Nice isn't weak

Did you ever think about the term ‘civilization’ – the beginning of the word says a lot – Civil: the dictionary describes it as” Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable” – do you get the feeling that a lot of that is missing from today’s society?

If you know me well – and I hope you all do know me – you will know that one of my pettest hates is the “Me first and sod you” attitude of many people today. I know it was ever thus but it feels as though the attitude is pervading many levels of our society to a greater and more entrenched manner then it has for years.

I know that most of you will be shaking your heads and saying “This man calls himself an anarchist but when the effects of anarchy rear their heads he runs away like a little liberal” but I have always believed that it is necessary for us all to find ways to live together, fiercely independent but considerate of ‘the other guy’s’ needs as well as our own: it isn’t necessary  to be a doormat for every damaged and sad individual on the planet but what I cannot abide is the lack of consideration for any other party.

The recent riots are an example of the problem – extreme but valid – as large numbers of people from all strata of society took to the streets to get the things that they felt they were ‘entitled to’ whether they had any claim to them or not.

I don’t think it makes sense to put it down to ‘Capitalism’ because a lot of the culture of “I Know my rights” has come from liberal and socialist traits of worshipping the individual and the dichotomy of the ‘Big State’ versus the ‘Cult of the individual’ is that all individuals feel that they are apart from the lumpen masses and so rules that apply to the masses don’t apply to them.  

There are many little but noticeable examples as well and a large number of them found on the roads. The person who shoots on to the roundabout and forces you to slam on the brakes because they are far more important than you are – generally if you flash them to tell them you are there you will receive one finger or two as a reward – or the car that holds up a stream of traffic waiting for someone top ‘pop into the shop’ because they can’t be bothered to go and park – word to the wise chaps, those flashing hazard lights don’t help: when the passenger gets back you will find an incensed stream of traffic behind you! You could cite the cyclist who swings up on to the pavement to avoid red lights or simply ignores the traffic and shoots through oblivious to, or uncaring of, the traffic they are crossing in front of and who will inevitably blame the driver that hits them for the accident. Often the worst examples are of the pedestrian who wanders into the road, intent on their mobile phone, giving a mouthful to any hapless driver/motorcyclist/cyclist who has to take avoiding action.

Ever been waiting patiently in a queue only to find someone barging in or been in a train carriage with a chap/ette eating an extremely garlicky kebab or with a bloke shouting into a mobile, warning he is going to lose signal any second? Not one of these people would have the common decency to be ashamed at their actions if you were to tell them off for it – more likely you will be instructed where to get off and be offered the suggestion that you are of questionable parentage or habits.

I really am asking the question “Why can’t we just consider each other before we do something offensive?”

Another example of this breakdown in politeness and the friction as we rub against each other is the abuse of and ignoring of disabled badges – for obvious reasons something that is close to my heart.

The number of people who have no right to a blue badge of their own yet have one as a carer for another person that is disabled is commendable but the abuse is simply incredible. I cite a few examples:

East Finchley tube has three disabled bays – the only three bays out of approx. 300 bays in the car park and the three bays closest to the station, at the foot of a relatively steep slope. Every morning the same gold Mercedes is parked in one of the bays, displaying a badge, and every morning one can see the proprietor of the sweet shop running back and forth to bring stock across to his shop – one third of a very scarce commodity misused and if you ask him about it, as I have, his only response is “I’m bloody entitled”. The response of the car park attendant is no more helpful “He’s got a badge – it’s not my job to check” – whose job is it do you think (answers on a postcard to TFL but don’t hold your breath waiting).

Another example – how many disabled people do you know who could get in and out of a Lotus Elise? Yet there is one that is regularly parked in Edgware with a blue badge in the window.

Mind, these pale into insignificance behind the disabled bay near Leicester Square that is reserved for a particular resident of the area and that is instantly leapt on by the wardens should anyone actually park there with a badge – the driver in question has been dead for eight years! Not only is the system abused by an uncaring local council but it is cited as an available bay in the area and so makes up part of the quota for the area – that and the bays that have skips parked on them or are in side streets that are blocked off due to Crossrail or other roadworks.

We don’t all have to be nicey-nicey to one another but if the readers of this blog pass the message out that a little consideration for others is a good thing, then maybe we can get a little movement towards a society that actually does try to avoid conflict – it is the only way that civil-ization actually works!  

Lessons having been learnt .... I wonder

So here we are in the aftermath. The smoke has drifted away and the bodies have been counted. Communities are beginning to see the residue of a few night’s madness and the campaigns to reclaim the streets from the evil hoodies have kicked off in the newspapers and daytime TV programs.

Unfortunately we are also hearing the dread term “Lessons will be learned” from our politicians and if anything, this should worry us more than the riots themselves.

