Archive for July 10th, 2006
I’m not upset by Cameron’s comments. He isn’t making policy here, he’s not saying, “Let’s be soft on crime and on the causes of crime”, he’s saying, look, some of the so-called trouble-making yoofs aren’t trouble-making — it’s just a misunderstood feeling of being social outcasts who “aren’t understood”…
At the same time, though, and while I agree (for once) with Polly Toynbee that Cameron’s being canny here, he will upset a large number of potential Tory voters on Council and Housing Association estates by implying that the trouble-makers are not all that bad and should be given a hug.
The trouble is that youths really do think that they’re not understood by politicians. I have spoken to kids on the street and you can see in their faces surprise at being included in the conversation. They get the feeling from their experience of wearing intimidating clothing (that they have to wear to fit in with their peers, let’s not forget) that anyone older than twenty-five (or even eighteen in some cases) “don’t get them”.
Cameron’s not trying to make a profound social-philosophical point here, he’s trying to get in the media and appeal to LibDems, but what he has also achieved is to appeal even more to the dejected youths themselves who, let’s not forget, are likely to be of voting age by the next election.
Cameron, I am sure, will be a typical Tory when it comes to a belief in reducing crime. But if he uses modern methods rather than the regressive attitude of the current government, if he advocates prison over probation while calling for people to respect each other, if he calls for a reduction in the punitive rather than rehabilitative solution to drugs — then he will be onto an even stronger winner than he already appears to be!
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