The Spectator Podcast: Riot chic

On this week’s episode, we talk about “riot chic”, the problem with electric cars, and how women’s sport won our hearts.

Is rioting becoming fashionable? That’s what Cosmo Landesman thinks, in the week after Dalston was rocked by unrest. He believes that the middle classes are swarming to these disturbances to express some apolitical anger – so is he right? Cosmo joins the podcast along with Tom Gash, author of Criminal: The Truth About Why People Do Bad Things. As Cosmo writes:

“The riot chic crowd seek the euphoric rush that comes from combining violence with the feeling that you’re being virtuous. After all, you’re barbecuing someone’s car or throwing a bottle in the name of social justice! If you get clobbered by a police truncheon, well, nothing says you care about inequality like a fat lip from the old bill. Even if you don’t want to be involved in the violence, you can have the pleasure of being near the action, and of filming it on your phone to share on social media.”