Yes it was very frightening indeed for us, the people who live close to the troubled areas, and our anxious relatives.. Four nights of constant police sirens and helicopters. Broken shop windows and despairing shop keepers who cannot afford to lose the business. One described the youths as "feral rats", which gets close to the heart of the matter. It seems the social order, the fabric of our society is entering meltdown.

Next morning, 50 students turned up with brooms volunteering to help clean up one area. In 24 hours, 18,000 people were offering their support and services. Articulate victims were talking with sanity, moderation and intelligence. Police proved wide awake and organised, tapped into the mobile phone circuit, able to head off trouble. Social order was quickly re established along with a chorus of affirmation of core moral values.

This is the two headed modern society, action and reaction fast and fluid, formless, seemingly disconnected from any kind of moral compass. The police are very clear that the core of the rioters are well known, existing gang members. These are largely sociopathic and violent, choosing to live in their own parallel society, getting by on small drug deals and theft, their ambitions tied to possession of the latest fashion in training shoes, mobile phones, video games, drug fixes and Miami style clubbing.

Let us be very clear: it is not about poverty or deprivation, or the economic situation. These are people with cash in their pockets. It is not about race, there were as many English white rioters as black. (But not Middle Eastern or Asian where family values are still strong and education is a goal). It is more about the breakdown of the family, failures in the educational system and alienation from society. These people just do not care. They live entirely for the next fix, whether from adrenalin or from coc