Crime
and our broken society
Speaking at Brize Norton today,
Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron said:
"We are just a few hundred yards away from the airbase where our aircrews
maintain the vital links with our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
RAF Brize Norton is the base from which so many our troops fly out to serve our
country - and tragically it is the base where many of those who have fallen have
been returned to British soil.
I have been to Iraq once and to Afghanistan twice, most recently just a month
ago.
Every time I see our troops, whether in Bastion or Basra, I am filled with
admiration for what they do on our behalf.
Their bravery, professionalism and dedication are things that we should all be
proud of and celebrate.
And to those who say that there is something wrong with all of our young people
in Britain today
I say: just look at the young men and women who serve in our armed forces.
When you see the conditions they have served in, the things they have achieved,
the conflicts they have been involved in
I would say that they are every bit the equal of previous generations who
have served our country.
And before I go on to talk about the issues in our society that we face today
and the dreadful wave of gun and knife crime that we are witnessing today
I want to ask whether we are doing enough to support our service personnel
and their families.
Because just as they are an example to all of us about the importance of
discipline, of service, of dedication and of duty
so there is a lesson to learn from our relationship with our military
personnel about our responsibilities to them and to society more generally.
There is a document - the Army doctrine - written down in plain English that
needs to have a far wider understanding and appreciation throughout our country.
In it is the Military Covenant. It says this:
"Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices - including the
ultimate sacrifice - in the service of the nation
. in return, British
soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and
respected as individuals and that they and their families will be sustained and
rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service"
The Covenant is - and I quote again - "an unbreakable common bond of
identity, loyalty and responsibility which has sustained the army throughout its
history".
Are we fulfilling it today?
I believe we would be hard pushed to answer "yes".
As The Chief of the General Staff, Sir Richard Dannatt has said: The army will
not let the nation down. But I don't want the nation to let the army down."
He is right to make public his concern.
Consider the schools, some just a few miles away from here, where RAF personnel
send their children.
Often so called "turbulence" in service schools - children arriving or
leaving within a year - can run at 50 percent, yet there is little extra help
and virtually no recognition from central government.
Consider the hospitals. Everyone understands that giving the military the best
means access to the top civilian hospitals, like the Selly Oak hospital in
Birmingham.
But why the painfully slow progress to an all military ward so that soldiers who
are wounded on a battlefield one day and return to Britain the next can
convalesce with their comrades who understand what they have been through?
I want us to ask as a country what more we can do to recognise that our armed
forces, now engaged in two long military operations overseas, need to have that
covenant renewed.
Whether it is the parcels they receive when in Bastion or Basra
the contact time with home, the access to e-mail, the quality of the air
bridge that delivers them on leave
or the housing they live in on or around the base, there is more, so much
more that can be done.
Chief amongst this is the time between missions - the so called "harmony
guidelines" - that are so far from being fulfilled.
That is why I have committed my party not just to a separate manifesto for
forces' families
but to a proper national security defence review that will ensure we do not
continue with the trend where our commitments head in one direction while our
investment is heading in the other.
But at heart the point I want to make today about the covenant is that it is not
just about the military - it is about us and our obligations.
And that brings me to the second issue I want to address today.
The brutal and callous murder of Rhys Jones has shocked us all.
What his parents said yesterday, when they spoke of their loss of their boy, of
their child, and what he meant to them, was so powerful and moving.
Their bravery - and their sense of social responsibility - in doing their
broadcast after everything they had been through was awe inspiring.
It must not be allowed to become just another testimony of despair that shocks a
nation one night and is then forgotten.
It comes after the shooting of Jesse James and so many others in Manchester.
It comes after 17 children this year murdered on the streets of London.
We all want answers to the same questions.
Why have we allowed a remorseless increase in gang culture?
Why is there such a seemingly endless availability of guns?
What has become of our society when we have this spate of children killing
children?
Politicians of all parties must resolve not to fall back just into the usual
response.
A summit is held. A package of measures is announced. Some form of "crack
down" is rapidly briefed to the media.
Yes, some new steps may need to be taken.
And, yes, my party stands ready to help in any way it can to make any changes
that will actually make a difference.
We'll never curb guns and drugs unless we secure our borders, which is why we
need a proper border police force.
We'll never make the public safe and the criminal scared unless our criminal
justice system sends out an unambiguous message about punishment and deterrence.
We'll never beat the criminal and secure our streets unless we free the Police
from the paperwork, red tape and targets that have made them form writers rather
than crime fighters. That's why police reform is so vital.
And none of these things will make any difference if we don't build the prisons
and train the necessary staff to run them.
