You cannot help but admire the bravery and dignity of, Tariq Jahan, the father of one of the three young men killed in Birmingham on Tuesday night. How he managed to hold it together and speak to the media, I do not know. Rather than demanding justice he simply asked for restraint and an end to the disorder. The way that this community in Birmingham have behaved and the trust the community have placed in the justice system to deal with it is really humbling. Compare that with the behaviour of the animals in Tottenham.
The Bad
I am really worried that the Government just don't get it. It would appear that as the riots have abated for now already the seriousness of the situation is being downgraded. David Cameron talks tough about rioters going to prison while the Courts bail them. He also makes it clear that the reduction in the policing budget will go ahead. Kenneth Clarke has announced that the Government will increase the maximum curfew sentence from 12 hours a day for 6 months to 16 hours a day for 12 months. So already we can see that the focus will be on non custodial sentences.
It needs to be clearly understood that we have a growing underclass who are putting this country at risk of anarchy. We have to address this quickly. Investment in effective parenting, education, prison with real rehabilitation and a Probation and Youth Justice Service that actually sets boundaries and consequences are an absolute requirement for any sort of change. Curfewing these animals in their disfunctional homes and expecting the police to enforce the curfew and keep them under control is not the answer.
The Ugly
Here is Darcus Howe being interviewed by the BBC. With the benefit of hindsight he foresaw these riots coming and it is all because the police have been stopping and searching young black men like his 'angel' grandson for no reason at all.
I recall Mr Howe making a documentary in the West Midlands regarding relationships between the black and Asian communities. Asian youths told him to clear off or they were going to 'mash him up.' I would have thought that Mr Howe would have learnt then and since that young people of all races in many communities are out of control for all the reasons previously outlined.
Shouting racist and blaming the police is the ugly face of commentators and community 'representatives.' It is irrelevant to this situation now and I suggest you are too Mr Howe.
A much better standard of post. Is this new quality destined to stay or purely a monkey and typewriter result?
ReplyDeleteTroll
ReplyDeleteDarcus Howe...'it's happening in Syria, Clapham...'
ReplyDelete'Have some respect'....Darcus has been, is, and will always be an arrogant tit, who is unable to analyse his own arse, let alone any political situation cogently.
Respec'
zorro
prison the awnser dont u mean holiday camp 50p a week for a playstation tv, duvets, the prison system is a joke its just not a detterant how can prison be a deterrant to somone when they can score drugs while still in there slippers dont need to even put there coat on do go out and score and once they do score go back to a cell with a playstation and sit on there duvet ! we need i feel the 3 strikes rule like the usa or at least make prison so tough u dont want to be there but it wont happern will it we will just carry on sending them to holiday camps .rant over
ReplyDelete"It is irrelevant to this situation now and I suggest you are too Mr Howe. "
ReplyDeleteThat is very kind - it is scum like him who let the state bring up their baby mother's children who created chavs who did the rioting.
Normally I wouldn't judge him - we are all human but he cries of racist deserve this
I'm surprised that even the BBC would have Darcus Howe on as a spokesman and if I was a reasonable member of the "community" I would be insulted that they had.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC like to characterise these riots as episodes of criminality and down play any racial component, yet they keep wheeling people like Howe and black youth spokesmen out. Even though in the totality of the areas affected black people form a minority of the population?
@ anonymous 1044 - I agree, I covered on my last post that prison, like education, parenting and the criminal justice system need to be reformed. Prison needs to be a place that is uncomfortable and feared but also a place where genuine rehabilitation takes place with education and raining.
ReplyDeleteHow about giving some of the rioters and looters a choice. 3 years in prison or three years in the army?
@ Dave - Perhaps we should remind ourselves that Darcus Howe was charged with riot, affray and assault in 1970. To be fair he was acquitted. He was charged and convicted with assaulting a police officer in 1977 and sentenced to three months in prison.
I have seen a number of parents of offenders from the riots speaking out. It is always someone elses fault. The school, the Government, the police. Darcus Howe is of this ilk, he is just a bit more aricualte than some.
Howe has a son called Amiri by a woman in Trinidad who he only saw occasionally. Amiri came to England and got into trouble with the police. A documentary was made about this and the director suggested that Howe was to blame as the stereotypical absentee father. Howe was incensed and stated the blame was due to racist police stop and search. Notice a theme here?
There was a time when the BBC would not have given a convicted criminal any airtime. Now, they fawn all over so called radical academics, commentators and spokespersons. Their convictions are seen as just a by product of their cause and not their fault at all. Part of the overall problem with the lack of moral fibre in the country.
Barkus Howe, like the Bolshevic Broadcasting Corporation,;] is stuck fighting the battles of the 1980s and using the same outdated claptrap.
ReplyDeleteTheswe riots were just an excuse to loot and commit arson and vandalism. Race, politics, social exclusion, or any other glib excuse simply does not wash.
What does need answering is just who it was who used the cover of a perfectly peaceful family protest over a specific incident as an excuse for starting mayhem. From what I have seen and heard I do not get the impression that the family would have either been involved or even wish for what followed to ever have happened.
In can't help wondering if some militant political activists had tagged themselves into the protest in order to inflame an already tense situation, after all there were some in politics who had decided that after the result of the last election there would be violent events. Not that I have a suspicious mind b ut it was after a similar period of Labour losing power that the 1981 riots were started and they certainly were manipulated by political activists.
".....he is just a bit more aricualte (and literate) than some...."
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 0648 - trying to score points off typos tells you all you need to know about the commentator.
ReplyDeleteShe calls him "marcus Dowe"!! Listen at 0.18!!
ReplyDeleteWas it not Marcus doh!
ReplyDeleteLimited neuron capacity? Do attempts at humour result in silence or incredulous stares?
ReplyDeleteTry our DIY Wit Stimulation Kit. Suitable for most policemen, the package comes complete with mallet, sterile clout nails and fully illustrated instructions.
How much is it?
ReplyDeleteTnago
Very funny Melvyn
ReplyDeleteI take it I should be flattered at having a troll impersonator.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit like the first time you see your name written on a wall:- "PC Tango is a cnut", and you realise you are actually having an impact on the feral scum that prey on our estates.
Tang0
"PC Tango is a cnut"
ReplyDeleteThe unflattering truth thrives on walls where diplomacy and class were never nurtured.
I wondered if you would bite at the obvious hook, Melv.
ReplyDeleteYou never disappoint, even if the walls you eloquently describe surround streets of which you have no experience.
Tang0
Gosh. Someone swallows an entire bait in the form of a grossly stupid remark....when all the time it was a really cunning plan. Shame on you, Tnago.
ReplyDelete