As the size, scale and sheer scariness of the riots unfolded live on rolling news, like just about everyone else living on this island I was dumbfounded. And as the violence and looting spread north and the names of the cities affected were chimed off by newsreaders like bells – Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham – I thought it was only a matter of time before another was added: Glasgow. In my mind's eye I could already see the footage of Easterhouse and Drumchapel in flames.

But hours passed. Then days without Scotland's biggest city, or indeed any other north of the border, getting a mention. As a Glaswegian I was relieved of course, but also somewhat confused. Why didn't Glasgow burn?

Alex Salmond, never one to miss an opportunity to score a few cheap points, seemed to think it was because there is a "different" society in Scotland. By "different", one can probably assume he meant "better". A crass and risky response, to be sure. But let's take politics out of it – the answer to why Scotland, specifically Glasgow didn't riot doesn't lie in Holyrood, or Westminster for that matter.

On the face of it the city was a dead cert to go up like a tinderbox. Social deprivation on a grand scale and serious gang problem? Tick. Recession causing unemployment and hardship? Oh yes. Shocking inequalities between rich and poor? Right again. Yet the city remained calm.

Some commentators have suggested this was due to Strathclyde police's relatively successful anti-gang initiative, which has seen a 50% reduction in gang violence in some of the worst-affected areas in the housing estates to the east and north of the city. It would be heartening to think this was the case, if only because it would offer some hope to residents in Tottenham, Hackney, Winson Green and elsewhere. Sadly the reasons why Glasgow's gangs didn't go bonkers are more complex and just as depressing in their own way.

Officers with experience in the field say the nature of gang violence in Glasgow is completely different to that of London and Manchester. For a start, it's primarily all about the fighting. Not drugs, gun-running or bling, just what cops north of the border call "recreational" violence. The pure enjoyment of the fight, Clockwork Orange-style. Guns aren't prevalent in Glasgow but knives certainly are, which in itself changes the nature of the violence.

Glasgow's gangs aren't hierarchical in the way they often are in London or Manchester – who needs a formal structure when all you want to do is smash in your rival's face for a "pure buzz"? The drugs of choice among the young and deprived in Glasgow are also relevant. No matter how strong your constitution, heroin and excessive alcohol are not conducive to having the motivation to get off the sofa and go looting a couple of miles away.

Urban planning is important, too. What shocked many Scots when watching the riots is the fact that wealthy people in London live cheek by jowl with serious deprivation. In Scotland's cities the vast housing schemes are mostly on the outskirts, far away from the bustling city centres and clearly separated from the affluent areas. There are no "high streets" in the schemes to steal from and getting around takes considerable effort.

Then there's the specific brand of territorialism displayed by Glasgow's gangs. Often gang members can't step outside the street in the housing scheme where they live for fear of a kicking, never mind wandering round other areas or venturing "into the town". The gangs hate each other far more than they want a free pair of trainers or a telly. Burning down their own patch is unthinkable – too dangerous from a territorial point of view.

And they hate each other more than they hate the police, too. On a positive note, forces in Scotland do not carry the same racial baggage as in London and other English cities. Wee "neds" (a term similar in connotation to "yob") don't get stopped and searched because of the colour of their skin. The vast majority of gang members, of course, are white. Of the 400,000 stop-and-searches that took place on Strathclyde police's massive beat last year, no complaints were made. What would the Met give to change places on that score?

One cop I spoke to had a different, more prosaic take on why the riots didn't reach Scotland. "The rain was bloody torrential, biblical, for days," he said. "What wee ned's going to leave the comfort of his X-Box and his bottle of Buckfast for that?" Well, he's got a point.

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