August
So as far as I know there hasn’t been a single window broken in Sutton Poyntz, nor even a solitary cocktail stirrer looted from the Springhead inn. Nevertheless, we should be careful to think ourselves separate from these terrible events or safe from their consequences.
There may have been a few packets of sweets, biscuits or a slab of cheese pilfered from the Spar shop but with one of the greatest crimefighters of our generation behind the till, there is little chance of an orgy of looting on the Preston Road. Woe betide any cutpurse or vagabond who crosses Michael’s path.
In Weymouth there is a significant underclass and plenty of disaffected youth. We are only ever a few angry words away from a confrontation in the town which half a dozen local coppers would have no chance of preventing.
There is no excuse at all for the appalling criminal behaviour across our country but there is an explanation and we have as much responsibility to put it right as anyone else.
So, order must be restored and justice must be done. I wish that we had seen such a sense of urgency from the courts concerning dishonest MPs and bankers. I wish that corrupt, venal, self-serving newspaper editors and policemen had their doors broken in at 6.00am rather than being allowed to attend police stations by appointment. This unfairness and injustice is at the root of these problems.
I am not soft on the rioters. I would advocate the boot camp solution. Yes, the short, sharp shock for say, six months, seems a good idea to me. Then, before they get too comfortable in the routine, I would put them into properly enforced community service that means real work. There are miles of drainage ditches in the valley that would break a few backs and spirits before they misbehaved again. A six or eight acre field, dug and tilled by hand and planted with potatoes, would calm a few cocky scumbags for a week or two.
But what of the feral elite, the members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet, MPs, bankers, media executives and the oligarchy that actually controls our country? They are the ones truly responsible for this fracture in our society. They are entirely detached from reality and concerned only for their own selfish ends.
I am a tory (small “t”) and I am ashamed that I had a “Vote Drax” poster on my fence last year. If the Tory party is out of touch (and Labour and the LibDems) then Drax is on another planet. He and all our local councillors are indolent, complacent, self-serving and utterly useless. Drax is literally nowhere to be seen. Mark my words, the only time he will ever be prominent in local life is next year when the Olympics will bring him to the fore, grasping for every indulgence and media appearance, ingratiating himself with every celebrity and sports hero that he can be photographed alongside.
I was moved to tears by the scenes around Clapham Junction because a few years ago that entrance to Debenhams was even closer to my home than the Spar shop is now. That made it very, very real to me. What we need now, right across our country, in the villages of Dorset, just as in our cities, is the spirit of community and mutual respect that the dustpan and brush-wielding residents of Clapham brought forth after the riots.
After all the trepidation and concern about camping in the valley, we should celebrate the peaceful holidays that were enjoyed here and seek to be inclusive, in unity, friendly and welcoming to our fellow man. The solution starts right here, at home.
While I agree with almost everything you say. Successive governments, either through their actions an inactions have destroyed the education system that served our generation so well (my hair, what is left of it, is as grey as yours) which has been a contributing factor to the recent mayhem in our cities.
I must take issue with you, however, on your critisism of ” . . . . all our local councillors . .” being “. . indolent, complacent, self-serving and utterly useless”. This is quite unfair. I know some of them quite well of differing shades of political allegiance. They vary in their committment to the job. As in all walks of life, some are good, some less so. They do receive a small allowance to cover their expenses but I can assure you that many work tirelessly for their communities for nothing more than a wish to make a difference. They may not get it right every time but while democracy is our choice of governance, somebody has to do this job.
My challenge to all who make comments such as yours is therefore, why not stand for election and show how the job should be done. Almost everybody is elligible.
So, the gaunlet has been laid Peter. I will watch this space with interest.
Michael
August 15, 2011 at 9:42 AM
To be honest, a lot of the things you say are Tory with a capital T
Bootcamps and mass community service, yeahhh now there is a way to get respect right? Keep on doing what Tories have always done, sweep everything under the carpet instead of finding genuine answers to give value and meaning for the under privileged?
That does not work! That is exactly why there is a gulf in classes. Ignorance, bigotry and arrogance are exactly the types of things that make man want to take to the streets in outrage.
But then maybe nurture and social upbringing is just bollox. Maybe the 100,000 people on the streets this week are all just genetically delinquent and we should bring back the gas chambers
As for the politicians.. Not all people are the same, some, even Tories probably have great ideals initially but how many of them have been in the position of the rioters for example? none. So how they understand or judge that? They cannot, they can only guess. More importantly tho, we are all aware it is the system that is messed up across the entire western world at least and it really is radical changes needed before we make any real progress and that ‘sense of community, inclusive, in unity, friendly and welcoming’ that you talk about has any hope.
Peace
MedicalCannabis Spain
August 15, 2011 at 1:04 PM
You whine about “Tories with a capital T” yet no one reveals themselves as more of a bigot than you!
And what on earth gives you the right to say anything at all about politics in Britain when you have abandoned these shores for Spain? Good luck to you in the sun, surrounded by your plants but you have a damn nerve pontificating about what the rest of us are working on. It must be hard work resting by that pool with a big pile of sticky bud next to you!
Peter Reynolds
August 22, 2011 at 10:43 AM
The truth is that none of us, whatever flavour of politics you prefer, has provided the answer to the problem of dysfunctional families in the UK. The disadvantanged have mainly been let down by their parents. The parents were let down by their parents and so on and so on. While it is unfair to blame the rest of society for these problems, it is the rest of society that has to pick up the pieces and the usual suspects who end up paying the taxes to fund it all. And yes, these are mostly the middle classes and perhaps some of them (probably most) vote Conservative.
Rather than indulging in the usual tribal mud slinging, it would be far better to try to contribute some real ideas on how to solve these problems. We vote for politicians to represent us in government and oppostion and we expect them to have all the answers. Actually, they are just normal people like you and I and the job that we have given them makes it harder rather than easier to find the answers by virtue of the fact that Westminster renders them more remote than ever from reality.
MCS says that the system is ‘messed up all across the entire Western world’. I don’t think that is really the case. The Western world does offer freedom, the freedom to critisise, for example, as he has done. With freedom comes responsibility and that is what we have failed to instill in people. The alternatives to democracyare not the answer but too often people forget how lucky they are and abuse these privileges. Just look at Lybia to see how much value some place upon such freedoms.
Michael
August 22, 2011 at 11:21 AM