With the news that the riot 'fightback' is underway you would be forgiven for thinking that this was a new story, but is Cameron's knee jerk reaction and him following, not leading events, a light on his political failure or are the government judging the mood of the nation right.
It has been customary for many on the right to claim that these riots are simply the acts of mindless thugs, feral youth or outcasts. Sadly though this position totally ignores the truth behind the riots which is political, economic and social. When you have no prospects for the future then you have nothing to loose. When you have nothing to loose you have no respect for the community and can resort without concern in irrational ways. Basic human nature is base and horrible, but sadly it is also reflective.
The poorest communties are feeling the pinch from the recession. It is a horrible irony that it is the communities being hit by cuts that are also now suffering with the prospect of no outside investment and harm in small business caused by rioting. It is bleak, but a bright journalist could make the basic between comparison of size of LA funding cuts and riot locations. A politician can perhaps discuss the motives behind such cuts. Do the young vote? Who do these areas vote for? What is the political impact of cuts therefore?
Fact is many youths are suffering unprecented cuts in youth services which get them of the street, cuts to career advice to get them into work, cuts to Future Jobs Fund Funding to get their first job, but are also the cuts to EMA and the rise in tuition fees putting off those from disadvantaged areas from going into education at all. Not only does this place the UK at an economic disadvantage in comparison to our global competitors it leaves the prospect of a lost generation in the future as well.
Those that claim that there has always been an underclass and this is simply mindless thuggery ignore the fact that it is now they have chosen to riot across the UK. Why? There has been a failure of the political elite of all colours, but especually at the moment by this current government. When poorer communities see poor judgements from a National Government, whose cabinet they perceived as comprised from a very narrow clique of multi-millionaires, they see a total disconnect between themselves and the lives of those who rule.
Rises in VAT, inflation and the prospect of an economic downturn coupled with a fiscal position from government which unravelling as growth expectations tumble. Economic misjugements coupled with poor policy decisions on education which hurt the poorest the most; it is no wonder they are angry.
It is true that parents need to accept responsibility for the actions of their children and that some may have used this is an excuse to loot. Though the mindset of looting comes back to the human nature argument about why they do not fear; for there is nothing to loose. Parents do need to accept responsibility but to ignore the social and economic context of the family environment ignores reality.
This blog would never justify violence at all. As a former Police Constable I worked alongside some of these officers that were attacked in London during the riots. But there are question marks about resources; at the same time we have a 'surge' to stop the riots we have medium term policy to cut police numbers and introduce elected commissioners at significant cost to the tax payer. Surely a reflection is required now.
Meanwhile some Tory tweeters were supporting effective vigilante activity on the streets of London. We all accept communities can defend property and if they see a crime engage in citizen arrest. This is a marked difference from pro-active engagement from armed groups, though the carrying of ceremonial swords are allowed (by quirk of law), it still raises concern. The site of such things on the street inspires no confidence about the State or government in the citizenry and can stoke and raise concerns about law and order. No community should feel the need to do such things in the first place. The Police are the only legitimate authority for violence otherwise we descend into mob rule.
It is all very well the Home Affairs select committee being called to deliberate over the next couple of weeks and months, but we need actual substantive policy reflection from the government. True this needs to be done in a cool and reflected manner but the comments from the right give me no confidence that they accept the underlying causes are social, economic and political. That is a fundamental problem.
I do have concerns as well locally, though Medway does not have the same demographic pressures as some inner city locations. However, add into the mix the fact that Medway has some of the worst youth unemployment in the South East, poor job prospects locally with business harmed in Chatham and beyond by extremely poor planning of major projects. We deal with community tensions well in Medway, but the Council is going to be in an extremely difficult budget position in future years. We have not seen riots in Medway and that is very welcome, but that does not mean we should not look very hard at the impacts on working and middle class communities of policy decisions.
On the actual ongoing situation, all polls suggest Cameron and Boris Johnson were 24 hours late coming to the table; this despite the fact that Cameron should have been back at the helm dealing with a full-blown economic crisis as markets tanked last week. Where was the Mayor of London after Tottenham exploded over the weekend; where was the government? Legitimate issues arise when communities feel ignored by the political elite but many of them were busy on the sunbed or tipping waitresses, whilst quite frankly they should have getting on with their jobs.
Cameron going onto TV each day highlighting ever more draconian means of crowd control, which though welcome to the masses, does not deal with the underlying causes of the problem. Symptom management is simply not enough.
Labour has been right to highlight the policy disconnects. Police cuts do need to be reviewed, as this blogger suggested a few days ago, and now agreed with by mainstream Tories.
Harriet Harman is right to link social inequality with policy judgements of government and that small business in these locations who have suffered must be supported. Diane Abbott, Ken Livingstone and David Lammy are right to highlight that communities need prospects for jobs and investment. Sadiq Khan is right to say that community relations are good but we need stronger review and an IPCC process which works for the victim.
The narrative from Labour MPs is sensible and reasoned.
Incidently, the local media have done themselves no favours either in Medway. Mis-reporting the scale in Medway and raising concerns to residents who have been texting and emailing about riots, which are not happening. The Police must be inundated with false calls and rumour. In perspective Medway did not suffer riots; we had isolated incidences caused by a very very small band from London, though from online reports and some disgraceful comments, seemingly allowed on the Medway Messenger blog, you would think otherwise.
This is a failure in Political leadership from start to finish. Lessons do need to be learnt.
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