London's Burning, London's Burning! Fire, Fire! Fire, Fire!

As violence rolled across our Capital city, chilling words were uttered by an LBC listener from Sydney, “London, the world is watching.”

Groups of youths and adults rolled through London's streets for four nights, attacking shops and setting buildings and cars ablaze. The reason? An alleged drug dealer was shot by police. That's what purportedly started this horrific event. A man, Mark Duggan, was shot in Tottenham. The locals protested and marched on the local police station on Saturday night and the mayhem spread from there.

For Londoners, we suffered the worst of it on Monday 8th August, 2011, with police overwhelmed by the sheer number of ‘disaffected’ youths. Thankfully, the fourth night, 9th August, stayed mostly quiet in London, with minor disturbances reported in Canning Town, Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill.

Saturday night alone, £100 million of damage was done. With the economy in as much trouble as it is, this is disastrous. Homes, family businesses and lives were destroyed. A furniture shop in Croydon, Reeves’ Corner, stood for over a century, it survived two world wars. And it was destroyed by its own community. These monsters destroyed the lives of those whom they live with with their brutality.

Now, let's get political: Should the Prime Minister, David Cameron, have returned sooner? That's debatable. What was there that he could have done to stop this? Very little, I would say. It was the job of the police to get the situation under control, which they eventually did. The furore of these monsters had to burn out, as did shops, cars and homes. Had Mr. Cameron returned earlier, it would have heightened the sense of emergency. As would calling in the army. As would declaring a 'state of emergency'.

The Chancellor’s return, however, did inject some much needed mirth, with many mockingly saying “Don’t worry, George Osborne’s coming back!”

What infuriates me, is the social workers, the youth workers, going on television, the radio, and saying that it’s because of government cuts, youth programmes being cancelled. My youth group was cut, all but closed, yet I wasn’t out there terrorising these people. Nor were any other of its members. They were the ones out there yesterday, today, cleaning up the streets after this travesty. These people may have hard lives, they may be bored on hot summer’s nights but that is no excuse.

In Croydon, Enfield, Lewisham and Southall, groups of residents banded together to protect their communities. They stood up to thugs and protected their homes and families. That is part of the beauty of London. That is what makes me proud to be British.

Carnage was wrought in: Bethnal Green, Birmingham, Bristol, Brixton, Bromley, Camden, Clapham, Croydon, Ealing, East Ham, Enfield, Hackney, Islington, Kensington High Street, Liverpool, Manchester, Notting Hill, Nottingham, Oxford Circus, Peckham, Poinders End, Salford, Sloane Square, Tottenham, Waltham Forest, West Bromwich and Woolwich. There may be more that I have missed, however, I hope not.

Minor trouble was reported and quickly stopped in Glasgow, I believe, but was quickly averted. The Scottish police said they were ready to help if their English counterparts needed it. Luckily, the trouble stayed, for the most part, in England and did not spread to other parts of the U.K..

My thoughts are with those areas outside of London still affected, those who woke up to chaos, those in anyway harmed by this carnage. And with our wonderful Policemen.

This week’s title, somewhat childish. Although, my six year old niece didn’t know it. Also a bit flippant. The prizes are getting better though.

By Jove I think He's Got It!

At the constant behest (of my inexplicable mind), I have striven to find the find the inner workings of The United Kingdom after the devolution movement at the end of the last century. For the few of you that are interested, I will now reveal what information I have gleaned; although, I am sure that my translation will be wholly incorrect. 
At the end of the nineties, referenda were held across three countries within the U.K.: Scotland, Wales and Ireland on a devolved parliament, assembly and The Good Friday Agreement. As present circumstance indicates, the answer was a "Yes" to all three. In Scotland it was a resounding 74.03%. In Ireland, a similarly high result was garnered, 71.12%. The Welsh vote, however, was far closer, with 50.3% a win of just 0.6%!
These votes caused a First Minister to rise up in Northern Ireland and Scotland and a First Secretary in Wales. Wales and Northern Ireland have Assemblies rather than a parliament, although the workings are much the same.

