Riots on the Streets of London, Manchester, Birmingham ...

We're thinking ... what performance paradox?

Well it's been an interesting few days living in the UK, the riots have really shown a strange 'negative' side to the country. Then there is the social media side of things and the miss direction to BBM (black berry messenger). The one and only point to make is that people make riots not technology! 

A more interesting use of the Government's e-petition service. This is where if 100,000 people sign up for a petition it will get referred to the backbench business committee. The petition calles for:

"No taxpayer should have to contribute to those who have destroyed property, stolen from their community and shown a disregard for the country that provides for them," the petition argues.

Interestingly when i went to visit the website to see how many people had voted, at 5pm it was 78k, and when i tried at 8pm i got the following message:

I have a feeling this might be the first petition to be voted on by members of parlement.

Now onto twitter posts:

Are you close to a riot? ... Enter your postcode to find out http://bit.ly/p3J0rY  #londonRiots #prayforlondon #manchesterRiots #history

This was a repost of an item i had seen earlier in the day. The link is to a JBSports shop finder, they had been targetted during the riots. Yet another sign of how social media is the chosen methord of expression.

The last comment i'm going to leave to @acarvin:

Riot=uprising? Really? RT @basheerMoh: we must support youth uprising everywhere & london is an example they want social right equality

More information:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14434552 - - In picturers: Riots in Tottenham
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14474429 - Top e-petition demands axing of benefits for rioter
• http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions?order=desc&sort=count&state=open - UK Gov e-petitions website
• http://www.jdsports.co.uk/store-finder -- the riot finder!
• http://urbanmashup.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/the-london-riots-and-blackberrys-bbm-part-2/ - blog post re BBM
• https://twitter.com/#!/acarvin - the hugly respected journalist and influential twitter commentor

UPDATE: 11th August

The BBC is reporting that the e-Petition on the UK Government's website has reached the magic 100,00 votes. It has also gone back into "temporary unavliable" mode ... stating 

The e-petition entitled “Convicted London rioters should loose all benefits” has now passed the threshold of 100,000 signatures and has been passed to the Backbench Business Committee to consider for debate. It will continue to be available for signature once the site is re-opened.

This petition really does seem to of capturerd the imagination of the online community. 

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14474429 - BBC artical detailing the e-petition reaching 100,000 votes

UPDATE: 18th August

I found the image while working around on the web, made me laugh. Solid evidence that the London/UK wide riots even streatched online and touched Google UK: