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Whilst I generally agree with socially progressive policies, it's absurd to conflate hardship and disenfranchisement with the sort of behaviour seen across Ealing, London and UK. These are not people who are angry or oppressed, with their fancy trainers and mobile phones. They are feral scum who would rob, batter, burn and murder the rest of us, given half a chance. They have now discovered the opportunity exists and an MO for exploiting it. Yes, there are reasons, many with long histories that go back to the 1970s's (I would cite Thatcher's deliberate creation of an excluded underclass as a particularly myopic direction. NuLabour then institutionalised deprivation without attempting to repair it). But reasons are not excuses, this is all academic and debatable. We are where we are, and you may as well talk politics at this point as argue with a pack of wolves.We are now in a very dangerous place. Politicians will be able to sell their respective bigotries to an emasculated and fearful population, policing could easily become oppressive. There is in UK a great tendency to pen the sheep ever tighter in order to present the illusion that the wolves are being dealt with. All politicians now bemoan the lack of responsibility but have spent the last 30 years eroding our individual autonomy one way or another. We have let them do so, for a lazy and ordered life. We expect they and the police to look after us. This clearly has not worked, we cannot rely on them, only ourselves, our neighbours. That is the place to start, not more of the same.

Tony Sleep ● 5352d

John,Both you and Soren seem to be on a remarkably similar mission to instil your bias and disatisfaction in others and in such an overtly political way too. Ealing is a nice place to live and I hope that your negativity will never manage to detract from that. 1.The Met Police are fundamentally responsible for funding the police force in Ealing as they are elsewhere in London. Ealing residents don't want to have to pay more council taxes to pay for officers the Met should be providing, thank you.2. Nothing wrong with Christianity. Never said there was. Only it does not have a monopoly on morality.3.You're wrong about no management cuts in Ealing .4.Who is saying a carpark is not necessary? 5.Let’s have some substantiation of allegations of poor role models  against local politicians and stop the unfounded rubbish against particular individuals that has invaded this forum lately.6.Surely it's better to look in the bright side than to see the worst in everything. If, like Soren you prefer the latter that’s your misfortune in my opinion but don’t take it out on others who are out there doing their bit for society or those who have worked hard and hold jobs with much responsibility.7.There is good and bad in all, plenty of good people and good politicians and plenty of self-interested individuals in all walks of life and plenty of selfless ones too.What good comes from a determination to be so selectively and negatively sceptical all the time?8. To address the problem of riots which this thread was about we could start by addressing the cultural problems of gangs, poor parenting and low aspirations as well as the economic problems that go hand in hand with recession and structurally inunequalities.

John Holt ● 5354d

Dear me!Soren seems to have rattled your cage.You accuse him of being wrong. That is not right.1) The council provides a lot of money for the police which has been cut by the council.2) What is wrong with being a Christian. England was a better place when children were taught the ten commandments at school. Do not steal. Do not kill. Respect your parents.3) In making lots of cuts the council only sacked lower people. The ones that do the work. I do not think that one person in the top one hundred managers in the council was made redundant. They protected their own instead of looking after services.4) Why is Ealing Labour council so intent on building a car park in Southall that is just not necessary. It has cut disabled services and mental health services and people who actually do things to build it.5) A "cheap pop at local politicians" devalues the role of local government. If these people are not local role models then who is a local role model? As role models they should behave themselves and set a good example.6) I do not know Soren personally but psychologists do say that we accuse others of being what we acually are ourselves. So where does this hang the "Maybe your life is a failure"?7) Our political system is a mess. It does not matter who is in power. Whether it is the Tories or Labour. They have one thing in common and that is self-interest. This is whether that is in local government or central government.8) How do you suggest we address the problems of youth unemployment and youth disenfranchisement in Ealing?Thank you,John.

John King ● 5354d

Jim has shown you are wrong in your accusations about the Council and policing in Ealing so I won't go there.As for Christian schools, we have them already, they don’t need re-intoducing unless, you mean you would FORCE every child to go to one whether their parents wanted that or not. Or are you just talking rubbish? I suspect the latter.Your view of the world is really negative unfortunately. If you open your eyes a bit you'll see there is much good out there and many good role models. Maybe your life is a failure and that’s why you resent senior officers in the town hall, that's sad but it’s up to you to change things for the better not make jealous carps about others who appear to be doing better than you.In truth I doubt whether any Labour candidate would need to have a car park built in Southall to be re-elected. The last Tory Parliamentary candidate got nowhere and Mr Sharma didn’t need to offer any car parks then so why would he now? I don’t see why it is wrong to invest in Southall either. Southall residents are human and pay their taxes just like Ealing residents. Their town should be invested in too, and helped to prosper too, just like Ealing. There are youths in Southall who need jobs too so the council is right not to overlook them.The issue on this thread was a serious one about the London Riots which have since become a national problem. The problem needs to be looked at at that scale. Trying to use this serious issue to have a cheap pop at local politicians because you don't like their political colours doesn't help anyone does it!

John Holt ● 5354d

I disagree. This is exactly the right time to be political - before it can all be swept under the carpet. Ealing was unprepared for what happened and the policing was poor or non-existent.Ealing Council is badly run and Ealing clearly has a lot of disenfranchised young people judging by what happened. Things can be done at a local level and need to be done at a local level, however the current council seems hell bent on preserving its union buddies and has little regard for its residents. The expenditure on the car park is truly pathetic when the cuts in policing are reflected in what was allowed to happen yesterday. Youth with no future could be looked after at a local level, however, the re-election of Sharma via the magical car park is clearly more important.It is no better in many places around the UK, however that is a central government issue, likewise the matter of Boris is a London issue. This is an Ealing Forum and I think we need to be discussing Ealing issues here. We can't fix the rest of the country, however we could do something in Ealing. Thousands of unemployed young people in Ealing with no hope of a job could be helped by Ealing Council.If you want cheap politics I would suggest attending an Ealing Council Meeting and listening to a bunch of out-of-touch has beens heckling each other about what Darling did, or Thatcher did years ago. The problems of youth unemployment and disenfranchisement are not going to go away and I suspect that what has happened here is the tip of the iceberg. There is no sign of the economy improving and hence no jobs for young people whether qualified or not.The fact that Phil Taylor (Tory) in his blog and Julian Bell (Labour)in his statements are so bewildered by what has happened purely shows how out of touch and irrelevant our political and local political system has become.

Soren Ericsson ● 5354d