Did you read this coverage the BBC affords the report from the The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, which highlights the “500,000 forgotten families” that contributed so considerably to the gaiety of street life in London and elsewhere last summer? It’s interesting to note how the BBC leads with the “poor forgotten us” angle, before then accepting that “poor parenting” played the major role. In fact the communities themselves all pointed out poor parenting as a driver of the excesses. Remarkably, when poor parenting is accepted as a primary cause, the solution is…yes, for the State to provide more help to these poor parents. I suppose it’s natural for the State Broadcaster to think it natural that the State should take on the role of mentor to those unable to parent but maybe some more forensic questions could be asked? Why are so many poor parents? How many are single parents? How have parenting skills gone missing in action? Where is the sense of responsibility certain parents should have but clearly don’t? Of course since this is the BBC, we will never get to hear them.
BLAME THE PARENTS?
Bookmark the permalink.
I haven’t read the report from the The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel – as usual and like many other people I rely on what the BBC tells me is in the report.
Nowhere did I hear mentioned on the BBC self-responsibility. I suspect that many other young people in a similar position to those that did riot, did not. Blaming other people and circumstances gives last year’s rioters the excuse to do it again.
“A lack of support and opportunity for young people contributed to the outbreak of riots in England last summer, an independent report says.
Poor parenting, an inability to prevent reoffending, and a lack of confidence in the police were also cited.”
ALL of those can be laid firmly at the door of lily-livered, happy-clappy, touchy-feely, lefty liberal dogma.
I am missing the like button for this post.
not any more! 🙂
So feral youth loading up with trainers from Footlocker are victims of poor parenting? Give us strength. Motives like greed and opportunism apply only to bankers apparently, not poor youth. Liberal handwringing.
Single parenting – the baby – is still the key to benefits and a nice flat, as long as the girl claims she and mum don’t get on, and is being thrown out . It’s societies fault alright, for proving the single muvva career option so generously. No surprise some benefit-ticket babies grow up into gang members and trainer-theives.
We have failed them? Car-crash social policies have failed us.
Its a vicious circle isn’t it ? Lots of these young single mothers could have had essential and personally fulfilling jobs as nursing Auxiliaries – giving elderly hospital patients the basic care and attention that is highlighted time and again as being scandalously absent from the current NHS.
Plus a career path into full nursing for those willing to study . Surely many would prefer that chance of a steady job and some self respect to the single mother career option ?
These yoof have parents? The State is their parents, from state supplied baby sitters aka teachers, to Mr Social Housing, the State makes a very bad parent.
Well if the state had ignored this forgotten generation, then it was not just for the few months since the 2010 election.
What were labour doing in these “run down areas of poverty” and how come they even still existed after 13 years of labour rule? Is this report not a damning indictment of 13 years of labour failure?
Despite throwing millions and millions and millions of pounds at poverty over the 13 years of labour government, the problems in these areas got worse and worse.
Amazing that the BBC seem to have completely forgotten that the labour party were ever in power at all!!!
Labour actually bragged about the amount of money that was specifically targeted at these specific areas to raise the level of education and give them a better grounding.
There were a large number of complaints that traditional white areas were being deprived of similar funding levels.
So all the money poured in made not a jot of difference.
The reality is that the Liberals, especially the BBC have made these communities “special”. As a consequence they heightened there dependence on handouts and excuses just like the areas they originate from. Show me a country in the West Indies or Africa or the that is successful and thriving except in crime or drugs.
Re employment; 75% of those convicted had previous convictions. In a competitive jobs market like London what employer is going to employ someone who is likely to steal and worse from them.
The solution; next time use live ammunition that way the perps will be permanently excluded and anyone else thinking of trying this in the future would way their options carefully.
The “forgotten families” are the poor white trash that pay their taxes and labour under the States burdens without rioting or giving up ,so as to let the State cosset them for evermore.
They are also the many peaceable black, Asian(and yes Muslim) families doing their damnedest to keep their kids out of the grievance, industries and compliance guinea pigs who`ll find and -ism or a -phobia to fill the coffers of “m`learned friends”.
These two groups can sleep at night but are as poor as church mice(even mosque ones!)…the media and State think them fools. In a country as wicked and as topsy-turvy as this one, they probably are…but they`ll win in the end PG.
Certainly let`s see the Guardian close and the BBC reduced to hospital radio status-now that would be sweet!
always someone else’s fault. No such thing as personal responsibility.
Didn’t someone produce a map to show that the places affected by the riots were actually in areas that were the most subsidised? They certainly weren’t ‘forgotten’ by the taxpayer. I’d be happy if the police were to ‘remember’ their role and pay these people a lot more attention next time they try to hold one of their high-spirited street parties.
