A young student by the name of Yohannes Scarlett was interviewed on Newsnight last night, and whilst he was largely obliterated by a combination of more gobby, better prepared, more street-wise and media-savvy fellow panelists, nonetheless made a point that I have not really heard on any other blogs about this situation to date: He agreed that the looting was not about politics or cuts and that a lack of discipline at home was an issue, with some kids 'needing a slap' occasionally.
However the major issue behind the riots in his opinion, is greed. He added, "remember this is a society that runs on greed. That sees 'greed as good'".
I find his point difficult to dispute.
I do not in any way condone the behaviour of these mindless thugs who have simply been out 'nicking stuff' in a completely selfish way, without regard or respect for their own communities and in a way which is effectively 'shitting on their own doorstep'.
However, when they (and we) see failure in the banking sector being rewarded by 6, 7 and 8-figure bonuses for individuals while everyone else suffers; when we see barely literate professional footballers being paid more in a week than a qualified nurse will earn in 10 years; when so-called community leaders in local government close libraries but accept double-digit pay rises for themselves, we are seeing the affluent in our society effectively saying 'fuck you' to these young people and indeed to the rest of us.
As I say, I do not condone these looters in any way, but I think I can understand something: I think while we have, for years, said 'fuck you' to these lost people, they are now saying 'fuck you too'.
In the short-term I hope these looters will be locked up and made to understand that the law is sacrosanct. However, I also hope that we might see this as a wake-up call and evidence that we do really need to address some of these wider issues in our society. I hesitate to use the phrase 'Broken Britain' since it has party political connections, but fixing this problem is critical for people of all backgrounds and political colours. Critical to a prosperous and law-abiding future for this country.
I am a Tory voter who, broadly speaking, believes that Blair and Labour have essentially fucked the economy and left Cameron et. al. with no choice but to try to restore financial solvency and credibility to this country. I believe in creating an environment in which hard work pays and rewards the individual but also (please note) that the better off in society should contribute to looking after the health and wellbeing of those less able than themselves - i.e I am not a Tea Party-style right winger.
However I do believe that the welfare state has been allowed to billow completely out of control, to the point where many families simply have no incentive to work and where many young people (young girls in particular) see starting a family as a viable, realistic, even desirable career option, allowing them to by-pass social housing waiting lists and settle down to a reasonably comfortable life on benefits, with no need to got out to work. This is simply not a recipe for the development of a stakeholder-based society in which everyone has roles and responsibilities and a sense of value and pride and has therefore, in my view, contributed crucially to riots/stealing carried out by a disconnected, 'lost' youth who have no sense of law or respect for authority or societal values.
I am also of the view that the looters who have been decimating areas of our city centres for the past several nights should be more robustly challenged by the police (who seem to have been afraid to tackle them for some reason, possibly the threat of future human rights prosecution?) and should be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law - with a combination of custodial and properly organised community work in order that they put right some of the damage they have caused.
My fervent hope is that if these terrible scenes can have a positive legacy it is that our politicians will now understand that the need to fix society in this country is not a slogan, but one of the most pressing realities we now face.
