On 2011-08-15, at 5:23 PM, Lenin's Tomb wrote:
> On 15/08/2011 21:35, c b wrote:
>> The looting that followed was opportunistic and destructive, without
>> any political content at all.
>
> ...As for the looting itself, it is worth noting the uneven patterns here. Much of it was destructive without having any pecuniary value. Some shop windows were smashed without goods being taken. Much of what was 'looted' was not particularly saleable.
>
>> To put it bluntly, most people, including most working class people,
>> are wholly out of sympathy with the rioters…
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No doubt those people, including working class people, who were most out of sympathy with the rioters were also those most in sympathy with the royal couple, whose wedding a little more than a week earlier reportedly cost the British economy more than the looting. Not that I would begrudge those British workers who received the wedding day off with pay some extra leisure time. But in general these ostentatious royal circuses are obscene, all the more so when set alongside the current austerity program being imposed on the British working class by the Cameron government. That seems to me the proper context through which to view both events.
Also, I believe Lenin's Tomb reply was aimed comments by James H. rather than "cb" identified above.
* * *
Looting hit economy less than royal wedding By Sarah O’Connor, Rose Jacobs and Jim Pickard Financial Times August 12 2011
The looting and burning of UK cities this week probably had less impact on the economy than the royal wedding – at least in ways that statisticians can easily measure.
Roughly one tenth of the country’s shops, pubs, restaurants and clubs were directly or indirectly affected by the riots, according to an estimate by the Local Data Company. Even in unaffected areas, many shops closed early for several days this week.
While that will have depressed retail and leisure sales at a time when people are already spending less, the rest of the economy kept humming as usual. “The fact that you still saw the wider service sector and the manufacturing sector continue on regardless means we are looking at a far smaller impact than something like the royal wedding [when everyone took the day off],” Philip Rush, UK Economist at Nomura, said.
[…]
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/df10b5cc-c4ff-11e0-ba51-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1V2zJUzTD