Thanks for the input, guys. I've written an extremely bitchy and peevish letter, and feel a lot better now.
Re: the riots - I really hate the way that some people just have to turn legitimate reasons for anger and protest into violence for violence's sake. It makes it so easy for the reactionary and scantily informed to simply decide that "protestors" (the number of Facebook statuses I've seen linking these riots with the attack on Tory HQ at the student fee-raising protests is extremely depressing) are simply animals looking for any excuse to kick off. Fucking dick move.