A View From Middle England - Conservative with a slight libertarian touch - For Christian charity and traditional belief - Free Enterprise NOT Covert Corporatism

Friday, September 02, 2011

David Cameron says rioters need tough love

David Cameron outlines the tough love concept
I heard David Cameron being interviewed this morning by Evan Davis. His rhetoric on rioters was somewhat subdued compared with his initial reaction right after the events. What I find surprising is that politicians were surprised by the whole sorry episode. Davis brought up the Bullingdon Club days and Cameron fended this off with the "we all did silly things in our youth" retort. The fact is we all probably did. I am no exception. I didn't do anything to hurt or upset others and I doubt if the prime minister did either. However, the fact is that our behaviour is what makes society tick. And the ticking of today is far more steered towards greed and self-gratification than it is towards helping others. If the Big Society is to work we need tough love all round and a sense of pride in our community. Not the silly talk of "communities" as if we are all living in a 100 parallel universes.

I still think the MPs are themselves to blame for a lot of the ills. Leading by example is very addictive. If those at the top of society behave badly why should those further down think they should be the only ones sticking to moral rectitude? We are very much in mote and beam territory here. The link has been made between a friend of a looter receiving a flat screen TV by way of favours and Sir Gerald Kaufman MP trying to claim on expenses for a whopping £8,865 for a television. Other MPs were trying it on in similar vein. Do two wrongs make a political right? Or is it left? If the latter, very sinister indeed!

Also Cameron was quizzed on the bankers, those cheeky chappies (and chappesses now) who see nothing wrong in gambling with other people's futures and fortunes. The fact that they are baulking at banking reforms suggests that they still want the system to suit themselves. And the moral blackmailing continues with this childish idea of them leaving the country. We should not be held ransom by the moneychangers.

We ask for footballers to set a good example but surely we should all set good examples. Not because we want to be twee types sitting like some set of pharisees in judgement over others but just because it makes sense to be honest, decent and reliable.

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