Arctic Monkeys rocker Alex Turner has urged the British government to get a grip on the social problems blighting his native U.K.
The growing unrest in Britain was catapulted onto the international stage in August (11) when rioters took to the streets in several cities, looting stores, wrecking property, and torching buildings.
Turner was in the U.S. when the rioting broke out, and he is adamant that although the incidents didn't seem politically motivated, officials urgently need to tackle the root of the problem to avoid further unrest.
He tells Uncut magazine, "They certainly didn't seem to have a focus in the way I am told the riots of the early 1980s did. I mean I wasn't born then, but they say they were much more about politics and not just blokes out on the rob.
"The thing is that, even if you buy what the papers are saying and assume everyone involved is just some mindless thug or whatever they're calling 'em, I think we still need to ask why this country has produced so many mindless thugs.
"I mean you can't just treat this thing as if it was entirely unrelated to anything else. If all these kids are hooligans and thieves, then why are they all hooligans and thieves?"