Life's A Riot

London Fields # 95
First published Inpress (Issue # 1188), Melbourne on 24 August 2011, and in Drum Media (Issue # 1074), Sydney on 23 August 2011
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

Last week I found myself on a rooftop in Dalston, a literal stone’s throw away from where a myriad of Turkish shopkeepers successfully defended their livelihoods from the approaching horde during the recent riots. On stage were Veronica Falls, and their C86-styled Dunedin-ish surf pop was an uplifting and welcome respite from the troubles of the inner city over the past few weeks. I’ve nearly always lived in the (better parts of the) poorer areas of London. When I had a visit from my brother some years ago, he said that it reminded him of an old psychology experiment. He explained that when you confined too many rats in too small a space their established rules of order broke down. Talking to the family this week, the conversation moved onto causes and responses. While I conceded the very valid point that the last government hadn’t really done too much to address the issues, I considered that it was one thing keeping a beast in terrible conditions, and quite another to poke it with a stick through the bars of the cage.

Part of me is wary of discussing the troubles that hit nearby streets, then the media, then areas across England over the past few weeks but feel I can’t really ignore the events for which the London of 2011 is likely to be remembered. In the online world, some were romanticising the violence, finding joy in the titles of songs by The Clash. Let’s be clear about one thing: being in the centre of a riot is NOT fun; it is terrifying. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this whole thing was how quickly this city changed into a place that felt unsafe, as helicopters hung in the sky indicating places where it was best not to go. As soon as the working day ended, there was an impetus to rush home; fearing that dallying to visit the supermarket on the way might lead to you being caught up in new trouble. Watching the rolling news from the relative safety of the home, it seemed that the media were fanning the flames and a mixture of the bored, the disenfranchised and sheer thugs were leading the charge that spread to other urban areas.

There has been a literal deluge of information, and it’s been near impossible to keep up with it all. No-one seems to be able to agree on what led to this, but asides from the original outbreak of trouble in Tottenham, what followed has seemed to have had very little to do with the shooting of Mark Duggan. Neither was it a direct response to the austerity measures and cuts that are hitting the poorest of this country hard(est); targeting sports shops and electrical goods retailers seems to have much more in common with criminality than civil disobedience, and as small stores suffered alongside the large chains there was no political agenda in play. It may well have been an expression of discontent, much like the office worker who pisses on the floor of the company toilet to express displeasure at how he feels he is treated.

Then there are the politicians. We’re told that this is not the impression we want to give of the city less than a year away from the opening of the 2012 Olympics. I wonder if London Mayor Boris Johnson would have cut his holidays short earlier if it was the Olympics site rather than people's homes and livelihoods that were burning to the ground? Then came arguments over the causes, how the police handled the disturbances, and the sentencing of those convicted in court. On the eve of the last general election addressing a final rally in Bristol, the then opposition leader David Cameron beseeched “don’t let fear triumph over hope”. There have been stories of hope, from the brigades who came out with brooms to tidy their communities, to the community who raised £20,000 to help Hackney shopkeeper Siva Kandiah to reopen his shop mere days after it was completely cleared by looters. Over at the Royal Albert Hall, the annual BBC Proms are continuing apace. The key moment on The Last Night Of The Proms comes with the performance of Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 - a raucous flag-waving and patriotic moment. But instead of uniting the kingdom, our leaders seem intent on spreading messages of fear, making the days of Land Of Hope And Glory seem very distant indeed.

© James McGalliard 2011

Inpress: Published on page 55
Drum: Published on page 50

Knifey Spoony

London Fields # 54
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 16 July 2008
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

On the streets of London there is a steadily growing sense of rising resentment and bubbling aggression that is becoming almost palpable. Perhaps it can in part be attributed to the current “credit crunch”? (Whatever you do, don’t dare call it a recession!) Families can afford less as salaries fail to keep pace with inflation, and prices of basic domestic necessities have risen drastically. For many years, the price of supermarket goods seemed to have been dropping year-on-year, but recently there have been sudden and dramatic increases, with certain items going up 20% overnight.

In this market, houses remain unsold; vendors see their prices falling, and some reports say there is only one buyer for every ten properties. For the buyer, mortgages are harder to get, and the interest rates are much harsher than even a few months ago. So while property prices have fallen over 10% in the past few months, it seems as if no-one is brave enough, or can actually afford to buy in this uncertain climate. This in turn results in a great shortage of rental accommodation, which allows landlords to push their prices up rapidly as demand exceeds supply.

I was recently speaking to an ‘old school’ real estate agent – one who’d been in the game long enough to have been through the last major downturn in the early ‘90’s. He said that many of the current players didn’t know how to handle this situation at all. “These guys are used to putting a ‘For Sale’ sign on the front, showing a few people round, and then selling it within a few weeks. They have no idea how to actually sell”. He also predicted that they’d be many casualties in the coming months. And he was right – already I’ve noticed some former estate agents are now up for let as they’ve gone to the wall, and this so-called “crunch” hasn’t really started to bite yet.

But this depressing picture could also be linked into the one story that’s dominated London news recently - the alarming rise in lives lost in knife crime in the capital. Last Thursday alone, there were four fatal stabbings in London in the space of sixteen hours, taking to twenty the number of teens who have died in knife-related incidents in the year to date.

There’s a certain way to walk London streets. You don’t look directly at other people; you more sense where they are. Almost automatically you find yourself ceding the footpath to one group, and walking through the middle of another. Because not standing aside, or giving way when you shouldn’t, or even meeting someone else’s eyes can be seen as a challenge to the street code of “face”. Some would say it’s about “respect”, but really it’s more akin to “cock of the walk”, or animals making themselves look bigger when threatened. Whatever its origin, it is an unspoken language and code of conduct which is difficult to learn. You have to trust your instincts, and sometimes repress your wish to respond as regretfully it seems to be the only way to walk the streets without confrontation.

However if you’re a teenager, getting it right can be even more difficult, especially if the other party is looking for trouble. Put blades into the equation, and a simple altercation can leave a deadly outcome. A doctor from the Casualty Department of Homerton Hospital claimed that there had been a big change had been in the type of wounds inflicted – slashing has been replaced by stabbing attacks. With the number of vital organs located in the torso, this has led to a huge rise in fatalities. Some other figures claim that the overall number of violent incidents has remained much the same, with the rise in knife incidents reflected in a fall of firearms-related ones. But you can’t buy a gun at your local supermarket, and the laws to stop real life games of Crocodile ‘That’s not a knife – that’s a knife’ Dundee prowess seem to be completely ineffectual.

Now I’m wary of being too pragmatic about this subject; grieving families have lost loved ones over the most minor of disagreements. And I’m also lucky as this hasn’t really touched me. But I’m also a feared about how it’s possible to use this as a blunt instrument for political gain without due consideration. When Conservative candidate Boris Johnson launched his bid for London Mayor last September, he advised Londoners to “tackle a thug” as the chances of being stabbed were “microscopic”. Now he’s won the election and has the job, he been forced to make a massive volte-face on those statements in the light of these events, now advising you NOT to intervene in disagreements, lest someone is tooled up.

Sometimes I feel that we moving towards the dystopian future of V For Victory. When a climate of fear is used to push through a law allowing terrorism suspects to be held 42 days without charge, perhaps there are others at fault? Yet the media is more likely to tie this into the spate of 17 seeming unrelated teen suicides in the Bridgend area of south Wales during the 13 months up to last February, and ask “What is happening to youth of Great Britain?”

Perhaps they’re a reflection of what they see?


© James McGalliard 2008