The riots as they happened in Manchester

Newsnight yesterday looked at the riots as they happened in Manchester.

It was a mixed sort of feature.  An interviewer went into Manchester social housing estates and asked the "gang" people there why they rioted.  This is a good first step, but people will very rarely tell you the real reason they did something on the first question.  You have to ask the same question several times, in slightly different formats, and eventually when you analyse the replies you will discover clues as to the real motivation.  And often the real reasons have nothing to do with the answers they first gave.  For instance, at one stage one of the rioters blurted out "it was better than sex" - was this just a cliche, or was he unintentionally revealing to us why he became violent? (sex and violence are linked).

In the studio discussion that followed there was a self-important "friend" of the rioters who seemed entirely bogus.  Diane Abbott said a few intelligent things but mostly blathered (medieval riots in London indeed - does she think she is Professor Caroline Barron!).  A shopkeeper wanted exemplary sentences (which are being doled out, so he should be satisfied). 

I wonder if we are missing an opportunity with these riots.  So far there have been about two thousand arrests.  It must be possible to interview each of these people and collect data in a systematic way - we know who they are, where they are (they are in prison), and they are hardly likely to be too busy to talk to an interviewer.  It would be a valuable research project and needs to be done now before rioters post-rationalise their behaviour too much.  But I would favour it being done by a market research company rather than social scientists (who will take years over it).  If done the right way, and a book produced, it might be a best-seller.