Choosing short sentences over community service for looters will increase reoffending
Short sentences are not effective and magistrates should concentrate on community service for many of the rioters
Riots
How to build a cross-party consensus on responding to the riots
The most promising area for cross-party consensus, is what to do about the small minority of chaotic families in which children do grow up with little sense of right and wrong,
What Starkey and those he claims to despise have in common
Starkey believes that young black people must choose between doing the right thing and their own identity and culture. That is wicked.
The fragmented society: How irresponsibility and inequality feed off each other
It is a false chocie to between blaming the riots on inequality or moral irresponsbility – in a fragmented society, the two fuel each other
Water cannons are “useless”, require specialised training and we only have six
The Prime Minister’s decision to put water cannon ‘on the table’ may be popular – but they are ill-suited to dealing with looting, and have the potential to make things far worse
Cameron “ignorant or disingenuous” on frontline police cuts
In the Commons today, David Cameron reiterated his claim that cuts to police budgets would not affect front-line officers. But the facts do not support him.
Don’t lets clear away aspiration for youngsters with the riot debris
Young people from lower income background not just suffer from lack of financial support, but a distance between them an ‘middle-class’ professions
Riots – the view from the devolved nations
The riots have been greeted with alarm, division in Scotland and criticism of cuts in Wales
Evicting council tenants will cause more problems
Rushed and ill-judged policy changes, in particular evicting council house tenants involved in thr rioting, may lead to more problems
When a liberal is mugged by reality
The conservative analysis of these riots is the most straightforward and, we have to admit, the one that often appears to make most sense. But it will only get us so far in guiding us in what to do next.