Britain burns - Chavs ruin civilization

[Warspite]

@Zanza......it's not a big deal, I've lived in Germany and know that it is not a place of repressive horror 

But different nationalities have different opinions of what is OTT. In Britain CCTV is pretty uncontroversial, producing ID on demand to police whilst going about one's lawful business is very controversial. As I've said on this forum before, there is no way that I would ever carry a UK ID card. In fact I do not carry ID when I'm let loose on the Continent, usually leaving my passport in the hotel safe, though that makes me feel slightly guilty 

The driver's ID should be enough for the police in schengen country, and the passport is way too important to be stolen from me while I am busy falling over benches and stuff.

Yeah, I like to have my passport somewhere safe as well, the hassle if one lost it or it was stolen whould be tremendous.

I did get stopped by Yugoslav police once (in Croatia but this was way back in the 70s so Yugoslavia), I think they wanted ID or may have wanted to tell us off for jaywalking. There was a bit of a language problem, ie total mutual incomprehension. Of course our passports were safely back at the campsite reception and we had no other ID on us. In the end I showed them the plastic chip that the campsite had given us and they let us go. I think they must have concluded that we were harmless idiots 

Both we and the cops were very polite btw, it was not a threatening situation.

Haha, I still have that problem in Croatia; I go back there on holiday, and then have to deal with officialdom who give me a good tutting off as a silly diaspora for not having any ID.

[The Larch]

British moral panics about the youth of today through the ages. 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/08/civil-disorder-and-looting-hits-britain-0

Daily Express, July 1981:

Over the past twenty years or so, there has been a revulsion from authority and discipline... There has been a permissive revolution... and now we all reap the whirlwind

Sir Keith Joseph, 1974:

For the first time in a century and a half, since the great Tory reformer Robert Peel set up the Metropolitan police, areas of our cities are becoming unsafe for peaceful citizens by night, and some even by day

Daily Mail, 1956 (about rock & roll corrupting British youth):

It is deplorable. It is tribal. And it is from America. It follows rag-time, blues, dixie, jazz, hot cha-cha and the boogie-woogie, which surely originated in the jungle. We sometimes wonder whether this is the negro's revenge.

Recorder of Bradford, 1951:

Parents at this time, unfortunately, do not take sufficient care in bringing up their children. They expect someone else to be responsible.

Guide to boys' clubs, 1931:

The passing of parental authority, defiance of pre-war conventions, the absence of restraint, the wildness of extremes, the confusion of unrelated liberties, the wholesale drift away from churches

Young Delinquents, 1913 (about cinema):

All who care for the moral well-being and education of the child will set their faces like flint against this new form of excitement

The Times, 1898:

it is melancholy to find that some parents are not ashamed to confess that children of seven or eight years old are entirely beyond their control

The Times, 1862:

Our streets are actually not as safe as they were in the days of our grandfathers. We have slipped back to a state of affairs that would be intolerable even in Naples

[Valmy]

We have slipped back to a state of affairs that would be intolerable even in Naples

[HVC]

the racist 1956 one is my fav.

[Syt]

We have slipped back to a state of affairs that would be intolerable even in Naples

That's pretty harsh, considering that Naples routinely drowns in its own trash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples_waste_management_issue

[jimmy olsen]

Authorities may be overreacting a tad.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2011/0815/Flash-mobs-or-splash-mob-UK-man-arrested-for-planning-water-pistol-fight

By Eoin O'Carroll, Staff writer / August 15, 2011

Police in Colchester, Essex, England, have arrested a man and charged him with under Britain's Serious Crime Act of 2007 after he allegedly used social media networks to plan a water gun fight.

In a post on the Essex police website titled "Police reassure residents they are working to keep county safe," Essex law enforcement reported that the unnamed 20-year-old allegedly used his BlackBerry to encourage Colchester residents to gather for a city-wide bout of water-flinging. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on September 1.

The arrest comes a week after several cities in England were rocked by widespread rioting, looting, and arson, much of which appears to have been organized via instant messaging and other social media platforms. Unlike other counties, Essex has not seen any large-scale unrest.

