export_ofoct.com - 2020-05-30T105148.219

[00:00.62] Todd: OK, so Julia, I thought we would talk about social unrest.

[00:04.37] Julia: OK.

[00:05.87] Todd: So recently in the news, there has been a lot of protests, there's been some riots and I believe in your country you actually had riots recently.

[00:13.37] Julia: We did, yeah, in the summer last year, yeah.

[00:16.12] Todd: That was in London?

[00:17.62] Julia: That was in London and in a few of the other cities around the UK as well. It spread to other cities but mainly centered in London, yeah.

[00:26.12] Todd: So what was your perspective of the riots?

[00:28.12] Julia: Well we, actually, we were just visiting home and so we just arrived in London right as that all kicked off.

[00:36.12] So actually I was quite shocked and of course, a lot of my friends here were a little bit worried because they knew we were flying into London and London is suddenly all over the news and not in a good way.

[00:49.62] A lot of violence and quite shocking imagines.

[00:51.37] You don't think, when you think of London you don't think of people wearing balaclavas and smashing windows and behaving in this violent way.

[00:58.87] Todd: So it was pretty shocking?

[01:01.37] Julia: It was quite shocking but after being there I think within a week it had calmed down and I think the response from the police was very good and from the public was very good and from the media generally it was also very good so it wasn't such a big deal in the end.

[01:22.62] It was, it wasn't a political movement, it wasn't people protesting anything specific, it was just a kind of unbridled violence so it didn't gain any support.

[01:41.37] Todd: Right, so it was just basically kind of releasing maybe youthful angst or kind of built up aggression?

[01:49.12] Julia: Tensions of some, yeah, some kind but because it was all focused around consumer goods and a desire to rob stores of products like shoes and TVs and nobody really took it very seriously.

[02:10.12] You know, I want a pair of Nikes so I'm going to smash this window doesn't really gain much momentum as a movement.

[02:20.37] Todd: So there was a lot of opportunism?

[02:23.12] Julia: Absolutely. I think that's pretty much all it was, yeah.

[02:25.87] Todd: So do you think it's going to happen again in the future?

[02:29.62] Julia: No, I don't think so, no, because of the way the public responded and the way it was handled, I don't think it's the kind of thing that would gain momentum again. I don't, I think it was a one-off.

[02:43.37] Todd: Yeah, a one and done deal?

[02:45.12] Julia: I think so, yeah.

[02:46.12] Todd: Well that's good.

[02:47.12] Julia: I hope so.