Looting: where’s your boy tonight?

Looting has spread from London to the other major cities of Britain, and shows no signs of stopping. MPs have cut their holidays short for an emergency session of parliament on Thursday, but we seem to be on course for a fourth night of violence while we wait.

Offices are emptying early across London as workers worry they will be caught in more violence.

The 1992 Los Angeles riots have some parallels, when police officers were acquitted for using ‘excessive force’ on black motorist Rodney King, despite being filmed beating King for around ten minutes prior to his arrest. On the news of the acquittal large parts of South Central Los Angeles – one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city – exploded in violence and looting, leaving 53 dead and up to $1bn in criminal damage over the following week.

While the looting and violence here has not been of the same order, it has also been triggered by the actions of the police, initially at least. Mark Duggan was shot dead by police on Thursday in Tottenham Hale, the police initally suggesting Duggan had shot at them. But this now appears to not have been the case.

Protests began in Tottenham Hale, spreading to neighbouring Enfield, descending into rioting and looting but quickly spread to other parts of London and beyond with the focus for the trouble shifting from the killing of Duggan to looting, with electrical stores such as Curry’s and sport shops particular favourites. And arson.

Writing in the Independent, the founder of Kids Company, Camila Batmanghelidjh, said: “London has woken up to street violence, and the usual narratives have emerged – punish those responsible for the violence because they are “opportunist criminals” and “disgusting thieves”. The slightly more intellectually curious might blame the trouble on poor police relations or lack of policing.”

She says it is not surprising to find young people willing to turn their backs on society and rob their own communities. She says: “They feel they don’t actually belong to the community. Community, they would say, has nothing to offer them. Instead, for years they have experienced themselves cut adrift from civil society’s legitimate structures.”

In conclusion, she says, “It costs money to care. But it also costs money to clear up riots, savagery and antisocial behaviour. I leave it to you to do the financial and moral sums.”

By contrast, Cristina Odone writing in the Daily Telegraph has been quick to blame absent fathers for the trouble on the streets. “A large and increasing number of youngsters are brought up without dads. The majority of rioters are gang members whose only loyalty is to the group and whose only authority figure is the toughest of the bunch. Like the overwhelming majority of youth offenders behind bars, these gang members have one thing in common: no father at home.”

How she is able to pinpoint the rioters as fatherless children is not clear.

She concludes: “They would, however, feel very differently about life and about themselves if their father were to spend time with them, cheer them on to do better, and warn them about bad friends and dangerous substances.”

Both pieces focus on the importance of a positive environment to grow up in.

But ask yourself this: if your son (the vast majority of looters are boys) has suddenly found himself a swanky new pair of trainers or a flat-screen TV, ask him where he is off to tonight.

Also ask him to help put the city back on its feet. The most interesting fallout from the looting is how communities have come together to repair the damage and clean up what the looters have left.

While the looting is clearly a bad thing, something like community spirit has emerged spontaneously and this can’t be bad.