Meenzer

Almost inevitably:

Seen that on NO. The kid in the blazer is mint. "Errr. Guys. Yah, hi guys. Do you have anything in a longer leg?"

Always assumed it was canny affluent. The Beeb seem to think it is anyway. In the 80s and 90s the riots were very localised, this seems very different. I think it's just pockets of kids all over the place seeing pictures of the looting in Tottenham and Enfield, seeing the police adopting a policy of containment rather than reciprocal violence, and thinking "fine, we'll have a bit of that too".

Off for a three-day break on the banks of Lake Geneva this weekend, so looking forward to catching up on some serious reading. Mostly books the fella's got out of the library. The way things are going round here tonight, there's a decent chance we might get to keep them.

Is Ealing nice or something? I must confess to knowing absolutely nothing about that side of town.

Excellent, cheers. I was about to say we're rarely close enough to that part of the world, but then we go to Babur in Honor Oak often enough (also excellent btw) and that's not too far away by London standards. Will be sure to follow your tips once things have quietened down a bit.

They just showed some shots of the earlier "standoff" in Birmingham on BBC News. Which basically amounted to one bloke ambling away with a boxed electrical item stuffed up his tracksuit top.

This is all over the internet already, but it's worth posting here: http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

Hey, with apologies for hijacking this thread for something similarly middle-class and utterly irrelevant - since you live in the vicinity, have you ever been to/had takeaway from a restaurant called Omrith on Forest Hill Road? Only we got their delivery leaflet through the door recently and the food sounds bloody awesome. Obviously won't be expecting them to be able to deliver for the next few days, but still...

"Here's how a Nigerian mother would have sorted out those riots!" AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

From a local blog that's very canny but obsessed with train schedules, house prices and mung beans: Deptford High Street is apparently taking a kicking right now with no police in sight, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Tesco Express out here getting done in before the night is over. Is it wrong that I'm quietly glad I ordered a load of stuff online the other day? #middleclasswoes

It's an oversimplification and all, but you wonder where the parents of all these kids are right now, and where they think their kids are right now.

I was going to say, The Cobra could be right next-door to The Eagle in the Pink Triangle like. And would be equally terrifying.

Mind, Sky News earlier did keep saying that Lewisham is due east of Hackney, bless 'em. Turns out they're not London-centric at all, they're just posh-London-centric.

ooooh you big brave boy Depressing to see friends-of-friends on Facebook giving it the "Enoch Powell was right" and all that.

If it was IKEA I might be tempted. Free meatballs!

Aye, nothing right on the doorstep so far thankfully. The trouble down in central Lewisham that's been on the telly is about 15 minutes' walk away, and apparently there's rumblings in New Cross too which is 15 minutes in the other direction. Luckily there shouldn't be too much round here to attract attention, except maybe the Tesco Express if they get desperate... The independent shops out on the main road were mostly all shutting up for the night when I came back from the gym a couple of hours ago - can't say I blame them. But apart from a night's sleep that'll no doubt be disturbed by sirens - the aforementioned main road is the main artery between Lewisham and Peckham. Brilliant. - everything should be all right, touch wood.

It's just really sad as much as anything else, all these pictures of stuff on fire and the rest, both nearby and elsewhere. I've no doubt there's a lot of people involved who feel they're socially excluded, but it's clearly just as much that quintessentially modern British attitude of wanting and expecting something for nothing. And fucking up businesses - both chains and locally owned - in the already poor(er) parts of London where they live is obviously really going to help their neighbourhood become a better, brighter, more prosperous place for them. Ho hum.

As far as I know, we've not been properly told - all the Beeb will say is "Two shots were fired by an officer and it is believed that one shot was discharged from an illegal firearm inside the car." That suggests the answer is "yes", but it'd be nice to actually know for sure.

While munching on the roasted peppers I nicked from Lidl.

Was only a matter of time before Brixton hoisted me by my own petard really. Nowt around here yet, but the local markets down in the centre have apparently packed up early just in case and the place is crawling with coppers. Fun fun fun. Anyway, there's no decent shops to loot between here and the gym, so my middle-class evening should be unaffected.

Tax debating puts hair on your palms.

I do take your point, London-centric reporting is annoying. It's the only place where stuff is happening right now though - we'll see what happens if (when) it kicks off somewhere else in the country as things go from bad to worse.

Aye, when he said the area where he lives is pretty fucked at the minute, I'm sure he meant it as a slur on the good burghers of Bristol, Birmingham and Barnsley.