UK Riots Not Down To Race Or Poverty - We Are Not A Nation In Moral Decline

http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/tony-blair-in-the-observer-britain-isnt-broken/

Tony Blair may have largely disappeared from the UK political arena but his occasional interventions are usually astute.

Like most people in this country, I watched in horror as unprecedented riots swept through the UK and people from all walks of life - both wealthy and less so - chose to participate in the violence and looting.

The initial police response to the disturbances was worse than woeful. 

However, the fact remains that in the most deprived areas that were caught up in the disturbances, only a very small minority of people chose to take part. Most of those people stayed away from trouble.  Therefore the theory that social deprivation was the root cause of the riots, is in my view, far too simplistic. As usual, Ken Livingstone was far too quick to blame what happened on cuts in government spending.

By the same token, the Prime Minister's statement from Downing Street in the aftermath of the riots was equally black and white.  Yes, of course such behaviour is totally unacceptable and the fact that so many areas were involved does on the surface give the impression to the rest of the world that Britain is 'broken' and 'frankly sick'.

But rather than running Britain into the ground and using the riots to score political points, I would agree with Tony Blair that a more individual approach is needed to tackle social problems and prevents such events happening in future. His view that we should solve problems family by family is surely sensible and avoids the sweeping generalisation that the entire nation is 'in moral decline'.

The courts, understandably, have come down very heavily on some of those involved. However, I don't believe that the sentences of some will be allowed to stand on appeal. The person who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water will surely have their punishment lessened when reviewed.  And with the prison population already at bursting point, jailing first-time offenders for very minor offences will only make a very bad situation even worse and won't necessarily deter them from re-offending.

The British people are on the whole, decent, tolerant and law-abiding. Mr Blair is right to point out that, instead of focussing too heavily on those who looted and rioted, we should applaud those who came out to clean up.

We would do well to keep this in mind and should remember that such widespread disturbances are thankfully very very rare.