Dom, perceptive and analytical as usual. I accept all the points you make and those described by David P.
But the police can only deal with the symptoms of disaffection rather than the cause. As in N. Ireland, that’s the politicians and community leader’s job.
Those with regular, rewarding employment living in vibrant communities with thriving industry and effective public services rarely turn into the stone throwing, burning, looting mobs.
I watched the dismantling of Britain’s manufacturing industry facilitated by poor disbelieving management and radicalized destructive trade unions in the 60s and 70s with dismay.
Successive Governments have failed, apart from a bit of Titanic deckchair rearranging, to address the need for the vast majority of youth and working classes to have rewarding stable employment and the prospect of a career with achievable goals.
The Germans concentrated on high quality engineering and efficiency, supporting it with good education and prospects. We destroyed apprenticeships, adult education and pared down public service and investment in industrial heartlands that were being hollowed out by manufacturing’s flight abroad. It’s no coincidence that the only industry that thrived was financial services concentrated in the prosperous South.
It only got worse with Thatcherism and destruction of the mining industry and the car industry.
The talent to create and sustain employment still exists eg Arm microprocessors and Scottish computer games companies, but this talent must be nurtured and encouraged by education and Government to continue to prosper.
Somehow Britain must regain its ability to host high quality manufacturing, rewarding employment for blue collar as well as white collar workers and support the workers of the future.
This may be what a Labour Government can start to do. With a motivated end employed workforce, able to bring up their families without state benefits, I think most of the social problems will disappear.
I would add a couple of points on the policing aspects. I never found evidence that senior officers acknowledged that the local context in my urban area was changing. Whether it was the rate of unemployment, poverty and community diversity - which today can mean areas are dominated by one community, often ethnic and faith-based.
Yes, there could be astute PR in crisis mode. Often the most effective came from outside by people who had instant credibility and spoke from the heart - not a script. Tariq Jahan was widely credited in stopping the 2011 rioting in Birmingham, when three Asian men were killed, now ten years ago.
RICU, a name from the past. They did collect regularly "sense making" data via polling on public attitudes, though from one public presentation it was conducted on a national basis, not in diverse possible "hot spots". Somehow I expect austerity has stopped such polling. Few professionals in that sphere considered their activity was actually effective, hence as the linked MEE article indicates it came from the private sector.
David Lammy, in an article in the Times a few days ago, proved that politicians live in a delusional bubble of their own making by stating that the far right need to be reintegrated into society, ignoring the fact that certain communities and religious groups refuse to be integrated into British society.
Dom, perceptive and analytical as usual. I accept all the points you make and those described by David P.
But the police can only deal with the symptoms of disaffection rather than the cause. As in N. Ireland, that’s the politicians and community leader’s job.
Those with regular, rewarding employment living in vibrant communities with thriving industry and effective public services rarely turn into the stone throwing, burning, looting mobs.
I watched the dismantling of Britain’s manufacturing industry facilitated by poor disbelieving management and radicalized destructive trade unions in the 60s and 70s with dismay.
Successive Governments have failed, apart from a bit of Titanic deckchair rearranging, to address the need for the vast majority of youth and working classes to have rewarding stable employment and the prospect of a career with achievable goals.
The Germans concentrated on high quality engineering and efficiency, supporting it with good education and prospects. We destroyed apprenticeships, adult education and pared down public service and investment in industrial heartlands that were being hollowed out by manufacturing’s flight abroad. It’s no coincidence that the only industry that thrived was financial services concentrated in the prosperous South.
It only got worse with Thatcherism and destruction of the mining industry and the car industry.
The talent to create and sustain employment still exists eg Arm microprocessors and Scottish computer games companies, but this talent must be nurtured and encouraged by education and Government to continue to prosper.
Somehow Britain must regain its ability to host high quality manufacturing, rewarding employment for blue collar as well as white collar workers and support the workers of the future.
This may be what a Labour Government can start to do. With a motivated end employed workforce, able to bring up their families without state benefits, I think most of the social problems will disappear.
Dom,
Welcome home and a good article.
I would add a couple of points on the policing aspects. I never found evidence that senior officers acknowledged that the local context in my urban area was changing. Whether it was the rate of unemployment, poverty and community diversity - which today can mean areas are dominated by one community, often ethnic and faith-based.
Yes, there could be astute PR in crisis mode. Often the most effective came from outside by people who had instant credibility and spoke from the heart - not a script. Tariq Jahan was widely credited in stopping the 2011 rioting in Birmingham, when three Asian men were killed, now ten years ago.
RICU, a name from the past. They did collect regularly "sense making" data via polling on public attitudes, though from one public presentation it was conducted on a national basis, not in diverse possible "hot spots". Somehow I expect austerity has stopped such polling. Few professionals in that sphere considered their activity was actually effective, hence as the linked MEE article indicates it came from the private sector.
David Lammy, in an article in the Times a few days ago, proved that politicians live in a delusional bubble of their own making by stating that the far right need to be reintegrated into society, ignoring the fact that certain communities and religious groups refuse to be integrated into British society.