Posted on 01/10/2006 8:59:35 PM PST by freespirited
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair stepped up his government's campaign against anti-social behavior on Tuesday, promising stiffer fines for offenders and special classes to coach parents struggling with unruly children.
Blair has made restoring respect to British society a key priority for his third and final term in office and is targeting issues such as binge drinking, drug abuse, school truancy and petty crime in blighted urban communities.
The carefully coordinated launch of his Respect Action Plan was seen as a bid to quickly set the political agenda as Parliament returned from its Christmas recess. New opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, and put Blair's government on the back foot.
Cameron quickly accused the government of rehashing existing policies and said the action plan was a gimmick.
"Tony Blair used to say he would be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime," said Cameron, whose party has enjoyed surging poll ratings since he took the helm last month. "Sadly and frankly, he has not been either."
Blair defended the program Tuesday while addressing an audience in Swindon, southern England.
"I cannot force everybody to implement these powers but I can enable them to do it. But whether these powers are used in the end has got to come to the local communities themselves, as well as the government sitting in Downing Street."
Blair's plan included stronger powers to evict problem neighbors from their homes, a new school program to teach children about decent behavior and higher on the spot penalties for public disorder.
He has proposed extending a system of classes for struggling parents, which involve adults learning new methods of disciplining and dealing with their children.
"The vast majority of people are well behaved, decent and respectful. We are only talking about a minority of people. We have got to get past the idea that the so-called civil liberties of that minority come ahead of the civil liberties of the vast majority of decent people," Blair said earlier.
I can't wait to see the program, and even better, the results.
We raised our five kids in the " give them a good boot in the ass" school of thought.
Worked for us !
In the past classism, more specifically, the upper class effort to differentiate itself from the masses some what lead to the creation of manners. Since classism is rather diminished, leadership notice and temporary legal attention is hoping to spur a grass roots revival of attention to manners - wait and see, but progress will probably be a modern interpretation. Here's hoping.
"This is a heavy-duty paint-stirring stick, available from the local DIY store. Observe the flat sides."
The consequences of a collapse of religious and spiritual values leads to disastrous results in every society -- but are exponential in a socialist state. In Britain (as in much of Europe) Christianity is dead. Thus we see in Blair the typical response of the "nanny state" -- the government will tell people what values, ethics, and morality they ought to teach their families. It attempts to assume the role of church, synogogue, etc. But the fact is that without the transcendant values of a genuine religious belief it won't work. When there is no respect for persons, property, or authority -- guess what else that includes? Yes - the STATE! For any FReepers who would like to read a couple of fascinating books about this social decline in Britain I recommend Theodore Dalrymple. (He's also written some articles for NR magazine.)
In the U.K. giving a kid a good boot in the ass can now get you up to five years in the klink.
Worked for us !
So thats why liberals had to ban it!
You still see churches half or more full in England. That includes churches off the beaten path. You are correct in that it's not as influential as it needs to be if it's going to affect behavior positively. I'm a lover of medieval architecture, and small country parish churches particularly interest me, so I'm sure I wasn't just seeing tourists. That, and living there, I got to know quite a few people at church.
On that note, I'll get back to where I was originally going: England needs some major reform.
So many drunken fools out picking fights and vandalizing. I lived in London for a year and Brighton for 4 months. Just unbelieveable. You didn't want to be out after England lost a soccer match. I've seen people hit with flying pint glasses, rocks thrown through windows, people running through the night knocking on doors and running away, and you name it.
Back to the churches, I actually toughed up a guy vandalizing a parish church in small town in Lincolnshire (whose name I will withold). These two idiots were going to spraypaint what was an assembly of medieval and early Victorian stained glass, and me being the church/art lover/community-oriented fellow that I am, yelled at them to cut it out. One of the drunken louts decided to take issue with that, and so well, given no alternative, I took issue with him.
Doing my part to keep England beautiful. ;)
But it's great when we win! Especially against the Germans!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.