Left-wingers cannot cast the first stone over blame for riots

I HAVE read some daft letters to the paper over the years but the two (Yorkshire Post, August 15) blaming capitalism and Mrs Thatcher for the recent riots take some beating.

The blame lies much more recently than Mrs Thatcher. It lies with years of Left-wing liberal ideas under Messrs Blair and Brown doing their utmost to attack Christian and family values in our society, ruining our education system and creating a culture of dependence on benefits and the State rather than one of individual responsibility.

They also have destroyed discipline – whether in our homes or our schools or in society in general.

We now need some firm common-sense policies and a return to decent values in our public life and in society, as David Cameron is saying. I just hope he can do what is needed and is not stopped by his wet Liberal Democrat partners.

It would have been good to also hear some lead in recent times from Church leaders such as the Archbishop of Canterbury but as usual, when he should speak, he does not and, when he should not, he does. Thank goodness at least for the Archbishop of York (Yorkshire Post, August 12) for his contribution.

From: Paul Emsley, Hellifield.

WHILE Ed Miliband is pontificating about the need to provide police with the proper resources they need to cope with the anarchists; he should reflect on the profligate spending policies of the Labour Party over the last 13 years (Yorkshire Post, August 13).

The orgy of spending carried out by Labour Cabinet ministers to little or no long term benefit to the country including the new IT system for the NHS; aircraft carriers without aircraft; HIPs; the Millennium Dome and the London Olympics, to name but a few.

Where was their funding for new prisons, audio data reporting systems to put policemen back on the streets and sentencing laws that brought back the death penalty?

And what happened to all the Justices of the Peace and Magistrates’ Courts?

Soham murderer Ian Huntley’s time in prison will cost us £1m. A bullet costs 50 pence. Discuss.

From: Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

THERESA May is quite right to suggest that juvenile thugs convicted of rioting and looting must be stripped of their anonymity.

The problem is many, if not all, won’t care if they are “named and shamed”, because they have no shame or no respect for themselves or anyone else.

They wear convictions like badges of combat and laugh in the face of ASBOs, referral orders and other lily-livered sentences.

From: CE Hallas, Cubley Rise Road, Penistone, Sheffield.

WHAT a wonderful opportunity. By merely kicking in a window I can get myself a 40in flat screen, what a great idea. Anyway, what’s wrong with that, they’re all doin’ it! After all, there isn’t much to do, and whilst we’re at it, let’s set fire to that furniture shop on the corner. That should be a laugh. It gets so boring ‘round ‘ere.

And those trainers, I never could afford ‘em. Now, I’ve half a dozen pairs. They’re more upmarket than my mate’s, he’s only half sharp, he went in when they’d all gone. My dad? Oh, ‘e’ll be spending ‘is social at t’bettin shop, e’s easy goin’ is me dad.

Personally, I’m all for simplicity, simple honesty, simple hard work, simple responsibility – and simple justice. We see daily reminders that the balance of behaviour tipped in favour of “understanding” rather than the concept of personal responsibility.

Last week on TV a young couple were shown having saved up for some time before buying a house in London. They were about to start decorating when they found a notice on the door. This said that the house was now occupied by squatters; the locks had been changed and it would be illegal to force them out. The police were informed, the couple reinformed that this was a civil matter and nothing to do with them.

They then proceeded to get a court order which cost £2,000 which the squatters contested, obtaining legal aid. But of course, these people are homeless, you say, it isn’t right for them to live on the streets. When they were finally evicted, the darkly hooded seven or eight trailed out mouthing obscenities to the police for which the police had turned off their hearing aids, besides leaving a trail of destruction and filth in the house. Understanding? In the modern context I think there’s a case for physical punishment.

Generally, we are a peaceable people but when war comes we pick up a rifle and do what we have to do. Reluctantly? Of course, but physical correction hurt far fewer than those in the street carrying a knife. Think about it!

From: John Rookes, Bramley, Rotherham

IN the aftermath of the riots, will lessons be learnt? I fear not, as the police chose to adopt a kid glove approach when they were told by David Cameron (albeit a little late) that they could use whatever force needed to bring the situation under control.

Why weren’t water cannons, tear gas, or plastic bullets used? In a lot of countries around the world, live rounds would have been used on looters and rioters, the police seem to have forgotten PC Keith Blakelock, hacked to death during the Broadwater Farm riots in the 1980s.

I’m sure right-minded people in this country would have preferred a zero tolerance approach as there is no excuse for the wanton crime, vandalism and violence these hooligans used.