Blair launches 'respect' agenda

Tony Blair has launched his action plan against anti-social behaviour, hailing it as a "very important" step in the battle to improve the lives of law-abiding people.

Mr Blair launched his much-discussed 'respect agenda' The 'respect agenda' measures include higher fines for anti-social behaviour, giving local communities and police more powers to tackle truanting and evict nuisance neighbours, and instructing problem parents on child rearing.

Offenders who have been cautioned may be made to do unpaid work, and police will be given powers to shut down and seal properties occupied or used by yobs.

Announcing the plans, the Prime Minister conceded there was "a serious argument against what we are doing", but insisted the old structures of the criminal justice system were letting victims and the public down.

"We need a radical new approach if we are to restore the liberty of the law-abiding citizen," Mr Blair said at the Downing Street launch.

Much of the plan focuses on giving police powers to impose fines and deal with anti-social behaviour on the spot, rather than taking the offender to court.

But Oliver Letwin, the Conservative policy chief, said people had heard much of what Mr Blair announced before and it was "both pessimistic and rather superficial and short-term".

"The causes of what we are dealing with here are much deeper and we are not going to tackle them with on-the-spot fines," he told BBC Radio.

"What we need is not top-down, immediate action by some Government official or a police officer on the street."

Respect agenda - the main points

Raising on-the-spot fines from £80 to £100 for serious anti-social behaviour, to "send a strong signal that the boundaries and consequences of unacceptable behaviour have shifted"

Setting up a National Parenting Academy to train staff from a variety of professions, such as social workers, clinical psychologists and youth justice workers

Setting up 50 schemes across the country by the end of the year to help deal with problem families. There will be a variety of schemes including residential centres for anti-social families and outreach workers who will visit them in their homes

The Government will also consider new sanctions to encourage persistent anti-social offenders to take up offers of help, including financial penalties or docking their housing benefit

A proposed new power allowing police to close "any residential or licensed premises" which is being used for "significant, persistent and serious nuisance", reportedly for at least three months. To be used as a "last resort". Based on existing powers already used to close more than 500 drugs dens in England and Wales, and on a successful scheme in Scotland which has closed 10 anti-social premises since 2004

A previously-announced plan to give communities the right to force police and councils to take action against anti-social behaviour, and requiring officials to attend public meetings to explain their activities.

The whole world is peddling backwards and getting stupider, and like idiots, still continue to tune into radio and television where they continue to get brainwashed and calmed down by the talking heads on both the RIGHT and the left, reassuring them all will be fine, to trust all the leaders.

Even if all turned off the radios and tvs now, it would take years for them to actually begin to really start thinking on their own again. Dumb sheep isn't the half of it.

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