London's burning.

The UK riots illustrate the paradigm shift which has taken place, until now surreptitiously, in our society. By choosing to shift the boundaries of crime and punishment in favour of the criminal classes, we have simply disguised reality.

What we are now seeing should not come as a surprise; it is no more than an extension of what we have chosen to ignore for some time, what has been building for years, and what, if we do not stamp it out with all necessary force, will threaten to end law and order as we know it.

This is not a protest against economic failure, against a loss of sovereignty or against declining values. It is a group of people running riot publicly, merely an extension of the way they behave on a day to day basis in their schools, their housing estates and the streets which they have been given by the Police.

They have moved out of their natural habitat and into ours, and it is very very frightening.

But it's nothing new, just more visible. In the UK, to be sent to prison, you must now commit a crime of some severity, or a white collar one. If you transgress on a more ordinary basis, such as shoplifting, mild violence or similar transgressions, then there is no punishment; earnest people will try and assuage your guilt, if indeed you feel any, by understanding what difficult social circumstances drove you to this anti-social behaviour.

It is crime without consequence for those who commit it.

In a prison where inmates significantly outnumber the guards, there is a delivate balance which preserves the peace, brought about by a combination of regime, control and consequence.

This is evidenced on a macro scale in society. We do not have enough Police to contain a full scale national rebellion. Slowly but surely, bit by bit, we have eradicated regime, control and consequence. The preliminary results of this are now being witnessed by the world.

This is Britain's darkest hour. It is a time for leadership, strong and resolute leadership. It is also a time for action. The nest of vipers must be stamped on. Anything but the strongest of messages to would be rioters of the future will fail to deter.

So far David Cameron has fiddled in Tuscany whilst London burns. Mayor Boris Johnson too has been curiously quiet during his foreign sojourn.

Cameron has shown himself time and time again to be a broken reed. Johnson might simply be timing it right to challenge for the Tory leadership. Home Secretary Theresa May has offered little more than words, pathetic words at that. She is hopelessly out of her depth and has entered a state of irrevocable failure.

If the Right cannot stand up to the forces of anarchy, then all is lost. The Left will simply seek to mitigate their activities through a more sensisitive analysis of their motivations.

It is likely the rioting, in time, will die down. There are only so many cellphones and TVs any aspiring youth can own. And that is when Britain's future will be determined.

Based on historical precedent, the authorities will congratulate themselves for containing the situation. A few rioters will be made an example of, and in the ghettos estates of London, Birmingham and Bristol, youths will roll up their sleeves and show the scars they had on this most metaphorical of Crispin's days. They will exchange arcane handshakes, brag to girls of the time they "had one over da pigs", and wait in readiness for the next twitter message on their new smart phone alerting them to when it all starts again.

As Douglas Adams put it, "Don't be afraid, be very afraid"