UK Riots Consequences

I got kicked out of Liverpool One last night at 8pm as the police were putting a "ring of steel" around the city centre, advising all shops, restaurants to close. Oh dear, oh dear, could it be martial law!

I found this to be an excellent summary of the general situation at http://www.meetup.com/21stCent​uryNetwork/boards/view/viewthr​ead?thread=14694001

For many respectable city-dwellers, it can't feel very comfortable. Feeling too old, too comfortable and too much of a coward to get out on the streets, it is difficult with the responsibilities of family etc to even try to make a difference. Defeatist I know, but I suspect that is the stance of many, many people - politically unaware, and equally politically inactive.

If only the energy of protest could be directed more constructively into non-violent civil disobedience a la Thoreau/Ghandi to avoid giving "them" the circumstances "they" want to bolster security company profits etc. But that requires a certain amount of insight from those working in education etc and when the TES forums are full of Daily Mail/Express shouts of "scum", it is rather depressing. I'm not politically active either and it is scary (but less so for me as I've got nothing to lose now, so I can relate to a very small degree) as well as knowing that this has been building up with very little real opposition for a long time - watch the film Network from 1976 - incredible!  Alternatively, it would be nice if everyone could try the "F*ck It Way"

Eyes, over, pulled, wool, your... more fear factor

A French blogger has a page comparing the French and American debt... in real time!
See http://beaugency.over-blog.com/article-les-dettes-fran-aises-et-americaines-comparees--43250165.html

The counters and graphs on the page are scary but only if you are sucked into believing this money is real. I laughed when I saw it because it's another display of "blinding us with science" - the debt is created artificially and could be destroyed artificially by resetting all those counters back to zero and stopping them. But no, people will enjoy being impressed by the obscene amounts being projected, be suckered into the drama of last minute, tenter hook deals to save us from financial meltdown. As the beautiful Bill Hicks said, it's just a ride. And, furthermore to paraphrase the words of Woody Allen in the Front

Fellas, I don't recognise the right of these authorities to impose these sort of burdens on us, and furthermore, you can all go £'$k yourselves