It’s probably still too soon for enough perspective to make a truly balanced judgement on the causes of and responses to this week’s rioting.

Predictably, we are beginning to see the emergence of familiar unhelpful polarisations in the media and political response to these events: on the one hand an “authoritarian” response that sees it as an issue of simple criminality, on the other a “liberal” reaction that stresses the socio-economic and political alienation of the people involved. Each critiques the other, for ignoring the complexity of underlying causes, or for excusing or justifying acts of violent criminality.