Ashamed to be British

I appear to have taken an unintentional hiatus from this blog. I put it down to the fact that I am still suffering from those post-Erasmus blues. I still have much to blog about, in particular my recent return to Dland, but I’ve found myself in such a melancholy state that the idea of writing turns me right off.

However with recent events, the anger and frustration boiling up inside of me has spurred me on to write this post. No it isn’t particularly “year abroad”-esque, however it is a very important topic and I need to get this out there for the world to know.

For those of you that don’t know (I’m sure you’re in a minority by now) the UK is in chaos. The cities are run amok with anarchists and general hooligans looting and burning down businesses, homes and council owned properties. They were originally doing it in vengeance of Mark Duggan, a boy shot down by police in London this weekend, but it has obviously now got beyond that. The rioting, which first started in the area of Tottenham, spread throughout London and has now hit the rest of the UKs primary cities. People are using the riots as a platform to show the government their upset and anger at the “regime” and the looters are supposedly recuperating the money they have lost in tax. People are losing their homes and livelihoods and the whole world have now turned their gaze to us.

I have never been so embarrassed of my country and in now way am I being overdramatic when I say I am ashamed to be British right now. I have never come across such selfishness, such stupidity and such a complete disregard for fellow human beings. How anyone can justify such an act is beyond me. I don’t care how much the “system has f***ed you over”, I don’t care if you are trying to start a “revolution”, you are acting like a bunch of wild animals and are causing so much destruction to innocent people. If you have a problem with the government, then attack the government, not the hard owned properties of your neighbours. With nearby Bristol already in revolt I’d not be surprised if this ignorance soon hits my town, and as the daughter of a small business owner I know how much damage will be caused if my Dad’s shop was to be targeted. We would probably end up bankrupted, our house would be taken away from us, my Nana would end up having to either find her own rented or go some sort of sheltered accommodation. My dad would be instantly unemployed, my mum would have to find herself a job, and consequently find some after school care for my brother. When I see the victims of this violent rampaging on the news my heart goes out for them. Do these people not realise the instantaneous downward spiral they have forced these people into. People, who just like them, have been “f***ed by the system”.

This is ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous. How anyone could do this to another human being is just beyond my comprehension. But what concerns me just as much is what image this is portraying on the rest of the world. I was in Naples during the height of this years rubbish crisis and I saw for myself how something that is already bad, is perceived an hundred times worse when seen through the foreign media. I had my parents back home watching it on the BBC news, my boyfriend learning about it from Yahoo Japan and they just could not understand it. What they saw was a government failing to meet the primary needs of their people. People who couldn’t give a damn about their environment. A city in chaos. But that wasn’t the case. They didn’t see the back story, they didn’t hear about how these mountains on rubbish that were being set on fire were an act of desperation because there was just so much of it on the streets. They were not trying to make trouble, they just wanted rid of it and if ASIA weren’t going to take it away then they would. So I can only imagine how much worse these already hideous events taking place in the UK will  look in Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, China, Australia. They won’t understand the fuss about “Mark Duggan”, they won’t sympathise with people trying to “f**k over the system that f***ed them”, nor will they condone looting, which lets face it people is just an euphemism for stealing, as a way of recuperating your taxes. In fact why the hell do you need to recuperate you tax anyway! Unless you are willing to go and erect some street lights, fill in some potholes, help build the new leisure centre, feed and clothe a handicapped neighbour then shut the hell up and get on with it.

I think it’s time the police upped the game. Show no mercy like you did during the student protests! I don’t believe in shooting, but if you need to use some brutal force then do it. Bring in the army, bring in the tanks, I really don’t care just please bring peace back to our streets. And if any of you selfish, disgusting wasters are reading this. YOU are everything that is wrong with this country. Not the immigrants, not the politicians, not the Z-lister celebrities, YOU!

(p.s. to any tourists who are in the UK atm, particularly in London, then I am so so sorry. I hope that this doesn’t leave you with an unrealistic view of my country. Every country has it’s low lives and unfortunately ours have gone a little out of control. England is a beautiful country with so much to offer, please don’t be put off.)