Am I getting soft in my middle age, or are some of the sentences being handed down to the rioters a tad stiff? Justice must be served, of course. Everyone who took part in the riotous violence of recent weeks should feel a copper’s hand on their shoulder. But I’m worried that justice is turning into something like vengeance. That this isn’t just law and order but also a kind of centrist revenge against the lower orders. Am I wrong?
Stacey Vint has been jailed for 20 months for pushing a wheelie bin at a line of riot police before falling flat on her face. She’s an idiot, clearly.
As far as I’m concerned, many of the rioters should be banged up for a long time. Those who joined in the bigoted savagery we saw outside mosques and at hotels housing asylum seekers deserve especially harsh punishment. You cannot inflict terror and alarm on innocent people and expect to waltz back to your old life.
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