Guido hears that an order from the top brass over at High Street Ken has gone out demanding that Mail hacks wrap things up an hour early so they can all get back to the comforts of suburbia before nightfall. Canary Wharf is emptying too.

There is also a rumour doing that the rounds that Television Centre over at White City is shutting up shop early…

It is next to Westfield shopping centre to be fair…

That’s not a headline Guido ever expected to write. Les Lawrence, who is in charge of kids and yoof for Birmingham Council, has said those trashing his city centre, stealing anything that wasn’t nailed down and generally causing mayhem, should be spared punishment. It seems he got the hug a hoodie memo about five years too late. Instead of locking up rioters, Lawrence wants the police to take away their X-Boxes and TVs. Presumably their old ones as well as the ones that they stole yesterday?

Coincidently the Tory councillor’s partner is the delectable Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT union…

Two videos have surfaced this afternoon to remind you that things might just be alright out there after all. Firstly, this is what London is up against:

And secondly, something you don’t see everyday:

Stephenson and Yates must be spitting blood…

Head over to Catch a Looter to see if you can identify any of these scumbags…

UPDATE: Not wanting to miss out on the fun, the Met have uploaded their own version to Flickr.

Number 10 has just confirmed that if Dave is having his holiday ruined, so is everybody else in Westminster. Technically the Prime Minister has all the powers that he needs to shut down the chaos with the army, yet politically it makes sense to bind in Miliband to any decision to made. It will make it a lot harder for Labour to put pictures of boots on the high street on their leaflets…

UPDATE: Finally the BBC are running the recall, which is pencilled in for Thursday morning at 11:30.

PM recalls Parliament over riots—
BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 09, 2011

Rumour: Parliament to be Recalled on Thursday: From a usually reliable source…
Breaking…

http://bit.ly/poIeQo—
Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) August 09, 2011

Nearly an hour after Guido broke the news. We were faster than Sky, before well connected GPW, long before C4 News’ Cathy Newman or HuffSlo. That’s why we’re Number 1…

From a usually reliable source…

Breaking…

Melanie Phillips blogs on the London riots…

“What we are seeing, in the sluggish and unprepared reaction of the police and political class to these events, compounded by their serial failure to grasp from previous such disturbances just what is going on here, is a catastrophic combination of professional inertia and incompetence, serial eyes off the ball, paralysing political correctness, an apparent reluctance to identify, name and deal with subversive activity, a capital’s police force in systemic disarray, a criminal justice system that has become an insulting joke, a refusal from the top to draw clear lines in the sand and to exercise moral and political leadership, a pandering instead to mob rule, tyro politicians who have never had a grown-up job and couldn’t run the proverbial whelk-stall let alone get a grip on a culture teetering on the edge of the cliff, a third-rate civil service machine that no longer can be relied on to keep the show on the road, a culture of narcissistic selfishness on an epic scale and a general breakdown in education, morality and elementary codes of civilised behaviour, much of it deliberately willed on for the past three decades by a grossly irresponsible and politically motivated intelligentsia that set out to smash the West.”

As embers smoulder across London, fingers of blame are going to be pointed. While there’s no doubt this spread spontaneously beyond anyone’s wildest plans, leaflets found in the broken glass show this hasn’t been a completely disorganised effort:

Guido is looking into what exactly law firm Bindmans knew about their contact details making it on to these leaflets:

For anyone heading to places where riots are: 1) Mask up. Properly, not just a hood. 2) Bindmans solicitors if you get nicked: 02078334433—
The Third Estate (@thethirdestate) August 08, 2011

It’s pleasantly surprising to see some of the usual agitators condemning what is the logical consequence of their rhetoric, but many leftists are still cranking things up. Take the Anti-Cuts Space:

“We offer unapologetic solidarity and support to those involved in the UK uprisings these past nights. This sentiment extends to both the rioters and to those communities affected by them…

…When the working class community begins such a fight, there can be no doubt where loyalties should lie: With ALL of them and against the police and government.”

“Bloomsbury Fight” who came to prominence during the student protests last year were ecstatic as it started to look like their dreams are coming true:

LONDON IS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BLACK BLOC #londonriots #clapham #hackney #chalkfarm #lewisham—
Bloomsbury Fight! (@BloomsburyFight) August 08, 2011

And who did firebrand Labour MP John McDonnell find to blame? The bankers of course…

Reaping what has been sown over 3 decades of creating grotesquely unequal society,with alienated young copying ethos of looting bankers.—
John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) August 08, 2011

¡Viva la Revolución!