Riots in the UK

In a break to our regular programming, let's take a look at the London riots...

A lady jumps from a burning building...

More buildings burn...

People are literally having the clothes off their backs stolen...

A thug smashes up a police car...

More thugs...

More burning and mass looting...

As a British person, I'm completely appalled by the riots taking place in London and other cities across England. I'm shocked by the level of violence and the police 'response' has been miniscule by all accounts. The rioters (well, let's call them scumbags!) are committing serious crimes right in front of the police, with most of them getting away with it. I'm not blaming the police, because they're doing what they're told to do - and knowing the UK they'd be in serious trouble if they so much as laid a finger on a criminal. It's beyond a joke that all these innocent people are being terrorized by thugs and robbed and/or beaten.

I'm really worried by all of this even though I moved to the US almost a year ago: It's even surprised me how worried I am by it all. Last night I couldn't get to sleep and I ended up getting up to read news reports from the UK. Today is day 4 of the riots and it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight. People have started rioting in other parts of the UK - Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol to name but a few of the cities affected. It scares me what's becoming of my homeland. Obviously I have a lot of family and friends still in the UK, some of them are in and around London but most of them live in other major cities including some of the cities now affected. I really worry for the decent law-abiding people in the UK, what will become of the place now? I'm scared that if the police can't stop this from happening, it's only going to get worse. That much is obvious really. Apparently the government has ruled out bringing the army in, and they've also ruled out using water cannons. What they need to do is use rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the crowds. I hate to say it but if that's not enough maybe they should just use real bullets. These idiots can't be allowed to do this!