Mr. Scrooge: Are there no prisons?

New York Times reports from London:

"LONDON — The rioting and looting that convulsed poorer sections of London over the weekend spread Monday to at least six new parts of the metropolitan area and broke out for the first time in another big city, in what appeared to be the worst outbreak of social unrest in Britain in 25 years.       

Prime Minister David Cameron, apparently caught off guard while on vacation at a $10,000-a-week Tuscany villa, made plans to quickly return home...."

Flashback:

SCROOGE: Are there no prisons?
2ND MISSIONARY: Plenty of prisons, sir.
SCROOGE: And the workhouses? Are they still in operation?
1ST MISSIONARY: They are.
3RD MISSIONARY: I wish we could say that they are not.
SCROOGE: The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?
1ST MISSIONARY: Both are very busy, sir.
SCROOGE: Oh! I was afraid from what you said at first that something had stopped
them in their useful course. I am very glad to hear they are still operating.
2ND MISSIONARY: (Not looking up.) A few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to
buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth because at this time the want is
more keenly felt.
3RD MISSIONARY: What shall I put you down for?
SCROOGE: Nothing.

And there we are in 2011. The more things change, the more they are the same.

Hans