How're The Londoners Here?

[KingMob]

And remember and check on gumtree, there's probably some great deals on there right now.

[Obfleur]

Is there still **** going down, or has it cooled off?

Glad to hear that the Transfanners are safe!

[wideload]

Not exclusively, but generally speaking I know loads of people who I don't define as "poor" who can't afford a smartphone.

Maybe I'm missing some cultural thing, though. Maybe they get given out free in urban London to underprivelaged kids as some form of recompense for shutting down all the youth centres.

Or maybe they're all poor because their parents are tied into massive phone contracts for their entire family.

My main point being that "being poor" isn't something that all the rioters have in common. Of course some of them are, but generally speaking we can't generalise and say that any specific criteria applies to all of them. Generally.

I don't think anyone is saying they are poor in the sense that they are starving like the people in Somalia are right now. You can get a blackberry for free with a contract and basic data plans are $5-10/month. Even someone on the dole can afford that. If you know people who can't afford it, it's because they have other priorities.

It's not just the poverty that is the issue it's the lack of meaning and opportunity for their lives. At one time many of the people would have had union type jobs. Now all those manufacturing jobs no longer exist in England. The son of a factory worker is unlikely to go to university and become a professional. It doesn't help that tuition continues to rise. Once someone does manage to get a uni education, they are left with the challenge of a near non-existent job market where the few available jobs go to the family friends and relatives of the baby boomers who created the mess in the first place.

You can't outsource someone's livelyhood and expect them to sit around patiently in a tiny apartment for the rest of their lives and be content.