Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Russell Brown,
Which, of course, applies to the looters themselves.
Quite - and that should have been "just because you can do something, it doesn't immediately follow that you should." Really don't think it was a good look for an insurance industry umbrella group to be feeding journalists a story like that today of all days. I don't pretend to be an expert in British insurance law, but I would suggest I have some idea of what a PR FUBAR looks like.
Even if Grahame Trudgill is right on the point of law, it's rather tasteless (and ill-judged) to be talking about suing Police for "compensation" when every news bulletin is full of reports of Police resources being stretched to breaking point, and angry victims complaining that they felt abandoned while their communities were trashed. It's not only vulgar, but just feeds the perception that the insurance industry uses trade paperbacks of The Walking Dead as corporate training manuals.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
The police choosing to ignore the law is one of the main causes of the trouble. Are you saying we need more of that?
Don’t be bloody silly, Rich. But if they have grounds to challenge such claims, I’m not sure the insurance companies would enjoy either the moral high ground or much public sympathy. And judging from the story Steve linked to, many insurance carriers are just going to pay out and not buy themselves a bad PR shit storm.
Anyway, I think a British or European judge would decide that an insurance company, or anyone else, was entitled to the benefit of the law as it’s written, not as interpreted in the light of the parties perceived popularity.
Probably, but I think there might be one or two folks in Hackney who could take a couple of nano-seconds and come up with better uses for a hundred million pounds of public money. Don't think insurance companies socialising their losses while privatising the profits will be too high on the wish list. Because I'm entirely cynical enough to presume any compensation will not be passed on to riot-affected policy holders through premium reductions etc.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Don’cha just love those cuddly little insurance companies?.
Oh, I’d love to see the Met respond with a terse Blackberry message along these lines: “C ya in court, fuck-bags. Ur even less popular than us. XXOX” Seriously, what is it with insurance companies and self-inflicted PR disasters?
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Kumara Republic,
While the rioters have a right to be pissed off, their anger is horribly uncoordinated,
Yeah, they should have gone on-line, done some research and torched some slightly more up-market postcodes. Yes, that’s hostile and sarcastic. But I’ve long since hit the point where its not only Daily Mail columnists who should take a long pull on a double tall shutthefuckupachino.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Russell Brown,
Smaller labels and individual artists – like the Phoenix Foundation – will find it harder.
And they're the very people who didn't have "product" go up in flames, but their passion and commitment. Even if you're not a big fan of the music, you've got to respect people who do the hard yards to build something they love and it's just soul-sucking to see it so casually destroyed.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Russell Brown,
I’m continuing to find good reporting much more compelling than any amount of hand-wringing analysis.
Quite – and it’s good reporting that make a solid foundation for analysis that isn’t just pure wank or the author’s pet political barrow being taken out for a Sunday drive.
It seems that insurance should cover a good deal of it, but it’s going to take these people a while to get back in business.
There are PASers who know the lie of the land better than I, but can’t help but wonder how many of these artists and small labels just won’t be able to get back on their feet even if they’re fully insured. Hope I’ve totally misread things.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to 3410,
You can always rely on the New Zealand Herald to bring the flatuous boobery, can’t you?
ETA: Flatuous. That's a typo to keep - flatulence + fatuous = NZ Herald!
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Peter Darlington,
Well done to those people. Calmly and clearly telling him that he'd failed.
Meh... Part of me says that being a scratching post is just part of Johnson's job; and without some trussed up looters to kick the shit out of, he's the best option on offer. But, honestly, if I'd been in their position nobody could have said or done anything that would have made me happy.
-
Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Penny Red suggests people help with #riotcleanup. Maybe that is how the community will win.
That would be nice, but after listening to the chap on the radio news who said "It took ten years to build what they smashed in ten minutes" I can't think too harshly of anyone who wakes up and says I don't even want to get out of bed any more.
-
And I hope you'll both excuse me if I'm a little snappy - I'm a little on edge because I'm in the same position as Craig, having family and friends living in several of the areas now getting mentioned.
And even if I didn't, I find something a little distasteful about crapping on about "pre-revolutionary acts" on the other side of the planet when the folks who used to work here probably weren't slumming with the proles but trying to make a fucking living.
And, no: Still not caring where David Cameron is.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 264 265 266 267 268 … 1235 Older→ First