This weekend I watched Usain Bolt run the 100m as a VIP guest in the Olympic stadium; this time last year I was watching my home town burn in the summer riots. Had I made different choices I could have been watching the race from prison.

We have had some developments, a renewed focus on the area that may not have materialised had the riots started elsewhere. But people still harbour resentment - and perhaps we are lucky that the nation is being held aloft by the tide of the Olympics.

I heard on the radio yesterday a young policeman describing some rioters who had attached Stanley knives to sticks to use as weapons. This is gutting and the new statistics are stomach-churning. One of the things that I remember most from those evenings last year is the fear. That crippling feeling of the unknown. How close to our homes were they going to get? Why?

Gordon Thompson, the arsonist behind the fire at the Reeves store in Croydon during the London riots, has been sentenced to 11 and a half years ...

Gordon Thompson, the arsonist behind the fire at the Reeves store in Croydon during the London riots, has been sentenced to 11 and a half years in pri...

A looter who started a massive fire that destroyed a 140-year-old furniture shop during last summer's riots is due to be sentenced on Wednesday. Th...

A millionaire's daughter has been convicted of burglary as well as driving looters around London during last summer's riots. Laura Johnson, 20, had...

Retailer JD Sports has revealed that more than £700,000 of stock was stolen from 16 of its stores during last month's riots. "We are currently wo...

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry executives are to meet the Home Secretary to discuss whether their users should be blocked when ...

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Scotland Yard has denied claims that officers were ordered to keep every riot suspect behind bars. The force also refuted repo...

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Retailers lost thousands of hours of trading because of this month's riots in cities across England, a survey has shown. Firms...

I was born in West Ham in London's East End before World War II. Continual bombing, collapsing buildings, fire. All these I experienced at an early age. I was aware that people died.

I was born in the pre-Internet Era. In my childhood and adolescence we communicated by regular telephone (the one connected to the wall) and snail-mai...

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- A man who spent nine days in custody charged with setting fire to a clothes store during rioting has been cleared of any wrongdoi...

West Midlands Police have released CCTV footage of gunmen firing at police officers during the widespread disturbances in Birmingham two weeks ago. ...

In the wake of the riots, it was wryly observed by more than one commentator that those of a normally liberal disposition were suddenly getting in touch with their authoritarian side.