What the world is reading about Britain

alex seymour

Blaming the police is not really the answer old chap.

kinglear

Why would the Police try to deal with streetcrime? There's nothing in it for them except piles of paperwork and days spent in court for a potentially dubious outcome. They have just as much work on major crimes as on minor ones, so what would you do? They should let Gene Hunt and his lot sort them out. Can't help think a good thumping would sort it out. Oh sorry, if you a) defend yourself or b) defend your property, it's YOU not the criminal, who gets arrested.

Ricardo

And its a mindset that is politically driven from the attitude teachers are now forced to have in schools: "you go out of your way to 'understand' the kids instead of teaching the kids to understnd" to the poison of the Human Wrongs Act, the bucketloads of cash paid to Legal Aid lawyers and the rest of the panoply that faces the police when they try to bring a conviction.

It isn't the police's fault things are this way. If there's a fight in London now, it normally requires a death or guns to be involved before the police will get involved.

I for one am glad that the appalling shame of this failed Marxist experiment of New Labour's Britain is being exposed to the rest of the world for the mess it is. Let no-one else ever destroy their country with Marxist acid in the way Blair and Brown have done.

It's taken them just a decade to do it.

Nicholas

I'm glad that at last someone has had the courage to openly criticise the current police attitude rather than continuing to present the myth that "our police are wonderful".

This situation has been made worse by a long and concerted effort by the Home Office (as was) and the police to gradually erode and finally remove any right for citizens to protect themselves and stand up to criminal behaviour as individuals. In fact in some cases it appears that they have pursued those citizens who have stood up more rigorously than the criminals themselves. In short they have created a topsy-turvy version of law and order.

The erosion of these ancient rights was made on the premise that the police would be responsible for safeguarding citizens and maintaining the Queen's Peace in our cities, towns and villages, something they have proven themselves singularly incapable of doing.

In the meantime they have pursued a narrow strategy of targetting "political offences", shamelessly courting the media in high-profile cases and gradually withdrawing not just from the investigation of so-called "minor crime" but even from the posture of pretending any kind of proactive response.

It is time for a major overhaul and reform of the police in this country, a hard look at the roles and attitudes of the most senior police officers and a very strong drive to get them back on track with their original purpose as conceived in the 19th Century and still valid today.

In just one aspect, the gradual and non-consensual introduction of armed police to our streets, the police authorities have adopted a most inappropriate course. There are many others. Ordinary police are rapidly adopting the appearance and attitude of SWAT teams and alienating themselves from the mass of ordinary people. I for one do not wish to live in a version of Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil'.

Fergus Pickering

If the police can do nothing about crime then what exactly are the very large numbers that we employ FOR? Could me cut the force in half and save a lot of money?

dexey

My pet concern is that parking on pavements has become the norm despite being illegal and inconveniencing pedestrians.
The police here ignore it. if lesser crimes go unpunished why should anybody fear committing greater crime?

Kevin Tobin

Seen from the West side of the pond, Britain has been acting mysteriously for many years. Older Americans such as I tend to think of you English as a fairly tough crowd, capable of fighting well and enduring assault. But over the past twenty-five years, we have seen political correctness reduce you to a nation of suppliants, quick to the dole and irrationally weak when dealing with opponents of any kind, from the criminal element to the mindless legions who make up your highly bureaucratic state. If the London Spectator wants a subject to examine in depth, I would suggest a cultural autopsy on the English and their once proud nation.

Perhaps you can discover a way back to your former selves, or at least explain what has motivated such a general surrender.

Kevin Tobin
Sewickley, PA
USA

Mike

If you turn this into a clearing house for how rubbish the police are...you will get a lot of comments.
For example.
Girlfriends flat in Brighton gets burgled. Next door neighbour clearly sees the young couple who break in.
Report to police including the witness, get crime number for insurance. Told to "leave everything as it is, scene of crime will attend to get fingerprints etc". A week later girlfriend calls Sussex police "Um, I guess they are not able to attend, so I'd tidy up". Never hears anything again. The police also never contact the neighbour.
To add insult, two letters arrive a couple of weeks later "Have you been the victim of crime, contact our victim support group" (shoddily photocopied) and £60 fine from Sussex Police / Safety Camera Partnership for committing the "crime" of travelling at 35mph in a 30 zone. And you wonder why NuLabs poll rating is in the can?

