Why did England alone suffer from this week's riots?

The Guardian has reported that Alex Salmond, backed by Scottish National party MSPs and party activists, complained about the media and social media reporting of the "UK riots" when no Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish city has been involved.

On Wednesday, BBC News 24 amended its onscreen titles, headlining its coverage as "England riots". Sky News is continuing to title its coverage "UK riots".

Mr Salmond said Scottish society was different to England's, implying that riots were much less likely in Scotland. Referring to the riots being UK-wide increased the risks of copycat riots and risked damaging Scotland's reputation as a tourism destination, he told BBC Radio Scotland.

"We know we have a different society in Scotland, and one of my frustrations yesterday was to see this being described on BBC television and Sky as 'riots in the UK,'" he added.

The CEI agrees with Mr Salmond that there is a fundamental difference between Scotland and England which goes far to explain why England alone has suffered so badly from the recent riots.

Here's a clue...

The youth of Scotland are very effectively encouraged by the Scottish government, the Scottish First Minister, the Scottish Civil Service and a wide range of Scottish national institutions to hold and value a Scottish identity.

Why would the youth of Scotland wish to riot and trash their own society and nation?

In England by contrast, the British state seeks to impose a woolly and meaningless 'British' identity on those who live here, and actively encourages those from minority communities to treasure their differences from the rest of us.

This is not just a matter of a wretchedly poor policy, but is part and pacel of the way the British elites seek to avoid having political accountability to the the people of England.   Instead these elites claim to represent the 'British nation' - and as no such nation exists ... so they avoid accountability.

We will see in the next few weeks the British elites - working hard to cover their backs - ordering review after review, investigation after investigation and enquiry after enquiry into the riots.  No need for these.

The British elites hold total power in England - they run our education system, the state broadcaster the BBC, our welfare state, our immigration policies and our police forces.

The riots in England are just as much the personal responsibility of the British elites as are the long list of shortcomings in other policy areas under their control.