Advertiser's online survey to mark a year since Croydon riots

“RecFan I like your alternative suggestions such as naming and shaming in this case, and also you other where people who "cheat" the recycling system should be forced out to collect rubbish until they learn the error of their ways.

For too long the chavs have been taken to court and allowed to laugh at their fines complete with payment schemes where they have £1 per week docked from their benefits.”

“Quite right Bagpuss. £42.2 million in council tax uncollected by Croydon Council. Surely it gets to the stage where its better to write the money off than to expend spiralling costs on collection agencies trying to collect what is effectively a bad debt. Have they no sense?

The names and addresses of non payers shopuld be published for all to see.”

“Perhaps if croydon council collected the rates they were owed they might be able to do more for their voters,as i see croydon council is in the top ten councils in the whole country who dont collect their rates owing”

“It's a global market now and knowledge is key.

The days of manual labour trades soaking up loads of poorly educated school leavers is over in the UK.

Either teenagers now grasp the need to gain marketable skills or they face long years of unemployment, often having more children ni turn that they indoctrinate in the same poor outlook.

The riots where a simple crime of oportunity, the same would follow if the police were slack again. Unemployment won't change in areas like north Croydon and neither will the feelings of entitlement that some of the inhabitants sadly have that makes them think the world and the "rich" owe them a living.”

“PeterNT, Actually I was at home watching cricket on tv. I didn't realise it would take so long but was determined to finish... I felt some of the options were stupid so wanted to express my views fully.

Unfortunately I am not retired and still have decades to work. Regarding my comment on standards of living, this mainly relates to the rising cost of living and restrained income growth. Going forwards I see an environment whereby pay rises will always be held to inflation or below (has been this way for most of the last 10 years in many sectors) impacting real income. Actual inflation appears to be way higher than the 'official' figure - anyone who does a weekly food shop can attest to this, driving real incomes down even more. Government wants an ever bigger slice of our incomes, increases taxes, reducing incomes even more. If you add to that the rising costs of all goods, particularly scarce resources like oil (core component of almost everything) there is no good news.

The only way I believe this is going to change is (1) for a complete change in strategy across the corporate climate (i.e. social responsibility before profit - not going to happen), (2) a complete shift in the role of goverment, i.e. a massively reduced state (not going to happen), (3) complete mobility of labour (unlikely)... and there I have to stop as I have a meeting to go to”

“swsquires - out of curiosity, did you not find the survey took a very long time to complete if you were to answer every question and explain your answer?

Are you retired and therefore are happy to say our standard of living has peaked and just accept this?”

“Ivor, excellent post!

People moan and complain about what they are entitled to. Instead they should be scared stiff that we are now in a fully competitive GLOBAL economy. China is already having massive issues due to 400% rises in wage costs and jobs are now flowing out to other even lower cost countries.

In this country we have to accept that our standard of living may have peaked. I guess it is a lesson to work harder at school, work harder at work and make the best of your own life.

Having completed the survey too, I found the structure quite limiting and ended up writing long explanations after every question. I was interested in your point about the highest number of arrests being IC3's as I saw this as being almost a trick question to get some sensationalism headlines. The searches I did seemed to indicate that the highest numbers of arrests (in London) were white in terms of pure numbers, but in terms of arrests per 1000 of the population, the IC3 ratio was 9-10 times that of others. I noticed that there was no option to add a comment on this question - possibly the only one on the entire survey.”

“Good post Ivor even if you do make me jealous as a young person starting out at work.

Wish me luck.”

“Ivor

You deserve your glass of wine for just typing up this post!”

“I did the survey but quite honestly I have seen no changes since the riots. If the police are claiming better community relations then it isn't in our road - I've never seen one. If they have better mobilisation plans then how would we know. If they are borrowing staff from other boroughs then let's hope the riots are few and far between.

If Croydon has done anything then I haven't noticed it while shopping in the Whitgift centre.

I assume it isn't racist for me to quote that 54% of those arrested were IC3 Black African/Afro-Caribbean. Not surprisingly the next largest group (32%) were white - as is most of the population.

The report blames overcrowding, poverty, high levels of crime(?) single parent families, discipline at home etc etc. Well, wake up and smell the coffee - it isn't going to get any better. There won't be any more jobs because people in the UK will not make trainers and T shirts at the hourly rate that the Asian workers will accept. UK residents feel they are entitled to indoor toilets, safe piped drinking water, 7 x 24 electricity, 3 meals a day, decent clothes and a decent house. at the moment the UK government (either of them) continues to pay money to people for staying at home doing nothing. This is getting the UK deeper and deeper in debt until one day (next month, next year, next decade?) the money supply will dry up and everyone can go on strike but the well will have run dry.

I have just bought a micro DV (video) recorder with power supply, USB cable, 3 x holders, lanyard and waterproof case. It took less than a week to arrive by airmail from Hong Kong (no cheap Chinese rubbish for me) and it cost less than £10. If it had been 'made in England' with British labour costs, British factory costs and overheads, delivery costs and British wholesale and retail profit margins I doubt if I would have got change of £50.

As long as 20 million British people like me continue to exercise their choice as to where we buy things then unemployment will continue on its downwards spiral (and I do not mean numbers decreasing), and disaffection will be the norm..

I am now retired, having lost my job twice to Asian outsourcers and part of me is pleased that I do not have to face a long future in declining Western Europe. For the moment I will enjoy switching the light on, turning on the tap and going to the toilet without an umbrella but for those currently in education I recommend learning some practical skills – and I don't mean media studies. Remember – no-one owes you a job. If you feel so strongly then start your own business.......

I'm now going to open a bottle of wine to take onto the patio – I've earned my retirement!”