David

The thing is, any suggestion by Cameron of taking control of the situation is met by cries of "We don't need to be told how to look after our kids! Government butt out!"

We need to realise that we ahve a genreation of people now who simply have no clue, and that failure of society therefore requires government intervention. That's the price you pay.

salieri

This conclusion should cause no surprise. It's not that catching criminals is 'virtually impossible' - merely pointless since (a) it would infringe their human rights (b) half of them are under age and (c) they won't get locked up anyway because there's no room.

Going around arresting 'criminals' - note how judgemental and non-inclusive that word is - would be a scandalous waste of resources. The proper function of the police is of course to strut about in silly yellow coats, spot-fine middle-age motorists, lecture us all on 'homophobia' and, of course, fill in lots and lots of forms to satisfy the government they have done so.

London Calling

The world reading this post, may have no understanding of what it is like to be living in the world of these destitute youths, of which the topic of this story is about. Generally the majority of these destitute youths cannot read or write properly or grasp basic mathematics, have no social skills and inevitably end up on the scrap heap and follow a pattern of a downward spiral of drugs, followed by crime to pay for the drugs. In my view the education system is not able to educate to a high standard whilst having to cope with dysfunctional pupils without correct training, support and alternative means of separating the wheat from the chaff, by giving emotional support and social skills in conjunction with education to those who need it, they use to be called special schools, but they all closed down and now mainstream schools are expected to be social workers, riot control, and teach as well, it simply doesn't work in the real world and the end result is chaos, not only for teachers, but sadly for those youths who do want to learn, but cannot in a climate of fear and intimidation. If our Youth feel unloved, then they are not far from the truth, not only from love within the family, but the lack of love from local councils who sell of green spaces, and do not invest enough in youth centers and are instead allowing the existing ones to close down through lack of funding. Youth Centers can offer so much to our youth, through re training education and social skills alongside recreation, I cannot understand why the potential to link such ideas has not been exploited by local councils. Love has to come from the top down and if the Government and Local Councils do not invest where it matters, there are no positive solutions.

Ruddigore Topsider

David: I tend to agree. If parents cannot or will not raise children responsibly, and their failures are making life miserable for other people, the least worst option is intervention. On the whole, though, I'd rather it was not *this* government deciding what the answers are.

London Calling

With Regards to the police, they don't deserve to take the blame either, several councils have just had the council tax capped, they are on the front line without the resources to magically wand our streets safer and neither do they have the time to be social workers, this is a collective problem and should be dealt with collectively, but again without the funds, how is this possible?
If a policeman tells you to stay at home after dark, its because he cares enough to be honest about the problems on our streets, as would any caring parent in Britain, the truth is better received than a lie. Our streets are not safe after dark and our Police cannot be everywhere at once.

Steve

Kevin: I can't help feeling you may be onto something. I do wonder whether my 40 something generation and younger, would have the gumption of our parents and grandparents to last out 4 or 5 years of total war

Slim Jim

I would suggest that there has been a breakdown in 3 main areas that could be responsible for this situation. Firstly, the Family. Is there a relationship between the deliberate attempt by the political class to downgrade marriage and penalise married couples? Secondly, Education (Education, Education). International figures would appear to point out a decline in standards, yet promotion of comprehensive education and a sustained attack on private & grammar schools continues unabated.

Finally, the Criminal Justice System. As with all other public bodies, this has been interfered with to such an extent (mainly for reasons of dogma), that it has been rendered useless. The prisons are full, yet more and more laws get passed each year. What's the point in judges handing out stiff sentences when the criminal could be eligible for parole after just half-way through the sentence?

