Burned out cars, riot police on the streets, newsflashes on all the news channels.

Lozells has kicked off again.

It's a rather scary suburb some six miles from where I live and to be honest, it's not somewhere I've been - I've travelled through it and seen the scars of the last riots, in 1985, but I've never had reason or inclination to go there.

Y'see there's a high population of gangs in the area - the gangs that were responsible for the driveby shooting of a couple of teenage girls last New Year. And yesterday a woman was attacked. There was a hastily arranged public meeting, which led to racially - and gang - motivated rioting, the death of at least one person and injuries galore.

To be honest, it could have been worse. And it probably will be in the weeks to come as vendettas are repaid quietly and bloodily.

Sometimes it's wonderful fun living here.