But in putting forward what I've called the three dimensional approach -
measures on criminal justice, measures on policing and measures to strengthen
society - let us recognise once and for all
that it is the last of these three - changing our society and, frankly,
changing our culture - that matters the most and where change is so desperately
needed.
Yes, strengthening families, strengthening communities, changing culture is the
hardest, the most long-term and sometimes the most intangible of the three, but
it is so much the most important.
So today I say that we should ask not just what we expect from our government in
response to these dreadful crimes - but what do we expect from ourselves and
from society?
Just as the Military Covenant sets out what we - society - must do for our
military, so today we should consider our obligations in tackling crime and
building a stronger society.
We need a Social Covenant.
I'm not talking about a new set of words to express our national values. I'm
talking about something more powerful than words.
A national recognition that it is not just up to the Government to take
responsibility for the state of our nation, it is up to all of us.
To me this is what social responsibility is all about.
Not just sitting back and saying that the government must act, but all of us
saying: this is my country, my society, my responsibility - and I must play my
part.
It means parents taking responsibility for bringing up children properly.
It means schools playing their part in instilling discipline and good values.
It means all of us recognising our obligations not just as parents but as
neighbours, as members of a community
and understanding that those obligations are as important as simply paying
our taxes and obeying the law.
It means understanding and acting on that age old maxim that it takes a village
to raise a child.
It means retailers stopping the sale of alcohol to young teenagers.
It means music companies, media companies, games manufacturers, not just
thinking
"what is my social responsibility as a company in terms of the projects
I support and the charities I back, good and important as they are"
.
but asking: "what is the effect of the music I produce, the games I
market and the programmes I broadcast?"
That is true social responsibility.
And in this context of the long term social and cultural changes we need to see,
let us - from today - think of government and society in a new and different
way.
And so we should ask, particularly of Government: not just have they acted
swiftly in response to the latest crisis, but how do they discharge their
responsibilities over the longer term?
What values do they champion?
What steps are they taking to create a culture of respect and responsibility?
And this is where government has been found so wanting.
All too often good behaviour is matched with punishment, poor behaviour with
rewards.
Institutions - like schools - whose independence should be championed and whose
role in nurturing values of service and discipline is so essential - are too
often undermined.
A system of rights that seems to fly in the face of common sense is introduced
and repeatedly sanctioned.
Most important of all a tax and benefit system is built up over time that sends
signals, and helps to create a culture, that undermines families, penalises
commitment and reinforces family and social breakdown.
It is time for us to recognise that we cannot go on as we are.
Just as there was nothing inevitable about economic decline at the end of the
1970s, so there is nothing inevitable about social decline in our current
decade.
What is required is simply asking how many more parents have to bury their
children before we decide to choose a different path for our society?
Because we do have a choice.
We have a choice about the kind of society we want to be.
We have a choice about whether we have the will and the determination to change.
So we can carry on as we are, until we stop even being shocked at events like
the shooting of an eleven year old boy
and I promise you, unless we choose to change, that is exactly what will
happen
our shock today will turn into a shrug tomorrow, just a kind of impotent ache
about the state of the world.
Or we can say to ourselves and to each other: "I have had enough of all
this. I have seen enough mothers burying their sons. I will not put up with this
in my community any more."
I don't know who killed Rhys Jones. But I do know this: no child in this
country should be riding around on a BMX bike with a gun shooting other
children.
So if we are serious about saying we've had enough of all this.
If we mean it when we say we won't put up with this any more
Let's be clear about what that means.
It means fathers who run away from their responsibilities, who don't stick
around to give their sons the discipline they need, should be treated like the
selfish people they are.
It means parents who don't know where their kids are and what they're up to at
night should not just be helped to do their job properly - and God knows there's
enough help available - they should be shamed into doing it.
But it's not just about parents. It's about our culture too.
Magazines that see the glorification of 'getting wasted' as a circulation boost.
Music businesses that grow fat on the profits of exploiting black youth.
Movie and video game directors who push the boundaries of acceptable violence,
and the regulators who meekly give in to them.
You all have a responsibility.
We can't change our society unless you change your ways.
So what is it to be?
Will these children have died in vain, soon to become another set of statistics
on the road to an atomised and failing society?
Or can we resolve today
to choose hope over fear, to choose order over chaos, to choose to stop the
cycle of violence and stop the pointless, tragic loss of life?
This is not about politics, it's not about elections, it's about the kind of
society we want to be and the choice is entirely in our own hands.
To the parents of Rhys Jones and to others who have suffered losses recently the
most important immediate thing is that those responsible for these hideous acts
are rapidly caught and brought to justice.
All politicians have to offer are words - and even worse, mine are about the
long term.
But I profoundly believe that until we start thinking about our government, our
society and our responsibilities in a new and different way we will not serve
the interests of those who suffer so much today."
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