‘Call Me’ Cameron cut short his holiday and recalled parliament so now we have 600+ pissed off people with no agenda but to look into the random actions of some mindless thugs. You can already hear the battle lines being drawn up and the points being scored while Cameron and ‘Milliband the Younger’ spout empty rhetoric at each other while both are wishing they were somewhere else. They will set up a ‘wide-ranging all-party committee’ to look into the origins of the troubles and to make recommendations for new laws and tactics and that is fine – it will take years to achieve nothing except to put a lot of middle-England’s minds at ease by the fact of its existence.

Unfortunately the leaders feel that they are expected show that they ‘have a grip on things’ and this means that they will make short term policy changes to cope with what has already ended and they will forget the principle that single actions do not make a trend and put even more draconian policies in place to deal with a an isolated case that has been and is unlikely to be repeated for many years.

The calls have already gone up to ban hoodies and any form of facial coverings while in public – are you going to include beards and glasses in this, people, and how about bandages or baseball caps with long peaks? Are you going to make it like the passport office - no smiling, no glasses, always be against a white background and of a closely limited facial size?

The home secretary has even called for curfews in some areas and the banning of any gatherings of more than a dozen people – so that will outlaw midnight mass and street parties then!

The blame has been variously placed on immigrants, single mothers, the feckless, various racial groups and even, well done Guardian for this one, Hassidic Jews! You name the prejudice and someone has cast their bile at it. As usual the idiots have crawled out of the woodwork – we can only hope that the politicians don’t listen to them.   

Anyone with any sense can see that the police were in a more than tricky situation and did a fantastic job, eventually, by understanding that this was different from the G20 or the student riots. But the trigger for all the pain was the unfortunate death of a Tottenham drug dealer at the hands of the police. As usual in these matters the cock-ups and lies came thick and fast – “He shot at the police”, “His bullet struck a copper”, in fact, as we now know, he was shot with a single bullet (marksman?), never fired a shot and was no threat to the the Police. The bullet that struck the policeman’s radio was fired from a police weapon (itchy trigger-finger?). Then the Police investigated and sheepishly admitted the truth in little segments, pulled like teeth (didn’t they learn anything from Menezes or Tomlinson?). Sometimes you just need to admit that you screwed up and learn the lessons (sorry) and DON’T DO IT AGAIN.

The other opportunity for officialdom to proclaim that they were learning lessons came from the practice bike ride on Sunday. 120 odd cyclists took part in a race on Sunday to test the readiness of the authorities for the real thing next summer and after causing gridlock throughout South and South-West London for most of the day the authorities have gone away to ‘Learn what lessons can be found’.

Lesson 1 – if you close the South Circular from 07:00  until 15:00 you will cause chaos! There, you have learned a lesson, now DON’T DO IT AGAIN.

Lesson 2 – If you man the route with a bunch of people who are not locals and who don’t know what the diversions are, people will chase around like headless chickens looking for an alternative route and take hours to get where they were planning to, getting righteously pissed off all the while. Now you have learned another lesson – train the Marshalls properly and signpost your routes clearly. Simples

Lesson 3 – If you close two of the most popular bridges over the Thames and Marshall them with people who don’t know the name of the next open bridge people will chase around like headless chickens looking for an alternative route and take hours to get where they were planning to, getting righteously pissed off all the while. Now you have learned another lesson – Give the Marshalls local maps and teach them to read them properly.

Lesson 4 – If you blithely think that sending out a bunch of emails to Oyster card holders (most of which will have ended up in the spam folder for unsolicited mail) and doing a mail drop within the area that the roads are going to be closed is enough, you really need to learn lessons about traffic flow and the effects of blocked arteries. The ripple effect of the South London road closures was felt in North London because people travel from North London to the South on a summer Sunday – sometimes to visit friends and sometimes just to go to the lovely areas in South London (and some to watch the cycle race after the radio announced it was happening).

Now you have learned yet another lesson – people are NOT TELEPATHIC and they ARE SOCIAL!

Please tell me which of these 4 lessons could not have been foreseen by anyone with two working brain cells and a vision wider than their own nose. The collective power of TFL, GLA, LOA, Minister for Transport et al failed to work out, in advance, the likely impact of their decisions.
I’ve learned a lesson and I suspect you all have as well – get rid of the bloody lot of them and employ a bunch of primary school students – they couldn’t have done any worse.

This was a ‘practice’ for the Olympics next year – only next year this will happen midweek while millions of people are trying very hard to go about their normal business as well as watch the races. Learn the lesson – have the road race at night, starting at 02:00 and finished by 04:00 and hope to hell that another ambulance, fire engine or nurse doesn’t get caught up in the mayhem LIKE THEY ALL DID ON SUNDAY.