New study on causes of UK riots released

At the time, the riots a hot topic on SaintsWeb, with a range of opinions on offer to how it all got so far out of hand.

Well, the Guardian and the LSE have done some research, using interviews from rioters and information that was available on social media.

Guardian article.

Worth a read, especially for those who dismissed the lot as "simple thuggery". While there is definitely an element of that in the findings, turns out it takes a lot more for UK riots to happen.

My initial thought was that it is easier to blame the police than to look inward and accept the responsibility for one's own actions.

It was amazing how much anger towards the police was aimed in the direction of electical retailers and not police stations

My initial thought was that it is easier to blame the police than to look inward and accept the responsibility for one's own actions.

 

It was amazing how much anger towards the police was aimed in the direction of electical retailers and not police stations

Well, you're entitled to your view, of course - but as we've seen from the interviews, the causes of the riots were myriad.

As I said at the time, we do have questions to ask about a society which can produce attitudes that are in complete contempt of our supposedly shared values.

Because we have low life cretins looking for freebies

Not the first report to suggest there were underlying issues at play as both the Government's Interim Report and the Met itself have alluded to tension betwen the Police and certain communities.

However, as the OP says the issues are complex and multi faceted, but today's findings won't sit well with The Daily Mail (who are still struggling to understand that their "middle class" rioter profile was extremely wide of the mark).

The Manchester/Salford riots were interesting as in the Salford riots were aimed squarely at the OB, with the OB as targets and fought on the turf of the rioters.

The riots in Manchester City Centre were almost exclusively theft orientated.