I wrote ‘hug a hoodie’ and I’m proud of it
Danny Kruger, who was David Cameron’s speechwriter, defends his most notorious piece of work for the Tory leader and says that love is a neglected crime-fighting device
It happened to be the day that Boris Johnson took office as Mayor of London with a mandate to tackle youth crime. My wife and I were coming out of a house in Camden where we had been viewing a flat to rent. Standing on the steps with us, the owner of the flat suddenly saw the retreating rear of his moped, two boys aboard and half a dozen of their friends pelting along behind.
Like the pair of prats we were, the owner and I tackled youth crime. When we caught up with the pedestrians, we received between us a black eye (owner) and cut lip (me), and no moped.
My main memory of this incident is rather horrid: the spit-filled mouth of the little rat-faced boy who punched me. Short, white, in a grey hooded tracksuit, he shouted at me with all the rage of Cain: the most astonishing indignation.
‘Man hands on misery to man’, said Larkin, ‘it deepens like a coastal shelf’. The metaphor is too gradual. In this generation there seems to have been a vertiginous drop, a sudden deepening out of sight. There is a cohort of youths in London (their existence was starkly revealed in the investigation into the murder of Damilola Taylor) who are both effectively unparented, and unknown to the authorities: kids not on child benefit lists or school rolls or the records of the social services. They are few, of course, but they stand as representatives of a generation of scowling young Londoners.
The day of Boris’s election was also the day I stopped work as David Cameron’s speechwriter to go full-time at the charity my wife and I founded two years ago to work with prisoners and ex-offenders. My main claim to distinction in my old job was drafting the speech in which David said something capable of the construction (though not the words, not the words themselves) that the public should all get out there and hug hoodies.
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adrian drummond
June 26th, 2008 3:45pmA bit Lord Longford'esque.
So you want ‘to show a lot more love’ to the boy that gave you a thick/cut lip?
Not me. My answer would be a bad lads army. Naturally, this is an old fashioned approach and would not go down well with the new 'aristocracy' of which you are one.
You lot - the new 'aristocracy' - have screwed up this country and now we - the victims - have to watch you try and put it back together again.
Good luck.
Christopher Chantrill
June 26th, 2008 6:54pmYou have to say that Danny Kruger is walking the walk. In On Fraternity he wrote:
"Conservatism is the philosophy of society. Its ethic is fraternity and its characteristic is authority — the non-coercive social persuasion which operates in a family or a community. It says 'we should…'."
You could look it up on Wikiquote.
Parasite
June 26th, 2008 7:32pmThe kid who split your lip and shouted abuse at you for having the temerity to not want the moped stolen is the product of a society in which "greed is good". He thinks he (or rather his fellow chav who was on the thing) has the right to the moped.
It's the result of the crude gimme-gimme materialism unleashed in the 80s. The rich simply got it, the poor think they have a right to it, and the means don't matter. And how dare you stand in their way, that is the thought process.
Whether a Tory columnist would like to hear it or not, the responsibility for your split lip ultimately lies with a little old lady living in Dulwich who you all blindly hero-worship.
David
June 27th, 2008 11:17amExcept, Parasite, that the trend could be seen starting in the Seventies, the first generation brought up under the full embrace of a welfare state, where society was supposed to give them what ever they wanted otherwise it wasn't fair.
John Bull
June 27th, 2008 2:10pmCongratulations twerp !
It seems even a thump in the face can't drive any sense into your thick neanderthal skull.
My hope it that you insist on personally visiting all your little ( and big ) crooked and violent 'clients' in their own neighbourhoods - and without any police 'protection' of course. Darwins selection theory still works !
You may live to tell your tale - who knows - but not before your wrecked body heals first.
Grow up and stop pandering to all the thugs and scum perpetuated by your own stupidity.
Just because that mindless wonder, boy Cameron, articulated your rubbish does not make it any more sensible - quite the opposite.
John Bull
June 27th, 2008 2:16pmDanny - if you have life or health insurance, I hope you have declared your mentality to your insurers - none with any sense of 'risk-assessment' would touch you with a bargepole !
'Dead-Man-Talking' is an apt epitaph for your tombstone. Save your descendents the trouble - order it now.
Female 29 Australia
July 14th, 2008 1:13amI believe this too. Thank you for printing this where we can all read it. And for the great work you devote yourself to.
Bill McCall
July 29th, 2008 4:16amBoofheads like Kruger are a blight on Conservative politics, but unfortunately too many of them are already in positions of authority, the current leader being another.