Those who read my first blog about the London riots may have noticed an absence of any practical suggestions or solutions to some of my postulations. The point of the blog was not to offer suggestions, merely to reflect upon some of the underlying issues about the rioting and to question a number of the commonly held assumptions about why young people took part.
One such assumption was that most of those who have been charged for the riots were “feral youths” when actually, it seems three quarters of those charged by the courts are above 18.
The point of my second blog however is not to continue with the “whys” but instead to focus on the ‘hows’, namely how can we move forward as a society in addressing some of the underlying issues raised in my first blog? My suggestions – I think – come from a range of political paradigms and some may seem ‘a bit Melanie Phillips’ but like a good Chinese take-away, you need a bit of sweet and sour for it to taste good.
One small but important caveat is that most (but not all) the suggestions are practical/tangible ideas as I attempted to explore the wider structural issues in my previous blog. The suggestions are not an exhaustive list (feel free to add more in the comments section) and are not listed in order of importance. Some will take much more effort to implement than others, but to quote Thomas Edison:
“The value of an idea lies in the using it”
Ideas for modern living:
1. Put in place plans to encourage more male primary school teachers
2. Ring-fence a percentage of corporations/bankers tax for grassroot/local organisations
3. Create a statutory responsibility for young people to hold budgetary responsibility for local decision making processes
4. Create a national peer-led skill matching service or ‘Learning Webs’ a la Ivan Illich’s ‘Deschooling Society’
5. All national heritage sites to cap their charges (£10 per person?)
6. Keep citizenship studies on the national curriculum
7. Create a national holiday (or use an existing one) to celebrate the establishment of parliament and democracy in the UK
8. Any potential national project effecting all members of the UK costing over x amount of money must go to a referendum for anyone aged 16 or above
9. Incentivise dual parent families (without removing support for single parents)
10. Businesses earning over x amount or employing over x amount of people should enter voluntary contracts to take on young people as apprentices
11. Stop the unmitigated spread of surveillance cameras
12. Increase prison rehabilitation schemes, particularly reparation programmes
13. Somehow! create a welfare system that doesn’t pay for an individual not to work if they are capable of working
14. Create peer-led parenting workshops for sharing skills and knowledge (see no.4)
15. Create an ‘institute of trades’ partly funded by the private sector
16. Ring-fence statutory responsibility for provision of youth services
17. Create/preserve more local recreational spaces e.g. parks/swimming pools
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