London Riots And Tottenham Shooting

One of the things about making money online full time is that even though I am online virtually all the time, I am a bit disconnected from the rest of the world. So I did not know anything about the tragic shooting and the subsequent unrest leading to full scale London riots, until yesterday.

It was just strange as I took my son out just to our local high street, to be confronted by looters going full at it at Argos. It was surreal and people running all over the place, grabbing whatever they can. It almost felt like I went to sleep and woke up in a zombi flick!

I was then confronted by 2 people in hoodies with scarfs to cover face, who apparently were interested in my watch (wtf??), they thankfully got distracted and I had a job on taking my 2.5 year old (without his stroller) to safety. When these two guys (could not see their faces) realized I was not there, they started to look for me! I was hiding behind a dumpster at the back of KFC! Just across the road.

Oh man, and explaining to my son that he could not walk and I had to carry him and run was an issue, house was too far so ended up going to a mates house, knocked on his door and welcomed myself in. With no police in sight, it was a few hours wait before thing calmed down enough for me and my son to get back home. Thankfully not hurt and in tact.

While I really really do sympathize with the shooting of this man, loss of a life is soo sad. To add to that circumstances  surrounding his death is also unclear, as apparently did not fire the shot? This kind of violence seems to be going a bridge too far. I saw an old lady getting mugged. I felt sick as I could not do anything about it, I had my little boy with me and there were 5 guys/boys surrounding this poor lady. I wonder how the looter would feel if it was their mother or grandmother?

What I really fail to comprehend is that surely parents of these kids know that they are going out, why not stop them? What are you getting from destroying shops apart from the freebies? Personally being put in a situation where I had to worry about safety of my son was really an eye opener. Why are police not arresting these individuals?

These are all question running through my mind, as we in the UK are simply not able to comprehend any mass acts of violence. London Riots really have shown how badly our kids need discipline and people who understand THEM. Right now it just seems that people are getting their Christmas shopping done early!

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Independent record labels fear ruinous stock loss in London riots fire

 

Numerous independent record labels fear they have lost a catastrophic amount of stock in a fire at a distribution warehouse in north London during the riots in the capital on Monday night. A three-storey, 20,000 square-metre building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC and holding stock to be distributed by the Pias Group, was burned to the ground.

The fire will potentially impact labels such as Domino, as well as film production companies with DVD stock. Pias is the UK's largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company.

Other labels that may be affected include 4AD, Warp and Beggars Banquet. Beggars Group chairman Martin Mills confirmed his group had stock at the site, but told Music Week that he and other larger labels would be less affected by the disaster than smaller counterparts because they carried stock in other locations. Nevertheless, Mills called the latest setback for the indie sector "horrible, horrible" and added that many labels would also now face manufacturing issues to replenish destroyed stock.

A statement on the Pias website read: "There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for Pias in the UK and Ireland. Pias is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias's UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners."

Industry analyst Paul Scaife said: "Physical retail is still absolutely crucial to many in the independent sector and if – as seems quite likely – several smaller labels aren't covered by insurers, this could be the difference between survival and going out of business."

Label boss, festival promoter and DJ Rob Da Bank told the Guardian that all the stock for his company Sunday Best had burned in the blaze: "I'm furious that people are doing this, and I'm devastated for Pias and all the labels that have lost stock. But at the moment I'm more concerned with stopping this stupid behaviour from happening – at the end of the day it's just physical product that's gone, not lives or houses, so I'm trying not to get too hung up on it."

 

 Rob Da Bank said details of what exactly happened were still "scant" but Sony had called to confirm all their stock had gone. "We know Pias is insured so hopefully in terms of getting restocked we can all do that, although I can't say for definite right now if that will happen. It won't ruin us as a business, but it will be a problem for labels who need stock to sell to keep them going. For us we have a Kitty, Daisy and Lewis tour where a major source of our revenue is selling CDs and merchandise at the gigs. You look at the roll call of labels on Pias and they're some of the most important indie labels in the world. I just wish these people realised it was music they were destroying, and it's not helping anyone."

A spokesperson for Domino Records said the label had lost "a large quantity" of its CD and vinyl stock in the fire. "While relieved that no one was injured in the incident, we're upset about the loss and destruction of our stock, and thinking of our friends at other independent labels who were also affected by the fire. We are currently working hard with Sony DADC to maintain our release schedule and keep business going as usual."

The physical release of Arctic Monkeys' new single, The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, is one of the first records to be affected, with limited quantities of the 7in version now only available on its planned release date (15 August) via arcticmonkeys.com. The label confirmed all stock going to retail outlets had been destroyed in the fire.

