Reflexões sobre a violência que grassa nas ruas de Londres

“There is little to cheer about; the riots will be over soon (we hope), and most of the participants will probably get caught (the thing about modern rioting is that, unless you’re very careful about covering your face and use no technology, then CCTV, phone records and social media make capture almost a certainty). But the riots are only a more vivid display of a wider, more everyday problem British people have got used to – a small minority of lawless, anti-social young men and women who make life unpleasant for everyone else.

British people have mostly internalised this fear, usually adopting a Stockholm Syndrome liberalism; for example, I believe that the reason so many young teachers in inner cities are textbook liberals who blame various institutions and authorities for the bad behaviour of their pupils is because they physically fear those kids, and it is easier to side with the one you fear. In contrast the kids do not fear anyone in authority – not teachers, not churchmen, not policemen or army officers, and especially not fathers. That is because, in essence, the people in authority in Britain have abandoned that authority, for various psycho-political reasons (just look through any John Lennon or Pink Floyd lyrics for a better understanding of babyboomer thinking).

The result is that Britain has among the most unpleasant adolescent population in the world (with all due respects to the majority who aren’t); I have never been anywhere in the world with such problems, and it’s actually embarrassing. For a society that was remarkably well-ordered and peaceful until the 1960s our speedy breakdown is a remarkable achievement.”

► Ed West in The Telegraph