"TIME TO TAKE STOCK"

Just who writes the Prime Minister speeches? Whoever it is they are either having a laugh at his expense or they need a dose of Conservative moral discipline. He began this mornings speech, speaking in his Oxford constituency with the following nugget of wisdom

"It's time for our country to take stock"

all this against a dodgy background of graffiti painted hoodies peering at him from behind.

Well I think someone forgot to tell "Call me Dave" that that's just what parts of Britain did last week during the riots, they took all of Curry's stock and that in PC World, as well as that from many small convenience stores! Hardly a wise choice of the lexicon Dave

He also re announced his war on gangs and talked of even tougher measures being taken against those involved as well as those not involved but who fits his picture of Britain's Moral Decline.

He wants American super cops telling us where we are going wrong, despite every police chief in Britain saying he is wrong, he wants benefits withdrawn from the families involved, and he has even suggested evicting families from their council homes if a member of the family is involved (so if you are going to loot, you better get on the property ladder)

Now whilst all this may go down well with Daily Mail readers and the far right, do any of us really think it is the answer to the problem? Will the evicted families who lose benefit be more inclined to crime to survive or less? Is it remotely affordable?, and even more important is it the answer?

Someone somewhere has to put a stop to this "tough talking" before things really get out of hand and before the government creates it's own riots off the back of using lasts weeks unrest for their own warped political purposes.

Ursula Nevin wasn't involved in the riots, she did as was suggested and stayed at home in Stretford, Manchester during the unrest looking after her two children aged 1 and 5, unfortunately for her her flat mate Gemma Craven was involved and bought looted clothes back to the flat. Ursula took a pair of £3.50 shorts from her flat mate and was arrested and charged with receiving stolen goods. Despite her previous good character and lack of police record the Judge decided tough justice meant she should be locked up for 5 months! 5 months imprisonment for receiving a £3.50 pair of shorts! Of course she was in the wrong and of course she should be punished, but how are we helping her or her two children by slamming her in Prison for 5 months, and how much will it cost the state to look after her children in the interim.

If "Call me Dave" is serious about his all out war on gangs and his tough love approach to Britain's moral malaise then he needs to get his cheque book out. He needs to scrap cuts to the Police who will be needed in greater number to fight his war. He needs to reverse the decision to reduce prison numbers so he can lock up more Ursula Nevin's and he needs to order local government to abandon it's cuts to social care and intervention services on the state as Councils ace the brunt of his tough stance.

We are all angry at those who carried and perpetrated these dreadful crimes on our streets, and we need to hold an inquiry to help us develop policies that work in dealing with the cause of that unrest, but knee jerk responses from the same man who wanted to hug the hoodies when it suited his political agenda will only fuel further unrest.

Meanwhile Dave, sack the speech writer.