August 14, 2011. For years and years, ex-pats, Londoners and, particularly, disgruntled South Africans who’ve returned from an ultimately unfulfilling spell in the big smoke, have whined that London is “no longer for Londoners”.
“Everywhere you go it’s Eastern Europeans, Pakis, West Indians, Bangladeshis, you can’t find anyone who speaks proper English in London,” they’d complain. Well yes, but then neither can most Englishmen speak English, let’s be honest.
My favourite rant came from my dear Auntie Moira, who said, “I stayed at a good class, fairly costly hotel . . . and do you know what? All the staff are bloody Poles and Hungarians and Romanians and whatever, you can’t understand what they’re on about. You try shopping at Selfridges today.” I didn’t complain, or debate the matter, but rather wisely, I think, chose a dutiful nod of the head and a calm, measured response. Moira can be a bit of a hellraiser when she gets up a head of steam.
Fast forward a few months, to August 2011, and parts of the city and major centres up north like Birmingham and Manchester have been ravage by mobs of unruly youngsters, epitomised by the hoodie brigade, and apparently mobilised by co-ordinated communication via BlackBerrys, text, BBM, Twitter or whatever cunning media platform they’re into.
The “anguished youths” have torn up stores, set alight shops, buildings and cars and injured a good number of people in the process. The government and police services are in a row over who’s to blame, the good citizens of London and elsewhere want answers and there’s much anguish and hand-wringing in the country in general. Travel warnings issued pose a major threat to the vital travel industry that helps drive the capital’s economy.
One bright spark in the local blogging community has the perfect solution. Let the African Union send in aid and military services personnel to fend off the crisis. Brilliant, oh the delicious irony!
Here’s some insightful and more sober analysis from The Daily Maverick.
Or I’ve got a plan that will thrill dear old Auntie Moira to bits. The next time the kids of London decide to go off on another little temper tantrum (here read looting and destruction of property), why not let all those countries, the Eastern Europeans, Poles and Romanians and various Slavs (never mind the Russians) send in assault troops to save their poor little darlings and get them out of Dodge City.
Either that, or leave them, along with the Pom yobs, to the increasingly bristling British police and military.
In the headlines:
- “Feral youths are greedy criminals”. – Daily Mail
- “London riots: What can the Parisians teach Britain?” – Huffington Post
- “It was a ‘shopping spree’, say London looters” – Hindustan Times
- “Riot death toll hits five as wave of looters face court” – Sydney Morning Herald
South Africans who lived in London, or relatives living there, your comments? What do you think? Are the officials too soft in England, or are there legitimate, deep social reasons for this latest bout of social unrest? Send us your thoughts, comments.
– By Ridge Correspondent