Broken Britain?

I was disheartened at how quickly the appalling story of Edlington – where two young boys, aged 10 and 11, under the care of the local authority attacked two other boys and subjected them to what surmounts as torture almost to the point of murder – turned into a party political debate about ‘Broken Britain’.



Firstly, there is no doubt that the case indicated is sickening. I’m sure that mistakes were made by professionals – as much as been said openly. But for the leader of the Conservative Party to extrapolate, as he did in a speech last week, that it indicates that society in Britain is ‘broken’ and lays the blame on the current government, reeks of mean-minded opportunism and a poor understanding and analysis of the country today.

We shouldn’t forgot what the previous Conservative government did to break society and to break Britain – from the sell-off of social housing which has led to increased overcrowding and a more desperate rush for the homes that are available to the miners strike and breaking of the industrial base of the north of England, leading to greater divides between the North and South and the promotion of the ‘me’ culture.

Cameron says we must as ask ‘deep questions about social breakdown.  A few of the questions I would ask would be about the responsibility of government for every shocking story that emerges ghoulishly onto the front pages of the tabloids to foster the middle-class angst about the state of the country.

I’m not saying there is no effect of social policy on some of the ‘issues’ that are raising themselves but relating them to one particularly shocking story is at best ingenuous and at worst, a use of the victims for the benefit of party political gains.

I wonder how much Cameron, in his very cosy upper middle class ivory tower, has an understanding of poverty and how it affects and drives social mobility. It is hard for him to convince me of his desire to tackle poverty head on while he talks about policies that are based on the benefits to the middle classes that are so essential for the Conservative government – but this is the rhetoric that feeds perfectly to Surrey chattering classes.

‘Oh look at how awful ‘poor people’ are’. ‘The government is responsible’ ‘We should do something’ ‘See, dear, we have to find the money to send little Johnny to private school so he doesn’t meet yobs like this’  – it plays straight into the Mail reading crowd  who can blame ‘other people’ and increasingly detach themselves from the rest of the population who might be less able to speak up or involve themselves in politics.

The Conservatives have accused some on the left of playing up ‘class war’ issues in the run up to the election and emphasising the private school backgrounds of most of the shadow cabinet. I say that Cameron’s rhetoric about ‘broken Britain’ plays this line absolutely.  It doesn’t seem to be ‘his’ Britain that is broken. It is the Britain of the underclasses or ‘other people’.  Surely by having a greater understanding of the societies in which these crimes take place and those many communities where no crimes take place but where poverty is pervasive, he would have a better idea of what the country needs, rather than writing it off as ‘Broken’ which is an easy shot.

I don’t think society is any more damaged than any generation has been. Crimes and awful crimes at that, have always taken place. We have more access to reporting them though. I work through all echelons of society from extreme and almost unbelieveable poverty to some pretty impressive townhouses that woudn’t fall short of a few million. I see pensioners with barely enough to eat and heat and having to make those choices on a real basis as well as retired stockbrokers and UN officials on very comfortable pensions. The pain and distress can be differently focussed  but it exists in both just the same. I see much more that unites than divides – all the same being one community and one society.

Society today has much hope in it – and many good people. I think of the young, unemployed neighbours of a rather grouchy elderly woman I worked with who redecorated her home and visited her daily for a chat just because they didn’t have anything to do – I see some kids who pop into a local residential home to chat to the residents in exchange for a cup of tea and biscuits or the young lad who offers to do bits and pieces of shopping for his gran’s friend who doesn’t have any family of their own.

We don’t see this reported though. There is more good than bad in our society and in our young people. As a foster carer,  I think of the young girl in the care of the local authority who is sitting in front of me as I type this and speaks of how she wants to make the world a better place and ‘help old people’ when she grows up (ahem. .I had no influence during our ‘what you want to be when you grow up?’ discussion.. cough.. cough) – but in her and the other children I have had the pleasure to have as guests in my home, I see a lot of hope for the future and for the society they grow up in and create for us to grow old in.

What is needed by the Conservative and the Labour Party is firm and distinct social policies which will not focus on particular crimes but rather on resources being distributed more towards those who need it and where it is be best used rather than creating a side show of crime for the middle classes to guff at.

There is no doubt that a lot can be done to make this country a better place to grow up and grow old. That doesn’t take as a baseline that all hope is lost at the moment though – but there’s nothing wrong in striving to make things better without writing off the society of today.