AIBU to be annoyed with the way the media keep going on about Ealing as if they especially don't deserve a riot. Does that mean less well healed areas do?

[capricorn76]

My DH and I, like many people, have been glued to BBC News. We have noticed how often the presenters keep saying things like 'You would never expect this to happen in Ealing, it's leafy, well healed etc' Why would rioters trash such a lovely area? They are also spending a lot of time interviewing people there but I've not seen any Hackney interviews.

I do feel sorry for the people affected in Ealing but it almost sounds as if the media is saying that Ealing shouldn't have riots but the less leafy parts of London should. I know they don't mean this but this how it comes across sometimes. I know I probably am being unreasonable but the coverage is bothering me. It's almost as if they're saying 'well they're living in Tottenham, Lewisham etc so they should expect that shit to happen to them'.

They're simply being honest. Anti social behaviour is always more prevalent in poorer areas.

OH yes "leafy" "affluent"... that's all I heard!

Plus it's near to both the BBC and Sky's HQs in West London

It is true that you can more easily understand there being "disaffected youth" in poorer areas than in areas where people have the advantages of employment and educational prospects.

I think many in many parts of London you can have very well off folk living really close to those with very little and the two just don't mix or really see each other. You'll get houses worth half a million with a so called sink estate at the end of the street.

We are 1/4 mile from tottenham high road and although we are not in a wealthy bit it is a world away from tottenham.

splutters... Ealing vair vair expensive (for what it is) but has anyone actually ventured along the road a way to WEST EALING, affluent is a mis-placed word there.

In the PAST Ealing was practically a suburb, akin to Richmond, but it's not like that anymore, Hanwell, Greenford and Alperton are a couple of bus stops away and have grown massively over the last decade or so.

Dalston, Bethnal Green, Hackney, despite their East End legacy are all sooper dooper trendy areas, full of money, full of lovely young things, community projects, volunteer services the lot, but it happened there too. There are no safe havens from idiots.

this is not a protest, this is large scale criminality by Yoofs that have nothing better to do. There is no message here. This is not Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, this is destruction for no good reason at all.

I think personally that every single one arrested needs given a plea bargain, to confess to affray, vandalism, rioting or what have you and forgo a proper trial (that would cost more money) and be given double community service in exchange for actual jail time, which would serve no useful purpose at all. These people ought to be put directly put back into the community they have destroyed, afterwards placed on parole for 5 years, one slip, they are in the clink.

Kids from Ealing probably are less likely to be involved than those from Brixton. However, I'm annoyed that they appear to be saying that these things shouldn't happen to a lovely place like Ealing. Well it shouldn't happen to the poor people of Hackney etc either. These rioters are using public transport/riding bikes to travel around and no borough of London is less deserving of this shit than any other regardless of how affluent the people there are.

I had to chuckle this morning when a woman was interviewed and said that it could not be any local children because they had no state schools in the area.

I used to live exactly where they were filming this afternoon in a flat above a shop and every Friday and Saturday it was mayhem at kicking out time. I also was a witness to a gang shooting on the street so although it may be less common in Ealing gang violence is not unheard of.

I did really like living in Ealing, if I were to move back to London it would be one of the few places I would consider.

No one is saying that it should/should not happen anywhere.

The way I read it is that, as an affluent area, Ealing has less 'reason' for erupting, since residents are unlikely to be protesting due to their poverty/disenfranchisement.

It seems to me that therioters are less concerned about disenfranchisement than they are about new trainers.

I think it was the Bang and Olufsen shop they were after.

Some of the media seem to be trying to spin the riots as disaffected young people protesting at the financial state of the country and the lack of prospects. If that's the case then young people in Ealing, as a more affluent area, would have no reason to protest.

Of course it's not about disaffected young people protesting. It's about scumbags thieving and vandalising and Ealing, as a prosperous area, is a target.

BBC were reporting on some of the people who have been charged at Highgate regarding the riots. They included a youth worker, a graphic designer, a number of graduates and many people who live some distance from the affected areas.

It is important that riots can happen 'in a lovely place like Ealing' because there is a myth that you're somehow cushioned if you live in a 'nice area'. So it's making at least two points a) riots are not bound by postcodes and b) 'nice' kids are as capable of wreaking havoc as rough ones.

Also heard that about the youth worker, graphic designer etc.... Sadly for the people who are genuinely in need of help and genuinely hacked off with their lot, these yuppie rioters haven't done them a lot of favours

Personally I see it more as an illustration of the power of a mob. The vast majority of people would never start kicking in shop shutters or looting from a shop. Once other people are though, it doesn't take that much for them to join in. I very much doubt that those charged will all be unemployed and 'disaffected youth' or those with criminal records for violence and/or theft.

I have a strong suspicion that we will be seeing a surprising number of older, educated people with jobs and no previous criminal record being prosecuted. It suits the government if the looters (I refuse to use the term "rioters" which implies some sort of political or social agenda beyond mere thievery) are portrayed as mostly feral black underclass teenagers engaging in "mindless random violence", but there has been a great deal of widepread opportunistic theft. People have simply realised that the police are powerless to stop the looting because they can be so swiftly outnumbered. How long does it take using modern communications technology using modern communications technology to assemble a crowd of 100 people intent on theft? Not long.

twinkly i saw that woman-"the houses around here arent cheap you know" oh right i see,rich privately educated kids are never naughty then? she really bugged me.

The rioters have very expensive tastes for deprived people

I don't think the government are that worried which class of people are engaged in 'mindless random violence' because, if there is a spread of different types, it supports the assertion in the wider public that it is pure criminality rather than some kind of cry for help.

Also everyone who I know who works in tv (not many!) lives around Ealing, so perhaps there is a vested interest from tv producers.