Anarchy in the UK?

My son called me on the way up to bed last night, told me that most of London was going up in flames and I should put a kitchen knife under my pillow in case it spread to Manchester. Slight exaggeration, as it turned out, but the pictures coming through from all over London are very disturbing. My husband's brother and his family are flying back from Florida today to their home in Enfield, one of the first boroughs to be affected - and as if that wasn't bad enough, John (my husband)'s dad died on 31st July and tomorrow we are heading to Enfield for his funeral.

It's been an interesting few days. Hopefully, as he flies back from his holidays, Cameron will have time to reflect on what tends to happen if you cut the budget for inner city youth work by 75% and the police by 20% - oh, and he's scrapping the Careers Service, too. Seems to me that the situation has escalated way beyond any original flashpoint grievences now, but young people have a tough time these days. Doesn't justify any of this, of course, but it may help explain it.

BBC video feed here

One Man Makes A DIfference

Artist Dan Thompson started a campaign to get the riot-hit areas of London cleaned up - it already has 70,000 followers on Twitter. So many volunteers are turning up in Clapham and Ealing that there's not enough work for them all to do.

What a heart-warming story. I always thought the Blitz Spirit was a myth but there might be something in it after all. I particularly liked the story about Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) showing up to be greeted with cries of, "Boris, where's yer broom?"

BBC Coverage Here

Now let's start raising money for the small traders who have lost everything...