IN PICTURES: Flash mobs

The man's arrest has prompted outrage on Twitter, with many asking if the report was a joke. Essex police responded via Twitter that "there may be more involved" in the case, but did not elaborate.

In the wake of the riots, British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a clampdown on social media. Speaking to the House of Commons last week Cameron said that his government is "working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

Cameron's statement stands in contrast to those he made in January, during the uprising in Egypt that ultimately ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Back then Cameron, in a joint statement with his counterparts in Germany and France, warned the Egyptian government that "[t]here must be full respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, including freedom of expression and communication, including use of telephones and the internet, and the right of peaceful assembly."

Britain is not the first country to crack down on a splash mobbery. Last month, Iranian morality police arrested 17 youths participating in a Facebook-organized mixed-gender water pistol shootout in a park in central Tehran.

There are reports that Iranian youths are organizing another Super Soaker event.

[Neil]

All of those things are true though.  Each generation is worse than the one that came before it.

[Neil]

Given that the water gun fight would quickly dissolve into a riot, I think they were right to act.

[Martinus]

So, the UK is heading towards "V for Vendetta" while the US with Bachmann/Perry is keeling over towards "Handsmaid's Tale". Lovely. 

[The Larch]

All of those things are true though.  Each generation is worse than the one that came before it.

Oh our glorious cavemen ancestors, how has mankind fallen down since then. 

[Razgovory]

So, the UK is heading towards "V for Vendetta" while the US with Bachmann/Perry is keeling over towards "Handsmaid's Tale". Lovely. 

I suspect Poland is heading for "Riddley Walker".

[Razgovory]

Authorities may be overreacting a tad.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2011/0815/Flash-mobs-or-splash-mob-UK-man-arrested-for-planning-water-pistol-fight

By Eoin O'Carroll, Staff writer / August 15, 2011

Police in Colchester, Essex, England, have arrested a man and charged him with under Britain's Serious Crime Act of 2007 after he allegedly used social media networks to plan a water gun fight.

In a post on the Essex police website titled "Police reassure residents they are working to keep county safe," Essex law enforcement reported that the unnamed 20-year-old allegedly used his BlackBerry to encourage Colchester residents to gather for a city-wide bout of water-flinging. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on September 1.

The arrest comes a week after several cities in England were rocked by widespread rioting, looting, and arson, much of which appears to have been organized via instant messaging and other social media platforms. Unlike other counties, Essex has not seen any large-scale unrest.

IN PICTURES: Flash mobs

The man's arrest has prompted outrage on Twitter, with many asking if the report was a joke. Essex police responded via Twitter that "there may be more involved" in the case, but did not elaborate.

In the wake of the riots, British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a clampdown on social media. Speaking to the House of Commons last week Cameron said that his government is "working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

Cameron's statement stands in contrast to those he made in January, during the uprising in Egypt that ultimately ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Back then Cameron, in a joint statement with his counterparts in Germany and France, warned the Egyptian government that "[t]here must be full respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, including freedom of expression and communication, including use of telephones and the internet, and the right of peaceful assembly."

Britain is not the first country to crack down on a splash mobbery. Last month, Iranian morality police arrested 17 youths participating in a Facebook-organized mixed-gender water pistol shootout in a park in central Tehran.

There are reports that Iranian youths are organizing another Super Soaker event.

You know what?  If you want to organize your hipster water fight at the tail end of massive riots you deserve what you get.

[Martinus]

All of those things are true though.  Each generation is worse than the one that came before it.

Oh our glorious cavemen ancestors, how has mankind fallen down since then. 

Btw, kudos to anti-Pope protesters in Spain.

[Brazen]

A bunch of us nearly got arrested for holding a water-pistol based game of Killer in the early 90s. It was a little too near diplomatic residences, apparently, and some guns a little too real.

[Neil]

All of those things are true though.  Each generation is worse than the one that came before it.

Oh our glorious cavemen ancestors, how has mankind fallen down since then. 

I wouldn't go that far back, but any society in which people are too far removed from their means of survival means that each subsequent generation will become weaker.