Patricia Hodge was on Any Questions a few weeks ago and offered up the astonishing opinion that the “the demonstraters” were actually annoyed about bankers bonuses and tuition fees. Of course it’s complete nonsense, but the rather worrying aspect was nobody actually took her to task for spouting such cobblers. The lone Tory on the panel remained silent while some pathetic sap ventured to agree with her but “disapproved” of their methods.
Next time you fancy a free 40 inch telly you know what to do…
Yes – and when asked to show cause and effect between the rioters’ behaviour and the bankers they start to bluster and change tack, and move the subject on to the cuts that have resulted from the need to deal with debt/deficit/recession. Then when asked to do the same here, they flounder even more. It’s hard to argue the ‘financial neglect’ angle after a decade’s worth of record social spending, but they give it a go anyway. Library closures. They’d all be upstanding young citizens if the local library was not facing the possibilty of closure at some point in the future. It’s coz Tories want to keep poor people down, init.
Jeff
Yes, the Labour narrative goes by unchallenged, the BBC loves it and if Cameron lacks the bottle to confront it and demolish the paucity of it, he deserves ALL that follows!
Pah!
He may deserve it but we don’t.
Classic indicators of a left wing state: blame teachers not parents; blame nurses and doctors for the failings of the NHS not politicians; blame white heterosexual Christian males for everything; blame society not criminals; blame the majority not the minority (even if the minority is to blame); choose emotional and irrational arguments over factual correctness and reason. The list goes on…
You have just mapped the mind of the bBC Liberal : as Pat Condell described them: Guardian-reading White Middle Class Left Wing Pricks.
Has Condell ever been on the BBC ?
If not – why not ?
If boring Alexei Seile is good enough for Question Time – why not Condell, who would at least be good entertainment.
A bizarre post. Where does ‘the poor forgotten us ‘ bit come from. Genuinely? And where does the link argue the state should pitch in?You’re misrepresenting the article.
The panel was set up by the Government and had as one of its members a prospective Conservative MP. It’s a pretty balanced and thorough view on the riots., certainly compared with the LSE report. I live in one of the riot areas and much of what it says chimes with my own views. I thought the BBC reporting was pretty straight.
I have not read the report, but from what I have seen the BBC stressed the lack of opportunities and social outcast position of the rioters far more than things like poor parenting, single parents, and that sort of thing.
Maybe the report had the same emphasis, but it does strike me as the usual way the BBC would frame things.
Or perhaps Condell could replace Jeremy Hardy on the News Quiz? Then it might stay on for longer than thirty seconds. Unfortunately the bBC’s idea of comedy is jokes about bankers, Berlusconi, Thatcher, Palin and the usual cast of right wing pantomime villains. The Left don’t realise that THEY are the joke.
Its interesting what the headlines say (remember these are very busy hacks- after all they need to tweet and update their face book)
Let me again indulge myself and get into the conclusions of the actually report:
-Families aren’t getting the support they need. The Panel supports the Government’s Troubled Families Programme, but found that the overlap with rioters is limited. Government and local public services should develop a strategy incorporating the principles of the Troubled Families Programme to help 500,000 ‘forgotten families’ turn their lives around.
-Communities told the Panel that young people need to build character to help them realise their potential and to prevent them making poor decisions, like rioting. Schools should assume responsibility for helping children build character.
-Children are leaving school unable to read and write – one fifth of school leavers have the literacy skills of an eleven year old, or younger. Where schools fail to teach children to read and write they should pay a financial penalty, used to help the pupil ‘catch up’.
-Communities and young people told the Panel that having a job is key to people feeling that they have a stake in society. Government and local public services should fund together a ‘Youth Job Promise’ scheme to get young people a job, when they have been unemployed for a year.
All well and good I hear you cry, until you look at the panel………
And just to be clear, let’s make sure we know who the panel members are:
Darra Singh OBE:”until the end of September 2011, Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus and the Department for Work and Pensions’ second Permanent Secretary since November 2009. Before joining the Department, Darra was the Chief Executive of Ealing Council for four years and, prior to that, the Chief Executive of Luton Council.”
Simon Marcus:”Simon founded the Boxing Academy in 2006.This is a full time alternative education project for teenagers at risk of gang crime and social exclusion with sites in both Tottenham and Hackney.”
Heather Rabbatts CBE: “has a singular biography ranging across law, Government, sport and media. Beginning her career as a Barrister at Law she then moved to become a government advisor, a senior executive in public services and the youngest CEO in the UK. During this time she began an on-screen media career as a social commentator and then moved behind the scenes; a Governor of the BBC followed by an appointment as a senior executive at Channel 4 – commissioning programmes across genres and developing a range of talent development initiatives.”
