This week was mad.
Amongst the millions of words spoken about “the riots” three stood out, they came from a sixteen year old girl collared by a Radio 5 Reporter and was surveying the damage while drinking from a looted bottle of Vodka, she said “because we could”.
Many words have been wasted trying to establish the cause. Without doubt in London it was initially triggered by the death of the young lad, but as people saw that the Police did not have the numbers to respond and that seemingly people were getting away with looting and arson it soon spread into other Boroughs, and then other Cities and Towns.
Of course, as soon as Police numbers were bolstered things quickly quietened down.
The irony was that Social Networking was blamed, from Facebook to this Blackberry network that I know little about, and while locally it might have contributed, in my humble opinion the real villain of the peace was the rolling news coverage.
I can’t help thinking that there were almost as many reasons for people becoming involved as there were people. What is clear is that this was not a spontaneous people’s uprising. In fact it would seem that there was very little political motivation in the immediacy of the events. It was as the girl above said, “Because we could”.
Events like this happen. Fact.
When I was at School I can remember mass outbreaks of what the Head Master referred to as rioting, some of it quite violent. I can remember the days of the Mods and Rockers, Skinheads, decades when every Saturday was a riot as the football hooligans ran free. What happened in our City centres last week was no more or less sinister.
It’s an unfortunate fact, that young people find it hard to articulate exactly what is going on in their heads, they simply do not have the life experiences to do it. They are often frustrated, over a range of issues from never seemingly having enough money to being in love and not fully knowing what to do about it. More often than not they revert to violence, be it in the use of words, slamming doors, or whatever to make a point, a point they are never quite sure they are making. In other words young people are always to a degree “alienated”.
What happened in our Cities was nothing more than an extension of natural young person behaviour.
That said, the alienation of our young people has never been greater. Society appears to have turned on them, from the engaged youngsters who have thousands of pounds worth of debt humped on them so as to get an education, to the less engaged who cannot get the work, or quality life and skills training they need to earn a living.
Beyond even those basics, Youth services throughout the Country are being slashed, Youth Workers are being thrown out of work, the very people who are providing a handle for our youth on holding it together in our mad Society.
Locally we’ve recently seen how a Parish Council has decided that the local Brass Band who use a Council facility for practice, teaching and the storage of instruments are to have their rent increased by a factor of six, on the basis that the Band has now been categorised as being “commercial”. What a load of tosh. It’s a Community facility which provides musical tuition for many local youngsters, opportunities which will now be greatly reduced.
That’s on top of many Youth Centre facilities being closed throughout the Borough.
All this when young people have seen MPs and yes even local Councillors claiming expenses far beyond what might be justified, in fact one local MP claimed for multiple Laptop Computers, and thought this fine – even though he was quick to repay the money when the matter was brought to his attention.
We see senior Policemen think it OK to take back handers from organisations under investigation, and think it OK. We see Companies ripping consumers and the Tax Man off and view it as being OK. Bankers who by their actions wrecked the World economy being handed more money as a bonus than many of us will earn in a life time, and that’s viewed as being OK.
In other words while the youngsters have morality and social responsibility preached at them the headlines are dominated by the involvement of our Political and business Leaders in all sorts of marginal behaviour.
And yes, there is an underclass which is completely lost, a class that failed to become part of Blair’s “stake holding” society, let alone be functional members of Society.
So listening to our Politicians, Policemen, and the rest, all wringing their hands and saying how disgusting it all was simply has a hollow sound to me. Why should anyone respect the words of these people?
Which is why all this talk about punishment for those involved in the rioting is very scary.
Cameron was perhaps the worst. Here’s the Leader of a Government who for some reason views cutting Police budgets as a soft option, so where were the coppers earlier in the week? At home!! Where were they when Government rubber stamped the overtime? On the streets! Cameron called this bad tactics – clearly getting the boot in first before the Police turn and point out that it was his policies which meant that there were not enough coppers available because overtime had been stopped.
We have a Home Secretary who despite the evidence of our own eyes would have you believe that it had nothing to do with Police numbers - just what we need.
Then there is this growing brigade of MPs and Councillors who think it would be a great idea to make the guilty, homeless by taking away their right to social housing. Nutters. Or the idiots who think that stopping benefits will in some way help the situation.
Or the people calling for Social Networking to be closed down, is that not what happened in Egypt, Libya, Syria? And when we have those Champions of Human Rights the Chinese pointing out that we are reaping the rewards of a free and open Internet, one wonders just what planet the people calling for a shutdown come from.
Just let the Magistrates sort it out using the Law of the Land without political meddling.
What I have learnt is that the sickness in our Society runs deep, and goes from top to bottom.
We must be on our guard though, as the reactionary right will use any excuse now to clamp down further on our freedoms and rights – and lets not pretend it couldn’t happen under a Condemed Government, don’t forget at the threat of Industrial Action it was cuddly Vince Cable issuing the threat that the already highly restrictive Trade Union laws would have to be reviewed and toughened if too much Industrial Action resulted from the “cuts” in pensions, lengthening of work hours, freezing of pay etc. etc.
