeper, perhaps, but I so wanted someone to just smack those girls upside the head with a clue-by-four. I hope the BBC reporter has their names and a photo and has marched right on over to the police to hand these idiots over. Stupid, stupid, stupid selfish little girls. They want respect, but they couldn’t even be trusted to be allowed to play outside on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/95 "2011-08-09T16:31:06Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > From their POV, nothing else has been working and the global economy is about to crash again. > > What have they got to lose? Um, smashing things and setting fire to things and stealing things ain’t gonna improve the economy any, or their employment prospects. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/96 "2011-08-09T16:33:42Z")
You’re missing the point that some of these people might believe they’ll never hold a job no matter what they do - and thus, have nothing to lose. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/97 "2011-08-09T16:57:29Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > You’re missing the point that some of these people might believe they’ll never hold a job no matter what they do - and thus, have nothing to lose. Why should they get a job? Those rich people are such snobs and hypocrites. That’s exactly what those rich people would like them to do…just so they could look down on them. No they won’t give those rich people the satisfaction. They’re better off collecting off the dole to save their self respect and every once in while show the rich people that they can do what they want to do. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/98 "2011-08-09T17:20:25Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Why should they get a job? Those rich people are such snobs and hypocrites. That’s exactly what those rich people would like them to do…just so they could look down on them. No they won’t give those rich people the satisfaction. They’re better off collecting off the dole to save their self respect and every once in while show the rich people that they can do what they want to do. On what do you base this? I read in the Tottenham area there are roughly 50 job applicants per job opening. That doesn’t sound like people refusing to work. What are the available types of work you’re talking about that young people are refusing? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/99 "2011-08-09T17:47:53Z")
Oh, don’t bother - **Omar** is so comfortable in his pre-conceived notions it would be a shame to change his outlook. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836/100 "2011-08-09T18:38:24Z")
Found this blog. [http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html](http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tottenham-north-london-riots/591836.md?page=6)