[triplesec]

The riots were in 2011. The punishments were for a different thing. Still, these were really bad punishments. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/16/uk-riots-four-year... . The UK policing approach is more of a middle-class order authoritarianism, "we want to stop this rotten bunch of oiks" rather than "my ego and promotion are founded on jailing anyone I can find", which seems to be the case in much of the US. Nobody was nabbed for just bantering, though, as it seems this kid was, although "just a restraining order" suggests some queries. But knowing what the US cops are (in)capable of, I'm appalled again by the system where they want to put as many people in jail as possible. This was, however, excessive.

A note on rhetoric: I'm glad you mentioned this because I'd forgotten about those convictions. But please Do give links as justification, because you do your arguments a disservice by loose argumentationm and hyperbole.

[toyg]

Apologies, my internal sense of time basically became just a long blur after my first child in 2009 :)

I take your point on sourcing.