Monday, May 23, 2005

And More Respect ...

Katie Grant in the Scotsman points out that not all yob culture is nurtured in underclass families. Like this family (who actually have a higher net income than my family of six do. It's moral poverty, not physical, that makes an underclass).

Elsewhere Mary Kenny bemoans the fact that people are no longer prepared to reprimand people who misbehave (because we read in the papers about what happens to them), and Rachel Sylvester (where's Tweety-Pie ?) gets the Toynbee end of the stick in the Telegraph.

"If any government initiative is likely to increase respect, it is the Sure Start scheme, which provides free playgroups, fruit and parenting classes to new mothers and fathers."

Nurse ! Nurse !

The unnamed Labour minister she quotes seems to have more idea than Rachel does :

"All that stuff about uniforms and hoodies just made me cringe," one minister told me. "It's superficial, gimmicky and won't do anything to deal with the real problem, that we have a serious underclass."

And if you really want the hippy-dippy solution, try Madeleine in the Guardian.

Hey, man - like - if you get tough with the thugs - then you're just as bad as they are. Why can't we all love each other and get along ?

No comments: