Connected in a way to my post yesterday although this time it is about Britain and not Venezuela. In the great tradition of misquoting out of context (e.g. 'There is no such thing as Society') the arch vampire himself has come out and said 'hug a hoodie'! Of course Blair hasn't said that; in exactly the same way that Cameron didn't say it several years ago despite what lefty twats like Russell Brand think (my comment to RB on that thread). What Blair said (akin to what DC said in opposition) is that the major cause of the recent riots is that there is a group of alienated, disaffected youth who are outside the social mainstream and who live in a culture at odds with any canons of proper behaviour", so hug a hoodie! Also, "he believes this generation is more respectable, responsible and hard-working than his own", clearly he is entitled to his opinion but - on this point - I think he's talking bollocks. HOWEVER, I agree with something else he says:
"This is a hard thing to say, and I am of course aware that this too is generalisation. But the truth is that many of these people are from families that are profoundly dysfunctional, operating on completely different terms from the rest of society, either middle class or poor."Blair adds, correctly IMHO, that this is a current and general phenomenon in almost all developed nations. He says the solution - his plan as New Labour (ha!), later abandoned (pah!) - was "intervention family by family, a reform of criminal justice around antisocial behaviour, organised crime, persistent offenders and gangs." Unfortunately, during ten years as PM he saw fit not to stop or reverse the emasculation of the police and the politicisation of both the police and the judiciary. [post edited 16:15 CET]
2 comments:
Funnily enough with regards to Mrs T I actually saw somebody try and deny the other day that she did actually say "there is no such thing as society" The first paragraph is often quoted but where she actually says those words - paragraph three gets left out as some sort of argument by those who say she didn't say it - rather than as you say by quoting it out of context.
Goddamn Young Conservatives don't know their roots! ;-)
Denying things these days - for anyone with half a brain - should require a lot of discussion with Dr. Google first, before sticking your neck out!
I know you don't comment on my Ven posts but did you note the connection to the Maggie speech in the previous post to this?
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