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Showing posts from August 7, 2011

Answering Fire with Fire

Understandably, the Prime Minister calls for law and order and promises that control over the situation will be imposed. Good. But, does this mean that the cuts that are in the process of being imposed on the police will be eased to ensure no repeat of the conflagration? Let’s ask another question. If the cuts on the police budget are eased, will there be a corresponding ease on the cuts to those services which are likely to help restore community well-being – the youth clubs, the community workers and all the fine services that have recently been forced to break up? I doubt it. In reality, government does not want to know about people who commit these ‘crimes against society’ – it draws back from dealing with the source of the problem, which is primarily alienation of the youths in deprived areas. Government has never properly cared about these issues. When the British economy picked up during the early 90s, the riot problems manifest in the 70s and 80s looked as though they had