The release of Charlie Simpson's debut solo album, Young Pilgrim, was also severely delayed by the blaze, which destroyed all 30,000 units. Matthew Page, head of Simpson's label, said: "The album was due to be released this coming Monday. That, of course, will not happen now. It's a time issue. Our release campaign has been building for a long time, and it's like bringing the kettle to the boil, so that everything can come together at the same time. The fire has put the entire release in total jeopardy, and we feel very sorry for Charlie, who's been working on this album for a year. We're not clear what the way forward is now."

Simpson himself added: ""I'm very upset and frustrated to hear that the Sony distribution warehouse was burnt down last night. Nusic Sounds & PIAS are champions for independent artists and music, I'm proud to be part of that. We will support them in any way possible through this difficult time. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people that have had their families, homes and businesses affected by this terrible situation."

Alex Kapranos of the band Franz Ferdinand, who are signed to Domino, tweeted: "Thoughts go out to all the labels who have lost their stock in Pias fire."

Kapranos also questioned where the prime minister was during the looting, asking: "Where the fuck are the Bullingdon boys?.... Would you only end your holidays if it were Fortnum & Mason being looted?"

Other musicians to express their views on the riots included poet and musician Scroobius Pip, who said: "This is Britain punching itself in the face. Repeatedly."

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The London Riots: Attacked From Within

 

I am disgusted, appalled, heartbroken and furious about the destruction, devastation and demolition which has taken place on the streets of London over the last few days. Fortunately, the ‘London Riots’ have absolutely nothing to do with Casa de Campo, La Romana or the Dominican Republic, however as an English person and journalist living in the Dominican Republic, I feel compelled to share with you the sad story of what has happened and is still happening in the UK. 

The sorry story of the ‘London Riots’ has been largely un-told in the Dominican press and so for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about and what is going on in London, here it is: essentially wide-scale riots and looting have broken out across London as well as in various other cities across the UK, with ‘youths’ setting fire to cars, buses and local businesses, looting – breaking into shops and stealing whatever they can grab, as well as violence against the police – throwing of rocks, fireworks and other objects. This is the worst violence London and the UK has seen for decades.

Here is a brief summary of the terrible series of events over the last few days:

Thursday August the 4th: “Well known gangster shot dead by police sparks violence”
A man named Mark Duggan was shot dead by the London Metropolitan Police. Following his death, British newspapers named Duggan as a ‘well known gangster’ and that he was under surveillance by police officers for gun related violence. Investigations into the death of Mark Duggan, who he was and what actually happened are still being investigated.

London’s Burning!

Saturday August the 6th: “Riots erupt in Tottenham”

A group of 300 protestors gathered at the Tottenham police station (Tottenham is an area in London), protesting for ‘justice’ for Mark Duggan. Following this ‘peaceful’ protest, violence broke out, when 2 police cars, a bus and a shop were set on fire, petrol bombs were thrown, whilst dozens of shops were broken into and looted with rioters seen running away with trolleys full of stolen items.

Sunday and Monday August the 7th and 8th: “Rioting spreads as thugs over-run the city”

‘Copy-cat’ rioting broke out across more than 10 boroughs (areas) of London on Sunday and Monday evening with violence also taking place in Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leeds.

WHO?
So who exactly are these crazed lunatics, imbeciles and utter morons attacking our London streets? As sad as it is to admit, these ‘youths’ are (in general) British teenagers, who are destroying the businesses in their own neighborhoods – but why ransack your own street? As one 17 year old girl filmed for the BBC news put it “because they’re the rich people ain’t they”, meaning the people whose businesses have been destroyed – I would hardly label a family who run a local supermarket ‘rich’ – rather ‘hardworking’, ‘honest’ and ‘tax-paying’ seem more appropriate!

WHY?
This senseless violence and criminal activity was initially linked to the death of Mark Duggan, however the continued riots have more to do with greed, stupidity and disrespect than with any kind of ‘protest.’ Youths and yes they are mostly ‘young people’ have joined together in some kind of crazed ‘mob mentality’ with the aim of looting and stealing as much as they can, whilst also ‘showing the police we can do whatever we like.’

It is disgusting. It is appalling. 

What now?

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron has now returned from his vacation (don’t ask) and tonight there will be 16,000 police on the streets of London – a move which will hopefully put an end to this unlawful and dangerous behavior…….it is now 3.30pm in London….in just a few hours we will know if the British Metropolitan Police succeed in quelling this ‘unrest.’ I hope so, I really do.

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