this week has been a riot

weird week, riots started on saturday night after a known drug dealer was shot and killed by the police in tottenham. whether or not it was a legitimate act, the victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time and some of the locals wanted answers. what followed was an unimaginable 4 nights of rioting around the city and around the country. houses, shops, offices all broken into, looted, burned down, from hackney to clapham.


monday night i had tuned into the news at about 1130pm, bad move, clapham was being looted and when i went to bed the helicopters and police cars were making a hell of a racket!


commentators on the riots gave rise to some serious debate, as one news observer put it


"Some hairy toed, lefty lesbo for hackney was defending the rioters, saying they needed more job opportunities and youth centres, she then slagged off the army....in afghanistan, for not doing a good job..." 


for starters i think the onus is on the parents to get their kids under control, for the rest of the public to shoulder some responsibility and stop blaming the police and the government. problem is, the idiot mentioned, is typical of the person who never has and never will take responsibility, hence no job, resentment, frustration.....


but in saying that, the police also need to step up their control of the situation. we've had riots before.

it does show the power of social networking and how fragile our society is, although i wonder whether or not it would have escaleted if it was term time and raining!

it is obsured that the situation has reached the levels it has already, but at least the latest response is for the general public to go out and start clearing up the mess and stick two fingers up to that hackney heretic!!




following the story on twitter and on bbc news, all the while listening to the helicopters and police sirens, it was something out of a film. 6000 london police did not know where to expect the next attack and could not contain the violence. communities took to barricading their streets, protecting their places of worship, protecting their homes with saucepans and vacuum cleaner pipes. a city that had defended itself against the german blitz was in the process of turning in on itself.

in times of crisis we truly see the worst in people, but we also see the best, under the clouds of smouldering buildings, the goodwill and positive response shone through as local communities came together the following morning to start the cleaning up process.

dakar 2012 bike applications

this is taken from dakar.com 27.07.11

• 
• 
  

Less than three months after enrolment opened, the bike category for the Dakar is already full, with an even broader and balanced range of nationalities for the 2012 edition, which will start on 1st January in Mar del Plata and finish on 15th January in Lima.

The dunes of the Atacama or the Argentinean canyons which have graced TV screens during each month of January for the last three years are attracting more and more adventurers from the four corners of the earth. In the space of several weeks, 310 enrolment applications for bikes and quads have been received by the Dakar organising teams, who have decided to restrict the category to 220 vehicles for reasons of safety and comfort.

Such an influx of applications had not been seen since the last African editions of the rally. In addition to the impressive overall figures, analysis of the applications also reveals a broad range of profiles and nationalities. The South Americans who are still discovering the Dakar will once again be present and will be accompanied by more French, Italian, American and Australian competitors. The organisers will now put in place a selection process, focusing first and foremost on the sporting accomplishments of the riders, whilst including a share of experienced bikers who boast the necessary technical and physical qualities to succeed in the challenge of their first Dakar.

In the car category, more than one hundred applications have already been received, more than twice the amount received last year at the same period. At the start of the 2011 edition, 140 cars took starter's orders in Buenos-Aires.