Tea and Riots

Let me start this by saying that I don't live in central london and I don't live in a deprived part of the suburbs either. I have no real first hand experience of proper deprivation. However, I did grow up in a relatively run down working class part of suburbia. Lots of my friends at school had free school dinners and even more lived on the council estate. As I say, I didn't have those experiences so I can't claim to know what it's like. Not really.

But I'm no David Cameron; there was no expensive education and no housekeeper in my childhood. I don't know anyone (unless they're hiding it) who has an inherited title or estate. I'm a lot closer to those rioters than I am to the elite.

So actually, maybe I do know. Maybe I know just the kind of kids who would think rioting and looting would be a good idea. The same kids that throw bricks off overpasses and bottles at trains. They're not making a point, they're not that bright. They're angry and they're frustrated and they feel powerless. In fact, they ARE the point. It's kids like this that are created by deprivation, by spending cuts, by having parents so depressed and sick of the world that they are incapable of stopping them.

So I don't defend them, but I think they're a symptom of a failure of government.

And that is far more depressing.

So tea then. Not much help is it? Well, maybe you'd be surprised. Tea may well not tempt a rioter out of Curry's and back home to the kettle, but it might not be entirely powerless.

The papers are always telling us that families who eat together are more successful, and I think the key to that is communication. A cuppa and a natter is a great British institution that maybe we're neglecting a bit now that we drink our tea and (shudder) coffee on the go.

So here's my idea. Put the kettle on, sit down with someone and just pass the time of day. Why not check on that elderly neighbour who's always so keen to talk? Nothing fancy, nothing expensive, and it's no real trouble.You might be surprised how nice it is to talk to someone new and get a different perspective, and you might make a new friend. You could even mix it up with a biscuit or two. Be a little dangerous, but leave it at that, that's dangerous enough.