And lest we forget, this is a Government hobbled together in the name of National Interest, while quite clearly it was personal interest, and in reality does not have a mandate for anything it is doing.
So while there is temptation to run around like headless chickens in the aftermath of such events, all I say is just get it into perspective and be thankful that not more people were seriously hurt. And rather than taking the easy road of blame, let’s look to ourselves and really think about the Society we have created. We shall reap what we sow.
But through all this some good News. After thirty years England’s Cricketers have worked their way up to the number one position in the World.
It’s fantastic watching the current England team do unto other World sides what for so long we saw being done unto us.
And of course, the Football season has started.
With that off the chest, so to the music side of things.
The stalwarts of the Myke Barritt Music Trust and Wandering Minstrels stretched their legs last Sunday on one of Roy’s “short” walks through the South Yorkshire landscape. The evening ended with a bit of a Singaround at the Cross Keys in Handsworth, a favourite Roy watering hole.
Pictures courtacy of Sylvia - geatured in the top photograph.
Incidently, she's taken a fine picture of the Masher, demonstrating the chord of F to attentive audience at The Bridge - and just to show you how fine it is
A quiet week for The Masher. No outings as he got his head down for some practice ready for next week’s outing to the Worcester Music Festival, a return to The Cricketers.
I’m quite looking forward to spending a bit of time lazing around the Festival seeing some of the other musicians at work as I’m going to be taking the full weekend.
Last year was a little rushed, but it was certainly the highlight of The Mashers year so I’m looking forward to taking in more of the overall atmosphere and seeing more musical genre.
A link to the main Festival details can be found HERE
In the week ahead there’s music of plenty to either get involved with or go listen to. But I suppose top of the list will be the folkies pilgrimage to Whitby which gets underway on Friday. To all those heading out from South Yorkshire I wish you well and a successful week; may the weather stay fine for thee. Again a link to the full detail can be found HERE
On Wednesday night at Burton Street, Hillsborough Liz and Paul Davenport will be in residence for another evening of Ballad’s. If you’re into traditional music this is a real must go. I’m also told that it’s an evening at which one can learn a great deal.
Tuesday you can find poems and music at The Cross Keys, Handsworth.
Please remember that South Anston is taking it’s Annual Holiday as is The Wortley Club at The Venue, Stocksbridge.
But for the full listings head off HERE
I’m told that tickets for the FOF Theatre production of Billy Liar are already on the move. The production runs 2nd 3rd of September at the Library Theatre, Sheffield. For those not in the know the FOF Theatre Group are the folks who rehearse most Saturday evenings at The Bridge in Rotherham under the eye of our Thabo Pepponi. Tickets from £2.50 are available from The Bridge.
And while we’re on the subject of Thabo, way back in April he wrote a poem in a craze of creativity at a meeting of the Wandering Minstrels held at The George and Dragon, Wentworth. Eventually, after much twisting of arms, legs and in desperation necks I have managed to get my hands on a version of the poem which is now available on the MBMT page HERE
Yes, and while a ticket pushing why not also check out the Concert by the Heritage Masterworks Chorale which is being hosted by Rotherham Minster on the 1st October. Tickets are £7. This Choir has a fantastic reputation across the County, and has Heather Woodhead, an Acoustic Rotherham favourite as a member. Full details and Tickets from HERE
The listings for September are growing. In particular we’ve added two dates for a band who gave one of those rave performances at a recent Acoustic Rotherham, Pocketful of Now’t, one of them at The Bridge, Rotherham. Dates you should put in your Diary – they have the potential of becoming a cult local Band so take the time to discover their really funny songs. September Diary HERE
That’s enough plugging for one week I think. I await reports etc. from the comrades who have travelled up to Saltburn for this weekend’s jamboree of music.
The Acoustic Rotherham Web Site still requires a bit of pushing. Please, please, please, if you’re heading out to a Festival or Concert or Club, download the flier and print a few off to distribute around the venue / venues. Links on Home page and HERE Plus or when you see links appearing on your Social Network News feeds, share them with your Friends and ask them to share them with theirs. That way we get the message across - the main hook is www.acousticrotherham.com. Thanks.
Having said that for the time of the year we are doing quite well as far as hits are concerned. We could do a lot better though.
And Dickie’s Big Sale Off continues. As he adjusts to his new life out of a car, and without a current means of Income it all helps. Again thanks to the people who have bought this week. You’ll find a mass of bargain CDs now at the bottom of the page – can you resist? Well………………………. HERE
And don’t forget I do a bit of Web Site design, either from scratch to requirements or from template – and just so show multi talent I do a bit of Excel work to. More details HERE
Finally thanks to everyone who have offered me lifts to various venues. If I’ve turned you down over the past couple of weeks don’t stop asking, it’s just that I’m gearing my loins for Worcester, and a weekend with my Mother, who I spent much time with for many a year.
And there we have it for yet another week. I’m not apologising for the rather long rant about the riots, adding yet more words to the ether about the events – had to get it off my chest.
So whatever you’re doing this week, have fun and KEEP IT LIVE.
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