Now that I've published the recipe, what about the icing on the cake? Yes - the Human Rights Act. Universal human rights appear to have been abused in the most absurd way. How can you disagree when we have to keep murdering criminals here rather than deport them, whilst telling brave Gurkha former servicemen that they can't come here? To the international community: you are witnessing what happens when the lunatics finally take over the asylum.

bill

Today's problems are the logical outcome of the left wing policies which have been pursued across the board for decades. The Gramscian revolution has continued unabated and ed by out taxes.

BTW

I was in Oxford the other day and spent a couple of hours wandering around. Not once did I see a policeman.

Trumpeter Lanfried

London calling @ 3.31 PM: You mention " ... no understanding of what it is like ... destitute youths ... no social skills ... emotional support ... feel unloved ... lack of love from local councils ... lack of funding ... Love has to come from the top down... "

In other words, Hug a hoodie. I am afraid your attitude, shared by so many people on the left, is part of the problem, LC.

London Calling

Trumpeter Lanfried - Who took the Donut out of your Trumpet? Hug the Police, they are doing the best they can in the Frontline, Hug the Teacher, who cannot cope teaching dysfunctional kids, Hug the Kid who cannot learn in a dysfunctional class, then hug the kid again because he has no where to play and is too afraid to go outside. Then turn and help the Hoodie, so in turn all the above can hope for a better world. None of this can be achieved without eyes wide open Trumpet, your B flat is my C sharp, ignorance of the facts is not an option.

Nicholas

"Our streets are not safe after dark and our Police cannot be everywhere at once." Then they should not have been so eager to take away our rights to protect ourselves should they?

They are the dog in the manger. Unable to do the job they are there to do and paid to do but determined that nobody should attempt to protect themselves because they cannot. The situation is ridiculous and I do blame the police in very large part.

Nick Kaplan

Kevin; I sadly think you are completely correct. Britain does seem to be in some sort of terminal decline, and the other day I was trying to figure out why, naturally I looked for sources of left wing thinking which are, most often, the reason for societal decline. It seems to me that the major problem lies in academia. It is a well known fact that lefty-intellectuals (probably because they have no understanding of what a real productive job entails) dominate our universities and thus have wide access to manipulating/ indoctrinating the young to their frankly dangerous cultural and moral relativism. This has given rise to a huge explosion in left-wing teachers who dominate both primary and secondary schools. One only needs to listen to the recent decisions of the NUT, such as their vote to against opposing Ministry of Defense recruitment activities in schools and their bizarre demand for a full withdrawal from Iraq (what has this got to do with the NUT???) to understand what a problem this is causing (I was surprised this didn’t come up on the Coffee House). One can only imagine the kind of politically correct indoctrination that goes on in the classrooms of teachers such as this and it makes me despair that the problem is only going to get worse.

Caroline

David says... 'therefore requires government intervention'....
Some time ago the previous PM, talking about children growing up in unfortunate and disruptive circumstances and suggesting an early intervention, was howled down with jibes of 'baby asbos'. The best thing then, is the continuation and expansion of 'Surestart' an organisation that does support families facing difficulties. But as we know, Cameron if elected, will close them all down and give those funds to the even more deserving - those middle class married couples, regardless of whether they have children or not.

But if David and Ruddigore Topsider are hoping that Cameron will revisit early intervention, there's always the possibility of more sickening god awful 'Cam and Kids at Home' videos to set us all an example I suppose.

Fergus Pickering

I thought EVERYBODY was agreed that Surestart was a complete waste of money. But you can convince me I'm wrong. What exactly does it do, Caroline?

Caroline

Everybody?? Who exactly? You are being lazy and mischievous today Fergus - you could look it up yourself if you really don't know, though I'm sure that you do - you bad man ;0) I’ll let you off though; as I expect you’re still a bit fed up that the price of your favourite tipple has gone up. You don’t smoke as well do you? And drive a gas guzzler?

But because it’s Sunday and I have to be generous - see if this will help you:
http://www.manchesterchildren.org.uk/ChildrensCentresHub.aspx

Incidentally, although CH is too mean to award any sort of accolade, I do think that you won the poetry ‘competition’ and I won the captions.