London On Lockdown - Riots and mindless vandalism

One of the most defining images of the past week

London has gone into lockdown mode. As a Londoner born and bred the last few days in the city that I call home have been very very depressing indeed.  Never in a month of Sundays would I have believed that riots would have engulfed the city and now even start spreading like pockets of wildfire across the country.

The rioters who have run amok across our city do not have just cause or reason for what they have done.  Most of them have no idea who Mark Duggan is so there is no excuse for what can only be termed as blatant vandalism and looting.  A generation of people thinking that the world owes them something for nothing have now taken this mantle to a ridiculous level.

 "We're looting cos we've got no money" - then why not do what everyone else does get an education then get a job then work your way up the ladder from the bottom.  Only a lucky few walk in on high level salaries and the vast majority of people have to work blinking hard to make it in life.

"We're going against the corporates and the police" - what bollocks. You are only targeting electrical stores, supermarkets and sports apparel shops, e.g. stores with things that you and your peers want, spanning from booze to ipods and the latest trainers. That is not about justice or teaching anyone a lesson, it's blatant stealing. If you're so against corporates you'd abandon brands altogether and return back to a more simple way of life living off the land.

"We work hard and we pay too much in tax" - Really?!  Not sure that a) most of you are actually old enough to work b) of those that are I have a feeling that many of you may be part of the serial unemployed who I had to mingle with each week for the past few months in the jobcentre. e.g. you don't actually want to work as benefits, petty crime and housing benefit is what your life is about - you have no interest in working. Don't kid yourself or us that you do.

"We're getting back at the bankers" - Crap, the past week has seen one of the biggest drops in global stock markets but this colossal news that may ultimately impact on every single one of us is not being given the prominence that it deserves due to the blatant thuggery that is presiding in our streets. The Government should really be working on our economic recovery not  figuring out how to bring calm to our streets. Hopefully this necessary diversion will not impact on our economy too much.

"We're just bored - it's those Government cuts" - Life is what you make it so this reason also doesn't resonate with me.  Read a book from the library, play in the park, see friends - those were the types of things that I did as a child as we didn't have much money.

It's been weird and lots of us just do not feel safe.  Flooding London with 16000 policeman is not sustainable in the long term so lord knows what the solution to this will be.  I completely believe that those who have looted should be held to account  for their actions.  Burning down businesses, homes and putting fear into local communities really does stick two fingers up at society so we should do the same to them. We must fight back against this type of intolerable behaviour.

Parents need to step up and be parents.  7 year olds should be tucked up in bed not out looting at 3am in the morning. Young people should have respect for law and order and understand that no one is entitled to the best trainers, the best clothes etc.  You work hard and then you earn the right to play hard. Simple as.

Job hunt for 35 hours each week or else!

Haha, that's the findings from a prominent Government thinktank led by Iain Duncan-Smith.  Wow, yet another initiative that seems to stink of the Government trying to get those all important jobseekers stats down.  What I want to know is how the hell is it possible to jobhunt for 35 hours each week.  Wow if job hunting is a full time job you would technically be earning just over 50p an hour based on standard jobseekers - now what was that about the minimum wage!

There aren't enough jobs in the world plus most jobseeking is now taking place online - how the hell could you do that for 35 hours. Job hunting for someone who wants to work is not highly pleasurable as it is with some of the downsides being depression and loss of confidence as you start to question your worth and whether you are actually employable anymore.

Personally, a few focused hours is about all I can manage each day before my concentration goes and I end up surfing the net, writing a blog piece or working out what fantastic feast to cook up for dinner (the menu tonight is Thai Chicken with mango salad as featured on This Morning yesterday looked yummy).

Job hunting is a mind numbing drab process and to get the best out of it you need to not just do blanket mailouts but actually tailor your applications and letters and calls to stand out above the crowd.  Creativity takes time and I am a firm believer that I would much rather put my best foot forward by sending something bespoke that I am 100% proud of. This approach has meant that I have secured a much higher rate of interviews than many.