Cycled home round the back of Peckham last night - pretty weird as loads of people out and about (many looking for non existent buses) - lots of riot police and abandoned buses - lots of smoke from the shop on fire. Surreal atmosphere which no doubt changed after dark. Given all the CCTV camera around everywhere someone is going to be taking a long time to look at all the footage to match up clothing to those masked looters. Saying that many think they don't have much to loose as times are still tough in areas like Peckham. Looks like those long sentences given out to some of the student demonstrators didn't give much of a deterrent.

We live in very sad times and both Cameron and Boris are going to have to go some way to get out of this one. Perhaps we should take lessons from the French police - they don't mess around watching things happen - straight in with the batons and off with those identifying numbers.

Now scared as work in Epsom and offices have been told to go home, large police presence. The local Merc garage has removed all cars from forecourt and barricaded the showroom!

Good grief, wouldn't expect trouble in Epsom.

Glad to say trouble not hit Sidcup yet, but then we've only got funeral parlours and charity shops here.

What would Judge Dread do in this situation ? I certainly don't think there would be any copy cats riots.

im safe in uxbridge ''''i hope

The little s**ts in Ealing last night smashed up an Oxfam, FFS!

This has nothing to do with political views, or economics, or unemployment, or bleak futures. This is the culmination of thirty years of social degradation, and we've reached the point where these kids have no concept of society, or community, or respect for other people. They see something and they want it, so they take it. It's been simmering below the surface for years now, only really being noticed when someone innocent gets caught up in a gang-related incident. What's changed over the last few days is that these kids have realised that if enough of them are doing it, and in different locations, then there is nothing the police can do to stop them. They might get caught later via CCTV but that doesn't occur to them 'cos they're too thick. All they can see is what's right in front of them.

Hope they all get caught and shot.

The police were perfectly capable of protecting the Treasury on Whitehall during the so called "student riots" last year.

Tesco's near Sidcup station shut early tonight - a lot of their shops have been hit so far, I know a few people who work there, its usually open til 11 but today was shut by 5!

Time to send for Gene Hunt! Sort these little s out once and for all - he'd do a lot more good that Boris and his sodding broom!

Couldn't agree more. All this could just as easily have erupted three or four years ago when the economy was still booming. It's nothing to do with the recession, as the likes of Ken Livingstone (speaking on BBC News last night) would have us believe.

These vermin aren't "disenfranchised" or "frustrated", they just think they deserve the same material trappings as decent hard working people without having to work for them or earn them for themselves. They're just parasites living off the rest of us, and always will be. It's quite scary to think so many of them have been living amongst us all the time, and they've suddenly burst out of the sewer together when they think they've got enough safety in numbers. I don't want to hear any touchy-feely solutions, I want them to be made to take the consequences for their own actions. Anyone unable to comprehend that torching shops with flats above them may kill people in their own homes doesn't deserve any sympathy at all and should be charged with attempted murder.

If you've got a couple of thousand people in one area then it's easier to control the situation by concentrating resources on the scene. Boots on the ground, helicopters overhead, horses to corral and intimidate, cameras everywhere. Hem the protestors in and then pick them off one by one.

What we've had recently is groups of 1-200 springing up almost out of nowhere, doing their thing, and then buggering off. And it was happening in a dozen locations, so the old bill were running around town being made to look stupid (not always that difficult to do admittedly). They're relying on there being a lot of CCTV footage so they can round people up in the weeks to come.

Breathing easier, Epsom in one piece as far as I can see.

Worrying parts is though nearby in Coulsdon a gun shop was 'targeted'.

Was a lot calmer last night in London although that wasn't the picture elsewhere. I hope we've seen the worst of it.

Think we've seen the worst of it to be honest....now the scummy chavs know they've been caught on CCTV, that the police are going to treat them far worse and that in general EVERYONE hates them...they will stop.

I just worry how many of them will get away with it and just continue being a parasite of society.....you know they'll be some slimy lawyer(s) that will defend them.