Feral Felons & Forgotten Families

“When people don't feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences for communities can be devastating,” the words of Darra Singh, chair of the Riots, Communities and Victims Panel. Established in the wake of last summer’s disturbances, the panel has now published its recommendations, in a week of contrasting examples of social cohesion. Alongside the unified outpouring of support for Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, following his cardiac arrest, we saw the sentencing of those responsible for shooting Thusha Kamaleswaran. A five year old victim of gang rivalries, she will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, a symptom, perhaps, of society’s fragile moral fabric seemingly loosening at the seams.

The rioting has been blamed on poor parenting, dwindling youth opportunities, insufficient criminal rehabilitation, and a lack of trust in the police. The socio-political usual suspects to some extent, but the report also raised interesting concerns about materialism, in relation to the widespread looting that accompanied the civil unrest.

 With the highest jobless figures in 17 years, and youth unemployment a particularly potent problem, apathy born of limited options would account for much of the apparent ambivalence towards staying out of trouble. If you don’t have chances to ruin, consequences count for little. The parenting question is equally pivotal. An increasing climate of hopelessness exists in what the report refers to as half a million “forgotten families”. When there is no work ethic to be passed on, just frustration at falling incomes and expectations, small wonder we turn out offspring whose outlook indicates they feel they have nothing to lose.

 “And where were their parents?” Is the cry often quoted, as the latest lay-about is lambasted in the law courts. Who are their parents, might well be more apt. You get what you settle for, in life, work and children. Some are so accustomed to low expectation, they may be surprised to find they can still be disappointed. The geographical and ethnic breakdown of these “forgotten families” will be illuminating. Hopelessness may be impartial, but fatherlessness is a patented part of the programme, in some sections of our multi-cultural melting pot. When even the fundamental responsibilities in life are routinely relinquished, the seeds of delinquency are easily sewn. Popular culture is equally culpable. When your role-models are not the pioneers of industry, but reality show detritus, then the expectation is of affluence for little effort. Against this backdrop, the issue of materialism is poignant and polarising. Are the Porsche and the ipad innocent expressions of success, the motivation to make something of yourself, or the very definition of having done so? If we’re cultivating a community that would sooner wear Cartier in a council house, than old cords in a castle, then risking jail for designer jeans should not appal us at all. 

Justice For Trayvon Martin

Were it not for a growing sense of outcry, it seems unlikely that the US Justice Department would have even launched the investigation, announced today, into the death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin. It is, after all, nearly a month since the unarmed teenager was shot dead in Sanford, Florida, after buying sweets in a local shop. He was alone, carrying nothing more threatening than a mobile phone, bottle of drink and a packet of Skittles. His killer, 28 year old George Zimmerman, was a member of a neighbourhood watch group, and licensed to carry a concealed 9mm automatic pistol.

That the teenager was black, has fuelled public outrage at the authorities’ unwillingness to arrest Zimmerman, raising further questions about racial discrimination within law enforcement communities in America. With support on Twitter from the film director Spike Lee, amongst many others, campaigners have now received assurances of a thorough investigation from the FBI and US Justice Department, after which a spokesman promised that “appropriate action” would be taken.

Issues of race and prejudice will rightly be brought into sharp focus by the killing, which, not being actively challenged by local police, has the feeling of being  sanctioned therefore, by implication. And yet, it would be a wider tragedy still, if the spotlight did not also fall onto an unsettling amendment to Florida’s gun laws, introduced in 2005. Until that time the overriding doctrine was that “a man’s home is his castle”, and he has the right to defend himself within it, but not beyond. But Governor Jeb Bush, brother of guess who, then put his signature to the “Stand Your Ground” law, effectively permitting citizens to defend themselves, with lethal force if necessary, in public places. In addition, the “duty to retreat” principle was abandoned, meaning your friendly neighbourhood vigilante was no longer obliged to back down, in the face of a potential confrontation.

So it was that on the night of February 26^th, George Zimmerman called 911 to report a “real suspicious guy”, saying; “looks like he’s up to no good”. Disregarding the advice of the telephone operator, Zimmerman confronted Martin in a gated development, several residents of which also made calls to the emergency services, alarmed by what they heard. The recently released recordings of those calls clearly feature an unidentified voice screaming in the background, before being silenced by a gunshot. In their refusal to arrest Zimmerman, local police seem to have concluded that the screams did not come from the unarmed young man bringing home some sweets, but from the larger man, with the gun.

Shutting The Afghan Trap.

The good folk of Wikipedia assert that Alexander the Great took three years to “subdue” Afghanistan. That was a little tardy for him, given that he conquered Persia in six months. And given that Persia is now Iran, it seems the foreign policy focus of the developed world has varied little since 300 BC, which should perhaps subdue us all.

The extended Russian sojourn to Afghanistan, sometimes called the Bear Trap, lasted nine years between 1979 and 1989. Soviet sleeves were rolled up to support the Afghan government, so, in a predictable act of Bear-baiting, the US unofficially did the same for the Mujahideen, the guerrilla movement of choice at the time. Former CIA Director Robert Gates claimed the US deliberately provoked Soviet intervention. He said Russia was lured into “a Vietnamese quagmire,” presumably a reference to that other dubious US intervention, not an embarrassing Sat Nav mishap. 

