What links these four men?
- Islam!
The prime Minister and his Deputy are considering a plan to replace existing peers including Anglican bishops with a multi-faith chamber that would include Muslim imams.
The two asylum seekers taking advantage of the British welfare system are Muslin imams who have beenplotting our downfall.
Bizzare isn't it!
The television series 'Shameless' supposedly illustrates the life of Britain'sunderclass but programmes such as this, like 'Porridge', often glorify the anti-hero blurring the edges between right and wrong, creating an acceptance that would not have been tolerated years ago.
The court cases in the aftermath of the riots have illustrated a downward slide in parts of society so that even comparatively wealthy people have been helping themselves to 'freebies' in the looters' paradise that followed the riots. Therefore, a distinction needs to be drawn between this sort of spur-of-the-moment opportunism on the one hand and the alleged responsibility of the 'underclass' for the riots which all political parties are now, belatedly, eager to address.
While most of us have simply tried to get on with our lives, bemoaning the litter-louts, bad manners, lack of consideration in general - the list is endless - we just wish that someone would sort out the problems that have blighted us for so long submerging us in a malaise of grudging acceptance of that's life now. Some of those who have 'had-a-go' have suffered injury ordeath so if we can, we ignore the problems and just pray that our children will escape the post-code lottery of the failing schools and secure a job which enables them to live in a 'respectable' area, pay the bills and, hopefully these days, make provision to live comfortably in retirement.
But problems don't go away by ignoring them. There have been many warnings of troubles ahead including an Audit Commission report which highlighted the fact that young people with five good GCSEs were failing to get a job or stay on in education and that in some parts of the country, one in four "forgotten" teenagers are living on benefits so 10% of teenagers – more than 85,000 across the country – were at risk of becoming an underclass, cut off from mainstream society and drifting into crime as they spend long stretches without a job, education or training.
That report was published over a year ago. It has taken days of rioting and looting for the Prime Minister to act on what he promised to do when he took over as party leader, that is, "to mend our broken society". He must now fulfil thatpledge putting an end to the moral decay which blights our society. He keeps reminding us that "we all in this together" but the reins of power are in his hands, not ours.
The 1979 election was said to have been won for the Conservatives by a fake 'Labour isn't working' poster. Today the publishedunemployment figures were simply described by the Prime Minister as "disappointing". Young people who have never worked will no doubt have a different description.
Attacking the public sector has been a key part of the Prime Minister's strategy. He suggests that cutting public sector jobs will enable the private sector to expand by picking-up the slack created. Not so thus far on today's figures. The smoke-screen of attacking the public sector is no substitute for a plan for growth. Regions have been unjustly condemned for the size of public sector employment in their areas after it was created as a matter of government policy. People filling jobs that were dispersed from London to save money and mop up spare capacity created by the loss of manufacturing jobs are now blamed for current problems and their successors are being made redundant with little or no hope of work.
Today Mr Cameron let slip another government aim of cutting public expenditure. After the Government's earlier gaff of predetermining the outcome of 'discussions' on public sector pensions, David Cameron quickly corrected himself in PM Questions when responding to Ed Miliband telling him that the government was cutting (reforming) public sector pensions. Is it surprising that public sector unions are threatening more public sector strikes?
As the Telegraph rightly reported, the 'last-minute' conference speech change on "households paying off their credit card debt" was an embarrassment" but not the only embarrassment for the Prime Minister as he appeared for his keynotespeech at their Party conference in a cross-wire against a backdrop showing him with his head in the clouds.
When the average food bill for couple is £60 a week and the PM's wife turns up wearing an outfit in which just the trousers cost £89, is it surprising that someone with no concept of living within his means could come up with the idea of slowing the economy even further by people spending even less - if they could!
In her Telegraph piece Janet Daley appeared to muddle her headline: "David Cameron shows his leadership – with just a hint of the PR man showing through". For me it wasn't 'just a hint of the PR man showing through' it was the complete PR man showing through and with the conference slogan "Leadership for a better future" it looks more like "No leadership, no future!". The image of a man trying to sell me a time-share in Spain was inescapable and that's not just my opinion.Here is the verdict of four top writers.
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Spare a thought for Theresa May after the Prime Minister expressed his full support for the Home Secretary, usually a bad omen. Time will tell.
