Riots in the UK?

[Tiberius]

Evidently those students were very uninformed then. Its symptomatic of the way society here is that people disregard the wisdom behind the concept of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and because of that it's no wonder nobody achieves anything in terms of political activism or basic organisation.

People disregard the "wisdom" behind such a concept because they tend to look how well it has worked in the past...i.e. not very. Basing an alliance on a common enemy is extremely problematic, since when that enemy is defeated, the alliance has no reason to trust each other. Just look at World War II; America, the UK, and the Soviet Union all fighting for the same side...that sure lasted. </sarcasm>

To quote cartoonist Howard Taylor on the issue, "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less."

Do whaaat? What member of the public is against them? Everyone i've spoken to -aside from armchair critics on the internet- agrees with the students, applauded them for their efforts and mentioned how the government and police were bastards who deserve whatever they get pelted with.. be it eggs, fire extinquishers or bags of medical waste.

Erm...the tax paying members of the public who have already had to suffer rises in taxes in order to curb the country's debt, and who don't want to see more of their money being spent on university education for people who don't need or deserve it. Places at university are already oversubscribed, and a lot of students see the whole experience as a chance to skip work for 3 more years. Handing out 3 years of education for free would only increase the problems for everyone, with the actual education of those who want to learn suffering.

If you honestly believe that it is acceptable to throw fire extinguishers and bags of medical waste at innocent people (innocent because they are doing their fricken' jobs) then you are one of the worst human beings I have met. Do you always throw morality out the window when you want to get your way? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you were posting your messages from inside a jail cell. It isn't the government or the police that are the problem with this country, it is people like you who think that because they have an idea, they are somehow above the law.

We live in a democracy so that people with ideas can speak about them, get them popular, and then mount campaigns to get their voices heard in parliament. You want an example? A few years ago Simon Singh was sued by the British Chiropractic Association for writing an article that described Chiropractic as bogus science, which it is. The libel laws in this country allowed for the BCA to sue him for it. A massive peaceful campaign was launched, and slowly built up momentum until the government promised to reform libel laws, and all evidence points to them being dedicated to that goal.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11471378

I think you meant to say Adrian, that the MEDIA is trying to influence public opinion against them, as the media are puppets of puppets and so on.

No, those are your words and yours alone. Did you spot many working adults on the march? No? I didn't think so. It is pretty clear from all the campaigning who the protests are organised by, and who they are supported by.

Quite personally, it seems that each generation has to find out for themselves that peaceful protest is ineffective and seem to need education on the subject. You're under some delusion if you think peaceful protest has ever achieved anything; look at the massive anti-war demonstrations in london for a recent example, then look back through history and see how every single attempt has proved to be completely useless.

I already listed one peaceful protest that is leading to reform, so your assertion that "every single attempt has proved to be completely useless" is completely false. If you want some more, here are a few that have happened in modern times:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Offe...)_Act_2000 (After peaceful protests by pro-gay groups)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_Act_2004 (After peaceful protests by anti-fox-hunting groups)

the crucial point is that "violent" action forces the people in power to do something because the don't understand "peace" as you or I do, they take "peace" to mean pacified and harmless i.e not worth paying attention to anymore.

A completely unjustified assertion. The majority of bills passed through the government are "pacified and harmless", yet they seem to get attention. Some issues touch a public nerve, and in some cases the public wins; in others, they lose. Whichever way it goes, the government are elected by the people, and the people can easily change their mind. You mentioned the protests against the War in Iraq, and how they didn't achieve anything...well if you recall, Labour lost a large number of seats in the next election, and blamed their actions over the war for it.

Ah I was only joking; making light of your attempt to ingratiate yourself diplomatically with the site owner/admin whatever Adrian is. Seems like it worked anyway lol

People don't need to kiss my ass, nor do I want it. If someone agrees with my opinion, they have every right to say so, and they don't deserve to be called a 'worm' because of it. Nor do people deserve to be called names for disagreeing with my opinion. We're all individuals here; sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. The polite man accepts that.