Millions have been spent on it since Labour took over four years ago. The council has tried most of the textbook improvements, and that's what rankles. I didn't have much chance, but now when I say I'm from Marsh Farm I'll have no chance whatever, will I? We've been seen on nationwide telly."Everyone was keen to blame a handful of rotten apples, as the crime rate on the estate has been falling and most of the residents I spoke to liked the place, with few applications for a transfer out. Another resolute optimist tried to find comfort in the fact that the riot was truly multiracial - black, brown and white lobbing petrol bombs together in happy harmony.The real damage done is to the reputation of the place and its 3,500 inhabitants One 17-year-old said bleakly, "I'm leaving school soon.

But one middle- aged woman said, "But do you know what some of the young lads did? They delivered looted tins of food to the old folks nearby, bless their cotton socks." Looking for good in the midst of disaster is a common impulse, though others were scornful of this Robin Hood myth. Kwiksave, the only supermarket on the estate, was having its looted shop front repaired after armloads of bottles and food were swept off the shelves. The loss of the shop caused most fury among residents, who had nowhere else to go. After three nights, the police said they had regained control, but the rave organisers Exodus claimed the glory of ending the riots by staging an impromptu rave nearby, which drew 1,500 young people away from the estate on Saturday night and calmed them down.A week or so later, the damage didn't look too bad.

The primary school, which lost several classrooms, had reopened. Some said 12-year-olds were joyriding all over the place in stolen cars that they later burnt out. A photographer from the Luton News was coshed and a TV crew was knocked to the ground and had their camera stolen.The MP John Carlisle turned up next morning and had eggs and potatoes thrown at him. A policeman was stabbed (saved by body armour), 16 boys were arrested, all the public buildings were fire-bombed or stoned: the library, the three schools, the Jubilee Community Centre, part of the shopping centre.

The SWP, who are out there every Saturday morning selling the Socialist Worker, rushed out an inflammatory anti-police leaflet and everyone was ready for a night of fun. On the second day, when the worst damage was done, older young men took over - those arrested were in their late teens and early twenties. Some young people telephoned skinhead friends from Birmingham and London to join in the fun. On Thursday morning, the camera crews who had missed the action turned up and began asking the kids what was going to happen next. One was seen egging on children to attack a school, according to Roy Davis, leader of Luton Council, and the local police inspector. The boy was threatening people at the school with a knife when a teacher recognised him and called the police. (As a result, that school was the worst hit later on.) As he sat on a mountain bike among his friends, a swarm of panda cars descended and swept him away.