Against this historical backdrop, and the imminent US and UK troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, comes the development that the Russian cabinet is considering allowing NATO to establish a transit hub in the city of Ulyanovsk, 500 miles east of Moscow. Non-lethal cargo would be flown in from Afghanistan, en route to Europe, effectively allowing U.S. troops, amongst others, to set up a logistics facility on Russian territory, for the first time. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, supporting the deal, said: “We are interested in having those who counter issues facing Russia inside Afghanistan do their job efficiently.” If America assisted Russia’s fall into what President Obama's Foreign Policy Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski calls the “Afghan trap”, it is no small irony that Russia may yet help the US out of it. Furthermore, since the serial spending of money and manpower on an Afghan campaign, that is commonly considered unwinnable, is casually called a "trap", one might muse upon the merits of being in it.  

On Day 2 of his visit to Washington, the Prime Minster and the President set aside the burgers and baseball photo ops to focus, like so many before them, on issues dominated by Afghanistan. Both leaders have cautioned against a “rush to the exits”, but would such stampede stalling be to save lives or save face? David Cameron has boldly declared that Afghanistan must never again be allowed to exist as a safe haven for the Taliban, as the troops quietly back their bags in the background. Whether they leave with a bang or a whimper, the plan is for last boots home by the end of 2014, presumably leaving democracy developing and the Taliban totally trounced. Or possibly, just a little subdued.

All Aboard The Last Dictatorship?

If Vladimir Putin was counting on a ‘fixed’ return to a twelve year investment into his own political omnipotence, results indicate he got the pay-off, only with a lot more interest than he might have liked. Golos, a Russian election watchdog, has received information about over 3,000 reported incidences of fraudulent voting. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s monitoring co-ordinator Tonino Picula, called for such reports to be investigated, saying; “there was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt.” Amid widespread accusations of multiple voting, and cash inducements, Russians have again taken to the streets, both to celebrate and denounce Putin’s return to the presidency. With the heat of the international spotlight firmly focused on his statistically suspicious success, the former KGB operative may yearn for the cloak and dagger of the Cold War.

There are 6,017,100 Facebook users in Russia, five million on Twitter, and many others on indigenous versions. In a population of 143,030,106 those numbers may feel a little lost, but the social networkers are a growing and significant factor in the socio-political life of the nation. When Prime Minister Putin was booed at a televised martial arts event, Russian state TV swiftly edited the footage to provide a disparagement free version for the second showing. However, not before the original was up on YouTube, with one million viewers in the first 24 hours. The tools of new media are not easily blunted, when a façade of freedom is required, and have proven adept at loosening the grip of your common-or-garden dictator on freedom of expression and assembly. Never was this more potently proven than in the build-up to the Arab Spring. Such was the effect of video and eyewitness accounts of state attempts to stem the uprising in Egypt last January, not to mention the ability to co-ordinate protests via social media, that authorities effectively shut down 88% of the nation’s internet access. Information still seeped out via proxy software to Facebook and Twitter however. According to the Guardian, a total blackout was averted using networks accessible via an undersea cable, operated by Telecom Italia, beyond the reach of the former government. 

Against the backdrop of an increased ability to be held to account for one’s actions by a watchful world, albeit via webcam, has the old school dictatorship had its day? Many commentators predict that despite seemingly securing a new six year term as president, Vladimir Putin may fail to see it out, such is the growing clamour for reform across the nine time zones of Russia. How he responds to the current climate of protest will define the nature of his next term in office, and likely his exit from it, as gone are the days of hidden deeds in Europe’s developing democracies.

Is The Sun going down?

If The Sun is the flagship in Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid fleet, then yesterday, although far from sinking, it took on a little water. At the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers of the Met, heading up the investigation into dodgy dealings and proscribed payments, indicated that the scope of the scandal was perhaps more serious than it first seemed. She spoke of a “culture at The Sun of illegal payments”, and “not only to police officers, but a wide range of public officials”.

As admiral of the fleet, if not the whole street, Mr Murdoch was swift to state that the practices described “are ones of the past, and no longer exist at The Sun.” The little-disguised disquiet in the ranks at the paper, caused by the plausibly unexpected editorial co-operation with the investigation, would suggest the flagship is indeed being made shipshape, whether the decks wish to swept or not.

The singer Charlotte Church this week received £300,000 and a public apology following the publication of thirty-three stories in the News of the World, derived from phone-hacking. Speaking outside the High Court, she said “nothing was deemed off limits by those who pursued me and my family, just to make money for a multinational news corporation.” She promised to put the payment towards protecting her family’s privacy in the future, adding; “they are not truly sorry. They are just sorry they got caught.”

