For black Britons, this is not the 80s revisited. It’s worse | Joseph Harker | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/11/black-britons-80s-mps-media?mobile-redirect=false
So no, this is not 1981. In many ways it’s worse. Those riots were in their own way aspirational – people thought things could get better. This time all the indicators seem to be pointing downwards.