Maeve Sherlock OBE: “a life peer in 2010 and focuses her work mainly on issues affecting families with children, particularly health and welfare. Maeve has spent much of her working life in the voluntary sector including heading up the Refugee Council and the National Council for One Parent Families. Maeve also spent three years in the Treasury advising ministers on families with children, poverty and employment issues. She has served on various boards and chaired an Advisory Panel on the role of the Third Sector in Economic and Social Regeneration”
Well well well, the usual suspects, “community organizers” fast tracked Party Apparatchiks, ex BBC employees and a Boxing Hall promoter……
One of course could ask the question on the qualities this esteemed group could bring to the public with their insights into social exclusion.
Take Darra, I believe that a man of such gravitas and insight would be fully aware of issues surround local communities. Or so you would think.
Which is why in 2004, when this gentleman was Chief Exec of Luton Council, a man who must understand the complex issues surrounding community relations, fails to notice that an alleged Islamist cell is operating in his own area?
The Luton group was uncovered after Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Lahore, Pakistan. His laptop computer was said to contain plans for tube attacks in London, as well as attacks on financial buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C.
But not to be content with that, he moved on to the DWP, one of the most dysfunctional ministries, and has played it role in handing out bogus welfare payments to all on sundry.
Then we move on to Simon Marcus, who I am sure is a man that wants to help his community. One must ask the question what his organization was doing when the likes of Mark Duggan, were running round the streets of Tottenham? Clearly the “alternative education” courses were not working out so well in Tottenham.
Then we move on to the magnificent Heather Rabbatts CBE, a woman who rose to stardom in the London Borough of Lambeth, that bastion of good governance and race relations. A woman of many talents, her star was to rise with the rise of New Labour: From 1987, she worked in local government, becoming Deputy Chief Executive of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1989. She became Chief Executive of Merton before being appointed to the post of Chief Executive of Lambeth in 1995. Under her charge, Lambeth did not entirely shed its image of a poorly-run council but was seen as more “forward-thinking, dynamic and youthful.”
Then she founded Upon leaving Lambeth, in March 2000, Rabbatts became Chief Executive of iMPOWER, a public sector consultancy, which she founded. She subsequently became co-chair of iMPOWER and moved on to be Managing Director of Channel 4’s education programmes and business, 4Learning.
Rabbatts was a Governor of the BBC from 1999 to 2001, resigning upon her appointment to Channel 4. She is a Governor at the London School of Economics, an Associate of The King’s Fund on the Board of directors at the British Council and was awarded the CBE in the 2000 New Year Honours list.
On 3 May 2006 Rabbatts was appointed as the new
Executive Deputy Chair of Millwall F.C., and on 27 October 2006 she was appointed as Executive Chairwoman of Millwall Holdings plc,
Yes Millwall FC….how ironic…….that bastion of community and race relations.
And now she is a Chief Exec with the F.A.
I’ll leave it to your imaginations how successful he has been in easing the plight of the poor and needy in this country.
Maeve is also another ambitious woman who seems to have made a nice living out of social incohesion. iLabour Party life peer who was the chief executive of the Refugee Council, a charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, between August 2003 and October 2006. Prior to joining the charity, she worked as a special advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP. At the Treasury her brief covered social issues such as child poverty and welfare reform.
A special advisor to one Gordon Brown……………………………….just reflect on that.
Sherlock has also been Chief Executive of the National Council for One Parent Families, From 2007-2010 she was a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).[2] Sherlock chaired the National Student Forum from 2007 to 2010 and was a Non-Executive Director of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission from 2008-2010. She has been on the board of the Financial Ombudsman Service since
2007.
I repeat-a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission , Non-Executive Director of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission from 2008-2010. Sherlock chaired the National Student Forum from 2007 to 2010
This woman has been right at the heart of every Government policy that led to the riots. Yet Mr Dandy thinks it’s fair and balanced?
Let us just recap shall we.
We, UK taxpayers are expected to fork out more taxpayer’s money, to organizations who have failed in such cataclysmic level, that we were left with the three days of complete social breakdown.
This has been recommended to the public by individuals, who while been on the public sector junket, who have never been held to account for their actions. The mysterious “community leaders” who no doubt know these people, and know the lines to take, are cashing in on the communities which have been so utterly gutted by the policy these people have help implement.
This is pork barrel politics-pure and simple. The sort of money go round that one expects from a South American hell hole.
Far from a “balanced and fair” report, this is another shopping list of failed State run programmes. Yet the Court Eunuchs at the BBC, Independent and Guardian ensure (or would try to ensure) that the public would never know WHO is actually asking for the cash.
If any story was to tell the tale of the collapse of Western democracy-this story should be right up there.
That it took somebody with my skill to uncover this in 15 minutes, shows the lack of depth and partisan nature of the BBC.