The Liverpool Times

The murder of gang leader Liam Smith, (Smigger) aged 19 saw dozens of local Norris Green shops have to close down for fear of retribution on the day of the funeral. The police never stepped in to keep the shops open - working out that that they could stop trouble only as long as they were there, with some numbers, and with backup. This would be a costly exercise which could easily have escalated. Graffiti was daubed over shops and premises honouring ‘Smigger’. Bunches of flowers were tied to concrete posts. The Liverpool Echo, done a fair trade in obituaries.

Many people expect a revenge attack at some point, as the shooting is linked to an ongoing spat between two warring gangs who are looking to outdo the previous generations of gangsters by using more violence and being more predatory in their own areas. Up and down the UK working class people, black white, Asian and Muslim are saying the same thing – these kids and young men have no fear of the law and many people expect riots to sweep across the UK in the near future.

In some areas the gangs openly challenge the police and intimidate the council into looking the other way as criminal empires are born. All over the U.K. de facto no go areas are common and sadly, we see this going along the lines of racial boundaries. The kids often establish their reputations in school by bullying and pushing people around and then find that bullying the local community in various ways can pay massive dividends.

Young kids and men attending the funeral wore black t-shirts with the word ‘soldier’ printed on them. The kids wearing those black T Shirts are making a statement which is glorifying the gang culture that led to their mate being shot, at close quarters, by a shotgun. There is no glory in being murdered in such circumstances but we have a growing culture in the UK in which reverse values kick in and being shot might well be seen as a heroic death.

The police reaction to the threats to close shops and pubs was to basically sit back and keep a low profile. As stated at the start of this article, the police can only protect a shop or premises if they are there on duty 24/7 with backup. Contrast this to the Dockers Strike of 1995, when Merseyside police were on permanent duty to protect the right of Merseyside Docks and Harbour Company to go about its lawful business. The police stood their ground as they do in every strike – but a gang in Norris Green have faced them down and forced their hand in no small way.

This is a clear example of how the law will do its utmost to protect the big bosses but will turn a blind eye to small businesses and ordinary people who struggle to make an honest living. The small shops in Norris Green had to close and the police did not get a go ahead from the Home Office or some nod off the accountants to make a stand to prevent it. A threat against small local businesses from a gang is not important enough to send an army of police in to tackle the threat.

New labour has bought terrorism in many forms to the UK but whereas political terrorism grabs the headlines, the campaign of terrorism in many working class communities is left ignored to develop as the kids and young men fight it out for the prize of reigning over a few postcode areas. For the most part, as long as they don’t kill each other, they will be tolerated and a few will prosper. The cycle repeats itself each year as kids spill out of local schools, minus the GCSE’s and get up to no good.

Back in July 1994, Blairs acceptance speech for leadership of the Labour party stated the following…

“[it is] Wrong that we live in a society where our elderly are terrified in their own homes, women can’t walk in the streets at night, and children can get drugs even in the school playground, and right that we are tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime and Labour will make our communities safe for people to live in.”

For Norris Green and many other parts of Liverpool, the promises uttered by Blair have failed to materialise.