Hmmm.
I agree that vandalising things is shit.
I haven't noticed anything particularly nobbish about Geldof in the last few days, except that he's massively oversimplified the solution to Africa's problems (not the problems themselves.)
The riots will at least show the leaders that there's enough unhappiness among the people for a minority of them to start throwing stones. I would be much, much more happy if there'd been no violence, but that's humans for you.

And from what it looked like on TV, (a minority of) the police were enjoying the fight as much as (a minority of) the protesters.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:08, archived)

I was saying yesterday
if i ever win the lottery, next mayday I'd buy the exact same riot gear the cops have but in day-glo and tie-dye colours and distribute it to the rioters. If both sides are in full armour I don't think anyone would get hurt and I could sit back with a few cold ones and watch both sides beat each other into exhaustion :)
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:11, archived)

Yeah
I know the (violent) protesters are wankers too, but I can't help thinking if I just wanted to beat people up, I'd join the riot police and get paid for it.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:13, archived)

Bah
facist! Better to be the revolutionary than the oppressor but (un)fortunately we don't really have anything to revolt against really.

"Comrades, throw off the shackles of your moderately pleasant existence!" ain't going to inspire many people to start firebombing the town halls.

Just give me a AK, a cause and a balaclava and I'll be happy.
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:17, archived)

The problem with being a revolutionary
is that after the revolution, you are the establishment.
( Goatworrier had your mum and she was shit, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:19, archived)

The secret is to never win
and you can carry on blowing people up for ever.

/IRA
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:21, archived)

this indeed.
also, the current crop never win because they only riot against the establishment once a year, and then only if it doesn't clash with Ascot, Cowes week, Polo or Jocasta's 21st bash at ChinaWhite..
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:24, archived)

Jocasta's having a 21st at ChinaWhite?
Why wasn't I invited :(
*cries*
( The Teviot Moose major 5th., Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:25, archived)

I wish I'd turned up at the Countryside Alliance
marches. I would have liked a crack at the farmer boys.

I grew up in the country-side and they are almost without exception utter cockends.
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)

Fighting
is just a way of expressing gayness in men who are in denial of their bumsexuality
( Goatworrier had your mum and she was shit, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)

I fight with
a woad painted dildo stuffed up my arse.
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:29, archived)

Then you have earned my respect
And possibly some semen in your hair
( Goatworrier had your mum and she was shit, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:33, archived)

The mental image brought up by this post
has now placed my pants under extreme tension.
( Lonewolf - O R'lyeh? Ya R'lyeh!, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:34, archived)

Shat yourself
in fear? Or awe?
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:37, archived)

Heh heh,
that's like the cartoon I saw with the guy reading in the 'Erotic Horror' section of the bookshop: he's got a one big bulge in the front of his trousers, and another in the back. :)
( Mr. Tea 'ulmmm'/'mmneurgh', Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:44, archived)

Oh yes
Same here. the odd one or two are OK, but mostly they need to the be strung up by the balls in their barns and their dogs setting on them.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)

Haha
Did you see the programme about abbatoirs yesterday? Didn't put me off meat, but most of the people working there were vile.
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:31, archived)

I thought they seemed like simple-but-decent folk
until some of them came out with some quite nasty viewpoints.

Thought it was a fascinating programme, though.
( Johnny Catfish - Yowsa!, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:40, archived)

The guy
with the tatts though! What a vile specimen. I felt I had to watch it so I could defend my meat eating. And I can now :D
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:42, archived)

If you look in the Ladybird Big Book of Anarchy
you'll find that a public school education and a private income is obligatory.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)

Trustafarians
and ethno yahs.

Edinburgh's stuffed to the bursting. Fucking bongos..
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)

What's wrong with bongos?
*hides bongos*
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:28, archived)

Their context
usually.
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)

There are only two acceptable contexts:
1) an illegal rave pre-1995
2) africa

edit: and 3) as a hilarious euphemism for breasts
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:32, archived)

4) nice little folky pub?

( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:34, archived)

only when you learn to grow a proper beard
/harsh but fair
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:36, archived)

Dammit
it's the best I can manage!

*sob*
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:38, archived)

1. What you just said
2. Film
3. Sell by pay-per-view
( comrade yannovski and then, of course, there was the schnapps monkey, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:17, archived)

Erm
Lots of words. He was spot on in this case- the violent lot are just a bunch of eejits in make up giving their cause a bad name.

The police I've seen and spoken to this week have been great. I was sitting in a cafe on Bristo Square after work yesterday and the guys in riot gear came bluelighting the wrong way up a one way street and piled out and were completely relaxed! Surreal but heartening.
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:13, archived)

That's nice to hear.
I'm sorry I'm moving up next week, so I'll have to live in all the mess without having seen any of the fun.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:14, archived)

It doesn't all
seem too bad - the Meadows is already clear. Most of town hasn't seen anything at all. You found a place yet?
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:16, archived)

No
Looks like I'll have to stay at my dad's for a bit.

