j4 | I didn't predict a riot (Reply)

I don't know why I feel I ought to say something about the riots -- I haven't been affected by them & I don't have any dazzling personal insights. However, I thought I'd share some of the things I've read that have been thought-provoking and not angry-making (if you're on Twitter you've probably already seen most if not all of these).

NB I am not saying that I agree with everything they're saying, or that I think any of these people have "the answer", or that this list is an exhaustive collection of everything that's worth reading on the subject; just that these articles are well-written and interesting:

rosamicula writes as a Tory and a teacher: most of the kids are alright

Mary Riddell in the Daily Telegraph doesn't take the political stance you'd expect from the DT: London riots: the underclass lashes out

David Allen Green in the New Statesman writes about lawlessness: Don't Panic: the riots and the rule of law

Umair Haque in the Harvard Business Review writes about the breaking of the social contract: The Great Splintering

Anne Applebaum in Slate gives an American perspective: Riots for Rioting's Sake: Why are Britons smashing shops and burning buses?

@pme200 writes about not calling the looters 'scum': SCUM

Toby Young in the Daily Telegraph (again!) blames it on moral relativism... How did England's cities become engulfed in a Lord of the Flies nightmare?

... while Benji Lanyado blames boredom: An Epidemic of Boredom

juggzy writes about actually listening to the rioters: 'We're getting our tax back'

Feel free to debate here but a) KEEP IT CIVIL, and b) bear in mind that I probably won't have enough free time (or free hands) to monitor the debate very closely, so please don't take silence as implying anything except being busy with a baby.

ETA: If I'd seen it before posting I would have also included Sunny Hundal's roundup of riots articles: Who's to blame for riots? Play the right-wing bingo!