Appalled

 There is only one thing that I can blog about this evening,  the riots which are currently taking place across England.

  I say England rather than Britain as at the moment riots are taking place in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and starting tonight, my home city of Manchester.  

  I'm particularly gutted about Manchester as it's only been 15 years since the city was bombed by terrorists.  It's since been rebuilt and has a lovely town centre now with some great shops, bars and cafes.

  I live about 25 mins drive from Manchester so am safe, but I am worried if anything starts in Oldham, although even then, we live in the hills above Oldham and so should be ok.

  The riots started in London after the death of a man who was shot by the police. A peaceful protest by his friends and family wanting answers from the police seemed to turn more sinister as gangs of youths began trashing shops and cars in the area. The family of the dead man have stated that the riots are completely unconnected to their cause and they have repeatedly appealed to local youths to stop.

  The thing is, the rioters aren't fighting for any reasonable cause, they are fighting for their own benefit. They are smashing and looting shops and stores and taking goods. Some are saying that it is because they are bored and they are fighting the government and big corporations. Not they are not! Whilst 'doing over' the big corporate shops taking jewellery, designer clothes and electrical goods, they are also looting, smashing up and setting fire to small shops, houses and cars. Even buses and their drivers have been attacked. Do these idiots not realise that they are wrecking their own communities? As if small businesses don't have enough to worry about without all this.

  Also under fire are the emergency services who are trying to help the innocents involved. Sadly it's been reported that in London, over 100 police have been injured along with 5 police dogs.

  The sick side of human nature has also been revealed this weekend as shown by the disgraceful behaviour in the following video. A young man has been injured, some lads appear and help him to his feet, what happens next is truly awful...

I  wonder what kind of life and upbringing the two offenders have had to enable them to do this to another human being. It is beyond belief. I wonder, if in the years to come if these two will ever feel any remorse?

  I'm not going to post loads of pictures of whats going on. I'm sure everyone has seen enough of them. But I wanted to include this piece of film. A very passionate woman who speaks a lot of sense.



Picture taken on Tuesday 9th August - London



 Being ever the optimist, I am hopeful that some good will eventually, come of all this negativity. Already communities and neighbours are coming together to help each other and begin to clear the debris from the streets. 

 Perhaps you have to hit rock bottom before you can begin to build again.