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aj700

Correlation is not causation. I am British.

The austerity cuts haven't started yet. They may cause unrest later. They can't cause unrest before it.

reasons for UK problems:

1. Economy is crap.

2. Inequality. Public education is crap. Lower classes are as anti-intellectual as any red state American.

3. Multiculturalism. Between new immigrants and old ones. Young and old. Muslim and non-Muslim. Black and white. Taxpayer class, benefits class. These cultures are totally ghettoised from each other.

4. Rioting is fun. Herd behaviour. Media coverage - monkey see monkey do. Monkey sees little social sanction.

5. Britain is not a democracy. First past the post is the most stable oligarchy for a political class short of dictatorship. 3 parties fight only for a few thousand swing voters.

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4 out of 5 of your points could be summarized as "bourgeoisie oppression." When this happens in the Middle East the media calls it "the Arab Spring," but when it happens in an ostensibly Western democracy it's "random acts of violence without cause."

At least, that's how Fox News was portraying it this morning.

There is no oppression, just no equal opportunities for all. However, a sufficiently motivated and able person can do well for themselves in the UK regardless of their background. They're just statistically unlikely to.

I don't know much about the UK job market; how does race-blindness compare to, say, continental Europe? From what I can tell here in Denmark, it's still harder to get hired if you have a Muslim- or African-sounding last name, even with good credentials, than with a Danish or at least European last name.

It's undoubtedly true that you'll face some prejudice as a minority in the UK. However I would imagine if you have better qualifications than the other candidates most of the time you'll get the job.

I would say in the UK race and class both incur a noticeable handicap. Just not an overwhelming one.

Consider also that gov't expenditures tend to decrease at the end of a war. But the period surrounding the end of a war -- either the protests leading to the cease of hostility (remember, the resolution of their time axis is only whole years), or the jockeying for political power in the wake of the war -- is bound to be unstable.

Thus, there's an obvious explanation for political "chaos" in periods when government expenditures decline.

Indeed, I bet with some research, you could generalize much more than that. Governments don't like to cut expenditures. Something needs to precipitate that action. The very thing that causes the cuts may also be causing the political instability.

Agreed on all your points. However, the kids involved in this will come from homes that actively encourage them to shun all forms of authority and actively discourage betterment via education. They'll go on to have families of their own who will think and act the same way. There is honestly nothing in the UK that will prevent someone from succeeding other than bad parenting and there's only so much the government can do about that.

The austerity cuts haven't started yet

Actually welfare benefit rates have already been frozen. Couple that with an increase in prices in food/utilities etc and benefits claimants are already being hit hard.

These rioters seem to be primarily young people in areas of high unemployment so it is reasonable to assume that a substantial percentage of them may have experienced financial difficulty recently.

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