More Violence in London

The violence in London is continuing. Since Saturday night, the rioting and looting in Tottenham and Enfield have spread to Hackney and Bethnal Green in East London, Brixton and Clapham in Southwest London, Lewisham and Peckham in Southeast London, Croydon to the South.

Now the violence has spread outside of London to Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool.

As I said a couple of days ago, I Saw This Coming.

People are complaining because the police are slow to respond, but they are clearly overstretched. They seem to be making it up as they go along. It will not surprise me if there are troops on the streets by the end of the week, like what happened in Detroit in 1967.

Mayor Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron refused to break off their holidays at first, but as the violence has spread, they are both now heading back home.

For those of us who have been here, the situation is very tense. We don't know where the violence will break out next.

The terrible incident which led to the death of Mark Duggan is not the cause of this. That incident was just the catalyst. I feel terribly sad for his family and the grief they are experiencing.

It stopped being about that a long time ago, though.

And it's not about the Black community. White English youths are out there rioting. Turkish young people, Eastern European immigrants are out there, too. Not just young people, older people are out on the streets.

Home Secretary Theresa May keeps saying this is "criminality", and of course, this is true. But it's missing the point.

I saw this coming because people are angry. People have been angry for months.

I saw this coming because the government is not listening.

Be very clear. I am not condoning the violence and mayhem.

I am saying it was inevitable and could be predicted months ago. In fact, I predicted it.

Don't know what's going to happen next, but it won't be good.

And it won't surprise me if the Black community takes the brunt of any repercussions.

Cameron Gets It Wrong

Prime Minister David Cameron recently stated that Oxford University had only accepted one Black student last year. As we all know, this statement was incorrect, as Oxford accepted 27 African and Caribbean students last year - he was not counting the students from the African continent.

Wow, a whole big 27.

The broadcaster Henry Bonsu, himself an Oxford graduate, has been working for years to encourage and support Black students to apply to Oxford and Cambridge. He takes groups of young people to Oxford for a one-week intensive programme. As he says in Black Success Stories, his teachers encouraged him.

The funny thing is, if you're one of the few Black people in a majority white school, you'll either be the best or the worst. Because if your teacher spots that you are good at something, they'll see you all the time. That's what happened to me. So I was pushed in my Latin, I was pushed in my German, to the point where they said to my parents when I was 15, he could go to Oxford....

The universities are now under pressure to get in students from non-traditional backgrounds. So if you do the work, you'll get a fair hearing now.

So if the teachers spot that potential, they will encourage Black children - at least sometimes. But I still think it's mainly up to the parents.

Mind you, Henry was later sacked by the BBC for being "too intellectual". But that's another story.

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Too Many Politicians?

In the light of the recent Parliamentary expenses scandal, David Cameron has been calling for a reduction in the number of politicians.

Surely there need to be more. Constituencies are way too big, which is one reason why the politicians have gotten out of touch with the electorate. One politician said his "private life", i.e. how he spends our money, is none of our business!

Meanwhile, there has been this row over the fact that all members of the London Assembly, including the BNP member, have been invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace by the Queen. Apparently, she invites the Assembly every year.

I do not hold with the argument that if she invites one, she has to invite all of them. The BNP are no better than the National Front, albeit with briefcases and nice suits. In other words, Nazis.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not fight a war against these people? Are these not the same people who dropped bombs on London and other British cities every night? Now they are attacking from the inside.

But I blame the electorate. These people would not be in power if people didn't vote for them. Similarly, people voted for Hitler. Learn from history, folks!

Maybe Cameron's right, we do have too many politicians.