Labour Party leader Ed Milliband gave a speech a couple of days ago about the English riots and how the government should respond. The full text is available on Labour’s website, and it’s worth a read.
Milliband’s major proposal is series of hearings or town hall meetings or some other form of “national conversation.” I don’t know enough about British politics to know whether such inquiries have more impact than special commissions in the US. I hope so, or I don’t understand why Milliband would put so much effort into having one established.
But what I think is interesting about the speech is the way he tries to link this crisis with other crises Britain has faced recently.
Children’s ideas of right and wrong don’t just come from their parents.
And we can’t honestly say the greed, selfishness and gross irresponsibility that shocked us all so deeply is confined to the looters or even to their parents.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of me-first, take what you can culture.
The bankers who took millions while destroying people’s savings: greedy, selfish, and immoral.The MPs who fiddled their expenses: greedy, selfish, and immoral.
The people who hacked phones to get stories to make money for themselves: greedy, selfish and immoral.
People who talk about the sick behaviour of those without power, should talk equally about the sick behaviour of those with power.
Let’s not pretend that the crisis of values in our society is confined to a minority only at the bottom when we see the morality of millions of hardworking, decent people u nder siege from the top as well.
Let’s talk about what it does to our culture.
Too often we have sent a message from the top to the bottom of Britain’s society that says: anything goes, you are in it for yourself.
As long as you can get away with it, who cares?
We hear lots of talk now about role models for communities, but what role model has been provided by the elites of our society?
By linking riots with phone hacking and poor banking practices, he invites us to take a top-to-bottom look at our ethical fabric. Left unstated is the issue that, if greed, selfishness and immorality are rampant amongst the elite and the downtrodden, is there any way that society can punish those transgressions in an equal manner?