Monday, March 06, 2006

Taking responsibility for the kids

I've got little love for Anthony Walker's killer - were there any justice he would have been hung for his crime. Mrs Walker is a fine and saintly person - I could never react like that.

But I'm still dubious about the news that they want to throw out the Barton family, hideous though they may (or may not) be, from their home.

Mr Taylor added: "Any act of crime or anti-social behaviour by a tenant or a member of their household constitutes a breach of their tenancy and will result in us seeking to repossess their home.

"We believe this policy sends out a very clear message to the community that no form of criminal activity or antisocial behaviour will be tolerated."


I don't think it's a bad idea - it's just the lack of consistency that gets me. If a crime committed by a family member resulted in the whole family's expulsion from 'social housing', whole estates would be emptied of half their current inhabitants. Rather than 'deprived areas', they'd suddenly become nice places to live.

I'd be interested to know if any other murders carried out by tenants children, as opposed to tenants, have resulted in the expulsion of the family.

Dumb Jon is on the case in style.

"It can’t be just the fact it’s a murder case ... what about another well-known group of killers ? When the July 7 bombers were identified, liberals didn’t want to put their families on the street, they wanted to give them pride of place at the memorial service."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't apporve of the principle, although the other Barton son, Manchester City player Joey, can surely afford to rehouse them.

Also on a pedantic note surely it should be 'hanged' not 'hung'.

Edwin Greenwood said...

...the other Barton son, Manchester City player Joey, can surely afford to rehouse them.

That may well be part of the thinking. To score political-correctness brownie points while being reasonably sure that embarrassing hardship is unlikely in practice to be a by-product

Larry Teabag said...

Just in case anyone was in danger of taking you seriously, in that final quote "they"="Terry Waite".