Riotballs: Whips and sugarplums

We thought we’d wait a while before returning to the subject of the recent disorder in English cities.   There have been column miles devoted to the subject and still, the only narrative that really emerges is polarised between the ‘hang ‘em high’ brigade and the ‘poor misunderstood urchin’ camp followers.

Even the Economist, which I would always have credited with a more nuanced approach, painted the same black and white picture and ultimately offered the same sort of realpolitik solution favoured by 19^th century Prussian Chancellor Bismarck in his struggle with socialism amongst the proliferating proletariat. Whips and Sugar Plums, or as the Economist put it: “The things that might work include both nice and nasty measures....”

The Economist was on much surer ground when it posited that we’d been here before; that the paroxysms of disillusioned working class youth culture and the morbid middle-class fear of the same stretches back almost as far as newspapers themselves.

OK, so not exactly revolutionary but at least it wasn’t as reactionary as historian David Starkey’s pronouncements on Newsnight and then his defence of the same in The Daily Telegraph.

In his non-apologia the historian –  whose ill-judged comments on ‘gangsta culcha’ and the blackening of the white ‘lumpenproletariat’ lead to both widespread outcry and support – wasn’t regretful of his allusion to Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘River’s of Blood’ speech for any reason other than its tactical effect. With the Telegraph’s connivance, Starkey continues to plead the importance of that speech as a touchstone for English patriotism:

“Unfortunately, the speech and still more the reaction to it, are also central to any proper understanding of our present discontents. For Powell’s views were popular at the time and the London dockers marched in his support. The reaction of the liberal elites in both the Labour and Tory parties, who had just driven Powell into the wilderness, was unanimous: the white working class could never be trusted on race again. The result was a systematic attack over several decades: on their perceived xenophobic patriotism, on symbols like the flag of St George, even – and increasingly – on the very idea of England itself.”

The only thing I will say about the foregoing is that there has never been anything ‘perceived’ in the xenophobia of the English Right’s patriotism. To describe ethnic hatred as if it were something only to be witnessed from a particular perspective is both dangerous and disingenuous and perhaps more to the point given Starkey’s profession, historically inaccurate. Perhaps he should look to the recent anniversary of the 1977 Battle of Lewisham...

The New York Times described the recent disturbances in England as “commodity riots”. That was as succinct and value-neutral a description of the state of affairs as one could hope for. Commodity riots...

The calls for harsher sentences and the cutting of benefits were predictable and depressing. Thoughtless, quacking politicians also called for the introduction of plastic bullets and water cannon like that would make everything better, and ignoring people who really do know better.

When it comes to the police’s role in all this, what people have failed to grasp is that police in the UK already have ample powers and tools to deal with crime and disorder; some of the most extensive in any western democracy in fact.

Whether it’s through private and municipal CCTV systems or through more intrusive police surveillance and infiltration, the security services in this country are well- equipped to track down the perpetrators in most criminal eventualities; it really does come down to whether or not there is the political will to make them do the job with what they’ve got.

Open warfare broke out between the government and the police following the whole News International/Metropolitan Police furore. This had been simmering for some time and once the emotive law ‘n’order hot button was pushed when the Tories announced police spending cuts, relations between the government and the people they rely on to keep order have sunk to unprecedented lows.

Personally speaking, I am as ambivalent as the next man about the mayhem I witnessed on the streets of my own neighbourhood. I was attacked and robbed and bloody angry with it. My initial response was one of calls for old testament retribution but I knew that wouldn’t last. 


Besides, my involvement with the disorder was rather more complex. Within days of the riots in Lewisham, I spent my weekend in South east London police stations learning to give legal representation to arrested suspects. My biggest concern at that point was the potential for a conflict of interest if one my assailants was arrested and I found myself representing them.

The debate in this country is confused. Dealing with the riots’ immediate aftermath and the need for justice and retribution are being conflated with vengeful social policy and the handing down of sentences that will almost inevitably be successfully appealed. The prison system, already stretched to breaking point, is another concern in all of this but it will probably take another Strangeways style riot before this will push the topic up the agenda.

Of course the rioters need to be found and brought to justice but if we really want anything to be learned from this fiasco, we need to start applying basic principles of cause and effect. When the police, the government, big business and the media are openly corrupt and barely censured, the signal sent to the people at the bottom is not one that encourages civic duty.

Perhaps the real surprise in the end is that the numbers rioting were actually so low.