stop the riots - drink more beer

This is going to sound ridiculous to the great body of 'received opinion' out there, which probably thinks the best way to deal with the wave of looting and rioting sweeping London and spreading to the rest of the UK is to close pubs and stop people drinking.
Well, you're wrong. Listen to the people complaining: they feel they have nothing to do and nowhere to go. And to some extent they haven't. The demise of the traditional pub has coincided with the collapse of our social fabric. Don't scoff. The pub used to be 'the local': it was where people went to chat and meet their neighbours. Now they don't know them and care less if their streets get trashed.
Tim Martin of Wetherspoons has made the very valid point that pubs should be allowed to serve beer, beer only, to 16-year-olds. This is the case in Germany. It allows young people to have somewhere to go and get used to social - rather than binge - drinking. They could be limited to beers with a maximum 3.0 ABV - there are several which are perfectly good and could be sold cheaper to make them affordable.
Think it's ins ace? Well, consider what happens now: young people still drink but they aren't allowed into pubs and couldn't afford much of the pricing, particularly in London, if they were. Instead they buy super strong ciders and extra strength lagers and drink them on the streets, or at the home of a friend whose parents are out for the evening, and then go out and cause trouble.
Surveillance and restriction only get you so far. And that, it has just been proved, is not very far. Create an environment of safe social interaction and you may not solve it but you will help. And don't go back to the old insanity of closing the pubs early and throwing everyone out at the same time: staggered (haha) opening hours, wich many pubs - rather than high priced vodka and lager bars - open later, perhaps to 01.00 or 02.00 (try and find one, those who think we have '24-hour drinking'), not all, just some, so evenings can unwind rather have the door slammed shut.
This isn't a solution, but I believe it could and should be part of the solution. And I think it is about as likely as but sky thinking on a cloudy day.