Self-appointed chronicler of the capital Peter Ackroyd (about whom in the past I've been less than complimentary) has one of the more level-headed views of the riots:
"I don't like those commentators who keep on saying that London will never be the same again. London is always the same again. I remember those comments were made very loudly after the [July 2005] terrorist attacks – 'London will never be the same again, London has lost its innocence' – it was all nonsense. London was exactly the same again the following day. "Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There's hardly a spate of years that goes by without violent rioting of one kind or another. They happen so frequently that they are almost part of London's texture. The difference is that in the past the violence was more ferocious, and the penalties were more ferocious – in most cases, death."
Though this is odd:
Speaking in a book-lined office near King's Cross, London, within walking distance of where the rioting began…
It's a long long walk from King's Cross to Tottenham.
Mick Hartley 
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