Its because they're too lazy to spend 4 pounds and buy it themselves. I wish we had things for a pound here, a dollar in Australia buys you a loaf of bread and maybe some crappy stuff, I remember when we went over to England this notion of getting 24 batteries for a pound was amazing. XD Here that would cost $15...
Leader of Opposition response. Main points: Parliament is united despite party political difference. The public wants order and they don't want to live in fear. He asked the prime minister (PM) what role will the army play? He asked the PM will money be used from reserves so Govt. department bugdets won't be strechted. He asked the PM to look at CCTV proposals. Miliband paid tribute to volunteers who helped cleaned up. He asked the PM to assure the public that there won't be a cap to the amount of money avaliable to councils and communities. Socitey must ask the deep questions as to why this happened. He asked the PM for an inquiry into the events. He urges the government to tackle gang culture. Society must look after the next generation. It's society's role must learn from the events ---------- Post added 11th Aug 2011 at 12:06 PM ---------- Prime Minister's David Cameron response. Main Points: Police: The army could be involved in future task to help free up the police. He says the police can deploy as many officers as possible. He says despite cuts the police will still be able to perform their duites. Courts: CCTV will be used to capture criminals and the human rights of the criminal will be ignored. Money: There won't be a cap on the money avaliable. Cameron agrees with Miliband that socitey must come together to deal with the issues and responsibility rest on the criminal. David Cameron is now taking questions from backbencher MPs. ---------- Post added 11th Aug 2011 at 12:11 PM ---------- I'm not sure how long the debate will go on for. It will probably go on into the evening.
Wait... what? 0_o I have no great simpathy for the rioters, but I'd guess that you could just... try them under the normal legal system? Can the government just declare they don't care about human rights anymore? Or am I misreading this?
Maybe I should of clarified this better. "the human rights of the criminal will be ignored" in relation to CCTV and privacy law. I should of clarified that sorry. ---------- Post added 11th Aug 2011 at 12:38 PM ---------- I was typing as the speech was going on so I was rushing a bit.
no no, the Prime Minister simply said that these rioters wont be allowed to hide behind "phoney" human rights concerns over publishing CCTV images so people can identify them.
is there any particular reason why the riot police dont have tear gas and water cannons like the US and Canada? just curious.
Because the UK is too soft, and probably because the criminals use "Human Rights" to their advantage. "You can't use water cannon on us, you will hurt us! We have our human rights!!!!" "You can't use tear gas on us, you might hurt my lungs!!! We have our human rights!!!" Or maybe not, but there was this 16 year old who said: "You can't do anything to me, I'm underaged!" Or was he 15 can't remember.
They can use water cannons should the violence flare up again. The Prime Minister has given police permission to use it if necessary, but there is no guarantee that it would be an effective way to disperse crowds because of how spread out these riots are. It isn't even about human rights issues or anything like that as the water cannon is one of the more humane methods of riot controls. The issue is that it has never been used here, therefore we can't just make them appear at will and expect Met officers to use them. There aren't many Met officers who are trained to use them (like there aren't as many trained for riots) so we can't just use water cannons at will. Plus, they're not really designed to contain rioting across numerous cities. They're good for containing people in small areas, but you'll need a shitload of water cannons if they are to contain rioters effectively across the country.
Water Cannon is just being used to score political points. The people calling for them don't understand how ineffective they would be anyway. The looting and rioting were taking place in many locations at once, not concentrated in one area, so a water cannon would have done little good in these circumstances.
The thing that is worrying me now is that i've read news articles on how some people are blaming the rioting on Facebook and Blackberry. Which is ridiculous because they are communication tools and are not evil or good in themselves, and once you start restricting use of them, like Cameron is contemplating, who knows how far the government will go to control the masses. It's already scary how many cameras there are in Britain, and it seems like we are moving towards what it was like in Minority Report.
Yes I don't agree with the Government there. A Labour MP, I can't remember which, tweeted about social media yesterday something to the affect of, 'In Middle East it's used to bring down dictators, here its used to coordinate looting. Its the users not the medium.' The only sensible thing I've heard a Labour MP say in a long time. This is a decent article in today's Independent - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...pm-planning-crackdown-on-rioters-2336308.html
I'm not English but I do love England so I wish it would stop soon... It's making me worry and sad at the same time...
A question to those not from England, has your opinion of England changed because of the violence? If so, in what way?
Mine hasn't. I didn't really have an "opinion" of England before, anyway, but these riots haven't caused me to suddenly develop a negative view of the country. I mean, this could have happened anywhere.
It's not the fault of Facebook, blackberry, Twitter or, as the drunken brutes the BBC interviewed, the fault of "the rich people". It's the fault of a bunch of thugs that have grown accustomed to and are products of the welfare state and should be thrown in the Tower of London..if it was still functioning as it was during it's heyday instead of a tourist trap. Thank God this crowd wasn't roaming around in 1939 London, or the Reichstag would probably have had a satellite branch at Westminster. It's sad to see these family businesses that are ages old burned to the ground for no reason. It's not like the UK is the only place where senseless riots and looting take place. It hasn't changed my opinion of the country...I still think it is a lovely place.