News Corporation pulled the plug on The News of the World, through penitence or pragmatism, because it had been publicly discredited. So, if The Sun, the daily newspaper with the largest circulation in the UK, is also proven to have an empire built on pernicious practises, will it retain its readers? As a race, we have feelings, but we’re fickle. Baring a revelation of Milly Dowler proportions, it seems unlikely The Sun will set. Indeed, it’s spawned a satellite. The timing of the Sun on Sunday is brazen if not unexpected. Much mooted, it may yet harness the many that did not nail their colours to another Sunday media mast when the News of the World was scuppered. Adapt or die is the essence of evolutionary survival, and Murdoch can mutate like Madonna when minded to, but hopefully without the need for cone-shaped corsetry.

The Leveson Inquiry has thrown up a necessary dialogue about freedom of the press, and the right to feel at liberty to express oneself and seek the truth. Whilst many in the media represent a potent force in holding our leaders to account, their rights are brought into question by the tendency of others to abuse those freedoms by taking liberties, in which case the process devalues the product. Isn't a pursuit of truth by dishonest means just one oxymoron too far?

A Healthy Summit?

David Cameron’s decision not to invite those bodies representing healthcare professionals who oppose the NHS reforms to today’s summit on the subject is an act of unqualified genius, and I for one am inspired. My colleagues and I face the prospect of being routinely spanked in an inter-office 7-a-side football match on Thursday night, naturally a battle of neo-gladiatorial significance, and now our illustrious leader has unlocked for us the key to victory: don’t invite the opposition!

What possible benefit could it now be to garner the input of the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, and the Royal College of General Practitioners anyway? They will be charged with delivering the services of course, but have already called for the controversial bill to be binned. Now, if you’re proffering a plethora of unpopular proposals, the last thing you’d like is the adversely affected averting your attention to how much they wish you wouldn’t. Our uncontested victory on Thursday may feel a little hollow, but it’s a rather deep hole that Mr Cameron is digging, still all the better to put those pesky doctors in.

Almost on cue, a study by the London School of Economics released today found that increasing competition between NHS hospitals increases efficiency and eases stress on straining budgets. Of course it does! I saved a small fortune employing the cheapest plumber this side of Siberia, and every one of the last six months the taps have been leaking I’m glad I did. I can’t wait to get him back and ask if he does keyhole surgery as well. Competition is important, because it creates the conditions in which a small company in France can make breast implants from industrial grade silicon, and everyone from Harley Street and downwards laps them up because they are mysteriously cheap, increasing the profit margins and share prices and smug grins from the board of directors. Why on earth would you not want a piece of that?

What, may I ask, is wrong with privatisation anyway? The cost of my train to work has increased by over 80% in four years, my salary hasn’t. But many is the time that I sit on the creatively vandalised platform, as the occasionally functioning public information system taunts me with promises of minor delays, before slapping up “cancelled” and sending me scuttling to the taxi office, knowing I can’t reclaim the cost of my ticket because it’s under a fiver. And I think to myself, this is brilliant, I sure hope they do this with the National Health Service.    

Tibet: An Inconvenient Occupation

A group of passionate protestors chant slogans denouncing the autocratic regime seeking to suppress their freedom of speech, culture and religion. It could be Syria, Libya, or Egypt, and it would, if reported, rightly engender robust diplomatic rhetoric from western democracies, and pressure to secure an illusive United Nations resolution. But what are the chances of chastisement when the aggressor is a permanent member of the UN Security Council?

Chinese security forces have been amassing in western regions of the Sichuan Province, ahead of the Tibetan New Year which begins on February 22^nd. So often a trigger for demonstrations against Chinese occupation, this year the protests are likely to be more potent than previously, with the pending 50 year anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in March. With state restrictions on the movement of foreigners, journalists in particular, it is hard to quantify the numbers involved, yet reports indicate that three Tibetans have set themselves on fire in as many days, making 15 such cases in the last year. The body of the most recent, a 42 year old monk called Sopa, was paraded through the streets, having been reluctantly released after protestors smashed the windows of the police station in Dari, to which he had been taken by officials.

This self-immolation, as it is called, is surely as shocking in nature as many of the routine human rights abuses in nations such as Iran, that elicit regular statements of indignation from whichever Home Secretary is manning the shop. The fact that this mutilation is self-imposed, a desperate act where other forms of expression are discouraged or actively suppressed, speaks to the impotence of a people whose voice has been regularly raised, yet rarely recognised.

China claims to have governed the region for centuries, which is partially true. Since the 7^th century, you could say Tibet has often fallen under Chinese rule, however, it’s fairer to say it did not “fall”, it was pushed, and hard. There has always been an attempt to maintain a cultural and political independence, culminating in the failed Tibetan rebellion, beginning in 1959, that saw the Dalai Lama flee to establish an alternative government in exile. The systematic erosion of Tibetan culture and rights has continued, with violent suppression of resistance to Chinese occupation, notably to the unrest seen in 2008.

With western governments keen to secure trade links with China, as an emerging super-power, the plight of the Tibetan people is an inconvenience, and largely ignored. For such countries, that mask military deployment to safeguard commercial enterprise with claims of humanitarian rationale, the deaf ear turned to the east is to our lasting shame. Tibet will celebrate its New Year come what may, but whether it’s a “happy” one will largely depend on the rest of us.