No one can excuse the mindless violence, rioting and looting that took place in our inner cities over the past few days, and I hope those responsible will be brought to justice.
If our communities are in decay, the responsibility belongs to all of us; and most of all, the politicians.
Prior to the last election David Cameron was on television, asking us to put ourselves in the minds of the hoodies, with no job, no future, no hope.
We saw Clegg in his manifesto telling us that if we did not invest in jobs for young people in the inner cities, we could have riots similar to those in Greece.
What a sea-change.
“Use plastic bullets and teargas, and water cannon; beat them up” declares Cameron.
“Use conveyor belt justice so that both the innocent and the guilty will be punished. It’s not we the politicians who are at fault, but the parents – the children – society as a whole.”
Like all the rest of the children in my class in the valleys, I came out of school at 13 and started work underground. There were two cinemas in every village; dance halls and youth clubs in abundance.
Today, Caerphilly and the villages of Wales are teeming with young people with no prospect of getting a job; and inner cities are worse.
“Get on your bike and go to Cardiff and find a job”, said the Welsh Tories. There are no jobs in Cardiff for young people.
Many of those arrested were qualified electricians, plumbers etc. If they can’t find a job, what chance is there for those poor kids with no qualifications?
Meanwhile, we are losing thousands of police, whose numbers are being savagely cut in Gwent and beyond.
Youth services, career services, libraries and clubs are being axed all over the country. But still they say, “it’s nothing to do with the cuts”.
Yes, make the criminals pay for their crimes; but remember the buck stops with us, the politicians, the men and women who went to Parliament to make our lives better and instead milked the expenses system outrageously.
The riots are a wake up call for all of us – especially our political masters.
Councillor Ray Davies,
Labour
Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen