UK riots and the underlying issues

As I write this blog I am reminded of the fact that,there is no perfect society and that in every society regardless of economic robustness there are underlying issues. I am on record in this very blog saying that UK and USA could be the next battlefronts after the Arab world. But what is really happening in London? Are we really cognizant of what is happening? This is how I argue my case;

London  is in a state of shock and surprise,nobody envisaged what is happening now .However, those in tune with the economic situation in the UK and the  government spending cuts will tell you this was a time bomb. It was only a matter of time before all hell broke lose.While the riots are quite scary and have even escalated to mugging, they’re some who say there’s a sense of excitement about what’s going on in England. The scenes are similar to almost what happened in the Arab world and similar to Kenya's 2007/2008 post election violence. The queen's country, England is beginning to resemble Greece, Tunisia, and other countries that have witnessed recent uprisings due to the state of the economy.Now, if I  correctly recall, the uprising in Tunisia was sparked off by a young man setting himself a blaze because he was being arrested for selling vegetables by the roadside; his alternate means for employment as he couldn't find work.

Although the riots in London were set off by an apparent gunfire exchange between the police and a young man, it was just a trigger that the rioting youth needed to vent out their frustrations that stem from the economic conditions and the lack of jobs.

Scenes from London

The MP for Tottenham (where the riots first broke out) David Lammy described the looters as mindless youth. Many of the politicians who have spoken on television and radio have condemned the riots and termed it as opportunistic criminal behaviour.  This clearly shows that the leaders in UK have knocked themselves off the pedestal.It pretentious and hypocritical , as a government, on the one hand to support youth protests in other countries calling them uprisings while terming riots in its country as gang crime. Is it that this government fails to see a similarity to Tunisia or Egypt in terms of a ruling class that is making the prospects of the lower class much dimmer?

The youth in UK have no jobs, government spending cuts to the public sector have seen many lose their jobs, and the recent university fee increase now leaves these young people with no hope of getting higher education.

Some would argue that there are youth, who also have no jobs but have not taken to the streets.

Former London mayor Ken Livingston said that this is the first time since World War II where young people in this country are in a situation where they have no hope of finding work, buying a house and even getting an education.

However, this is a percentage of the youth who have no hope at all and perhaps feel like they have nothing to lose. But instead of the leaders just dismissing the protesters as criminals maybe they need to first listen to their grievances.