A former MET police chief summed it up for me when he was commenting on why people were wondering why the police were apparently not doing anything.

"With the fear of being prosecuted themselves, it's safer for the actual officers to stand there and accept that bricks, bottles, etc will be thrown at them" (paraphrased)

The stockwell incident for example ended with probable use of "excessive force", but, the guy ran from armed officers, you have to accept culpability...if you run from armed police officers, you're probably going to get shot.

The bloke at the G20 protests who got pushed over and then died later of a heart attack, again, if you're going to walk through a riot, you have to accept that something may well happen. You know what, if I turned a corner on the way home and saw people rioting, I'd turn around and go the other way, regardless if it was taking me away from home.

There has to be guidelines and clearly taking someone down and beating them to an inch of their lives is not right, just or legal - but it's sad when you see scrotes on the TV inches away from cops goading them and unable to do anything.

In the last 25 years the balance of power has shifted from adults to children. You discipline your child, you run the risk of having social services involved. I'll join the group of 30+ somethings who got a slap on the backside when they did something wrong and yet turned out fine.

The law needs to change to accept that children in this century are no longer the innocent darlings that they once were, you can blame social and economic reasons all you like, but if you don't fill children with a sense of right and wrong, then you're on a loser from the start. There are plenty of young adults who have had the same struggles as those who feel "wronged" yet work hard, pay taxes and live law abiding lives.

Children now live in a world where their actions have little or no consequences.

"Don't put your hand into the fire.......I'll do it if I fucking want to"