https://matgb.dreamwidth.org/ Mat Bowles - Dreamwidth Studios Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:18:27 GMT LiveJournal / Dreamwidth Studios matgb personal https://v2.dreamwidth.org/713064/17442 https://matgb.dreamwidth.org/ 100 100 https://matgb.dreamwidth.org/450977.html Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:18:27 GMT https://matgb.dreamwidth.org/450977.html This pretty much sums up the reactions of large swathes of talking head commentators over the last week:<br /><a href="http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&amp;id=2337"><br /><img src="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20110814.gif"></a><br /><br />When I look back to what I've read about previous riots in London over the centuries, when I look at corruption scandals or financial collapses, it really does put into perspective how lucky we are and have been.<br /><br />I mean, seriously, riots across all of London, <s>no one</s> very few killed^[1] and the London murder rate actually goes <i>down</i>?. Total deaths nationally five, including three men run down by a car.<br /><br />The bankers are finally brought down, not by deliberate deceit, not by active fraud or theft, but by incompetence and optimism.<br /><br />Parliament is brought into disrepute in a corruption scandal. What over? A few grand on a duck house, a few grand over claimed on a mortgage, etc. Compare that to many other countries today? Compare that to corruption scandals in the past in the UK?<br /><br />Moral decay? We've never had it so good. <br /><br />Scary, isn't it?<br /><br /><b>ETA</b>: Apparently there's been a death in Ealing that I had overlooked, the post is amended to reflect that.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=matgb&ditemid=450977" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://matgb.dreamwidth.org/450977.html politics webcomics decay pontificating public 8