Why do Tory Governments always lose control of the streets?

[Gromit]

I cannot condone last night's copy cat mayhem, but it was a sickening repeat of 1981 when the new Conservative Government also let us all down. Same ingredients, cuts to the police force, low morale, closing local services, zilch employment opportunities for the young, no new jobs but a benefits clampdown, cabinet ministers lording it on expensive holidays abroad while the country goes from one crisis to the next. And always the same when the Tories come to power, they couldn't run a pi55 up in a brewery.

This will go on all week now. Madness.

[joggerjayne]

How far should the Govt "control" the streets in a "free society" ?

This is not the USSR.

By your reasoning, Gromit, the people who behave like wild animals on the streets are presumably "anti Tory" ?

So doesn't the rioting tell us more about those people who are NOT Tory, than about those people who ARE ?

x

[Mosaic]

Whatever the political stripe, keeping people in fear works well for repressive ruling elites.
So should curfews, clampdowns on gatherings etc result from these recent events, it makes us easier to control.
If you can write off poor people as rioters who deserve nothing else it makes it easier to justify not sorting out inner cities.

[Gromit]

When jobs and opportunities are scarce, it is always a mistake to run down the police force. The police let the rioting take hold in Tottenham because they were under resourced and morale in very very low.

[Snafu03]

same old moronic soundbites from the left;

i'm no fan but they were left with empty coffers and a legacy of previous governments overspending/lack of control over banks trading policies. Yes, a sickening repeat of the late 70s/early 80s.

Everyone has had to take a hit. Ignoring the financial predicament of UK like Labour did was no answer. Rioting will only end up in more financial hardship for those least able to afford it. This is a fact lost on the idiotic left.

Most hardworking rational people understand this. Maybe it us that are feeling disenfranchised by the actions of these scum and will be pushed futher to the right.

The riots will do wonders for the support of far right groups such as BNP/EDL.

[ehtobel2]

Because social tensions increase when cuts bite.

[joggerjayne]

Maybe they think that rioting will enable the Govt to summon up some magic money ... Yaay!

Oh, hey ... maybe we could just print some more money.

Like Labour did ... ("easing" ... not "printing").

That worked.

Oh no, sorry ... it didn't work, did it ... it helped push the nation towards financial catastrophe.

Or we could sell some of our gold reserves.

Oh no ... hang on ... Labour flogged them all off.

Every Labour Govt runs out of money. Every Tory Govt has to pick up the pieces. Once the Tories have got all our money back, Labour will be re-elected, and will blow it all again.

Same old, same old.

[venator]

Gromit, your total left wing bias and lack of political perspective always force me to turn off and go away.

Tony and Gordon ran the pi55 up and maxed out the nation's credit card, just like last time.

What country have you been living in for the last 15 years?

[Gromit]

The BNP are a spent force, (see their disastrous general election result) that is why all the far right "gentlemen" have switched to the EDL.

Rioting rarely achieves anything. And it is usually the communities that burn that suffer the most.

The Tories always try to portray themselves as the party of law and order, but we always see anarchy and increased lawlessness on their watch.

[DrFilth]

gromit is spot on

economic crises encourages a search for scapegoats among the poor and dispossed and the sick

wile some of the people are having their benefits cut the bankers and other people in top jobs ( friend of a friend, old school network) can expect high bonuses and look forward to a big fat payoff

[Gromit]

Venator

// What country have you been living in for the last 15 years? //

One without anarchy and rioting on our streets. One where we employed enough police to do the job.

[ichkeria]

Not necessarily pertinent to current events (but who knows) - I've said it before and I'll say it again now: the Tories don't actually, at heart, believe in government, so how can they be trusted to do it effectively?

Going back to the dark days of the worst of the troubles in N.Ireland, it was the two Labour secretaries of state, Rees and Mason, who commanded the most respect from the communities for their tough handling of the security situation.
The Tories the party of law and order? That is one of the great myths of British politics.

[NOX]

Coming from somewhere where the streets are 'controlled' by either the army/ local bias or just because there are areas you don't and can't go into if you don't fit, you really don't want the streets 'controlled' in any way. One riot every twenty years is worth your freedoms the rest of the time I assure you.

[flip_flop]

Are people really naive to think the rioting has anything to do with any political hue?

The rioting is all about a large number of people wanting to commit wanton damage and thievery. Any 'ideaology' they purport to underwrite the riots is simply a mask for the damage and looting.

[jno]

I'm sure snafu is right: the Tories have no money to spend on policing because Labour spent too much on it. They shamelessly hired police to keep the streets safe and deterred rioting. We are now paying the price for years of clean streets.

JJ, as I keep saying, the country hit economic difficulties because of uncontrolled banks rather than uncontrolled looters. (Does anyone think more bankers than looters will end up in prison? And yet who has helped themselves to more of the nation's wealth?) The person who took the controls off the banks was Thatcher with her Big Bang, which right-wingers prefer to forget.

[modeller]

Gromit How do you explain that, apart from a few public service cuts ,none of the other cuts have been enacted yet. So the majority of the rioters are no better or worse off now than they were under Labour.
The present police force is the one inherited from Labour. The police are financed by the local authorities who can distribute their money as they see fit for their areas . In the case of London that means Labour .

If the police are under resourced, as you claim, that hasn't happened in the last few months that was the situation under Blair/Brown.
The Tory budget was only introduced 4 months ago up to then it was the Labour budget. So any problems which this country is facing existed during the 13 years of Labours reign.
May I ask you a personal question ? Have you lost all your diaries from the 1974 to 79 ? Or doesn't Google list that period ?
Let me remind you. It was :
When the Commissars Wilson and Callaghan were in charge . When we were known as the weak man of Europe and Labours praetorian guard , the unions , ran the country.

[Ankou]

"How do you explain that, apart from a few public service cuts ,none of the other cuts have been enacted yet."

because we all know that cuts to police, nhs, benefits, education etc etc are coming. riots can be preemptive as well as reactive can't they?

[Gromit]

Modeller,

I don't know which Ivory Tower you have been in for the past 15 months, but the police have been warning, pleading with the Government to maintain policing numbers we enjoyed under Labour. That has been ignored. Morale in the Police force is the lowest for 15 years and that is the present Governments' fault.

The riots should not be a surprise to anyone who has listened to the police recently.

http://www.dailymail....ays-police-chief.html

[alexanderd]

I apologize if I am upsetting the "Left wing agenda" but I dont think these riots have anything to do with politics. They are just mindless thugs who want to loot and burn. More money has been poured into these deprived areas in the last two decades( yes by labour) than ever before.

[daisya]

""Are people really naive to think the rioting has anything to do with any political hue?

The rioting is all about a large number of people wanting to commit wanton damage and thievery. Any 'ideaology' they purport to underwrite the riots is simply a mask for the damage and looting""

I totally agree flip-flop. This is nothing to do with politics, it's scum and yobs out of control fulfilling their desire to show they have no regard for authority or any other member of society. They are out to be violent and get what they want and s*d anyone else IMO.

[Ankou]

"More money has been poured into these deprived areas in the last two decades"

forgive my ignorance, but what money, where ?