The police claim the witness was specific enough for a full armed response before the guy got home on the bus. Either the bus service is very, very bad or they are sitting around waiting for this on a regular basis. Try getting the police to respond to a normal incident like a mugging or burglary and it seems like weeks before they can mobilise.

Everything about this screams out how wrong our society is. Like you say, this is now a person who is ruined for life with no real ability to seek recompense. If the guy had any sense he would be taking legal action against the police, then the police should be taking action against the busybody who felt an MP3 player was armed and dangerous.

As to the summer of rage itself – I doubt it, people are too apathetic. Gone are the days when stop and search caused riots, now we are so scared of the evil terrorist that anything goes – as long as it has some vague “protect the public” or even protect the children nonsense.