A great deal has already been written on the recent outbreak of looting across London and in a few other cities.  Here is a pick of some of the most thought-provoking and agenda-setting contributions so far:

‘The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom’ by Peter Oborne in The Telegraph

‘Tough love: The riots and limits of Liberalism’ by David Goodhart on the Respublica Blog

‘Looters: Them or us?’ by Mike Ovey from Oak Hill College

‘Why didn’t Merthyr Tydfil or East Ayrshire erupt?’ by Stewart Owadally on LabourList

‘The C of E’s response to the riots has cemented its role in society’ by Andrew Brown on Guardian CiF

‘Caring costs – but so do riots’ by Camila Batmanghelidjh in The Independent

‘London riots: the underclass lashes out’ by Mary Riddell in The Telegraph

‘Being liberal is fine, but we need to be given the right to parent’ by Amelia Gentleman in The Guardian

‘We’ve been here before and there is a way back’ by Jonathan Sacks (the Chief Rabbi)

Archbishop’s statement on the UK riots by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

Several recent posts by Jon Kuhrt on his Resistance & Renewal blog are interesting and worth reading.

This video of Sheldon Thomas and Gavin McKenna offers a refreshingly honest and ‘front-line’ view of some of the underlying issues.

And two posts from the other Contextual Theology Centre blogs can be found here and here which detail some responses made by churches across London, and by London Citizens.

It should be emphasised that recommending these articles as agenda-setting contributions does not necessarily imply endorsement of or agreement with the views expressed.