The news agenda of the last fortnight has naturally been dominated by the recent riots, and by the responses of both the Government and the Opposition.

The Government's initial reaction has been to decry the disturbances in broad terms and to propose a number of centrally-driven, nationally-applicable policy responses. These range from the expansion of the National Citizen Service, to a call for zero-tolerance policing, and the establishment of an independent ‘communities and victims' panel of inquiry.