David Cameron's 'Katrina moment'

Members of the British parliament were called back from their vacations for an emergency session yesterday to deal with the country's riots earlier this week. The past two nights have been quiet - a combination of bad weather and a surge in police forces seems to have done the trick. But now the political storm begins, with the public demanding to know how the situation could have gotten so out of control.

The focus of much of the public's ire has been prime minister David Cameron. He was seen to be back-footed during the crisis, spending the first few days of the rioting insisting he would not cut short his vacation in Italy, and only returning to the country after the riots got very serious Monday night. The media has been referring to it as his "Katrina moment", referencing the back-footed response of US president George W. Bush to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The incident is being seen as a defining moment of his premiership, and he has been much maligned for it. The above gag photo of his speech on Tuesday from photoshoplooter illustrates the public's perception of his response.

Cameron has been working overtime to dispel that image over the past few days. In yesterday's emergency session he aggressively denounced the riots, saying the behavior of this bad element of society could not be excused by social factors or circumstances. And though his party often criticised the opposition Labour party for introducing "knee-jerk legislation" after crises during their time in government, he floated no fewer than six new policies. These include a ban on face masks in public, increased curfew powers, allowing courts to ban children from gathering in certain places and, most controversially, he said he is considering allowing temporary bans on social media during times of social unrest.

My first 'gun in the face'

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time considering the fact that London has a much higher crime rate than New York, but I got mugged yesterday evening in South London. Suffice it to say last night was one of the more surreal evenings I’ve had in my life.

Already I knew it was going to be an interesting night because I was finally going to go visit my friend who lives in a boat in the Thames. No, he’s not a pirate, but he sold his flat and bought a sailing boat, and lives in it in a quay next to Canary Wharf. The easiest way to get there from where I live is to take a boat, there’s a public transport boat that runs up and down the Thames called the Thames Clipper. It was almost completely empty, but had amazing views going down the river. I’m thinking when my family comes to visit this weekend I’ll take them on that rather than a boat cruise, it’s faster and cheaper.

When we arrived at the Greenland Pier Dock a few people got off, but it was mostly deserted. It’s a mix of boats docked and really nice flats, generally a pleasant-looking, expensive area. It reminded me of Roosevelt Island actually. My friend was running late to meet me so I went for a walk to explore. I came across this floating bar in a ship called the Wibbly Wobbly. Then my friend showed up. It was 7:30pm.

London hoodies

Josh and I went to lunch yesterday, he's staying at the YMCA down the street from my office while he looks for a flat. We were sitting outside at a café at about the time schools let out, and of course, the madness began. Before long there was a deafening chorus of screaming adolescents, making noises reminiscent of something from Apocalypse Now. I turned to him and remarked, "welcome to London."

We both agreed that one of the first things you notice when moving to London is how obnoxious the kids are. I mean no joke, they're awful! Josh should know, he lived here for a year for school before moving back to New York in November, and now he's moved back.

There's a housing estate next to my office, and every day around 3 pm this cacophony of noise begins from the courtyard, bouncing off the prefabricated walls and pouring through our closed office windows. It honestly sounds like a village of women are getting raped and killed. For some reason, the teenage girls here enjoy screaming at the top of their lungs as if they're getting a red hot poker shoved into them. It's so bizarre.

The first time it happened at the office I jumped up and ran to the window, thinking someone was being attacked. I was so confused when the rest of my office just kept calmly sitting at their desks doing their work. They then explained to me that these were just the mating noises of the "hoodies," teenage hoodlums. Apparently everyone here is just used to it by now.