Do have one number to call but I'll leave it till toward the end of the week, since I won't be able to go and see the place till at least Monday anyway.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:17, archived)

Fair enough
You know if you ever move house in Edinburgh me and JV would fight over driving a Transit van ;)
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:19, archived)

oi!
I'M the Transit queen round these here parts
( Jadeviper was still alive on, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:22, archived)

I thought it was 'tranny'
?
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:23, archived)

only
if I was a bloke
( Jadeviper was still alive on, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:23, archived)

do you find yourself
gradually developing an estuary accent, and mysteriously there is a copy of the sun on the dashboard after 3 hours? always happens to me..
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:25, archived)

drinking sugary tea
and smoking Bensons.
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)

Nope
But my driving becomes appalling.

More appalling ;)
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:28, archived)

doesn't matter
so long as the van is white, you OWN the road

It's even better if its LWB and high-top ...
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)

They usually
are - I own a lot of stuff. Although the best van I ever had was an LDV actually, Transits aren't the be all and end all ;)
( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:35, archived)

I drove LDV
17-seat buses for a few years. Trying to get 15 pissed students from central London to Ullswateron a friday evening in one of those was always entertaining

Much better to drive than trannies though. Ford gearboxes are like stirring spaghetti with a stick.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:43, archived)

why would I ever
have an estuary accent?
( Jadeviper was still alive on, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)

as in
Saaaaaaarrrrffend - it's compulsory if you wish to drive a transit ...
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)

Cor it's gonna cost ya luv.

( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:31, archived)

not in Scotland it isn't
Weegie is what we end up with here, a copy of the Daily Record and a glass bottle of Bru
( Jadeviper was still alive on, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:32, archived)

A glass!
Get you!
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 12:01, archived)

( Dekazer, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:24, archived)

Thanks
I'm just taking a survival bag for the time being though - my stuff is going up to my mum's place at Callander. I don't plan to stay there long.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:45, archived)

It's so difficult, because Africa's problems are both the fault of the old Imperial European powers
(and modern American trade protectionism) and also the jumped-up tyrant warlords who run the half the countries themselves.
Simply pumping in more aid doesn't work as it goes to fund the warlords' private armies, and even food and mecial aid simply goes straight to their hired thugs rather than the poor that realy need it. And if a western army goes charging in to try and sort things out, liberals/anti-globalisation types accuse them of neo-imperialism. But even so, this hardly ever happens because the countries don't have oil/bin Laden.
( Mr. Tea 'ulmmm'/'mmneurgh', Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:19, archived)

Unfortunately, this ^

( Lonewolf - O R'lyeh? Ya R'lyeh!, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:24, archived)

I think there's more to it than that
There isn't enough political consciousness among their own people to sort out the dictators. You or I wouldn't be politically conscious either, if we didn't have enough to eat.
So until the dictators are sorted out (who, in a lot of cases, more or less deliberately starve people to bring in Pajero money foreign aid) they won't have enough to eat, and until they have enough to eat the dictators won't be sorted out.

We can't sort out the dictators without the support of the countries' people, because (a) that's fundamentally wrong and (b) if the people aren't happy enough to be vigilant, the new systems will quickly become just as corrupt as the old ones.

 
There's more to it than this, too.
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)

Bring back the Empire I say
they didn't know how good they had it.
( Fenris temporary Lazarus, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:33, archived)

Mykey?

( Johnny Catfish - Yowsa!, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:42, archived)

I'm sure many people have dedicated their lives to understanding these problems,
so I think it goes without saying there's more to it than that, but my point was that the situations arise not solely because of Big Bad Greedy Rich countries (as some left-wingers will have you believe) nor because they're all semi-evolved savages who'd rather be eating each other than learning modern farming techniques and not having civil wars all the time (as Mykeyboy some right-wingers will have you believe).
( Mr. Tea 'ulmmm'/'mmneurgh', Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:34, archived)

It's a bit of both!

( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:49, archived)

Although AIDS *is* their fault,
or at least the fault of whichever sick freak bummed a monkey...
( Mr. Tea 'ulmmm'/'mmneurgh', Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:51, archived)

In my more cynical moments
I say we do our best* to stop people starving, and leave the governments to it.
The stable state of humanity is either democracy, in which case they'll get there eventually, or dictatorship, in which case they're a few steps ahead of us already.

* edit: i.e., more than we're doing at the moment
( Newington, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 11:56, archived)

That assumes there is a stable state
evidence (even outside africa) tends to suggest otherwise.

/pessimist
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 5 Jul 2005, 12:02, archived)