Riots, greed and a sad skirmish in Tilehurst
Maurice O'Brien • Published 12 Aug 2011 09:30
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FOR one moment on Monday night the stunning reality of rolling television news became utterly surreal.
On one side of the BBC 24 split screen was a Croydon furniture store engulfed in flames, and on the other a dozen grinning dummies robotically applauding a bell sounding the end of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and another ruinous day on the world's financial markets.
The pictures were miles apart in every sense of the word, but couldn't disguise the sound of chickens coming home to roost as gangs of feral youths who've never had a clip round the ear, metaphorically or otherwise, and clearly possess not one iota of fear or respect for authority, looted and smashed their way around London and Birmingham; while the hedge fund speculators were doing pretty much the same, albeit with more subtlety.
Through the Stygian gloom appeared our fragrant Home Secretary, Theresa May, assuring us those responsible would pay for their actions. No they won't. By the time a few hair-gelled criminal thugs have smirked and slouched their way into court, the memory will have faded and they'll all be awarded therapy for post traumatic stress disorder, brought on by a new found pathological fear of shattered plate glass and charred furniture.
How excited we became as the night wore on to hear Dave, Boris, Big Ed and Hattie were all doing us an incredible favour by truncating their designer holidays to (hardly) hurry home and deal with many crises; almost as exciting as discovering that reporter Nargess Moballegh from Iran's Press TV on channel 515 couldn't find any rioting in Regents Park.
Someone should perhaps point out to the whole shower of deadbeats that Belgium hasn't had a government since June 13 last year, and how many riots have they had?
Nowhere is the irrelevance of the so called major world powers more evident than in the G7 whose members got out their legally acquired satellite phones on Sunday morning for a conference call on impending global bankruptcy. Did none of them think it odd that nobody invited China and India to join in?
Entirely coincidentally, driving home through Tilehurst late on Sunday night I was startled by a badly aimed carton of milk bursting in the road as I passed. Turning to look for the culprit I met the defiant glare of two 12-year-old boys. They flashed me a V-sign and ran off into the darkness.
Where did their parents think they were? Out rioting?
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 11 Aug 11
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