Police armed with cliches battle rioters

Following a weekend of riots and general unrest...

 “The police say they are working tirelessly to identify people who took part in disorder...”

 Are they? Really?  How can anyone work without getting tired – especially if, as I think they probably mean, they are working without rest to get their hands on the people who have been smashing the place up. Bodies like the police force have been making themselves sound dumb for as long as I can remember through the lazy use of cliches.  It gives the impression that they can work as tirelessly as they like, but the results will be what you would expect of a group cliché wielding dummies: unimpressive. 

 It’s a shame because I think the police are better than this.

 It’s not only police arming themselves with cliches. According to pretty much every politician with a comment to make, the trouble in the country at large is down to the “far right” – who are embodied by one individual: Tommy Robinson.  He has left the country – presumably before the police started working tirelessly – but nevertheless, it’s him what done it.  Oh and social media.

 Someone called Adam Kelwick offered a more likely explanation: “I don’t think they knew what they were protesting about – I think they’re just angry, fed up.”  Mr Kelwick’s observation is compelling because it doesn’t reach for an easy explanation – he tells it how he sees it. How we all feel it.

 Yes, there probably are some “far right” thugs.  But this isn’t about politics, it’s about emotions. There was a movie called Network that came out in 1976 which contained a famous speech from newscaster Howard Beale:

 “You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'

 It summed things up back then, and it’s on the money now.