What family support/intervention etc would have stopped the riots?

[Bathsheba]

Just listening to Radio 5 Live and the results from the nquiry into last summer's riots has said that families need more support etc.

I've not so far heard what support is actually being suggested or indeed if its actually wanted.

Many people would be furious at the offer of Social Services family support - either refuising it as not required or being petrified of "my children being taken away" (which I know is not what happens)...

But what TYPE of support do these families actually need/would they accept.

And is "support" in this context just another wya of writing "money"

Hi, we've moved this to In the News.

The best thing we as a society could do would be to stop finding excuses for lawlessness. The riots were about greed and the ability to get something for nothing.

Hmmm...lawlessness.....

Didn't Tony Blair take us into an illegal war with Iraq? Did that have more or less impact on more or less lives than the riots? Has he been jailed?

Are the financial institutions that caused the recession acting within the law? Are the executives of those institutions driven by greed? Have they had more impact than the riots? On more people?

Problem is a boom and bust society; the people that benefit most from the boom aren't the ones affected most by the bust

The best thing we as a society could do would be to stop finding excuses for lawlessness

oh yes.

if you're not part of society why would you give a shit about it. So many just dont belong and have no part in it.
And as much as the Govt wants to blame kids, many were in their 20's. Thems adults.

But bejeezus if you look at countries with high levels of lawlessness, it's the poor that suffer, not the rich. Look at South Africa. The rich live in gated estates with armed response security. It's the poor that deal with the consequences of street violence and petty crime.

What support do they need?

They don't need support they need a good example, they need to see that the top 10% are not taking the piss, fleecing the less well off for every penny they have and then insulting them and calling them scum.

They need to see opportunities being given to people to better themselves and get somewhere in life, people who can't afford to work for free as interns, people who can't afford uni or college and are sick of being left on the scrap heap while the government and companies import trained workforces from other lands at the expense of the other countries who in some cases trained those people for free or subsidised them only to see them swan off over here.

They need to see justice being done and being blind to the privilege and wealth some people have. Justice needs to be equal across the board.

The riots where a case of pent up rage and hate that has been brewing in this country for years, taking form after it was noticed that the police where occupied with the trouble in Tottenham after they shot that guy. An opportunity to release the rage and grab all those things that people get told endlessly by advertisement, they are nowhere without.

i dont think they looked angry (I live in riot area in C London). it looked like they were having a great time. it looked really exciting.

they were robbing specsavers for designer frames, not starting a revolution.

Well said Ryoko

There are lots of suggestions on this thread about how families bring up their children so that the children end up participating in riots.

People have said the families are too angry, too overcrowded, don't have enough extra curricular activities, too materialistic and so on.

But presumably all these things happen only in the houses of boys, because well over 90% of those arrested during the riots were male.

We need to talk about what is going on with masculinity in society, rather than pretending this is a problem solely within the family, If a riot happened and over 90% of the participants were female, we would be asking what was going on with women and girls.

Oh - know a family that were fired out of their humle home - lost everything - their kid still traumatised. I wonder what help the families of the victims are getting.

To me that foreign student caught on camera being violently mugged and then some people coming to 'help' him to rob him again said it all about british society really.

Jeez - I go regularly to countries that are far, far poorer with far less resources and the people have less voice and the difference is that people have a) respect for themselves b) respect for others.

I was abroad when this happened and I was really ashamed to be british at that point when people were asking me are the english really like this. Yes, we are.

I don't think most people actually understand what 'support' is. I manage and information and support service. This means that we can help people to think about what actions they want to prioiritise in their lives, what direction to go in and help them design goals to get there, giving encouragement and emotional help along the way. Many people experience times in their life when they feel 'stuck' or overwhelmed or just plain fed up or lonely. Support offered at these times can make the world of difference to people. I think we all need support from time to time and I think the government should invest more in these services.

it was said that schoolswereto be fined for failiure on numeracy and literacy! I have worked in a primary school in a deprived area, if the children dont want or not interested they wont pick up the skills, why is it always the schools /education is brought into these debates. Parents are the first port of call.

Jobs. Jobs with decent pay and a future, rather than poverty.

If these people could afford to BUY rather than the huge risk of STEAL, there would not have been the numbers willing to riot.

I really think the root of this is poverty.

Chicken - poverty? Did they steal food?