tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721656968238526975.post1502246611832245932..comments2024-02-26T00:16:00.420+11:00Comments on JPB: Understanding the British riots and the decay they symbolisejpbenneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02664829103165280260noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721656968238526975.post-82058447699410968872011-08-30T21:50:59.258+10:002011-08-30T21:50:59.258+10:00PS - Excellent video linked from a comment on Na...PS - Excellent <a href="http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc" rel="nofollow"> video </a> linked from a comment on National Review on the topic of purposeful work, I think you'll like it.Arthur Zastrugahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04328577919984459737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7721656968238526975.post-55184993002311629432011-08-30T09:55:40.405+10:002011-08-30T09:55:40.405+10:00I agree about the rampant consumerism displayed by...I agree about the rampant consumerism displayed by the rioters. I saw this for myself riding my bike around north London on the morning after - practically the only shops which had been attacked were selling laptops, mobiles and sportswear. As many have pointed out, bookshops remained untouched...<br /><br />Here's a bit of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/peter-ackroyd-rioting-has-been-a-london-tradition-for-centuries-2341673.html" rel="nofollow"> perspective </a> from the London historian Peter Ackroyd that you may not have seen. <br /><br />I think the response of immigrant communities such as the Turkish and Kurdish shopkeers near my flat who successfully beat back the looters, and Muslim and Sikh shopkeepers in Birmingham who defended themselves - leaves me thinking there may indeed be some kind of serious existential crisis going on in the indigenous population. <br /><br />But one issue that I haven't heard discussed anywhere is the kind of employment on offer in modern Britain to people at the lower end of educational achievement. It's said that the majority of new unskilled positions in London are filled by non-British applicants. I don't think one can simply deduce from this that immigrants are more hard working and too many working-age Brits have been demotivated by the benefits system (although both statements may be true). <br /><br />Much derision is poured on the choices of young people in education here to study media courses and harbour ambitions to be television presenters or human rights workers etc. But might it not be that there is such a distinct lack of choice in the labour market in Britain compared to previous generations? I simply don't think that a career in the service industries or civil service administration - pretty much the only stuff on offer if you don't make it as a TV star - provide the dignity of labour that manufacturing and engineering jobs, or even mining and agricultural work - gave to earlier generations of Brits.Arthur Zastrugahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04328577919984459737noreply@blogger.com