Violence and stupidity

It's hard to know whether I feel ashamed of my country right now or proud. I have never been patriotic... when patriotism seems to only show it's face during sporting events it seems like a weakened concept. However when patriotism comes down to simply liking of and willingness to to protect your home we British do flourish. Most Brits wouldn't dream of flying the flag... it's a thing that doesn't come to mind unlike in America. Though when so soon after the riots began the hashtag #riotcleanup appeared, I felt a surge of affection for my country.

So beautifully British.

Can anybody link me to the original source of this photo?

Whilst only a minority were calling for the army, armed police and assorted violence to stop the violence a huge about of people were already on the streets beginning the cleanup, websites popped up, ready to publicise photographs of the offender and the general feeling in the country appears to be that of shock and outrage.

How dare people destroy their own country? Our governments of years passed have damaged it enough without 'yobs' hindering the attempted economic recovery.

There are no excuses for the riots right now. This is not a protest, protests have a message, and there is absolutely no moral authority for nicking flat screens. Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton, Graham Stringer put it brilliantly; "[the riots are] nothing to do with cuts, nothing to do with racist, it's entirely to do with criminality". These people are criminals, they are doing nothing good, nothing productive and it is not a protest.

And I truly wish that news agencies, MPs and irate members of the public would stop with all the keywords. They're blaming youths, bad parenting, frustration, chavs, society. There are so many factors that turn people into criminals and that's simply what they are. Not protesters, not neglected children, criminals.

Now onto another matter that has come out of these riots. It's not just violence that is rife, but also stupidity. Yesterday I became angry and tweeted this...

Last night many in Lincoln and Lincolnshire were tweeting about rumours of rioting in Lincoln. This is tiny, middle-class Lincoln. These tweets were speculation and guesswork. I was even told that there was "rumoured police confirmation". Now there's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one. It took me less than a minute to check the websites and twitter feeds of the local emergency services. Nothing. No press release, no statement.

Then this morning an offical statement was released.

"There were no public order incidents in Lincolnshire related to the on-going national disturbance issues last night."

- from a @lincspolice press statement.

If there's a time to trust the police this is it. Don't believe pathetic rumours. This willingness to believe unfounded rumours seems almost as if you would want the ritos to come here 'for the excitement'. No thank you. Rioters or rumourmongers... you do not deserve respect.

Counted over 20 police at the bus station alone. There is a truly tense atmosphere on the streets of Wolverhampton. Just witnessed in excess of 30 policemen leave Bilston St police station in group formation. Although there are a lot of rumours going around they are obviously expecting trouble. We heard that there was a group of 100+ moving into town from Whitmore Reans but we just don’t know. It’s so surreal leaving work and not knowing if the building will be there tomorrow. 

Police just swooped on a group of youths right in front of our bus! Have them pinned up against the shop and are searching them. I just want to get out of Wolves. It’s horrible!

- Sarah Aldridge (my Aunt who works at Wolvo Courts)

And the West Midlands police haven’t made a statement about Wolvo since last night which was to say that nothing is happening in Wolvo....

Oh how fantastically awfully I am...

I'm genuinely ashamed of my lack of writing this summer. I find that moving house (which i'm half way through doing), working (which I'm on holiday from at the moment) and drinking/reading/lounging about on a beach (which is the reason why I currently look like a pasty patchy lobster) don't fit together as a good enough excuse.

Other than drinking and moving I have little motivation for anything that really matters... losing weight, not being poor, writing etc. In fact, gimme two more months of this I'll be fat, broke and illiterate and that will just not do.

In spite of all of this anti-productivity I have managed to do some mildly course-relevant work, designing posters and such for my Aunt's play in October. I've also delightfully misused Quark Xpress to make a drinking game. I really need to actually get work experience so that I'm making layouts that aren't spoof birthday presents or card games. This is my one talent and the last two layouts I've created involved fake stories (Jamie and Hazel's diamond heist) for birthday presents. It's a shame that I can't help but create phoney layouts in a tabloid style. It looks more cutesy than professional. Damn my need of experience to get experience. I don't like that I know I'm good at layouts but have no substantial way of showing this.

Now that I've rambled incoherently, I'm gonna to pootle off and thing of things to write about that aren't simply "I can't think of things to write about".

Bicycle... bicycle... bicycle!

It would just be LOVELY if someone could buy me this. Seriously... someone give me £169. 

I bought my current bike second-hand last year and not long after I got it I came off it. Only a couple of months after I bought it and apparently I buckled the back wheel. As well as that, the brakes and the gears like making horrible noises, it just doesn't feel safe. I'm on it every day... not any great distance but it's still in regular use.


I'm currently looking at more second-hand bikes... preferably folding ones (I have nowhere secure to keep it outside the new house) but I really want a new one. Then I know there's no problems or rust or anything. *sigh* And it'll be shiny.

It's fiction remember... fiction.

Sometimes I hate television writers. I like to think I am a relatively sane human being but too many times have I been brought to tears because of the lives of fictional characters. In the same way, if I watch an episode of Green Wing or Black Books, I'm instantly cheered up.

Part of me cried because of the plot of the last episode (OH THE PLOT! THE PLOT!), part of me cried simply because now I have to wait until September 19th to find out if one of the characters is alive or dead. This is fan torture! You bring us into the stories of these shows, we are hooked then in the last episode there's big reveals, shootings and declarations of love and suddenly we're left hanging.

This doesn't happen with films, you don't experience the "lives" of the characters in films like you do in an ongoing series. Books are the same. You get to know a character in a way that you can't in just two hours.

And this is what comes of my lack of human contact (apart from at work) at the moment. I watch a lot of television, eat too many crisps and cry into my duvet when someone fictional gets shot. Oh what summer fun I am having.