London / UK Riots

Just in case people have been wondering, the Jesuits in London and across the UK are fine. While some of the rioting has been close to where we live, our religious houses, churches and works have not been attacked. Of course, there is a lot of work to be done with our local communities now.

Rioters set a London bus on fire

Here in Tottenham, where the trouble started, I wasn't actually aware that anything out of the ordinary was going on until I received a call from Fr. Tim Byron SJ, school chaplain at our college in Enfield, around 11pm asking me to turn on the news. Many in the community were actually asleep at the time. Going up to the roof, I could see the flames and smoke in the distance and the helicopter hovering above. The television pictures were rather unexpected.

CarpetRight building in Tottenham the next morning

By then, the news started arriving that rioting had turned to looting. I had hoped things would calm down by next morning, which it did. By then, looters had been at the retail park nearby, where Br. Mick O'Connor, a member of our community, often shops for gardening supplies and stationery. I'd also heard that some of the shops at nearby Wood Green, where I'd been to see Captain America only last week, had also been hit. Monday evening, a visiting Jesuit and I had to look around for a bit to find an open pub and, when we did, were surprised to watch locals with their attention glued to Sky News as events unfolded in Clapham and elsewhere. Just before we entered the pub, I thought they were looking at sporting events. The landlady was clearly in a state of shock and fear.

Police clash with looters in Manchester

What was unexpected was the way social media: Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger would be exploited by would-be looters to organise new disturbances across the capital and then the country the following nights. It took a few days for the police to get on top of the situation but things have calmed down now. Certainly the large assignment of police to the capital, plus the rain, have cooled things down here in London.

In the meanwhile, I'm busy finishing off my dissertation and preparing to move to Limerick, Ireland, for the next stage in my formation - I'll be teaching at the Jesuit comprehensive college there.

Life goes on.