From a friend from Manchester:
Yes it’s been terrible. It’s not so much rioters, it’s just looters. These kids have seen that the rioters in London have managed to get tellys and mobiles and thought that they would like to get some free stuff too. It all started because a fella in London was shot dead by police: but the kids in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds and Birmingham have no connection to that. The even sadder thing is that last night the BBC reported that there were women following the news crews round Manchester carrying bags and asking where the shops that had been smashed up were… hoping to cash in on some free loot. Shocking.