The UK riots: Muck up days

Riots. Riots in London, then Birmingham, then Manchester and Bristol. One would have to have their head buried twenty feet under the sand to have not witnessed at least (on TV) one fire, smashed window or debate over the causes of the mayhem that has swept over England this week. “Chavs of the country – fuck off!” read someone’s Facebook status update. Many have been quick to point their finger at their affectionately branded “Council Housed And Violent” countrymen; whether it be to surmise why the poor have resorted to political protest or to accuse the ungrateful youths of today at taking the opening to grab a free pair of Nike trainers. Consider however, that this isn’t a race issue, nor a class issue or even an age issue.

May 26th 2009, the day before ‘leaver’s day’ at a public school in Bath. The students, in cliché public-school manner, refer to it as ‘muck up day’. A decade ago it was an opportunity to cook-up a mischievous plot that would leave teachers confused but laughing. For example, one year a group of students spray-painted three sheep (numbered one, two and four) and whilst this might make animal-rights activists wince, there was some well-placed humour in watching the headmaster race around the school searching for sheep number three. As time passed, the pranks seemed to get darker – another year witnessed the main foyer turned into a beach, decorated with sand, inflatables and a deck-chair. Funny on first glance, but twelve hours later when the porters were still trying to clear the wreckage, it seemed to lack hilarity.

In an attempt to quell the damage that more recent ‘muck-ups’ had induced, the school attempted to institutionalise the event with promises of an ice-cream van, a bouncy-castle and an organised water-fight. Bearing in mind these students were a mixture of seventeen and eighteen year olds, this was a little patronising, but much like when your Nan gives you a knitted jumper for Christmas, you gracefully accept at fear of hurting her feelings.

Some pupils, however, weren’t willing to settle. They wanted to let-loose and cause havoc under the cover of night. Much like the rioters that have plagued the streets of our cities, these students (despite being billed as the future of this country, the next generation of Lawyers, Doctors and Politicians) thought no further than the night of titillating passion. I am able to ride my high-horse, as I was forced to stay at home by my parents, who reminded me that all poor morality aside, if I was caught doing anything (let alone trespassing on school property after hours) I could be prevented from sitting my A-levels or worse, be reprimanded by the police and earn a career-ruining criminal-record for my troubles.

On approach to school, dressed in full-camouflage and with a super soaker in hand, I was presented with a troubled group of teachers who had formed a human barricade to the entrance of the school. “Leaver’s day is cancelled, go home” said our head of year. My friends and I, curious as to what could have possibly led to the abandonment of free ice cream, decided to enter the school from a different entrance. Toilet roll in the trees, shaving foam on the windows, glue in the locks, a recently built wall knocked over, damage to lockers and bins tipped over, and perhaps nastiest of all permanent graffiti, some of which championing Nazi slogans and the Swastika.

Why had a group of well-educated, middle-class students trashed the school that had nurtured them through their formative years? Had the school really treated them that badly? Could a forceful school uniform policy that demanded you to tuck your shirt in everyday justify these actions? The truth is, there was little higher purpose to this mindless vandalism. It wasn’t dissatisfaction with the system, with many students involved in the crimes considered to be star pupils and those that had relished their school days. It wasn’t because they didn’t have much or that they were bored – they were after all the more privileged class with paid-for education.

What then can we learn from this microcosmic example? As opposed to justifying or condemning the actions of the rioters and attributing the causes to a variety of socio-economic or political factors, consider that this may just be an expression of human nature. Why did a group of posh kids destroy their school without considering the consequences? Because there weren’t going to be any consequences – the school could only afford to employ one security guard and with no CCTV, justice was unlikely to be served. This isn’t to raise the burgeoning issue of the British legal system or the actions of the police – but the simple and animalistic observation that reduces the riots to this: if there is no authority to stop you doing something, then at least some (if not all) people will take full advantage of this and behave outside the boundaries that are dictated by everyday society. Much like Ralph and his friends in Lord of the Flies – when left to it, people will do whatever they want, because people are shit.