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Category: Public order

Has Dave gone too far in criticising the police?

Has Dave gone too far in criticising the police?

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Is it wise to open rifts with top cops? The main lead in tomorrow’s Guardian is on the reaction of senior police officers to the wholesale criticisms of their approach to the riots in speeches from the PM and other Tories in today’s commons debate. One of them is quoted as saying: “David Cameron blamed the police for not having a crystal ball and not anticipating the most serious set of circumstances ever seen. The confidence of the police leadership…

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Should social network sites be curbed during riots?

Should social network sites be curbed during riots?

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Aren’t we in danger of going a bit too far? The home secretary, Theresa May, has just told MPs about plans to curb social networking sites such as Twitter during periods of serious unrest. On the face of it this sounds like a good idea – but don’t these sites also provide an invaluable service providing direct information at times of turmoil like we saw a few night ago. They also provide information to the police. My elder daughter was…

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Will Labour get behind its leader on the riots?

Will Labour get behind its leader on the riots?

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Is trying to make excuses a dangerous strategy? So far during riot week Ed Miliband has played a very straight bat and has been careful not to be seen to be making excuses for the arson, looting, mugging and now murder. His rhetoric has been focussed on the need to restore public order combined with calls practical help and cash. As Michael White puts it in the Guardian his approach has been to treat it as if the rioting was…

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Do the rioters have an image problem?

Do the rioters have an image problem?

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Can they persuade us that they are not hooded teen thugs? There’s an interesting feature on the Reuters news agency by Mohammed Abbas who observes that pleas by police on parents to rein in the youths were just laughed at. One woman is quoted as saying: “I was out in the riots. My 16-year-old daughter was calling me asking where I was,” she said, chuckling. She stood with a group of Afro-Caribbean men and women on a street corner, muttering…

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Will the rhetoric start to have an impact?

Will the rhetoric start to have an impact?

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Have the police and the politicians got the message right? There’ve been some powerful set-pieces this morning from both the police and politicians as the effort goes on to dampen things down and hopefully to bring an end to the spate of lootings, mugging and arson. I thought Cameron’s tone today was just right and provided his actions match the rhetoric this could end up as a positive for him. His short speech outside Number 10 was one of the…

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Blame for the riots: The Red-Blue split

Blame for the riots: The Red-Blue split

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Was it criminal behaviour or the cuts? We’ve now got the the first comprehensive polling of public reaction to the riots and as can be seen from the YouGov data featured in the chart above there’s a big split between Conservative supporters and Labour ones. The question was quite simple – “Thinking about the recent riots in London and other cities in Britain, which of the following do you think is the MAIN cause of the riots?” As can be…

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Could Labour beat Boris if they got rid of Ken?

Could Labour beat Boris if they got rid of Ken?

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Could another candidate exploit the incumbent’s weaknesses? Perhaps the first election where we’ll the first impact of the riots will be that for London Mayor in May. The Tory incumbent, Mr. Johnson, looked far from sure-footed on his first day back after his truncated holiday and got booed at several locations when visiting the riot scenes. This has been the worst break-down in public order in living memory and there might be more to come. Boris’s failure to get back…

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Will the police feel less inhibited tonight?

Will the police feel less inhibited tonight?

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Picture mazherabidi Is that where political leadership helps? So we are entering night four of the disturbances, lootings, thefts, muggings and arson but the big difference is that the police are more prepared and have many more people available. My guess as well is that those policemen on the ground will feel a little less demoralised as has been evident on previous evenings. This is where the arrival back in the UK of Cameron and Boris is so important. Their…

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