In setting out the devolved powers, Scotland was given 73 MSPs, Wales 60 Assembly Members and Northern Ireland 108. What is notable in this is that, for a least a small portion of these members, proportional representation is used. This was forced into place in Scotland and Wales by Liberal Democrats working with Labour, who was against it in both instances. Also of note, in the first set of elections in Scotland no constituency members from the Conservative Party were elected with FPTP yet 18 were with PR. In Wales eight were with PR and one with FPTP.

The allocation of power to Holyrood (Scotland's political base) was done so by detailing the powers retained by The U.K. Parliament whereas in Wales the powers given were listed. This was most probably done in this way as The Welsh Assembly, not having a distinct legal system, had less of an allocation of power than Scotland.
The Leaders of these political institutions are all required to obtain The Royal Assent (The Queen signs off on all legislation).

With the rise of devolved powers, it is no surprise that a very important question was asked, this, known as the "West Lothian Question", was asked by Scottish MP (not MSP) Tom Daylle. He asked why happenings in England should be decided on by the 119 MPs at Westminster not representing English constituencies. Rightly so. However, the issue is not so clear cut as it may seem. These 119 MPs sit at Westminster to represent their constituents in matters concerning The U.K. As such, these lovely Members of Parliament decided to not vote on any issue effecting solely England. Thus, a temporary solution.


As I grow tired, I will decease and desist. I will also ignore all the errors that this is riddled with.
All statistics are copied from "Devolution in Britain Today", a book which I have used, to some extent, to understand our great nation. I apologise for any mistakes and would be delighted to have them brought to my attention.

The title is a dig at myself for taking so long in educating myself in this area. Of course, any guesses as to its origins are pleasing with the standard prizes being offered. Au revoir. 

Children of the Revolution

“Do you think Scotland should remain part of The United Kingdom?”

That is one of the questions being proposed for a possible referendum on Scottish independence. Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP (Scottish National Party), spent weeks attacking the previous Scottish Parliament in Holyrood for not giving the Scottish people what they apparently wanted: a referendum on the Country’s place within the U.K.

Mr. Salmond is thought (by me) to be going to push for complete financial independence first, possible through a referendum, followed by a referendum on complete independence. Meanwhile, he may attempt to increase public resentment of its position within the U.K. Despite Scottish patriotism and nationalism being far greater than in England, for which they are greatly lauded (again, by me), I’m disinclined to believe that the vast majority of the Scots would want to abandon the rest of us. And not simply for financial reasons, which many that either fear or are angered by further devolution purport, for I am sure that our Scottish neighbours would be able to settle their affairs without the English and Welsh. Their public services may bear the brunt of the loss of income, or perhaps all university would cease to be subsidised, which I’m sure would please many of the jealous below the Antonine Wall. But, we, and I include Wales and Northern Ireland in this, have a greatly interweaving history; one fraught, at times, with tension and strife, yet at others we have been the greatest of Allies and have worked hand in hand throughout our pasts. A problem Mr. Salmond faces, despite the occasional Scot feeling ‘British’ rather than Scottish, is they are not legally binding, as with referenda in England. As such, if a vote for independence is accrued in a referendum, he would still face the hefty task of getting it through the Scottish parliament. And if he were to fail in that? Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t fancy a bunch of angry Scots after me.

What I fear in the splitting of the U.K. is to some extent the financial futures of Scotland and England, but also, in a world of constant change, economic instability, emerging superpowers in the east, nuclear weaponry becoming available to even more countries and an ever-increasing, all consuming E.U. (more to the come on the European Union shortly). I truly believe that we would fare far better united, for divided we are far smaller, weaker and insignificant than we already are.

And perhaps far more worrying than all of that; where would we be without the greatest Scottish institutions? Scotch eggs, whisky, kilts, the English Middle classes becoming Scottish at their weddings ad possibly the most important: Scotch Mist. That, I fear most of all.