Riots...

[fajrdrako]

" ... Just last night, all over London places are aflame and some guy — some photographer — got a lovely picture of a rioter and he's standing there full of indignation with a stolen tape deck in either hand and he's irate. He says, 'I'm doing this because they call us criminals.' And so when people come out with that in real life, I hardly ever have to write." - Terry Pratchett

Someone asked me what I thought the cause of the riots in England lately were. I thought of the recent riots in Greece, and in Vancouver, and of the politically-motivated unrest in North Africa, and I thought: This is a volatile time.

I thought of three reasons:

1. Climatic change. Globally, people are hotter (or colder) than they were; troubled by earthquakes, floods and famine. Even if the changes may appear slight wherever you happen to be, a few degrees difference without air conditioning or heat can make a lot of difference to one's temper.
   
   
2. In the UK particularly, too many years - a generation, now? - of mostly right-wing government.
   
   
3. Overpopulation. We're coping, but there are more people elbowing each other than ever before,too many people moving around, too many people in cities, too many haves and too many have-nots.

I don't think any of these problems are insurmountable, or even long-term. But they do make for unrest in the meanwhile.